Page 5 of Mommy

I’m bringing two large bowls for the pups in, setting them on the floor and making sure there are equally as many little piranhas eating from each one before I get Viv’s breakfast. I sit down on the floor with her, keeping the bowl in my lab and petting her side while she eats.

Her fur could be called white, but it’s the kind of white that has rolled around in ash and dirt. It’s still so soft under my fingertips that I can’t stop letting them wander over her back and down her hind leg.

She has gained weight, they all did luckily. When she and the pups first came in, I could count all her ribs without using my fingers and she would get angry when I touched her food.

It took me a while to convince her that I would ensure she’d never go hungry again.

None of them would.

Chapter four

Derek

The girl moans and I take a deep breath.

She’s a noisy one, but I don’t really mind it as long as she does what she’s supposed to.

And that is keeping still.

My fingers curve around her upper arms, spreading them wide.

She’s pretty.

And yet, my thoughts keep wandering back to someone else. Wild blond hair and large blue eyes replace the sleek brown ponytail and mascara clumped brown irises.

The girl I saw yesterday has been on my mind way longer than I would’ve expected. When I went to the gym, and still couldn’t get rid of her face in my head, I knew I needed to do something about it. So, naturally, I made a plan to replace those images with a new face.

That is how this little plaything ended up in my house.

I bring her wrists together above her head, slinging the rope around it in loops before tightening and securing the knot.

It’s all about binding them to my side. In whatever way available.

Bondage.

Marriage.

A child.

It all gets me going the same.

But I’ll have to settle for the first in that list.

She shivers when the rope digs into her skin, biting into the flesh, and stares up at me.

No blue eyes.

I groan and look away, focusing my gaze onto the ropes and knots instead of the girl trapped within them.

Why is this not working?

Maybe I picked the wrong girl?

I discard that thought immediately.

It usually doesn’t matter who I pick. So this one should’ve done the trick and deleted the cute blonde from my memory.

The fact that it hasn’t is surprising.