Page 16 of Gene

“Yeah,” Sammi replied, but she really wasn’t.

She felt like she was going to collapse with her vision ever so slowly closing in on her. She gripped his shirt, not wanting him to let her go and her fall to the ground.

“I’ve got you,” he gently told her. “Daddy’s going to pick you up now.”

Before she could process his words, she was in his arms, and he was walking. Her grip tightened around him.

“Don’t worry. I’m not going to drop you.” He chuckled. “You’re precious cargo, and I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.”

Everything quieted as he walked into his office, setting her on a chair.

“Can you tell me what’s wrong? Does anything hurt? Or are you still dizzy? Do you need anything?” he asked her in quick succession.

Blinking several times, she stared at him, not knowing which question to answer first.

“Nothing hurts,” she offered as he continued to stare at her, worry across his face. “I see some stars, but they’re going away.”

She was being honest this time because she knew if she wasn’t, he would just know. It was that, but she was also hoping it would help some of the guilt go away. Realistically, Sammi knew the only way the guilt was going to go away was to come clean and get punished for it.

“Here, have some chocolate and some water.” He held a piece of chocolate in front of her mouth.

Sammi went to take it, but he held the chocolate back. She glared at him and he gave her a smile.

“I didn’t say you could grab it. Open your mouth like a good Little girl, and let Daddy feed you the chocolate,” he gently said.

Sammi stared at him in shock, and she opened her mouth just a little. So she hadn’t dreamed that he said those words the other week. He really had and she was hearing them again.

“Good girl,” he cooed at her as he placed the chocolate in her mouth. “Such a good girl for Daddy.”

She hummed in delight as the chocolate melted in her mouth. She relaxed into the chair as he fed her another piece. She could get used to this, but she knew it was a one-time deal.

“Feeling a little bit better?” Gene asked.

She nodded and stared at him. Anticipation was rolling in her stomach as she waited for him to say something. So much had gone on in a short span of time. Did he actually see what she was doing, or was he just trying to scare her?

“Nolan said you wanted to see me. If you don’t need me anymore, I’ll go back to work and finish up the couple of orders I had left,” she softly spoke when she realized he wasn’t going to say anything.

“You will not be returning to work today,” he calmly said.

She stared at him worriedly as he stood and walked around his desk. He grabbed his chair, rolling it right in front of her. Sammi took a deep breath as he sat down, placing his legs on either side of hers, trapping her.

“Is everything okay?” she hesitantly asked.

“What do you think?” he answered with a question.

Alarm bells went off in her head as she stared at him. It was never a good sign when somebody answered a question with a question.

“Umm, yes?” she replied.

Sammi searched his face, trying to figure out if she had given the right answer or not. But the longer she searched his face, the more nervous she got. He gave no indication whether she was right or not.

“No. Everything is not okay. Do you want to know why?” he asked.

“Umm, no, not really,” she honestly replied. She had a feeling that she didn’t want to know why everything wasn’t okay. She had a feeling that it had to do something with her, and she didn’t like that.

“Tough because you’re going to sit here while you sip your water and listen to me,” he said as he opened the bottle, handing it to her.

Her hands shook as she took it, a splash landing on her lap. His hand wrapped around hers, steadying them as she took a deep breath.

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