In his grasp

Getting back out there

The next two days I was pretty quiet. I didn’t show my face to many people; only Joe, Cassie and Tom when I needed a lift somewhere. I had to give Molly an explanation of what had happened as I knew she was beginning to lose her head with worry so I had a long conversation with her over the phone, telling her why I didn’t want to go out and how I felt safe when I was with Joe because of the amount of security that he had around the building. Joe was very busy with work and meetings so I was on my own a lot of the time. I told Molly to keep an eye out for Grey and to not approach him as he was dangerous. 

I was ready to get some of my independence back and arranged to meet Molly for lunch. I made her promise that it would be just me and her as I wasn’t ready to face anyone else yet. Joe wasn’t too keen on the idea as he didn’t want me to go and get myself into bother so I agreed to keep my tracker on my phone active. I put my light blue skinny jeans on and a white shirt with white trainers and walked towards the elevator. I had to say goodbye to Joe and let him know that I was leaving. He was just being protective. 

I walked over to Cassie as she smiled at me, sympathy gleaming from her body language. “Is he alone?” I asked her and she nodded. I walked into the office and he was on the phone. 

“Well make it happen!” He seemed a bit stressed out and I felt guilty for putting more stress on him by going out. He looked up at me and I closed the door behind me. 

“I don’t want excuses, I want results and I don’t do failure, do you understand me?” He slammed the phone down and sighed. I stood there for a second, giving him a moment to collect himself. 

“Hey baby girl”

“Is everything okay?” I took a step closer to him. 

“Yeah, I just have to make sure everyone is kept in line” he smiled at me and walked over to me, placing his hands on my upper arms and stroking them. 

“Your tracker on?” I nodded in reply. 

“Good, any trouble you ring me straight away on my mobile, okay?” He said sternly. I loved the fact he was showing how much he cared. He never showed me this side of him in all the years that I have known him. 

“Okay, stay safe baby girl and come back to me when your done okay?” He said before walking back to his desk. I walked out the door and took the elevator to the bottom floor. I walked over to Tom’s car and got in.

“You okay Lauren?” He warmly smiled at me and I nodded. 

—————————————————————————————————————

Molly hugged me tightly as I met her at the table outside the cafe. She had already bought me a coffee and chocolate muffin. 

“Are you okay?” She looked down at my legs indicating at my bruises. 

“Yeah, I’m healing up nicely” I tried to calm her down. 

“I swear, that Grey is a nasty piece of work and I’m just so sorry that I allowed him to come” she apologised. I grabbed her hand and said “you didn’t know he was going to do anything like that though did you?” She shook her head and flashed a very quick smile before looking up at me. 

“Have you heard anything from him?” She asked me. “No, he’s vanished into thin air” I answered her. She wrapped her hands around her cup and tapped the side of it lightly. 

“Has Joe been looking after you?” I smiled at her and nodded my head. 

“He’s been really good to me” I said with a hint of surprise in my tone. She tilted her head to one side and watched me with a smile on her face. 

“Lauren! Are you alright?” Oh god, it was Ryan. I looked up at him and stood up. He opened his arms to me wrapping them round my neck to welcome me. “Yeah I’m okay thanks Ryan” I replied. I like seeing Ryan but right now I didn’t feel strong enough to speak to anyone else about the situation. 

“Listen, I know you probably won’t want to talk about it right now but I’m here when you do” he was such a good friend. He was so kind to everyone he met and yet he had so many people who wouldn’t say a bad word about him and was very popular. I grinned at him and he rubbed my arm before walking back to the path. Molly looked at me, eyes squinted as she watched my movement from the moment he walked off. 

“Hmmmm” she smiled at me. “What?” I said and she shook her head replying “nothing” then picked up her cup and took a sip.

———————————————————————————

It was good seeing Molly but I wanted to get back to the apartment as I needed a shower and a nap. It was only 5pm but I was tired. I had been out for longer than I thought I had been. I had text Joe telling him that I was still with Molly about 10 minutes ago and that I was going to be a while and he replied with ‘okay, see you later on’. But a wave of tiredness came over me and I was ready to go. 

I walked into the apartment and jumped in the shower. Once I had finished I sat on the bed for a moment still wrapped in my towel. Suddenly, Joe walked in without realising I was back. 

“Lauren! I didn’t know you were back!” He seemed startled. 

“Yeah sorry, I just wanted to have a shower quickly and then I was going to come and tell you I was back” I nervously looked at him. “I told you not to break the rules” he smirked. Uh-oh I know where this is going.

“Take your towel off and lay on your back!” He ordered me walking to his draws. I did as I was told and he picked up something lacy. 

“Now... is this what I think it is?” It was my outfit he was holding up to show me. But how did he get it? I had lost it when Grey kidnapped me. I nodded my head in confusion. 

“But how...” 

“Is this for someone else?” He said looking angrily towards me. I shook my head and quivered. 

“No Joe, Molly bought it when she saw me try it on and I wanted to wear it for you” I explained. 

He walked towards me slowly and placed his knees either side of me, leaning down to my face. 

“You know I am still going to have to punish you, even though this is a very sexy outfit you were going to surprise me with, you still need to learn to follow my instructions”. He grabbed the whip he was hiding behind his back and bit his lip. 

“Do you understand?”