Page 48 of Need

I took a few minutes to settle myself before turning on my computer and calling Jamie to get my messages. There was only one. Lily wanted to see me.

My feelings toward my friend were mixed at the moment. I’d spoken to Logan to see if he’d given her instructions that would have kept her in the bathroom for longer than normal. He’d assured me that he hadn’t since he’d known that she would most likely be escorting Brianna. That, of course, left normal human reasons for her to have taken so long, leaving my girl alone. I knew I couldn’t fault her for that, even if I wanted to. She couldn’t have known that simply having Brianna wait for her outside the ladies’ room would get her accosted. No one had thought Karl would go that far, although I should have.

I checked my e-mails. Most of them were routine; however, there was one from Daren.

Stephan,

I debated sending this a hundred times. But in the end, I thought it best.

I wanted to apologize. My presence disturbed your girl, and that was never my intention. By this point, I’m assuming you’ve discovered that I played with her. It was at the party I told you about. If you would like details, you know how to reach me.

Your friend,

Daren.

The fact that Daren had contacted me wasn’t what surprised me; it was that he’d chosen e-mail as his method. I’d been expecting a phone call, or even for him to show up at my office. E-mail was definitely unexpected. It made me wonder why.

Before I could think too much about it, I called his cell. He picked up on the second ring.

“Stephan, I’m glad you called.”

“I got your e-mail.”

He sighed. “I figured as much.”

“I have to say I’m a little surprised you e-mailed me. Why didn’t you just call?”

“Maybe I should have. No—I should have. But I wanted to give you time with your girl. It was obvious she reacted very badly to seeing me again. Is she all right?”

“Yes. She’s better now. Seeing you was obviously a shock. I didn’t know you were going to be there. She had no warning, which didn’t help.”

“I know. I’m sorry about that, too. It was a last-minute decision. Someone couldn’t go, so I stepped in. Otherwise, I would have said something.”

This caused me to feel mortified. He could have done something, made an effort, but he didn’t. “You could have just stayed away from her. That would have been best.”

He was silent for a long time.

“You’re right. My apologies. I shouldn’t have tried to make contact knowing what I did.” He paused again. “How is she now?”

“Better.”

“I’m glad she’s better,” he said with remorse. “Your girl told you what happened?”

“She didn’t go into details,” I acknowledged, making it clear I wanted more from him. “What happened?”

“Ian and I struck up a conversation. He was bragging about his new slave. I was talking about Gina. Very normal. Brianna knelt at his feet with his Alpha the whole time. I had no reason to suspect that something wasn’t right. The conversation turned to the new cane he’d gotten, and he offered to let me try it out on her. It wasn’t until I’d been caning her for a few minutes that I realized something wasn’t right. She was so still, like she wasn’t there. It wasn’t a normal submissive reaction at all. She wasn’t in subspace. She wasn’t enjoying it. I began watching her mannerisms, and saw how she was trying to escape her discomfort.

“I decided to test my theory and asked Ian what her safeword was. He told me she didn’t have one. At that point, I asked if there was a room where I could play with her privately. He was happy to oblige my use of his slave. Once I got her alone, I began again and saw how scared she was not only of me, but afterward she was even more so of going back to her Master. Before, in Ian’s presence, she’d been almost void of emotion entirely. By then I knew for sure. After that, I decided to keep an eye on the situation.”

I knew from first-hand experience what Brianna was like when she became deathly still.

Shortly after that, I ended the call. I needed to check on Brianna, it was almost ten o’clock. Instead of hearing her beautiful voice, I heard mine as the answering machine picked up. I quickly left a message, hung up, and tried her cell next. Again, I got voicemail. I was beginning to worry. Why wasn’t she picking up?

I left another brief message telling her to call me on my cell, and then hung up. Closing my eyes, I tried to calm myself. Maybe she was still sleeping. I was doubtful, but I would give her some time and try again.

A knock sounded on my door. I saw Lily peek her head in as she opened it a few inches. “May I come in?” I gave her a terse nod, and she stepped into the room. “I wanted to apologize and make sure that Brianna was okay. I shouldn’t have left her, and I’m sorry.”

“No. You should not have,” I snapped.

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