The Love She Craves: Selling Her Soul to Declan (8 page)

Nyxie made a face as she picked up the panties. “There’s nothing worse than putting dirty underwear back on,” she said shaking her head.

“Wait. I’ve got some clean ones in my overnight bag. I promise, I got them fresh out of the dryer this morning. She left for a moment and came back with a string thong. “I’d give you a pair of bikinis, but they’d be too big. I figured we could tie a knot on each side to make them fit. I tell my patients not to wear thongs, but I still wear them myself.”

Suddenly, there was a loud knocking on the outer door. “That was quick. Keep the oxygen on and wait here. That’s Declan.”

Emily rushed to the door and let him in. “Declan you can be a real douche.” He gave her an icy stare knowing it was useless to try to shut Emily up when she had something to say. “You didn’t warn that poor girl I was coming. It was her first pelvic exam and she hasn’t been home to shower since her brother’s accident. She was mortified.”

“Damn, I forgot the juice,” he said ignoring every word. “Would you mind running to the vending machine for me while I go check on her?”

He handed her two one-dollar bills and as soon as she left, he locked the door and went in search of Nyxie. She sat on the edge of the chair barefoot and pale. He unzipped the glucose meter’s case and quickly pulled a lancet. Without a word, he picked up her hand, swiped her finger with an alcohol pad and pricked her finger making her jump. He ignored the hostile look she gave him as he squeezed her finger until a large drop of blood appeared. He pulled a test strip from the kit and quickly had her results. He frowned at the number and his gaze shifted to her.

“I brought you food to eat. Did you eat it?”

“I wasn’t really hungry.”

In an instant his demeanor changed. “Kowtow,” he said removing the oxygen.

“What?”

“Kowtow. Kneeled down and put your forehead on the ground. Now!”

She scrambled out of the chair onto the floor. “Put your hands under your forehead and put your ass in the air.”

He unbuckled his belt and pulled it from the loops. With one finger, he raised the hem of her pink polyest
er uniform to expose her thong-clad ass. Doubling the belt in half, he raised his arm. “The only sound I want to hear from you is the count.”

“This one is for disobeying me. If you had eaten the sandwich like you were told, you wouldn’t have fainted.” He let his arm fly and angled the blow high on her left cheek and low on the right.

A shaky breath escaped her lips. “One.” she said quietly.

“One,
sir
,” he corrected. “And for not taking care of your health. Your body belongs to me.”

The blow caught her at the same angle, but slightly higher on her buttocks. Her breathing increased.

“Two, sir.”

“And for making me punish you at work.”

The lash was hard and punishing and level across her ass, crisscrossing the bright red welts forming on her skin. She breathed a hard breath in through her nose and out her open mouth.

“Three, sir.”

“And this is for making me rush through your first punishment. I should have been able to anticipate this, take it slowly and plan each mark.”

He struck her lower catching part of her sex. She whimpered softly still trying to get her breathing under control.

“Four, sir.”

“And for scaring the shit out of me.”

It landed in the same spot but received no response from her other than the count.

“Five, sir.”

“And this is for putting yourself in a position to have your kids taken from you.” The belt lashed across her already abused ass with stinging accuracy.

“Six, sir,” she said through gritted teeth.

“Get up,” he ordered sliding the belt through the loops of his khaki pants. “I bet that put your blood pressure back into a normal range.”

Her dress fell back into place as she clambered to her feet and crossed her arms over her chest. “My mother hit harder,” she said with a defiant jut of her chin.

His hand snaked out and grasped her thin arm painfully tight.

“Watch it, Nyxie or you’ll be in for twice what you just got. Get your eyes on the floor or I’m not going to give a
fuck that Emily will be back here any second.”

Nyxie glared at him for two more seconds before she slowly dragged them down the length of his body, pausing at the bulge behind his zipper. Her eyes shot back to his face for only a second before hitting the floor.

“If we had the time, I’d have my cock in your mouth right now. Don’t play games with me, Nyxie, because I’m not playing.”

“Y-yes, sir,” she said in a trembling voice.

“Get up on the table. I want to check your blood pressure.”

As he waited for her to get on the table, he softened his tone. “I’m proud of you. You took your punishment well.” He gave her a quick peck on the lips and smiled at her look of confusion.

The light sound of tapping filtered into the exam room. “Damn, she’s back. Are you going to behave?”

“Do you mean am I going to tell her you gave me six licks with your belt and my ass is now on fire?”

“Is it? Good,” he said with a satisfied air. “Yes, that’s what I mean.”

She bit her lip and kept her eyes lowered.

“I signed on for this to get my kids back. It would only make things worse to have anyone know what I agreed to.”

9

“Keep your pants on,” he said under his breath as he crossed to unlock the door and let Emily in.

“You locked me out,” she said. “Just for that, I’m keeping your change.”

“I thought you had your keys,” he said, playing innocent.

She looked at him and the ring of keys still in the lock. “You used my keys to lock me out, dumbass.”

He forced a chuckle. “So I did. I guess that’s why physicians aren’t supposed to treat people they’re close to.”

She eyed him suspiciously as she turned the key in the deadbolt. “What were you doing in here with the door locked?”

“I was mostly trying to forget the vision of Nyxie wearing your panties. Christ-almighty I never wanted to know what’s under your clothing and to have it shoved down my throat like that….”

“Why are you looking under her dress in my exam room?” she asked heading back to her patient.

“Hers were in the chair. I asked her if she was going commando and when she said she wasn’t, I took a peek.”

He took the juice from her as he entered the exam room. With a snap of the seal, he twisted off the cap and handed Onyx the bottle.

“What was her blood sugar?”

“Seventy-one. It's low, possibly low enough to cause her to faint. Mind if I look at her chart?”

Emily slammed her hand down on it. “Patient files are confidential. You’re not her doctor.”

“Nyxie, tell her I can look at your file.”

“It’s okay. I really have no secrets—just things he doesn’t know yet.”

Declan smiled sweetly at her and began scanning the pages. “I’m glad you ordered the nutritional screening as well as the CBC.”

“If you could have known when her period would start back up, you might’ve been able to skip birth control. She hasn’t had a period in quite a while. She’s not pregnant—just underweight and malnourished.”

Declan’s head came up over the folder and locked eyes with the OB/GYN resident. “
Amenorrhea? Did you do a stick test?”

“Pelvic exam. I’m not screwing with you, Declan. If I thought she might be pregnant, I would not have put the implant in her arm.”

“Lift your arm, Nyxie.”

When she lifted her arm, he could see the bandage over the butterfly strip and the faint stain of yellow from the topical antiseptic that had been swabbed on her arm then wiped off afterwards.  He touched it through her skin.

“Do you still hurt?” he said with a knowing look.

She stared at him knowing he wasn’t talking about the implant. Dr. Saunders had deadened it with a local and it was still numb.

He ran the back of his fingers along the underside of her arm until she lowered it to his shoulder. He pushed her legs apart and moved between them. His large hands cupped her tender ass and slid her forward until her sex was pressed against the bulging fly of his pants.

“Christ, Declan, do you two need a minute alone.”

“Yes,” he said, his eyes never leaving Nyxie.

“I’ll go set up your next appointment. Remember, no unprotected sex until Declan’s STD test comes back,” Emily said exiting the room.

He grabbed her braid, wrapping it around his wrist and pulled it back until her face tilted towards his. The forcefulness of his touch made her clit tingle. It was the strangest thing the way his bold curt personality was reflected in his touch. She could practically smell the testosterone surging through his veins. It was so overwhelming; she just wanted to melt into him.

“How much of that sandwich did you eat?” His voice lowered menacingly.
His mercurial shift threw her off guard.

“I-I thought I could make several meals out of it.”

His lips tightened. “First of all, that’s not what I asked you. Second, I don’t want you rationing your food. When I give you food to eat, I want you to eat it until you’re full,” he said. “Now, answer the question.”

She held her fingers a couple of
inches apart to show how much she ate. “That sandwich could feed my whole family.”

“Christ! You only ate a quarter of it?” She nodded. “Typical day, how much do you eat?”

Onyx wanted to cry. She did the best she could to feed them all, but she knew her best wasn’t good enough—just like the caseworker said. “For breakfast I either have a bowl of cereal or an egg on a piece of toast.”

“Go on.”

She took a deep breath. “On days I work doubles, Bob gives me two meals. The kids walk over around 4:30 and we split them. We each eat half a meal. You know how big restaurant portions are. It’s plenty for supper.”

“No lunch?”

“Not for me. I share it with the kids.”

He released her hair and paced the length of the exam room. “Do the kids eat lunch?”

“Of course,” she said defensively. “They’re just kids. They can fix soup, a box of mac and cheese or sandwiches.”

“Let me guess; one slice of boloney on two slices of white bread.”

She blinked several times before answering. “Sometimes, if it’s on sale. They’re more likely to have tuna or egg salad or just cheese. I try to get by on about $40 a week.”

“What about a Lone Star Card or whatever they call food stamps these days?”

She shrugged. “I don’t have birth certificates for them and even if I did, how would I get to Lubbock to apply when I don’t have a car?”

He shook his head and threw his arms up in the air at a complete loss for words.

“Summers are tough, but the school year is easier. They can have breakfast and lunch at school and supper at work five days a week. And on Sundays, I like to splurge and cook something like a small roast with potatoes and carrots in my crockpot. I make soup out of the leftovers for Monday because I’m off on Mondays.”

His eyes lasered in on hers. “So even when the kids are at school, you’re still only eating two small meals a day?”

“No, it’s not like that. Food’s not so tight then. I eat a big breakfast—usually a breakfast burrito with an egg and potato.”

“Christ, no wonder you’re skin and bones.”

She covered up the hurt she felt with a wan smile. “I hear anorexic is the new black.”

He grabbed her arm and stepped so close he towered over her and she could smell the spicy clean scent of his aftershave. “That’s not funny, Nyxie. You belong to me for at least the next year. You
will
take care of yourself. Bring your weight up and you will be rewarded. If you don’t, you will be punished.”

If he could have read her rebellious thoughts, he would have had her back on her knees. And she might have told him so if he didn’t seem so intimidating—not just the punishment thing—because she could take that spanking in her sleep, but also because she felt attracted to him and that was more nerve-racking than the spanking. When he stood between her legs, she just wanted to pinch herself. She could hardly believe this forceful, strong man wanted her. Was it just because he saw an opportunity to possess a sub or did he genuinely want
her
? Either way, she had no choice. It was her only hope to get her brother and nieces out of the clutches of CPS.