Eventide (Her Father, My Master) (6 page)

lurch. I might have been rusty with flirting, but she was being so obvious about it, she may as well have

just bashed him over the head with a club and dragged him back to her cave.

And of course, the first boy I showed the slightest amount of interest in, she goes after.

But was I really so interested in him? I was holding him at arms length – at least, I was trying to – and

for good reason. It wouldn't work. It couldn't work. Maddie could have him.

Though it didn't seem that Derrick was interested in Maddie. He seemed more aggravated by her than

anything, and I could see why. She was asking the dumbest questions, and she didn't come off as flirty, to

me. She came off as stupid.

“What about these?”

Derrick looked like he wanted to rip her head off, so I quickly interjected. “The caramel pecan

brownies don't go up until mid-morning.”

“Oh.”

“Who the hell buys a brownie for breakfast?” I added, my comment full of frothy snarkiness, and I

knew it. Maddie dropped her head, looking like a dog that had been hit with a rolled up newspaper.

“Sorry, I'm just trying to help.”

Derrick's expression softened at that, though I still seethed. “It's okay, you're new. You'll get the hang of it soon. Why don't you go wipe down the counters and tables out front? We have to open soon

anyways, and they need to be cleaned.”

Maddie brightened at the suggestion, and Derrick's sympathy. “Okay, I'll get right on it.” With that,

she scooted out of the back room with a paper towel and a bottle of cleaner.

“She's so annoying,” I growled as I slammed down scone after scone. My stomach was beginning to

rumble, and touching all this food certainly wasn't helping matters.

“She's not so bad.” Derrick was working the muffin tray now.

“How can you say that? She's an idiot, she doesn't know how to do anything, and she's only good for

wiping down tables.”

“Krys.” Derrick stopped moving, his hand hovering over the tray now. “I know you don't like her, but

she works here now. You need to-”

“I need to what?” I glared at him, daring him to say what I thought he was going to say.
Don't you

dare tell me to calm down.

“-cut her some slack,” he continued, ignoring my knife-filled stare as he finished up with the muffin

tray. “She's new. Remember when you were new? You didn't know how to do anything.”

I felt deflated. “You're right,” I sighed as I finished the scone tray. “But come on, she wanted to put

the brownies out on the scone tray.”

Derrick quirked a half-smile. “Pretty dumb, I know.”

We brought the trays out and set them in the display case. Maddie was industriously rubbing the

surface of a table near the front of the store. “But she is trying,” Derrick pointed out as we turned our

attention to prepping the machines. “I know you guys have a... history. But you have to get along.

Professionally speaking,” he added.

And he was right, I knew it. Why was it so difficult to keep calm around her? It wasn't just the fact

that she stole Joey away from me. It couldn't be.

But if it wasn't, why did my mind keep going back to that incident, that fateful day? My mind flashed

images of her, him having her bent over that desk in the back room of the auditorium...

I squeezed my eyes shut as my stomach gave another lurch. The pain bit me just as hard as it hard over

a year ago, and it wasn't a good kind of pain.

I had to get over this.

A hand touched my shoulder, and I jumped about a foot. “You okay?” Derrick asked.

“Yeah,” I said, taking a deep breath. Calm. I had to be calm. “I was just remembering things.”

“Oh,” he said. He probably knew exactly what I was remembering.

“Did I tell you that it was me who caught my boyfriend cheating?”

“You mean, in the act?” Derrick's eyes widened in surprise.

“Yeah, I caught them having sex.”

“Wow. Wow,” Derrick said, apparently surprised into silence. “Well, that explains a bit.”

I smiled ruefully. “It's difficult.”

“Okay. I understand now. Thanks for telling me. I mean... wow.” He looked over at Maddie again, a

different sort of glint in his eyes. It was a harder look, less forgiving.

“They went to prom together, too.”

“That doesn't surprise me so much, after what you just told me.”

“I didn't tell you about that, did I?” In hindsight, what happened that night was actually kind of funny,

in a pathetic way. “My boyfriend showed up at my house first, and I turned him down. So he went to

Maddie.”

Derrick laughed, a short barking laugh that he quickly stifled when Maddie looked our way. “That kid

sounds kind of pathetic.”

“Yeah, I don't know what I saw in him. And I think he and Maddie broke up at the end of the

summer.”

He shook his head in disbelief. “Wow. Teenage romance, right?”

“It's not for me.” And it was true. I vowed to never be involved with a teenager again. Not that I

would have much of a chance. I was already involved with my master, who had the maturity that I craved,

and next year, I would be twenty. Twenty. Time flew by so quickly.

“No kidding. You couldn't pay me a million dollars to go back to high school.”

I tilted my head, wondering. Derrick was a nice guy, and attractive. Surely he didn't have any

problems in high school. “Was it bad for you?” I asked.

“It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't exactly great, either. I was a nerd. I was into computers and video

games.” He glanced over at me, gauging my reaction. “Still am, in fact.”

I chuckled. “Nothing wrong with that. It's good to have hobbies.”

His interested affirmed by me, he beamed. “Yeah, and gaming isn't that bad! You know you can even

make money with it?”

“Really?”

“Oh yeah, there are games out there that have big tournaments, with huge prize pools. I would love to

try my hand at one of them, but they're so competitive.”

“Huh,” I said as I wiped down the espresso machine and checked the lines. “You learn something

new every day.”

“Yeah,” he said brightly. “There are lots of unconventional ways to make a living nowadays. I don't

want to be working at a coffee shop my whole life, after all.”

“What about college?” I asked.

“Well, yeah, I'm going to college. But I do wonder whether it's really worth it. It costs a lot of

money, and I don't feel like I'm learning anything new.”

I blinked. Derrick might be right there. As much as I enjoyed my online courses, I did sometimes

question how useful they would be out in the real world.

And thinking about jobs... that scared me. I liked my current arrangement. I liked knowing my place,

and knowing I had a place. I liked how Mr. Hendricks took care of me. I liked not having to worry about

anything, not money, not food or shelter, or where I was going to be in a few months.

But I knew it couldn't last forever. Sooner or later, I would graduate. My master might tire of me. I

might tire of him, though I couldn't even imagine that happening. But nothing lasted forever. I wasn't so

stupid that I couldn't see that.

We finished our work in silence, cleaning the machines and prepping batches of coffee for the morning

rush. It was hard work, and by the time we all finished, it was time to open the store. There were already people waiting outside. I never understood that, that people could wait for coffee.

“Maddie, go unlock the door,” Derrick said, and Maddie ran down the tile storefront to click the

doors open. The breakfast rush was about to begin.

It was a weekday, and that meant it was a busy day, mostly filled with men in business suits and

women in professional looking skirts and blouses. There was hardly a patient person in the group, and

we worked as fast as we could, but by seven we still had a line out the door.

Maddie wasn't helping much either. We put her on register, but she kept messing up orders. We tried

her on the espresso station but that was a lost cause. She barely even knew how to work the machine.

Finally, exasperated, Derrick had her dish out the scones and muffins as they were ordered. It was a

simple job, and it seemed to be all she could handle. Luckily, relief came in for us, in the form of Kat. I was thankful but also apprehensive – Kat was a good worker, but also very buddy-buddy with Maddie.

They didn't have a chance to talk much until the breakfast rush finally died down around nine. By then,

I was exhausted and famished, and only halfway through my shift.

Derrick went out front to wipe down tables, while Maddie and Kat were engaged in a hushed

conversation behind the counter. I was cleaning the espresso machine down for the millionth time when

my phone buzzed with a text message. It was probably Jess, or Tiffany. Maybe Sophie. I hadn't heard

from Sophie since I'd gotten back for summer break.

But it wasn't any of those. It was my master.

My eyes grew round as I thumbed over to the message:
Come.

As much as I wanted to go to him, I couldn't. I couldn't just leave work. Loyalties conflicted inside

my brain. I wanted to be with my master, I wanted him so badly. But I couldn't abandon work. I couldn't

abandon Derrick with these girls, especially not Maddie. I didn't trust her to not try something with him

while I was gone.

But why did I even care about that?

Still, I sent a hasty reply:
I can't. I'm at work.

A reply immediately came:
All the better. I didn't say 'come to me.' I simply said 'come.'

My eyes grew into round blue orbs as I stared at that message. I misunderstood him. He wanted me to

orgasm, right here at work.

I shuddered and swayed slightly, then feverishly glanced about the storefront. Derrick hadn't noticed

my flushed face, and neither had Maddie or Kat. There were only a few customers in the store, and they

were all busy in their own little worlds.

I had to get to the back room.

“Be right back,” I said to no one in particular, and dashed into the back room, looking around. I had to

do this. I had to please my master. It trumped everything else, right now.

There was a tiny manager's office amidst the maze of cardboard boxes and supplies. Usually it was

locked, but when I turned the handle, it gave, twisting under my grasp. Thank goodness. Thank God. I

didn't know where else I could do this.

I ducked inside the office, my heart racing, my body throbbing. My master had to know that I was at

work. I knew the schedule Maddie brought home also had mine on it. He knew, and he was doing this on

purpose. He was pushing and pressing on my limits, and that thought sent a thrill up my spine. It made my

head spin.

The office was dark, but I quickly flipped on the light switch and just as quickly locked the door,

entombing me safely inside the little office. There wasn't much in here – just a computer, an office desk

and chair, a filing cabinet and some shelves, and a locked safe.

A flush rose on my face when I looked up. The security camera. But the recording equipment was

also in the office. Could I turn it off?

I looked at the ancient VCR. It would be so easy to just eject the tape. Then there would be no

record, no recording of my indiscretion, my naughtiness. I flinched as I pressed the eject button, expecting alarms to blare, but nothing happened. The camera couldn't record anything now.

And I had to come, and come soon, or else my master would wonder. I settled down in the computer

chair, unbuttoning and yanking my slacks downward without ceremony. As naughty as all of this was, I

was clearly excited by the prospect, and it showed, as I slipped my questing fingers downwards, over my

quivering skin and between my already slick pussy lips. I couldn't believe I was doing this, right at work.

I would do anything for my master.

I moaned softly, my entire body tensed and shuddering in that chair as my fingers dipped around my

sensitive folds, and inside my body. This was so bad, it was so, so deliciously naughty. I could get used

to this. I brought my finger in and out of myself, stifling my moans of pleasure as much as I could. I didn't have much time. I knew I would be missed, soon.

And that wasn't the only reason I didn't have much time. A sense of urgency rose within me. My

master had told me to come, and I needed to do it, for him. I withdrew my fingers and slid them upwards.

I was so drenched by now that my fingers glided along my cunt easily. I smelled my own arousal.

They found that aching button that was my clit easily, and I pressed downwards, gasping at the sudden

pleasurable sensation as my body throbbed and pulsed, waves of need building within myself. I had to

come, and I had to come soon, and not just for my master now. I needed that release for myself as well.

My groans grew louder, no matter how much I tried to stifle them. I needed to come.

My back arched, my body tensed and flexed, and my fingers pressed down. I rubbed my clit

vigorously as I found that sweet spot, and all too soon, waves of euphoria rushed through my body,

drenching my entire being in lust and longing and pleasure. I'd just come for my master.

I felt a sly grin play around the corners of my mouth as I came down from my sexual frenzy. And I'd

just gotten paid for it, too.

Letting my legs relax and come to a rest on the floor again, I sighed and closed my eyes. The only