Page 69 of Daddy Erik
My hips spread into the mattress. My top no longer reaches the bottom of my ribs.
The nurse changes me into a new outfit by Wednesday: another thin, flowy top, slightly larger to accommodate my expanding breasts and stretching across my chest, and soft shorts that flare around my hips.
“You look perfect,” she says. I look away so she won’t see me break.
It happened one mid-afternoon.The pump’s collection tank fills to the brim, over a gallon in a single cycle. The nurse gasps softly, clapping her hands together like a delighted schoolgirl.
“Oh, little cow,” she whispers. “Dr. Rhys will be thrilled!”
I bite my lip until I can’t stand the pain any longer. They switch out the container. Reset the pump and resume the suction, and I cry silently, praying no one notices.
I’m slipping.Fading. Becoming something weaker than I ever imagined myself capable of being.
During the night feed, I whisper shakily to the nurse, "Please... please don't make the next one too thick. I can’t… I can’t take it anymore.”
She pauses, then leans over me with a terrifying softness.
“Oh, little cow,” she says. “It’s such a positive sign you’re feeling full. You’re almost exactly where Dr. Rhys wants you.”
“Please,” I sob. “Please, don’t increase it again. I can’t…” a single tear slips down my cheek. She brushes it away with her thumb like a mother comforting a child.
“You don’t need to worry,” she coos. “Once you reach your final weight range, we’ll begin the real work. Phase Two. You’ll be so valuable then.”
I shake my head, desperate. “No. No, I can’t. Please!” She lifts the nighttime bottle and tips it toward my lips.
“Hush, little cow,” she coos again. “No more tears. It’s time for sleep."
I try to turn away. Her hand holds the back of my head. The nipple presses on my mouth. I don’t have the strength to resist anymore. The thick, sweet, herbal sedative fills my tongue. My vision blurs. The restraints seem to float away. The world dissolves into fog.
As consciousness slips, I reach for Erik in the dark of my mind, begging him with every broken piece of myself…Erik… Please… Find me…And then the darkness takes me completely.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Erik
Two months ago…
The world endsthe moment I know she’s gone. Not with fire. Not with screaming. Not even with a warning. Just with silence. Claire’s phone call to voicemail. Claire’s location is frozen at the clinic. She was supposed to be home. Resting. Eating. Safe.
My Clairealways keeps her promises. So when she breaks this one, the one about staying inside, staying protected, and staying mine, I immediately know something is wrong. Something is very, very wrong. I’m already trembling by the time I reach the clinic.
The carmy guards drive her around in is still in the parking lot. The sight of it nearly folds me in half. Her purse is in the passenger seat through the window.
The sweatershe keeps with her. Her favorite lip balm was tucked into the cup holder.
Everything she touches is here. Except her. I force myself to breathe. Once. Twice.
Then I shatter through the clinic doors like a storm.
The receptionist startles so violentlyshe nearly knocks over a stack of charts. I don’t apologize. I don’t slow down.
“Where is Claire Bennett?”I roar. My voice is deep and dangerous in a way that makes the receptionist blanch.
“S-she,she hasn’t checked in today.”
“She was called in,”I bite out. “By your office.” Dr. Madsen appears from a hallway, pale and frantic.
“Erik,”she breathes. “I swear to you, she didn’t check in.”
