Page 167 of Masters of Control

She wasn’t acting at all like Master Richard said other submissives would. He’d always said other submissives would hate her because women usually didn’t get along with each other, especially submissives. They were always trying to steal each other’s Masters, even if they already had their own, which was why she always needed to be on her guard against them. He’d also said the black submissives were the worst about it.

But Naomi was black and a submissive, and she didn’t want anything to do with Master Richard.

She seemed genuinely concerned about Morgan.

It felt… odd.

She tried to remember the last time anyone had held her hand while she wasn’t feeling well.

It hadn’t been Master Richard. When she was sick, she was supposed to take care of herself so as not to interfere with his daily activities. And to get better as quickly as possible, so he didn’t need to find a new submissive to replace her. Well aware of how much she owed him, she’d done her best, and thankfully, she’d always been quite healthy. Her parents hadn’t had much patience for illness, either. If either of them had ever held her hand while she was sick, she couldn’t remember it.

Naomi held Morgan’s hand all the way to the hospital until she was forced to let go. For the first time in years, Morgan cried when the other submissive promised she would be there when Morgan woke up. She wasn’t crying because she was scared of the surgery—although she was—she was crying because she hadn’t wanted to let go of Naomi’s hand, even though she didn’t fully understand why.

But when she woke up, Naomi was there again, holding her hand, and the pain was magically gone. Morgan’s face felt odd, though. She reached up with her free hand and touched her lips. They were curved up.

She was smiling.

Morgan giggled.

“Hey there, how are you feeling?”

“Good. I feel good.” She didn’t think she’d ever truly felt good. Not until this moment.

“Good. They had to remove your appendix. How much do you remember?”

Trying to catch her thoughts was like trying to catch fog. They slipped through her mind, too incoherent and too quick to be sensible. She blinked rapidly, trying to get a handle on herself. Master Richard would be so angry if she took this long to answer him.

“Richard isn’t here. You take as long as you need,” Naomi said firmly, squeezing Morgan’s hand.

“Oh, good.” The words slipped past Morgan’s lips before she could stop them, and both of her hands flew up to her mouth to cover it, yanking her fingers away from Naomi. The other woman sat back in surprise, blinking at Morgan as if she couldn’t believe what she’d just heard. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry, please don’t tell him, please don’t tell him I said that! I’m sorry, I’m so sorry⁠—”

“Honey, honey, no.” Naomi reached forward to take Morgan’s trembling hands, lowering them to her lap. “Trust me. I am not telling that… that man anything. He’s not going to be allowed to get anywhere near you ever again. Not if I have anything to say about it.”

Relief and fear flooded Morgan in equal measure. She didn’t particularly like Master Richard. She never had. She’d cried when Master Jason had sold her to him. But he was also all she’d known for the past five years. And it wasn’t so bad, as long as she was a good girl and did what he wanted. Sometimes, it felt good. His rules were much easier to understand than her parents had been.

“I don’t know what that means,” she said.

“It means you don’t have to go back to him. You can make a choice. My husband and I can help you. I know you don’t know us, but you can talk to the others you know at the play party, and they’ll tell you.”

Morgan didn’t know anyone else at the play party. Master Richard didn’t like her talking to anyone. The other Doms all wanted to steal her away, and the other submissives wanted to seduce him and replace her. She wasn’t sure why he liked to go to them, other than sometimes he liked to be watched. She didn’t care about being watched, not that it mattered what she wanted.

That wasn’t the point that she got stuck on, though.

“Your husband would be my new master? Master Richard threatens to sell me again sometimes, but I didn’t think he meant it.” Morgan frowned. The loopy feeling was making it hard for her to think, but Naomi had been so nice. Much nicer than she’d ever thought another woman could be. “I wonder if he’ll think you stole me. You should go. I don’t want you to get in trouble.”

An odd expression had crept over Naomi’s face.

“Sweetie, why don’t you tell me about Master Richard and how you came to live with him?”

Under other circumstances, without the fuzzy happy feeling bouncing through her, Morgan would never have spoken so freely. After she’d told Naomi everything, she learned why she should never tell anyone else the full story of her life.

Chapter One

Asad

Asad was feeling oddly nervous about meeting his soon-to-be fake girlfriend for a real date. Though Asad didn’t like to think of it as a date so much as a prep meeting. He and Morgan were going to have to sell themselves as a couple to his parents and extended family for a whole week.

Granted, most of the focus was going to be on his brother, Cyrus, and Cyrus’ bride, so it shouldn’t be too hard. Asad fully expected to fly under the radar, even though he was bringing a girlfriend home with him. In fact, the whole reason for bringing Morgan was so his mom didn’t spend the entire week trying to fix him up.