by Rachel Burns
There was a soft knock on his door. He loved that she always knocked. She was so respectful.
“Come in,” he called out to her.
She stepped in and stood in front of his desk. “Master, would it be alright if I lie down a little. I tuckered myself out with all the cleaning.”
Sawyer could see that she was hiding something from him. He knew her so long now that he could tell that she wasn’t lying to him, but that she was leaving something out. They’d been together for a full year now.
“Morgan, what aren’t you telling me?” he asked the woman who was wearing his expensive gift. That had to mean something.
“I’m not leaving anything out. I’m sore, and my side is a little cramped up.”
He nodded at her. For some reason, she put up a wall. She was blocking him again. One step forward and two steps back, he thought.
“Go lie down. I’ll bring you a bowl of soup up in a couple of hours.”
“Thank you, Master.” She turned away and left.
Sawyer sat and stewed as he worried about her. Would she ever tell him who she really was? Or why she was the way she was?
It hurt him that she didn’t trust him. The real problem was that he didn’t trust her either. She was too secretive for that.
Chapter 22
After a long day of tests, Martin was shown to a room. He hadn’t been feeling well, but suddenly he had passed out during a meeting this morning. This was the nearest hospital, and his team had brought him here.
He was waiting for the test results, but it was already clear that his lungs were full of cancer. How? He had never smoked, he kept himself fit, and he ate healthy. He tried not to drink too much, and he kept his mind active. Martin had done everything that doctors recommended. How could this have happened to him?
He wasn’t alone in the room. A man was sleeping in the other bed. In whispers, the nurse told him where he could put his things.
Martin had two men posted outside of his door. It would be difficult for them to protect him when he had a roommate.
“I need a private room,” he told the nurse, speaking to her as if she were his secretary, who would do whatever he instructed her to do.
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible,” the nurse replied.
“Do you know who I am? People like me don’t share rooms.” Martin informed her.
“You can take your problems up with the administration or you can wait for your results and hopefully go home soon. But for now, this is what we have.”
“It’s not my fault that this place is under construction,” he snapped at her.
“Grin and make the best of it.” She smiled at him and left the room.
Martin looked at the bed and the chair beside it. He didn’t want to lie down, but for some reason he was exhausted.
The nurse had made it clear that she would like him to change in a pajama and get into bed. Was he supposed to do Sudokus all day while he waited for his results?
No matter, he would fly home and get his treatments at what he would consider a real hospital. This place was for the masses. Martin needed experts to kick this cancer thing. He wasn’t going to go the conventional route. He had the money to do whatever was on the cutting edge and kick this problem to the curb.
Martin could already picture himself afterwards. People would look at him and think that he was stronger for it.
One of his bodyguards brought him an overnight bag. Martin changed in the bathroom and lay down. He felt so unbelievably tired. This wasn’t like him. He could hardly wait to go home and talk to real doctors.
~
Martin woke up because his roommate had company. The curtain between them had been drawn. He couldn’t see the family, and he had to admit that they were trying to be quiet, but they were visiting the father of their family, who apparently was dying of cancer. They were talking about the life that they had spent together.
They had fond memories of the things they had done together. Family vacations were a big topic. They drove all over the country when their kids had summer vacation.
“Do you remember the time, we forgot David at the Grand Canyon,” a female voice called out.
“I was in the bathroom,” a deep voice laughed. “When I came back out, everyone was gone.”
Most of their sentences started with do you remember. Martin could remember sitting in the back of the limo with Morgan, thinking that she wasn’t very good-looking. She wasn’t anything like the woman he had dated and then gotten pregnant. Stephanie had been beautiful.
Martin remembered the look in Morgan’s eyes when she looked at him. There was always fear and sadness in them. She always made it clear that she wasn’t happy to be with him.
Then he thought about her punishments. Those were supposed to toughen her up. But they hadn’t. They had backfired instead. She had turned into a weak person who believed that she was supposed to take it when someone hit her. It didn’t matter that he had paid for her to have lessons to make her strong. In her mind, it was inevitable that she would get hit. He knew that he had been the one to plant that seed in her mind.
He wracked his brain, trying to find one moment when they’d had a nice moment together, but he could only think of the one. It was when she told her doll that giants lived in the tall buildings she saw. After that night, she had been extremely quiet around him. He never heard her talk to her doll again.
No matter how hard he tried he couldn’t think of another moment when he had been impressed with her and when she had made him smile. He couldn’t picture her laughing either.
He tried to picture her in his mind, but her head was always hung and her hair was covering her face.
They weren’t like the family on the other side of the curtain.
The truth was that he knew where she was thanks to one of the Patterson kids.
When Nils called him, giving him what he considered a courtesy call, Martin had a private investigator go out to Oklahoma and get a look at her. He declared that it was really her, and that she was still there. She was happy. That was new for her. Martin had never truly been happy in his life, the truth was that he envied her.
Oklahoma wasn’t that far from here. Maybe he should visit her.
~
“How long do I have?” Martin asked his doctor back home. He was here to get a second opinion. Already the doctor was confirming what the doctors out in Texas had told him.
The doctor looked down at his papers. “A couple of months. This form of cancer goes quickly. It’s already so far spread. If you had come to your check-ups sooner, we might have been able to prolong your life, but not at this stage. I’m sorry, Martin. I wish I could help you more.”
“I was busy. I have a company to run, and people depend on me.”
“Then I suggest that you get everything taken care of quickly. You won’t have the strength to do it towards the end.” The doctor discussed the plan on how to continue and talked with Martin about his options, and gave him a couple of pamphlets to read before he left to see his next patient.
Martin was free to go home and manage his affairs. He went down to his waiting limousine, deciding that he would fire his bodyguards soon. There was no longer a good reason to protect himself.
“We’re going to the office,” he told them as he got into the back.
As he sat in the back, he never felt more alone. Usually, he was glad to be alone in the back of the limousine, but today it would have been nice to have someone to talk to.
Sometimes, he had women in the back of the limousine with him. That he had liked. He’d been too much of a playboy to commit to one.
He tried to name a few of the women he’d had back here with him, but his thoughts returned to Morgan.
Why was he thinking about her so much?
He knew that she was alive and well and living with some older guy. She worked in the diner sometimes, but she also had time off. The guy was a mayor, but he was by no means the type of man that he wanted
her to marry. He couldn’t take over Martin’s empire. But what about Morgan? Would she want his empire?
She hadn’t finished college. That was something that disturbed him greatly. Maybe he should go to her and have a talk with her, telling her that she had options.
He wanted her to inherit everything. If she wanted the business, it was hers. If she wanted to sell it bit by bit, she could do that too. It didn’t matter to him anymore. The one thing he wanted was for her to come to his funeral. He wanted her to be there in a black dress carrying a red rose.
Would she do that?
Chances were that she wouldn’t. He had burnt that bridge a year ago when he went to visit her in the hospital. He hadn’t treated her well. It was clear that he didn’t deserve better treatment than he given her.
At his office, he tried to think of ways to let people know that he would be leaving soon, but he was confronted with so much work. People expected him to be on point every second of the day. He gave them what they wanted. It was easier not to think about what the doctor said that way.
He told his secretary that he needed to be on a flight to Oklahoma tomorrow, informing her that it was the most important thing he had to do. “Everything else will be based on how that meeting goes.”
“Yes, sir,” she replied, already picking up the phone to make the call.
~
That night, Martin didn’t sleep well. He had no idea how his daughter was going to react when she saw him.
Chapter 23
Sawyer looked down at the woman sleeping in his bed. She’d been a part of his life for just over a year now, and he still didn’t know the first thing about her.
He tried to understand her, but she had too many protective walls built up high around her. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t tried to figure her out. He’d observed her to the point that he felt that he’d studied her. But he was none the wiser.
The woman who lived with him side-by-side was a mystery. He had no idea where she came from, how long she would stay or who was chasing her.
That was one of the few things that he was sure of. She was on the run from someone. Would he be able to protect her when they caught up to her?
Was she worth protecting?
He grabbed onto the ropes that were tied around her wrists, wanting to remove them.
She woke up immediately. Her body twisted, and her rump wiggled in his face as she tried to get her bearings.
“Lie still,” he demanded.
“Yes, Master.” Within a heartbeat, her body was still. Her only movement came from her breathing. She was trying to breathe as little as possible.
“Roll over so your lying face down,” he ordered, knowing without a doubt that she would obey his instructions without hesitation.
“Yes, Master.” Her voice was soft and sweet, making her sound as if she were an innocent, which he personally knew wasn’t true. She was a pain slut through and through. There was nothing that she wouldn’t do. The submissive in her forced her to obey.
He tugged her hands high over her head and hooked the ropes to the headboard, which he’d designed himself so it could be used for several of his evil purposes. Thinking that made him grin. He wasn’t evil, but he liked to dominate women, this woman particularly.
Sawyer moved off to the side and looked down at her naked body. It was creamy and long. No imperfection could be seen anywhere. The light punishment he had given her earlier was already healed. Obviously, he’d been too gentle. That would never satisfy someone like her. She needed him to be rough, or she wouldn’t come.
Sawyer still wasn’t certain if he should thank her previous master, or if he should beat the shit out of the guy. He had either ruined her or formed her to perfection.
“Spread your legs,” he demanded.
He watched as her feet moved apart as if she were making a snow angel in the snow. There was no pause or a moment of indecision before she moved her legs. They parted with the ease of a woman who was completely comfortable in her skin, who knew she had nothing to be ashamed of.
Sawyer went to the chair where he’d left his belt. It was still looped through his jeans. He pulled it out satisfied with the noise it made. She would know exactly what he was doing, but she showed no sign of fear or eagerness. She remained still, pretending that nothing fazed her.
It was fun playing with her. He knew what he needed to do to get her to show some reaction.
She was a tough nut to crack, but the sound she made when she finally came made it all worth it. If she were in a position to do it when she came, she would lean forward and exhale in his ear, making a soft cry that came from deep within her. That had become his favorite sound in the world.
“Lift up your cute little ass so I have an easier target.”
“Yes, Master.” His eyes were locked on her as she wiggled into the position that he wanted to see her in. From his standpoint, he could easily see the charms she hid between her legs. She was open like a flower, calling to be pollinated.
For a short moment, he wondered if it felt as good for a bee to pollinate a flower as if felt for him to fuck her. He doubted it. Nothing felt better than being inside of her. He was positive that every man on the planet wished they could be with her, fucking her every night. But he was the one who got to master her and be with her. It may be very frustrating, but she was worth it in moments like this one.
He folded his belt in half and stood at the end of the bed, not willing to give up the view she was presenting to him.
Still, he made her wait a moment longer, testing her. She remained perfectly still. Her breathing was even, and none of the muscles in her body showed signs of tension.
Sawyer had to wonder at the abilities of her formal master. He must have been a genius to teach her to do that so quickly.
He decided not to dwell on thoughts of her previous master. Sawyer already thought about him way too much. It wasn’t good for his ego to compare himself. What mattered was that she was in his bed right now.
In this moment, he was her master. She obeyed him, giving him her submissiveness, the greatest gift she had to give. At least, it was in his view. In her view, it was the only thing she had to give.
He cracked the belt across her ass. The sound of leather beating flesh was a nasty one, and it made his eyes blink. Whereas, she hardly moved. Her body didn’t clench together, and her breathing didn’t increase. He doubted that her heart rate sped up. It was too soon in her punishment for that, not that she had done something wrong. Or better said, she hadn’t done anything new wrong.
They were still fighting over the same thing as always. No matter what he said or did, she refused to tell him her real name or where she came from.
That bothered him so much, because as the mayor of their small town and the owner of the truck stop, he needed her to be on the books, paying taxes and being a real part of the community. He could never take her out as his girlfriend. Instead, they hid out in his apartment over the truck stop, fucking and doing scenes. He couldn’t take her with him to church either. He especially missed her when he had to attend a funeral.
Sawyer wanted a well-trained slave, but he also wanted a wife, especially for representative reasons.
As mayor, he needed a wife. Someone who would be respectful and shake hands and listen to concerns. Could she do something like that?
Of course, she could. She did it all the time at the truck stop when she talked to the truckers and farmers. They loved her. He teased her that they only liked her because she gave them larger slices of pie than he did. When she cut the pies, he lost out on at least one piece per pie. That added up over time.
He teased her that he would dock her pay, but he wasn’t paying her because he couldn’t. It was impossible to pay someone who didn’t have a last name or a bank account.
Sawyer cracked the belt across her sit spot, making her gasp and buck her hips forward. So soon? She was usually tougher than that.
“Get back into position,” he ordered
although she was already returning to where he wanted her to be.
In the moonlight, he could see an angry red slash across both cheeks. With her legs opened wide, he figured that he might have gotten her sensitive inner lips as well. It didn’t matter. He could kiss them and make it better later.
He gave her another lash, making certain that it landed higher. Again he got no reaction out of her.
He quickly gave her three more that made her shift slightly forward. Immediately, he called her out on it, scolding her to get back into position, which she did without complaint.
“Tell me your name.”
“Morgan,” she answered him.
“Your real name.”
“That is my real name, Master,” she replied.
“Real names come with last names.” He pointed out as he had thousands of times before. He should call the police to arrest her, but she smiled at them and gave them nice big slices of pie. They’d never arrest her.
He landed another low blow across her sit spot. As if she had expected it, she didn’t react or move away. She was good at that, too good. Who taught her to do that?
“Why did you leave your last master?” he asked her before he could stop himself.
“He didn’t want me anymore,” she replied, sounding a bit off. She always sounded that way when she talked about him. She never mentioned him on her own. Sawyer was the one who wanted to talk about him.
Sawyer’s worst fear was that she was merely tolerating him while she pined after her old master. Was this proof that she didn’t care about him? She had never said that she didn’t want him anymore. Instead, she said that he didn’t want her anymore. That was a big difference.
“If he shows up here and asks you to return to him, would you?” Sawyer had never asked her that before because he feared that he wouldn’t like her answer.
She looked over her shoulder at him. “No, never.” The question had surprised her.
