To be Owned... Ch. 01

At her little nod of consent, I stand and walk to the door, pausing with my hand on the handle I turn, "Goodnight and sweet dreams."

Stepping into the hallway I text Seth to meet me in my office, the girl needs protection and he's the best choice for the job when I'm not around.

I also know he won't touch her at all, Seth has his own issues. He won't betray my trust or the girls, but I know he's going to hate babysitting duty.

I slump in my chair, I'm in the room right next to her, my mind lags on what's happening, on finding her, on her body, on her scars, on her inability to talk, the life she must have lived, for such a young age she's been through the wars. Where is her family? Surely someone must care about her, someone must miss her.

I reach over and pour two whiskey's downing mine in one gulp and pouring another as Seth walks in.

"Sit down, we need to talk," I grumble out. Seth might work for me but he's the closest friend I have, family, almost a son to me.

"Eh, now that's never good. About the girl?" Seth asks quietly. He's very perspective, can pick up on my emotions as well as anyone ever has.

At my nod, he sighs. "So what are you gonna do boss?"

"Fix her," I mutter well into my third drink.

"What do you want me to do M?" Seth scratches his face obviously trying to figure out what part he plays in this fucked up mess.

"Watch her, talk to her, show her how to do things when I'm not around. Most of all protect her, someone has fucked her up pretty bad," I pause to clear my throat. "We need to show her not all men are fucked up raping beast," I say with a shake of my head, I can't say I've ever despised humanity so much as in this moment.

"Got it, boss, no fucker is coming near your girl again." This is why I picked Seth, he's cut from the same cloth as me, a younger, beefed-up version. He understands the need to protect people weaker than himself.

"She's not my girl," I grunt. "Probably never will be," I start to a slur on my fifth glass of straight whiskey.

Seth snorts in laughter. "I give it a month before she's begging to have your babies. They all come around in the end." I know he's referring to my late wife. My sweet little Jess she had so much fight and passion it took me two years of constant pestering to get her to even go out on a date with me in the start. Eventually, I won her over, we got married had a few good years together and then she got cancer. My whole life spiralled to hell then no matter how much my Jess fought she couldn't fight her body dying.

"To much pain in this one, Brother. Deserves more than a jaded fuck like me." I grunt, truly hating myself for the first time in a long time. I wish I was the type of guy for a girl like her.

"Don't agree with you on that one M, she sleeping?" He says trying to change the subject.

I nod and blurt "Naked." I've had too much to drink. Far too much what 12 or 13? I ponder as I tilt my head back against the wall.

Seth's laugh is the last thing I hear as I pass out.

*****

The next day

Miki

Sunlight beams into my face, blinding me and waking me up to a roaring hangover at the same time pulsing in my brain causing the caffeine cravings to kick in. I'm inhuman without at least three coffees under my belt.

Wobbling to my feet I softly let myself into the apartment next door via the kitchen. This building used to be a brothel the previous owner lived down here and had some quirky interests. A two-way mirror on the office wall, a flick of a switch and you get a full view of the bed. I've been told by one of the girls who worked here in those days that he would have high-class clients that he blackmailed with footage and pictures. Hence the reason he disappeared one day the place left to fall into an almost derelict state. I got it cheap fixed it up and run a respectful club on the outside and a BDSM dungeon on the inside.

A place for the depraved like me to practice skills safely, a monitored environment for Dom's and sub's to socialize without fear or discrimination. Every member vetted.

I'll have to make sure I find a way to keep her occupied at nights I don't want her to see what goes on here just yet, there is no way I can expose her to it after everything she has been through.

I start the coffee maker and put some oatmeal on to cook, Melissa our staff Dr made a few suggestions on meals and little things that might make her fit in and feel more comfortable around here. A space of her own, giving her some freedom to purchase some clothes and knickknacks online, a way to talk I've found a note pad and a couple of pens for now, maybe we can do a few online sign language courses at a later stage, look at me thinking like I'm going to keep her. Like she would ever want to be owned by a guy like me.

A small grunt of self disgust leaves my throat as I try and get my thoughts back on track.

She really does need to see Melissa soon, I know I will have to coax her into maybe once she finds out she's a woman it won't be so bad.

A soft tap on my shoulder has me turning around. Looking at a beautiful sight of this little woman, barefoot, messy-haired, dressed in my T-shirt, it makes me feel and it makes me want for something I can't have.

"Good morning," I rumble. "Breakfast is almost ready then we can have a talk." I pat the note pad and pen I brought in with me. I need to ask her a few questions before we can figure out what to do with her.

A knock on the door sounds and her eyes grow wide with fear, she instinctively backs herself into a corner and starts to shake her head.

"Shh, it's OK," I murmur softly, "I have someone I want you to meet, his name is Seth he's going to help me keep you safe, he's a good guy. If anything ever happens that frightens you tell me or him straight away." I watch her stand in the corner still lost in her own thoughts when she awkwardly nods again.

I open the door and what I see makes me grin, Seth has cleaned himself up, cut his hair and trimmed his beard, he's even gone as far as to put a fresh shirt and tie on. I can't help but give him a little shit over it. "It's not prom, mother fucker or a date," I say as I let him in and slap him on the shoulder.

"I didn't want to scare ya girl, Dumbass." He grunts back at me.

I didn't notice his hand tucked behind his back until we step into the kitchen.

I speak soft and low to Retta holding my hand out towards her hoping she will come to me on her own. "Retta, this is Seth, he's a very good friend of mine."

Slowly, cautiously her eyes travel over him, from his cheeky grin all the way down to his fresh polished pants and back up again, it almost makes me jealous, if it hadn't been for the fear in her eyes or way they kept darting back to mine I may have lost my shit.

Once again she offers a small nod, what happens next amazes me, she rushes forward and grabs my hand, pushing her body into my side tucking herself awkwardly around and behind me. She peers around me offering Seth a small nod and an even smaller smile before she looks away.

He's gained her approval and a part of me realizes it's only because of me, if I didn't trust Seth she wouldn't either, her blind faith in me, in me knowing what's right for her feels satisfying, like she already knows I would never let any harm come to her.

Beaming a grin down at her I pat her hand tucked in mine with my other. Trying to offer as much comfort as I can without invading her space too much, which was hard to do with her stuck to me like glue.

"Hi, I brought you a present," Seth mutters looking down at his feet, he never really was very comfortable around women. He once told me he didn't know how to talk to them, he couldn't offer them anything worthy of a decent woman so he steered clear.

Looking down at his hands I see a pink teddy holding a box of chocolates. It's probably the sweetest thing I've seen the guy do.

I slightly tug her hand bringing her in front of me. I bring her hand up towards the teddy and notice it shaking, I use mine to steady it as Seth drops it in her palm. No contact was made between the two of them both of them needing that little bubble of space.

She smiles as she clutches the bear closer to her chest, the look of a child at Christmas. Happy like it's the best present in the world. Her head nods again in thanks.

Seth, on the other hand, looks a combination of sad and panicked, I offer him a scapegoat by asking him to wait in the office next door for a little while. He nearly runs for the door this little woman scares him just as much as he scares her. I hope with time they will both become more comfortable around each other.

All through breakfast she keeps looking at the bear to make sure it still sat beside her plate. Touching it occasionally. It was cute and heartbreaking to see, she really had a deprived life before I found her to get so much joy out of a simple bear.

"Are you ready to talk now?" I ask.

Loretta

He wants me to answer questions, its the least I can do, I feel like I owe him so much. Even if I can't answer everything he asks, I will try my best. I feel lighter today maybe I can hope for a better life now.

I grab my note pad and pen and wait on the sofa. Nervous about what he will ask but curious at the same time.

As he sits in front of me I can't help but look him over, he's a big man Miki, tall and wide. But he doesn't scare me, in fact his imposing build brings comfort, it makes me feel safe. His hair in the sunlight is beautiful, glowing, my fingers itch to reach out and touch it, to see if it's as soft as it looks. I won't, not after he yelled at me for offering him my body, that hurt, deep down it made me feel rejected and unworthy. I can't really blame him for it I wouldn't want to touch me either, not with everything I've had to do in my life to survive until now. The horrible names they called me pop into my head, slut, whore, nothing but a cunt to abuse.

Unknowing to my train of thoughts he starts with his first question. "Do you have a home?"

"No," I write and show him the page.

"OK, so how about family?" He gently asks.

"Yes." Well, I used to I'm not so sure about now. "Maybe? Dad?"

"Your father?" He questions. "How long has it been since you have seen him? Do you know where he is?"

"Long time." I think to myself for a second. "Years, I think." I scribble on the page giving him the most honest answer I can. "No, I don't know."

"Do you remember his name?" Miki questions.

"His name is Jake." I scribble away.

"OK, we will try and find him for you if you want." Miki states.

Sighing I shake my head and scribble. "No thank you." My father wouldn't recognize me now, he was always so strong, if he saw me now I don't think he could handle what had happened to me. Besides he gave me up without a fight, never once trying to find me. The nurses laughed in my face every time I asked if he was coming to see me. Better to let him be and continue on with his life.

"OK, it's your choice and the offer will still be there later." He hesitates at the next questions and I know what he's going to ask before he does. "Who did this to you? Do you remember where it happened?"

"Doctors, big building, lots of people, cause I'm sick." I write on the paper my hand shaking furiously, scrambling the words across the paper.

"Doctors did this to you? Because you have epilepsy? They hurt you?" He almost roars the last words, clearly upset by my answer.

I flinch and instinct kicks in, my hands raise to cover my face as I curl up into a ball. Trying to make myself as small as possible, shuddering in fear.

"No, stop Retta." He states calmly. "I'm not mad at you, I'm mad at them. I won't ever hurt you as they did. You have my word nobody will ever hurt you like that again." He grunts out rubbing his face.

Shaking still, I attempt to write "I know. No more questions please."

"OK, that's enough for today. When you are ready you can tell me more about it but I won't ask again." He says softly. Knowing I won't volunteer any more information any time soon.

"I have to go out for a few hours but Seth is just next door in the office." He points to the kitchen door. "If you need anything you can ask him. I'll show you a few things so you can entertain yourself while I'm gone first."

He gets to his feet and motions to me to follow him. I stand up and trail behind him and watch as he points out the TV and shows me on the remote how to use it, the same with the stereo. But my eyes truly light up at the collection of books. I only ever had one book before and I read it over and over a billion times, it was a romance novel, I pinched from one of the nurse's handbags when she wasn't looking. There are so many books all my worries forgotten in my momentary pleasure.

I turn to look at him and offer a little smile, pointing at all of them.

"You can have them all little one. Every single one. I'll buy you a new book every day for the rest of your life, if you promise to smile at me like that again." He almost whispers the last words as though he's hesitant to say them.

I nod and smile again. Reaching forward, I pull out the one book that looks similar to the book I had. It has a man in a suit holding a smaller woman in his arms as they stare at each other. You can almost feel how much they need each other just by looking at it.

"That one? Are you sure? Umm, they have sex in that book." Miki states hesitantly.

I nod my head, I know they have sex in these type of books. My face flaming a little I look up at him and giggle at the look on his face. My hand comes up to cover my mouth in surprise. Its the first time I've laughed in so long, I didn't know I still could.

"New rule, you can read as many romance novels as you like, as long as they make you giggle like that." He chuckles pleased with my reaction. "Do you need anything before I go?"

I shake my head, my eyes still on the book. Actually yes, I do need something. I walk up to him slowly and touch his arm to get his attention. When he looks at me I step forward and wrap my arms around his waist for a hug.

Sighing he bundles me up In his arms, his hands softly patting my back.

"I won't be long, I promise. Now, remember Seth is next door if you need him." He states as he steps back.

I nod and grab my book and a blanket off the bed, I tuck myself into the window seat as he watches, offering him a small smile and a wave. I don't know who is more hesitant, him for leaving or me for him leaving.

To be continue...