In the evening

The sound of footsteps from out in the hall pierces through my sleep, prying my eyes open and forcing me into reality. I turn over onto my back and push myself up onto my elbows, suddenly noticing my free arms. I fight to push back my worries about why Tom did it or what he did that warranted it, knowing that worrying does nothing but stress me out.

As soon as I calm myself down, my thoughts turn to running away. Don’t do it. Don’t fucking do it. There’s no way in hell you can get away with him or any of his henchmen. We saw how this turned out last time and it was fucking hell. Before I can finish my train of thought, Tom opens the door holding something. This isn’t gonna be good.

A strange, itchy feeling grows in the side of my neck. I try to push it away, knowing that I can only worry about so many things at once and this is obviously the least important of my two problems.

“Huh, didn’t think you’d be awake yet.” What kind of slacker does he think I am? I sit up and move over to the edge of the bed, trying to keep him from having too much of an advantage over me, without seeming confrontational. My hand feels drawn to my neck and I scratch at the spot in an attempt to make it go away. Nothing. “Here.” He drops what he was holding in parts, both next to me in bed and on the floor, revealing it to be a dress and heels. No. “Shower and put this on, you have fifteen minutes.” A sense of indignation builds inside of me at him treating me like a child. Right as Tom starts to walk away, I feel my resolve fade away- not in a snap, but a few cracks.

“No.” Tom turns around and locks eyes with me, anger burning behind his.

“What was that?” This is a bad idea.

“I said no. You want that dress on me, you get to put it on yourself.” Tom stares at me, seemingly trying to figure out what to do with me.

After a moment, Tom gets closer to me, shoving himself between my legs and holding my head to **** me to look at him. I clench up at the feeling of his bulge pushing up against my waist and stomach. “Listen here, you little fuck. I know that you have a problem with this whole situation, and honestly, I’m not to happy about it at the moment, either, but you don’t have a fucking choice. I own you, now, and you can’t do anything about that, so I think it would be better for both of us if you just shut the fuck up and and do what I say. You got that?”

I shrink back, a pit growing in my stomach at his sudden forcefulness and aggression. Before he can snap at me again, I nod in understanding, my heart pounding in my chest. Tom backs away from me, anger still covering his face. He turns away from me and leaves the room, slamming the door shut behind him. Alright, then. At least I get to clean myself up, I guess.

I push myself out of bed and look around the room for a door, other than the one that Tom just left through. My eyes land on one on the other side of the room. Bingo. I hurry to the shower, unsure of how much time I have left. Fuck. You should’ve worn your watch.

I quickly get in the shower, completely unaware of how much time I have left. The feeling in my neck still hasn’t gone away and I scrub at it, praying that maybe that would make it stop. Fuck. What’s wrong with me? Whatever it is, I know that I have to hurry up and get out of the shower. I listen for footsteps, worried that time is running out. Nothing. Thank God. I quickly dry myself off, trying to ignore the itch in my neck.

I head back into the bedroom and rush to get the dress on. Everything goes well enough until I get to the back of the dress. Shit, is this a lace-up? I’m not flexible enough to do this shit. Fuck. I try to lace the dress up, but, while I can reach the straps, I can’t thread them through the hole. Holy shit.

Before I can figure out how to get the dress taken care of, I hear the door open and look up to see Tom in the doorway. Fuck. He silently approaches me, as I try to fight back my growing anxiety. “Put your hands down and turn around.”

“Wha- oh, right.” I put my hands behind my back, giving Tom room to lace the dress up for me. He quickly tightens it against my back.

“Turn back around.” I do what he asks, not wanting to cause too much more trouble for myself. As soon as Tom and I make eye contact again, he puts his hands on my waist, looking my body over. “Is that good?” I nod, trying to ignore the feeling of his hands still on me. Christ, he’s handsy. “Good. God, you clean up well.” I mumble something in vague gratitude, my stomach churning the whole time. “Come on, let’s go.”

“Where exactly are you taking me?”

“Don’t worry about it. Come on.” I stay still, holding out for either an answer or ****. “My God. Look, you’re a grown woman and that’s-” he points to my dress “-expensive, I’m not fucking pulling you.” We lock eyes for a moment, as a smirk creeps across my lips. “Fine. It’s a party. Now, are you coming or not?”

“Yeah, yeah.” I follow Tom out the bedroom door and down the stairs, before another question stops me in my tracks at the bottom.

“What’s your problem now?”

“What the hell kinda party is this, anyways? It’s not a holiday and you haven't had anything come out lately. What’s exactly going on?” I swear to God if this is a fucking sex party.

“That’s not important.” I cross my arms and stay still, holding out for an answer from him. After a second of silence passes between us, Tom sighs and gives in. “Look, it’s just the kind of party where a bunch of famous people get together to show off and pass around our slaves for a few hours. Now, are you gonna follow me and make this easy on yourself, or am I gonna have to have some friends teach you a lesson when we get there?” A knot grows in my stomach as I try to keep a straight face.

“I’m coming,” I respond, not wanting to provoke him any further.

The car stops and we get out in complete silence. Tom takes the lead and I follow him to the door,

before another question pops into my head. “Wait.” “What the fuck is it now?”

“Didn’t you say you were gonna tag me before you ever let me out of the house? I mean, I’m not complaining, but it does seem kinda weird that you would just randomly start trusting me like this after everything that happened last night.” A weird sort of smile spreads across his face, sending a wave of uncertainty through me.

“What, you didn’t notice?”

“Didn’t notice what?”

“That feeling in your neck.” _That’s what that was?_ “They normally stay pretty itchy for a few days.

Glad you don’t feel it.” He puts his arm around my waist and starts leading me to the party again, without giving me a chance to say anything else. “Now, come on. I have someone I want you to meet.”

Tom opens the door and gestures for me to go in. I do and he follows me, before putting his arm back around me.

_“Now where are they?”_