The Collaring of Chloe Ch. 10

"I already am, Sir." She replied sparing a look towards Mittens to emphasize her contentment with the adorable girl.

"Please, you can call me 'Mister Charles'." He said with a smile. "Everyone calls me that, even some of my own family." He gave a little laugh.

"Okay, Mister Charles." She replied back, giving him a little nod. "It's a pleasure to actually meet you. I hope we get to talk more sometime."

"We will, dear." He said with a wink. "I wish I wasn't so busy now. But Rachel comes here all the time, I'm sure we'll have plenty of time to properly chat."

He gave them both a wave and disappeared back into the office, Mittens leading Chloe into the store. As they began looking around for Master, Chloe looked at her a moment. "Rachel?"

Mittens sighed. "It was my name before I changed it." She said, though Chloe had already surmised that much. "Mister Charles is one of the only people I let still call me by that name. I guess, with everything he's done for me, he's earned the right. He says I'll always be 'little Rachel Wilson' to him."

"He seems really nice."

Mittens glanced back towards where the office and the old man lay. "I don't know where I would be if he'd not been so nice. I owe him a lot, not the least of which is Master." She looked back at Chloe and gave her hand a squeeze. "And now you." She said in her cute voice and gave her that little feline smile she seemed to have down so perfectly.

They spotted Master coming out of an aisle ahead and rushed over to join him, giggling like children. As they came up to him, he gestured towards the cart. "I still have some more things to grab, but is there anything either of you want?" He looked pointedly at Chloe. "You especially, since I don't know everything you like yet. If you two want to run and grab anything, go ahead."

Nodding obediently, the two girls dashed off into the store. As they reached the cereal aisle, Chloe looked down the row of choices. "I guess I should pick out some that I like. What we have at the house is okay, but none of it is my favorite."

"I'm gonna run up a couple rows and grab some cookies while you decide." Mittens said, trotting off.

For a few moments, Chloe walked up and down the aisle, considering all the different choices. Focused on her thoughts, she didn't notice as another shopper came into the lane. However, the sound of a voice just behind her made her stiffen.

"Love the get-up, sexy." There was a slight slur to the words, spoken as if a little drowsy, the voice thick, deep, and gravelly. She felt a finger snake, uninvited, beneath one of the garter straps holding her stockings in place and boldly give it a little snap.

Chloe whirled around, instinctively taking a step back, but the shelf of cereal met her halfway, keeping her from going far. Behind her was a somewhat grubby-faced man, his hair pasted back to his skull with some kind of product that had dried it into the look of plastic bristles, wearing a short-sleeved gray work shirt and matching slacks. There was a scent of cigarette smoke and moldy dust wafting from him, as well as the unmistakable thread of stale beer smell. He might have been generally handsome if not for the watery eyes that leered at her in a very intimidating way. She saw them drift down to her throat.

"'Pending Slave', huh?" He said with a watery chuckle. "That mean you one of those kinky girls?" He gave a lusty little smile, seemed to edge forward a little. She could smell the stink of the beer on his breath, teeth so stained they looked covered in mud.

Chloe felt a desire to quickly escape, but the man moved to where he was hemming her in against the shelf. "Excuse me, sir." She muttered. "I need to...to get by, please." She didn't want to look him directly in those hungry, beer-blurred eyes.

"Don't worry, sexy, I'm just paying a compliment." He gave a little sound that was likely meant as a laugh, but sounded much too sinister for something born of mirth. "You wanna come back to my place, slavegirl?" He reached out to touch her, his work-calloused hand appearing to be headed towards her waist, or perhaps her skirt, but Chloe quickly moved to the side, shouldering past, just wanting to get away from him.

To her horror, his hand snapped out to grab her by the wrist before she made it more than a couple steps, holding her so firmly that it hurt. "Hey, I ain't gonna hurt you, sexy." He said with that slurry, menacing, laugh. "I mean, unless that's what you like." He grinned broadly at her with those rotten-looking teeth, eyes pointedly running down the length of her body. "I bet you ain't got no panties on under that little skirt, do ya?" He gave a little laugh, slowly dragging her closer to him, his vice-like grip on her wrist pinching hard enough to bring tears to her eyes.

She clawed vainly at his hand, pulling away from him, but could neither get his fingers to release or stop him from reeling her towards him. "Please..." She uttered, meaning it as a plea for him to let go, but he seemed to take it as an invitation, his lips curling into a grin and pulled her painfully towards him with a jerk that nearly took her from her feet.

Just then, a new hand snapped onto his arm and both of them looked to where Master seemed to have appeared out of thin air. "Let go." It was all he said, his voice quiet, but full of so much command that the man released Chloe without even seeming to realize he'd done so.

The man frowned at Master, his watery eyes seeming to accuse him of butting into something private, but when Master let go of his arm and waved Chloe over to him, the man appeared to register their connection. "Oh. She's one of your weirdos." He said with a tone of disgust, apparently finally recognizing Master.

Chloe moved over to him quickly, no longer worried about getting any cereal, just wanting to be away from this nasty man. Master gently squeezed her arm a moment before moving her behind him. "I think you should go about your business, sir." He said to the man, the menace in his voice heavy as stone.

The man gave them both a sneer, but moved away from them. "I don't want some brainwashed slut, anyway." He said, giving Chloe a look as though she was dirty. "Freaks like you shouldn't come to decent places like this."

Master just turned his back towards the man, leading Chloe away towards where the shopping cart was parked at the end of the aisle. As they reached it, Master put an arm around her. "You okay?" He asked, the concern in his voice so thick that it made her realize he was more scared for her than angry at the disgusting man.

"Yes, Master." She said in as soothing a voice as she could. "He just surprised me." She pressed against him, his arm going around her. "Thank you for rescuing me, Master."

"You shouldn't have been put in that situation." He said, kissing her on the top of the head. "I am so sorry."

She put a hand on his chest, already feeling better now that she was in the sanctuary of his arms. "I really am okay, Master. Guys like him are everywhere, unfortunately." She snuggled a little closer to him, finding a powerful sense of safety pressed against him. "Everything is better now that you have me." She looked up at him with a reassuring smile.

They met Mittens near the registers, her face full of worry and anxiety. She was wrapped around Chloe almost an instant later, her little body shaking lightly. "You okay?" She mewled softly.

"Yeah." Chloe said, petting her hair. "I'm fine, Mittens. Just ready to go."

Mittens stayed plastered to Chloe like a protective blanket of cuteness the whole time they were getting rung up. About halfway through the process, Chloe spotted Mister Charles escorting the grubby man, empty-handed, out of the store. The look of anger on the old man's face was so fierce that Chloe expected him to kick the man in the rear as he went out the door. Once the man was gone, he came over towards them, sidling up beside the girl at the register.

"Let me in there a moment, Cathy." He said to the girl, his fingers nimbly working the register's keys. "I am so sorry, James. I told that man he was not welcome back here again. I don't want you and your girls to feel that you can't be safe shopping here, no matter what any of you happen to be wearing." He looked straight at Chloe. "You okay, dear?"

Chloe gave a smile and a sigh. "Yes, Si—um, Mister Charles. Master saved me."

Mister Charles gave him a look of deepest respect, pausing in his working the register for a moment. "Well, James is a very good man. Still, you need to be careful too." He waggled a wrinkled finger at Master.

Master chuckled. "Yessir."

Mister Charles eyed him a moment, but the edges of a smile were evident. He finished his typing and Chloe saw their total drop noticeably. "I gave you kids a discount, as a way of saying sorry." He explained.

"That wasn't necessary." Master said, but his look showed gratitude for the gesture. "But thank you."

Mister Charles looked back at Chloe. "I don't care if all you have on is a smile while you're shopping, nobody has a right to treat you like that." He gave her a crisp nod, then his expression softened. "Now, you kids have a good rest of the night."

A couple minutes later, the three were loading the groceries into the back of the car, Mittens running the cart to the nearby corral. Chloe took the center seat this time, wanting to be between the two of them for the ride home. They made her feel secure and protected. Still, before they'd even gotten out of the parking lot, the full frightening impact of the moment hit her and, in that safe bubble between these two beloved people, she broke into tears. Master threw the car into park and both he and Mittens wrapped her in a tight hug.

For several minutes, they just sat there, clinging to each other. Chloe venting her turmoil. After all the wonderful fantasy, the unexpected dose of stark reality felt like a slimy worm wriggling in her stomach. Regardless, once she'd let it all out, supported by these two fantastic people, she could feel the warm bubble of the fantasy closing back around them, hemming out the horrible outside world.

"Thank you." She muttered to them, taking an offered tissue from Mittens, retrieved from the glove box. She blew her nose noisily and laughed at the sound. "I love you both so much." She felt her back stiffen a little, realizing what she'd said before she'd caught it.

"We love you too, Chloe." Master said without a hesitation and reached over to put a hand to her cheek, gently turning her face towards him. For a moment, he simply held her gaze with a reassuring look, then he tilted her head down and put a soft, but deeply meaningful, kiss to her forehead. Any lingering horror at her experience vanished at the kiss and she was once more fully inside her wonderful little bubble of wonder and fantasy.

Putting the car back into gear, Master drove them home while Mittens and Chloe cuddled together quietly.