Page 52 of Need

“Yesterday...Cal, well... he looked at me. Stared at me, I mean. And...” It still felt odd saying his name. “Stephan stared at me, too, but...”

“But...” she encouraged.

“But it was different. I mean, it didn’t feel the same when Cal did it.”

“I see,” she said. “And how did it feel when Cal was staring at you?”

I thought about it for a minute. It was hard to put into words. “Like... like he was trying to find something wrong with me.”

“And Stephan?”

“It made me feel uncomfortable, too, but not like with Cal. And I felt... warm? I don’t know how else to describe it.”

“So did you not like Stephan staring at you?”

“I don’t know. It’s... I feel like he’s looking at me without clothes on even if I’m fully dressed,” I whispered.

She laughed. “And do you ever look at him that way?”

I blushed. “I’ve only seen him without his clothes once.”

She smiled, obviously happy with that news for some reason. “I guess that would mean that you do,” she replied with a wink.

I hid my face and blushed again, only deeper this time. I could feel the heat in my cheeks. “Maybe, sometimes.”

At four o’clock, the food was ready and the table was set. All we were waiting on was Stephan. I took my apron off and went to wait by the door.

The lock turned and the door opened. I kept my head down as he walked straight past me to Lily. I knew she wouldn’t interfere with any punishment he gave me.

My heart sank when he didn’t greet me. He really was mad.

“Lily,” he greeted. “How is everything?”

“Good,” she answered. “Did you need me to do anything else? I need to get home and call Logan.”

“No. I think we’re fine here. Oh, and I called Logan to let him know what was going on. Thank you, Lily.”

“Anytime,” she replied as she began moving toward me. She hugged me, but I didn’t respond. I was too nervous. “I’ll see you later.” I heard her heels click across the floor and the door close. I knew that the time had come to face my fate.

He was moving around behind me, but he didn’t speak. I stayed where I was. There was more movement, then a chair scraping across the floor. “Come eat, Brianna.” Stephan’s voice was sharp and crisp, but still even and calm at the same time.

I made my way over to my chair and slowly sat down, keeping my head lowered. He put food on his plate and began eating before I served myself.

Dinner was tense. We didn’t always speak during meal times, but this was different. I knew I’d done wrong, and I just wanted him to punish me and get it over with, but that wasn’t my decision. I knew that.

When he was finished, he got up and went to his chair, leaving his dishes for me. I tried to finish, but without him there beside me, the food seemed tasteless. After a few more bites, I was done. As quietly as I could, I cleared the table and put the food away. The door to the dishwasher clicked shut, and I set the timer.

“Bring your phone when you come.”

His voice came out of nowhere and I jumped a little, startled. Quickly, I grabbed my phone from the counter where I’d left it earlier and went to his side.

Instead of opening his arms to me as he usually did, he motioned to the floor. “On your knees, Brianna.” I complied and put my head down. “Give me your phone.” I did as he requested, and sat there waiting. He flipped the phone over in his hands a couple of times before hitting a few buttons. He set it down on his leg. “It appears to be working properly. I see no reason why you couldn’t return my phone call today in a timely manner.”

“No, Sir.”

“What do you have to say for yourself?”

“There is no excuse, Sir. I should have picked up the phone when you called, or called you right back.”

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