Chaz watched as Jenna’s slave/mate did as she ordered before looking him in the eye with an unusually serious expression for the normally happy-go-lucky submissive. “Master Chaz, you are an ass. Mimi would crawl through glass for you. She does wait for you each Friday night, but it’s because you see her heart while they”—his wave encompassed the entire room—“only see her flesh. She is shy and submissive and needs to serve a man who won’t trample her. I thought you were the one from your first night together, but maybe I’m wrong. Maybe we all were. You don’t see it, but she is a different person when you are in the club. She’s more comfortable in her own skin, more confident, less scared of the world. But you don’t see her as anything but a living, breathing sex doll, do you?”
“Watch yourself, boy,” Chaz growled as he frowned at the younger man. “What I do or do not do with Mimi is our business.”
“Not when it happens in my club,” Jenna said, her tone that of Head-Domme-In-Charge.
Finishing his drink, Chaz stood. “I’ll think about what you’ve said and apologize to her next week.”
He was halfway home, deep in thought about Mimi and her sweet disposition, when he jumped a green light. A bigger, badder truck came out of nowhere, ran the red light, and slammed into the driver’s side of his smaller, lighter one. Pain exploded through his body as the side of the truck crumpled around him.
He remained conscious as long as he could, barely able to keep from screaming as he fought to breathe. “Mimi,” he murmured as the night began to fill with flashing lights and screaming sirens. “Mimi.”
* * * *
The five-note tone that signaled her cellphone had received a text message jerked her from a dream of lying in a soft, warm bed cuddling with Master Chaz while he whispered secrets and love words to her. A second message tone had her open her eyes with her heart pounding in fear. She rolled to her side to look at the nightstand where her phone lay next to the clock.
Rubbing tear-swollen eyelids with one hand, she reached for the phone with the other. The hairs at the back of her neck stood straight up as shivers of dread raced through her at lightning speed the moment she touched the phone. A glance at the clock showed her it was two-fifteen.
Rolling to lay on her back, she pulled up the first text.
We just heard Master Chaz has been in a car accident and is in surgery! Do you know anything about this?
She scrolled down to see that the text came from Gentry, Mistress Jenna’s second slave/mate and one of the few people at the club she enjoyed talking to. Her heart began to race as she read the note a second time before moving to the second one, also from Gentry.
Call me ASAP.
After rereading both texts, Mimi rolled out of bed, her body demanding a trip to the bathroom. She the connect button as she headed down the hall.
He answered on the first ring. “Mimi?”
“Where is he?”
“As far as I know they did not have to Life Flight him, so he’s still here in New Bern.”
“How’d you find out?”
“Kelly called Jenna,” Gentry said as if she should know who Kelly was.
“Uh-huh,” she said as she examined her face in the mirror. Flipping on the light, she squinted and pulled a face at her reflection. The skin around her eyes was not just puffy, but swollen from her crying jag. Her eyelids were three times their normal size and barely able to open fully. Her nose was tomato red and her hair was even wilder than normal. She looked like she had been in a hell of a fight without the discoloration of bruises. “Do you think I should go up there?”
“Of course. How can you ask that?”
“Because I’m his Friday-night Club Esoteria sex toy. And tonight did not end well between us. I don’t want to upset anyone, especially him, by being there if I’m not wanted.”
“Sweetie, you could never upset anyone. And if he’s as bad off as Kelly said, he may not even know you’re there. Want me to go with you?” he offered in his gentle-as-a-lamb way.
“How about I meet you at the hospital in about a half hour?”
“You got it. I’ll bring the chocolate shakes.”
Before Mimi could say not to bring one for her, he hung up.
Chapter 4
“I’m sorry, Miss, but because you are not a family member, all I can tell you is that Mr. Montgomery was admitted in critical condition and is in surgery at this time,” the older woman wearing navy-blue scrubs and an apple-green sweater said.
After meeting Gentry in the parking lot, where he apologized for not having the shakes as the fast food restaurant’s machine was down for maintenance, it took them fifteen minutes to find their way through the maze of corridors to the surgical waiting room. Now that they finally arrived, they were being denied the information they had come for.
“Have any family members shown up yet?” Gentry asked as he wrapped an arm around Mimi to keep her from jumping over the desk and shaking the information out of the woman.
The woman nodded. “I notified his emergency contact, and Mrs. Montgomery said she would be here shortly.”
“Mrs. Montgomery?” Mimi breathed as her heart dropped to her toes. She looked at Gentry as her knees wobbled with this latest bit of shocking news. “Get me out of here.”
Gentry nodded though he looked confused. Did he know something about Master Chaz that she didn’t? Or was it that he could hold his emotions in check better than she could? Of course, he had not made love to, no, she corrected herself, played with and fucked, the man several times a month for the last half a year.
Gentry and Antony had probably male-bonded with all the Masters of Club Esoteria over beers and baseball while she sat at home wishing Chaz would see her outside the club. It did not have to be dinner and dancing or some fancy date. She would be happy with a simple cup of coffee or walk in the park. Just something somewhere away from the enticing, arousing atmosphere of the club so he could see she was more than the sex they enjoyed.
They had almost reached the hall door when it flew open and a woman hurried in, crossing straight to the information desk. “I’m here about Chaz Montgomery. What can you tell me about his condition?”
“Are you Mrs. Montgomery?”
“Yeah, sure, whatever,” the woman responded. “What the hell happened to him?”
Mimi pulled Gentry to a stop just inside the doorway. She wanted to hear what the clerk said to Chaz’s wife. Turning just her head, she stared at the woman who apparently was the reason Chaz could not commit to her.
She was a big woman, nearly as tall as Chaz himself. Her body was round and fleshy, like Mimi’s only a bigger version. Her hair was short and a not-so-flattering caramel color. She wore no makeup, but then at three-thirty in the morning neither did Mimi. She wore tan capri pants with a turquoise T-shirt that did nothing flattering for her complexion. But that could be due to either the waiting room’s harsh lighting or green haze of jealousy that Mimi was looking through.
“He’s been in surgery for about two hours. The latest update on the computer from the OR shows they expect to finish up about nine barring any other complications. If you’d like, I can take your number and have someone call when they close to finishing and you can come back then.”
“That would be great. That will give me time to make arrangements,” Mrs. Montgomery said, looking at her watch.
After giving her number to the clerk, she left as quickly as she had arrived, nearly knocking Mimi over in her hurry to get out of the room. Did she not see Mimi standing there? Or would she have run over anyone who got in her way?
Mimi looked at Gentry as the heat of anger dried out the wet tears of sorrow that filled her. “What kind of bitch doesn’t wait while her husband is in surgery? No wonder he comes to play with me.”
“I don’t think they’re married,” Gentry said slowly. “If he was married, Mistress would never have let him join the club without her, or play with you or any of the uncollared subs. Let’s go outside. This place gives me
the creeps. I also need to call Mistress Jenna and let her know what’s going on.”
Mimi nodded and followed the man back through the maze. This time she paid closer attention to the turns that took them back to the Emergency Room. She also tried to come up with a way to become a family member so she could see Chaz.
Having seen the concern his so-called wife paid to his condition, Mimi decided she had to hang around. Master Chaz would need someone to help him as he recovered, and she needed to be that someone. Her submissive, giving soul needed to be around to serve him in any way she could until he was strong enough, both mentally and physically, to have a long heart-to-heart about their relationship both at the club and away from it.
Mimi waited patiently while Gentry filled his Mistress in on the situation. Once he hung up, he looked at her. “So what do you want to do?”
She shrugged as her brain working sluggishly on the problem of getting closer to her Master Chaz. “I need to be here,” she said. “I don’t know how or why, but I need to stay close. I think he’s going to need me even knowing I can’t see him.”
Gentry nodded and looked sympathetic. “I understand. Why don’t we go get something to eat?”
Her stomach slightly queasy, Mimi’s shoulder raised again. “I guess so, though I’m not sure I’ll be able to keep anything down.”
Gentry chuckled. “That’s okay, I’ll eat anything you can’t.”
Mimi nodded and allowed him to guide her to his truck parked several rows away from her car. She smiled when he opened her door and helped her into the passenger’s seat as well. “Wow, a man with manners. I’m impressed,” she said as he settled into the driver’s seat.
“Mistress would have my balls in a bag if I allowed a lady to open her own door,” he said with a grin.
After an early breakfast at the all-night diner nearby, Mimi urged Gentry to go home and get some sleep. She knew that he knew she was lying when she promised to go home and do the same, but he did not call her on it.
She did go home, but instead of going back to bed, she grabbed her knitting bag and filled it with her tablet, a crochet hook, and a one-pound skein of yarn, which was enough to finish a baby blanket, a bottle of water, and several of the single pack munchies she kept to work on portion control. She also tucked a pashmina into the bag and headed back to the hospital.
She might not be able to do anything for Master Chaz, but something in her soul kept nagging at her that she had to be at the hospital. She would not be able to rest until she was certain he was going to recover.
* * * *
It was closer to noon than nine before a nurse came into the surgical waiting room and called for Mrs. Montgomery. Mimi had settled in the far corner of the room. When Chaz’s wife entered about half past eight, she moved closer, but not too close. Every time someone came and spoke to Mrs. Montgomery, she listened closely as people the other woman knew stopped by, offering help, food, and encouragement. A minister even stopped by about ten o’clock and prayed with the half dozen people gathered. Mimi added her prayers to theirs and whispered “Amen” when he finished the long, and obviously heartfelt, prayer. Chaz was apparently a popular and well-loved man.
She wished she had the backbone and guts to go up and introduce herself. But how would she explain her relationship to Chaz? Did the woman even know her husband was a member of Club Esoteria?
For now, she vowed to keep her distance. The baby blanket she started upon arriving was nearly half done by the time the doctor made his appearance and assured Mrs. Montgomery and the people with her that Chaz would recover but it would be several months before he was completely healed. The left side of his body was in pieces. His upper arm was broken in two, and both upper and lower bones of his left leg were now held together by rods and wires, which would have to remain in place for several months. He also suffered from internal injuries, which had required extensive surgery to stop all the bleeding.
Mimi dropped her head and blinked hard to keep the tears from falling. He was an active man who did not like to sit around. How was he going to get through the next several months of healing, recovery, and rehabilitation needed to return to his life? As she listened, Mimi prayed for strength to be able to help Master Chaz as a friend and not just as a sexual submissive. She added a request that he allow her to be a part of his life, whether or not they ever played at the club again.
She waited another half hour until Mrs. Montgomery and two friends disappeared to go to the recovery and see Chaz. Only then, did she pack her belongings up and leave. Exhaustion was weighing on her like an elephant sitting on her shoulders.
From what the doctor had said, it would be several days before Chaz would be allowed to see anyone other than his immediate family. She just hoped she could wait that long without going crazy or misrepresenting herself as his sister or cousin or some other female relative.
* * * *
She tried to concentrate of work and remain active in her own life, but it was difficult. All she could think about was Master Chaz. She wanted to be there for him, needed to touch him and confirm to herself that he was indeed going to get better. She wanted to help in whatever capacity she could, though with him still in ICU, that was impossible.
On the third day after his accident, as she had done every day he had been in the hospital, Mimi called the hospital.
“Patient information, may I help you?”
“Good morning, I’d like to know what room Chaz Montgomery is in please,” Mimi said, working to keep the anxiety out of her voice.
“It looks like he was moved to room thirty-four twenty-six last night,” the woman said.
“Does that mean he can have visitors now?” Mimi’s clit and nipples tightened with excitement. She knew it would be months before they had sex again, but just knowing she could see him had her body winding up with anticipation.
“Yes, ma’am. Visiting hours are ten in the morning until eight at night,” the clerk answered.
“Thank you. Have a good day,” Mimi said, unable to keep the joy from her voice.
The phone went dead in her ear without the woman responding.
Glancing at the face of her phone, she saw she had an hour to get ready to go see Master Chaz. An hour to figure out how to ask him about her and how she fit in his life if he already had a wife. An hour prepare for him to kick her out of his life. Or would he?
She forced herself to wait two hours, hoping to get herself calmed down, but her nervousness only grew until she finally left the house then forced herself to run three errands on the way to the hospital.
Her stomach knotted painfully tight as she walked down the hall to his room. She kept her pace steady as she read the small signs by each door that held a door number. Passing the nurses’ station, one of the women looked up. “Who are you looking for, honey?”
“Chaz Montgomery,” Mimi managed to say without her voice squeaking with fear.
The nurse smiled sympathetically. “Keep going, on your left. But if he’s sleeping, don’t wake him.”
Mimi nodded and kept walking. There it was. The door was open. She heard voices coming from inside, a woman and then Chaz. She paused midstep when her pussy clenched with excitement. Taking a deep breath, she took the last three steps so she could see in his room. There was a privacy curtain pulled halfway across the doorway, and all she could see was his left leg, heavily bandaged and propped up on several pillows.
The woman continued to talk, and she recognized the voice as that of Mrs. Montgomery. Maybe this wasn’t such a good idea after all.
Before she could back away, turn, and run, Chaz called out, “Come on in and join the party.”
As her feet began to move toward the doorway, she wondered how he had known she was there.
Chapter 5
Chaz looked to the doorway, hoping it whoever had stopped in the hall outside his door was a friend and not another doctor, nurse, or lab technician. He was tired of being poked and prodded. What he really wanted
was his own bed and about a dozen hours of sleep. While his caregivers agreed he needed to rest, they seemed determined to keep him awake.
Every time he fell asleep, it seemed like they waited twenty minutes before coming in and waking him. Earlier that morning he had growled at the girl who was delivering a vase of flowers from his coworkers. He really wanted everyone to just go away and leave him alone so he could sleep. But Kelly had taken an early lunch to come by and check on him, so he did not feel right about kicking her out, though he really wanted to close his eyes and rest.
Turning his head, he was surprised to see Mimi step around the half-closed curtain, looking hesitant and as scared as the first time he had tied her to a bed. He was even more shocked when his cock twitched at seeing the pretty submissive even though she was the last one he wanted seeing him in this condition.
“Hello,” Kelly said, standing and crossing the room.
He watched as Mimi shook her hand and gave the appropriate greeting before turning her attention back to him. He saw a sad, fearful look in her eyes and wondered if she was still upset about Friday night.
“Kelly, this is my friend, Mimi. Mimi, this is my roommate, Kelly,” Chaz said, fighting to keep a smile on his face.
He was tired, and the drugs the nurse had given him a few minutes before were starting to kick in, banishing the pain and dragging him back to sleep.
“Go to sleep,” Kelly said, sounding very much like his mother had when he was a child.
“Yes, Mother,” he snarked before turning his attention to his newest visitor. “I’m gonna take a nap now. Of course someone will probably be in to wake me in about twenty minutes.”
Mimi gave him a small smile. “Then you should sleep while you can.”
Unable to fight the pull any longer, Chaz laid his head back, relaxed, and drifted off in less than a minute.
More Than His Sexy Toy [Club Esoteria 13] (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 3
