Page 105 of Deep Cover

3

Cole

She was in for a surprise this morning. As we ran back to the compound, I thought of the two new things I'd be introducing into her morning routines. She'd be fighting soon enough.

That was good. She'd only been back less than a month and already I could see the signs of restlessness in her. She might be thinking of running again.

Being a billionaire and a philanthropist protects a reputation from a lot of things. There's always someone popping up in the media to insist they've been abused by or threatened by or fucked by someone who has money and position, especially if that person also does good works.

Fact was, some of those people weren't lying. They were earlier experiments that didn't work. People I'd taken in before I learned what I was looking for, the perfect mix of defiance and submission, of fear and confidence.

Like Annie. She thought she could make it on the outside. She had for some time after all. But if she was released now, with her inner appetites only just aroused and the opiate just under control, she'd be addicted and using again within a month.

The reason she fought so hard was that she liked what I did to her. Not all of it, of course. A good amount of what I did to her was meant to hurt. To punish. Or just to hurt because I wanted to hurt her. Nothing was permanent but it probably felt infinite at the time.

I wouldn't know. I didn't have a single masochistic bone in my body. Anyone doing to me what I doled out to others would die.

So Annie – even being back in my "care" and the two of us resuming our work - there were changes coming soon. I had to be gone for a while and she'd be under the thumb of another minder, a babysitter of sorts who'd brook no nonsense from her and would send me reports. That would be one test. How would Annie respond to a woman she could undoubtedly overpower even if she knew good and damned well she couldn't overpower my guards?

And then too, I'd told her I wanted some baseline medical information because the trials I was doing with the rainforest compounds, while illegal, were still highly important in producing a drug that could help turn the tide with the opiate epidemic in the U.S.

She colored so prettily when I stripped her and exposed her. The examinations would be delightful.

But there was still the altered morning routine to introduce her to and for now she was showing off, running faster than I was, so I doubled my speed and caught up, grabbing her ponytail to slow her.

Unpredictable as ever, she laughed, her head going back, and we passed together into the compound and out of the rainy, cold December morning.

It was good to have my property back.

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