The Collaring of Chloe Ch. 35

"Oh, of course, sir, I know." Chloe quickly said with a respectful bow of her head. "Just as my choice to wear this collar and lead for my Master isn't any kind of reflection or statement on gender politics." She gave him an innocent look. "Still, sir, I wouldn't think I should be any more, or less, responsible for how my choices might look to others than you should be for who is in what positions in this room. As the head of the department, sir."

She heard Alvin struggle to contain a snort of laughter. Mister Webber, however, did not look all that amused. Luckily, Master and Coleen had just finished up and he quickly swept in to cut off anything further between them. "Well, Mister Webber, I thank you for your time and help. We'll take our leave, so you can return to your responsibilities. I apologize for any impositions."

If Webber had any further complaints, he seemed content with just letting them take their leave, but remained in place at Coleen's desk, grimly watching them as they exited back out into the outer hallway. Chloe stole one last look at her old job before it disappeared from view and felt a sense of closure to any thoughts that she might ever miss her old life. If she never again stepped foot in this building, she would be okay with that.

Once they were safely back in the hall, Alvin eyed Master. "You should have told me that you were actually here to conduct some business. I could have helped direct you to who you needed to see."

Master gave a little chuckle. "Well, I didn't actually know I had any business here until that moment. Considering Mister Webber's attitudes, however, I may end up just wasting my time anyway."

"How did you even know they had property to sell, Master?" Chloe asked curiously. "Or that they had just shut down something?"

Master gestured to the large display mural the two workmen had been at, both of whom had disappeared, likely to some other task. "For one, I noticed they were in the process of removing the industry branding for something from their board. I got a glimpse at the logo they were removing and recognized it from one I saw on a recently closed building we passed on the way here." He gave a playful shrug. "It was basically more a guess than anything I actually 'knew', but I thought it might help smooth things over in there."

"Are you actually in the business of buying up old buildings?" Alvin asked, looking a little impressed.

"I deal in commercial property and do tend to keep an eye out everywhere I go for places that might be worth buying." Master said with a grin. "The one I saw didn't actually interest me that much, but it might be worth seeing if they have some others for sale."

Chloe peered at him curiously. "Could you actually afford something like that, Master?" Chloe asked, knowing what the value of most of the properties that Warston-Clark owned happened to be.

Master laughed. "There is a big difference between what I keep for my own money and the money that is in my business holdings for things like this, slave. I think you might be kind of shocked at just how much real asset worth I actually have. I own a lot more than just property in Zucker's Mill."

For a long moment, Chloe regarded him, realizing just how little she really knew about her Master. She'd been his property for a few months now and had not even really given much thought to just how much he owned or how he went about his business. For a brief second, she felt a strange sense of epiphany run through her.

She actually knew more about Mistress Victoria, who she was, what she did, even just what she wanted from her, than she did her own Master. He was still mostly a mystery and seemed not in any hurry to change that. For a turbulent heartbeat, she considered what that may mean in terms of the conflict she was struggling with. She felt confident in the love she felt for him, but shouldn't that be illogical, given how little she really knew about him?

In the next moment though, she felt him give the gentlest tug on her leash, as though physically pulling her out of her inner thoughts. Her eyes focused on his, those deep beautiful eyes full of unmistakable love, and all those anxious worries flew away into the wind. Love didn't need logic to explain it. The one thing she did know about him, without question, was that he loved her.

And what else did she really need to know?

Despite the reactions they'd received in the financial reporting office, Alvin pointed out that they'd only been told by Mister Webber to leave that area, not the building. They took a little more time to tour a few more points of interest on that floor and a couple others, getting a fairly wide gambit of reactions. While there were others who looked as aghast as the administrative assistants had, they had far more people who seemed either amused by the sight or interested to know more.

They even had a chance run-in with Edith Buxley, whom Master had his appointment with. She'd remembered Chloe, much to Chloe's surprise, given how little interaction they'd ever had, and expressed absolute delight at seeing her all chained up and smiling about it. When Master mentioned that Mister Webber had suggested that he not bring her back for their meeting, she scoffed.

"Mister Brooksend, I am not offended by your lifestyle choices. As long as she is decently covered, you are welcome to bring her with you to our meeting. Retrained, corseted, and gagged, if you want." She gave him a wink and then shot a look at Chloe that was so full of Dominance that there was no question her mind that Edith was somebody's Mistress.

When they'd finally finished their tour, Master detached the chain running through her restraints in the lobby so Chloe could give Alvin and Layvon proper hugs and promise to bring them some snacks when she and Master came back for the meeting with Edith. It amused her that the security guards would be the only part of this whole place that she might actually miss.

As they headed back to Heron's car, Chloe wrapped herself around Master's arm, snuggling it. "Thank you, Master. I had a lot of fun walking around like that."

He kissed the top of her head. "I know you did. And I am very proud of how you handled yourself with Webber. Very good girl."

Chloe beamed at the affirmation. "I love y--"

They both stopped short, jaws going slack, as they looked ahead at the electric blue Lincoln. Master Heron was leaning against the side of the car looking utterly bemused at, not one, but four cat-girls dancing and cavorting in the parking lot to a local pop music station playing on his radio, Ellie bouncing about with them. "Where did they come from?" Chloe wondered aloud.

"Leave it to Mittens to have natural neko-magnetism." Master sighed.

As they came over, Mittens came gamboling over to meet them. "I's mades friends!" She gushed, waving towards the group of girls all jumping around to the music playing. "Did you know there's a comics shop just a block down?" She asked Chloe.

"I guess I did, but never really thought about it before." Chloe admitted, realizing she'd never even had the notion to give something like that a second glance before meeting Mittens.

"Are you 'Master'?" One of the other cat-girls asked, bounding over. She grinned up at him with large, starry eyes. "I'm Laurie!"

Master gave her a charming smile and nodded. "I am. Nice to meet you Laurie." He looked over at the other two girls still dancing with Ellie. "So, you came from the comic book store up the block, I take it?"

"Yeah. Well, it's really more a 'collectables' shop than just a comics place." Laurie replied. "They have a bunch of Japanese import stuff there. April works there, so she's able to tell us whenever they get anything new in." She pointed out one of the other two cat-girls. "We were headed down to Pastabin, that's the pizza place down the road, when we saw Mittens. She is soooo cool! I can't believe her tail! Do you really own her? Like for real?"

The girl was rambling on so fast that it was almost comical. Master chuckled, holding up a hand in hopes of getting the girl to take a breath long enough for him to reply. "For real. She's my pet cat. And, I agree, she is definitely something else."

Mittens grinned sheepishly at him. "I were takin' a stretch an' they saws me. We's been dancin' while we waited for ya." She looked to Chloe. "Did you have fun?"

"Yes, a lot." Chloe replied with a chuckle. "I really hope you haven't been a handful for poor Master Heron."

Master looked over to where the man was watching his own submissive playfully dancing with the rather cute cat-eared other girls. "I think he might be enjoying the show." He said softly, noting the broad grin on Heron's lips.

"Who wouldn't?" Chloe giggled.

Looking back towards Laurie, Master gave her an apologetic look. "We should probably get on our way. It was nice meeting you though. Perhaps, while we're in town, we can visit the collectables shop. If you give Mittens your info, she can let you know if we're going to swing by and when."

Laurie flashed a toothy smile. "Sure!"

As she and Mittens exchanged contact methods, Chloe and Master went over to Master Heron. "Sorry about how long we took." Master said politely. "Thank you for looking after Mittens."

Heron chuckled. "No trouble at all. I think my Ellie might be a bit smitten with her." He gave a nod to the silver-haired woman who seemed right at home amongst the youthful girls she was dancing with. "Honestly, she has kept us pretty entertained. She really is very clever and sweet."

"She is a wonder." Master agreed. "And manages to surprise me all the time." He gave a shake of his head, still in awe at Mittens somehow managing to find a gaggle of cat-girls, seemingly out of thin air.

Laurie rounded up her two friends and they enthusiastically waved their goodbyes as everyone piled back into the Navigator. Once they were out of the parking lot and under way again, Chloe was struck with an impulse. "Master, may I ask you something?"

He looked back at her inquiringly. "You may, slave."

"You mentioned that you weren't actually interested in buying that property you saw on the way in and that you hadn't intended to discuss business with anyone in Warston-Clark. However, you did mention earlier there was something you wanted to look into here, professionally." Chloe tried to lean forward enough to be able to still see at least part of Master's face, even if he turned back around. "Was there some other property you were planning to buy here?"

He looked at her a moment, his expression enigmatic. "Nope." He said finally, turning back around to look forward again and said nothing more.

Always the mystery.