Page 15 of Gene

“Words.”

“Yes, boss,” she forced out.

Everything in her wanted to call him Daddy like he had earlier. Or was that all in her mind? Had he not said it and had she been fantasizing or hallucinating?

“Boss will do for now, but I would rather you call me something else,” he mumbled, but she could clearly hear him. “Now, be a good girl and do what I said.”

Sammi turned around and rolled her eyes as she walked away.

“Roll your eyes again, and you’ll be over my lap.”

CHAPTER SIX

SAMMI

Aweek had passed and Sammi had been going into Gene’s office four times a day to show him that she’d drunk her water and refilled it. Had she actually swallowed the water? No. She always dumped it out on some plant before she got to his office.

Did it pain her to do that? Yes, because her mouth salivated at the thought of drinking. She was always looking at her water bottle but telling herself she couldn’t have any. Was it dangerous? Without a doubt she always guzzled water and other things when she got home. It made it hard to sleep at night when she woke up with the need to go to the bathroom on multiple occasions, but she figured it was better than stopping even more at work.

Guilt had planted himself in her stomach and stayed there every single time she dumped her water out and lied. He was happy, proud of her for drinking the water. Sooner or later, she was going to have to come clean or quit her job and never see him again so she didn’t feel guilty anymore.

“Boss wants to see you, Sammi,” Nolan yelled.

Her eyebrows pinched together, and she looked over at Nolan. Everyone had a walkie-talkie. Gene normally called her over the walkie-talkie. Maybe his had broken and he’d called Nolan on his phone.

Sighing, Sammi placed the container down and started walking toward his office.

“Wait! You forgot your water bottle,” Nolan called out.

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Gene said he wanted her to carry it around with her at all times. All she wanted to do was leave it at home, so she didn’t have to have the constant reminder that she was absolutely thirsty.

“Boss ain’t gonna like this.” Nolan shook her water bottle. “Haven’t been drinking?”

“It’s going to be fine. I’ll drink it while I walk over to his office. I’ve just been busy packing orders, and I forgot. Out of sight, out of mind,” she explained.

“Make sure that you do. Next time, I’ll set reminders so you can drink at regular intervals.”

Sammi glared at him and sneered. “I don’t need fucking reminders. I’m a grown woman.”

Nolan’s eyes went wide as he stared at her. She quickly grabbed the water bottle and turned around.

“Sorry, but please, you don’t need to set reminders. This is the first day I’ve not been drinking,” she said and started to walk before he could reply.

Her grip on the water bottle was tight as she walked out of the barn. She had made it the whole week without Nolan working with her. Until today. Today, it seemed like both of them were testing her. She hadn’t even known they were going to be working together until Gene had sprung it up on her.

She had gotten away with working on her own, taking jobs that didn’t need two people, but Gene had other ideas. Apparently, she wasn’t working enough with other people. That’s what Gene had said, anyway. But she knew that was all a bunch of baloney because she knew several people on the farm who always worked alone. Gene just wanted someone to have eyes on her and make sure that she was following the rules.

Sammi took a deep breath and opened the lid of her water bottle. She was almost to Gene’s office, and she needed to get rid of this water, so it would seem like she had drunk all of it.

She started to slowly pour it, looking at the water in longing as it got soaked up by the earth. Maybe Sammi needed to find a job where she could work from home and not have to worry about how many times she went to the bathroom.

“What the hell are you doing?” someone yelled.

Screaming, she turned real fast and stared at Gene with wide eyes. Her body swayed as everything became dizzy. She needed to stop moving so quickly, or she was going to pass out.

Arms wrapped around her, holding her steady as she took several deep breaths in, but the stars in her eyes weren’t going away. Was she going to faint?

“You’re okay. Nice deep breath in for me. Hold it. And slowly let it out. Good girl. Are you feeling better?” Gene gently asked.