NINE

HARPER'S POV:

It has been a month that I'm here. Nothing has happened, thankfully. It has been just me and Lily. She is being nice. When we are together, I wonder if this is what it feels to have a mother. The room she did for me is amazing. The design is beautiful. It is a mix of white and tons of grey and Rosé. It has a big rosé puffy. It is so comfy and soft. The best part? I believe is that I get to sleep more but the food, I continue with my old diet. I fought and went through so much to reach this body; I don't want to get punished or get my owner angry because I ate to much.

Talking about him, I haven't seen him since the day he bought me. I heard Lily telling the maid, Rose, that he went abroad with that girl, Brooke. I guess she is his girlfriend and I feel happy that he has one, because that means he will go after her for .... pleasure and not me. I actually like it here. I get to sleep more, the food is good, Lily and Rose are the best, they are sweet and caring.

The worst part? I hoped for they to take this choker out, but they didn't. It used to make me sad and all but right now, I just don't care. I remember it just when I use the stairs or lay down, because it is tight, and it is hard to breath. When I lay down it seems tighter and it is horrible, but I found a way of making it supportable. It is not comfortable, but I got used to it. 

"Oh, you are already up", Lily says, even though she knows I was. We ate lunch together– she asks me, but she always forget about the commands. "Right, the commands, sorry I forgot, again", she says and she walks past me and opens the window, letting the sunlight into the room. I don't like it. For the past years I haven't seen the sunlight shining like this. It hurts my eyes and it is hot, but this is her house, so she can do anything she wants. "Forget these stupid commands, with me and Rose you can speak without them, ok?", she says this as if I was going to start walking freely and talking to everyone I see in the house.

"Ok", I shortly say. Even thought she gave me her permission, her son didn't, so I might as well keep it shut and only answer when spoken to, otherwise I'll stay quiet.

"Now", she claps her hands. It is a piercing sound and I jump back. "Follow me. I need to eat and so do you",  well, actually I don't but I follow her.

I manage to drink just some water. I won't get out of my diet. I'm eating only half portion of lunch and that's it. My thoughts get interrupt by her answering her phone. She starts to talk to someone. I get my cup of water and start to sip on it. I look at the garden and the trees are already naked: without any leaves. It means soon enough it will be cold and there will be snow everywhere. My thoughts are interrupt again by a manly voice. Not my owners, otherwise I'd have recognised.

" Mom", he bents down and say something to her. Mom?

"Ok", she stops for a minute. "Stay here and make Harper company", she says looking at him "and darling, I'll be right back", I nod and smile.

I go back to admiring the outside garden while sipping on my drink. If he expects me to talk to him, he is very mistaken. Something I won't risk is getting punish.

"Hey, my name is Peter", he shakes my hand, without asking or anything. I pull it back, slipping them gently away from his hands. – it is Harper, right? – he asks and again I left him without an answer. "Ok, not much of a talker, are you? Nice to meet you by the way", he talks to much. it is making me uncomfortable and I cannot tell him to stop "Come on, talk...T A L K", he says giving pauses between letters – are you mute or deaf?",  he looks at me.  "Fine, you don't want to talk ok, can you shake and nod your head?", he is right, I can nod and shake my head. There are no rules for that, it only says I can't talk. So, I nod my head.  "Ah! Perfect, now I know you are not deaf", he screams and rises both hands. As a reflex, I flinch and close my eyes. "jumpy, aren't we?",  he says and touches my left arm. He is doing exactly everything I can't deal with. "hey... nice necklace", I believe he is talking about the choker. I see his hands moving to touch it. I try to get away, but he doesn't stop. My back hits the bench's back and I have nowhere else to go.

"Peter", now I recognise this timbre, this voice tone. I immediately low my eyes and my muscles freezes. I feel goosebumps all over my body.

"Brother! What's good?",  right now I'm in the middle of both. Peter is on my left and my owner on my right. I just stay crawled. I sit back on the stuffed bench. With my back strict and my head a bit bowed. I thought he was going to be away for more time. "I was trying to get her to talk, right shortie?", he touches my arm again. He is not doing in a bad way, but I hate human touch, just Lily's and Rose's touch feels good, but I just got used to them, before I didn't like it either. But I learnt they are soft and delicate. I try to flinch away. "why so jumpy, shortie?",  he lifts his arms up and as a reflex I close my left eye but then I see him putting them behind his head.

They talk for long minutes and nothing of Lily showing up. I get myself distract with my fingers. I play with them and with the edge of my skirt. Lily bought me clothes and I like them but right now I feel exposed for wearing a mini skirt, not so short but short enough to be showing a lot of my thighs.

" I need to get going",  Peter says. Wait when did they get drinks? And when did it get dark?

"Finally",  my owner says. He is the opposite of his brother. He doesn't talk much, he is serious, rude, brutal and doesn't seem happy.

"See yah".  Peter gets up but before leaving he touches my shoulder, "bye shawty",  I just give him a smile and then I realised something: I'm alone with him. I just continue playing my me fingers, not once looking at him.

We stay there in the quiet for a while. Until I hear a loud breathing. Something more likely to be a dog breathing. I slowly look around to try to find where the sound is coming from and I can feel his eyes piercing me. I don't meet with his, but I found what I was looking for: there were three enormous dogs around him. they didn't seem friendly. One was clearly an American Pitbull. His coat was a shiny black and his eyes were somewhat honey. His years were long cropped. His tail wasn't. Beautiful dog. The other one was for sure a long hair German Shepperd, he was majestic. So full of himself and with right. He was serious and there was the third one, I didn't recognise the breed, but it was a big dog too, the biggest of the three.

I look at their owner, and mine as well, and his eyes are closed, and he leans himself on the chair. He might be tired, and also am I but I can't move until he tells me to. It is dark here and it is getting cold. To cold.

IRVIN'S POV:

After a month I'm finally going back home. I was dealing with some unfinish business with the Russians but now it is all sorted out. I send Brooke away to do some jobs and now I'm free from problems.

I get home and Rose is the first one to greet me. I see Mom coming in my direction. She hugs me and give me a motherly kiss and tells me she is going to see grandpa. I watch as she leaves, and I can hear Peters voice echoing. I follow the sound and it is coming from the garden where mother likes to sit and do nothing. I get near the door made of glass and see he and Harper sitting there. Weird, but I guess mother was here with her and he got in the way.

With every question I could see her reaction: not a single word. The only reaction I can see is when she flinches and close her eyes when he gets near her. He talks more and more and touches her arm, again. I can see she is uncomfortable and, in a way, afraid of him, but who is she not afraid of? However, I let things flow between them, let's see until when she can be so well trained.

He talks for a little more until I see his hands trying to reach her collar. I see when she goes back until she has no more space to move. I wasn't going to do anything but then her face that day when I gave her a shock kept coming back on my mind.

"Peter", I interrupt them both. He starts talking to me and we stay there for hours and she doesn't move. Her head down, looking at her lap, her small hands were on top her lap and she was playing with them. She never spoke, not even once. As if she was never here.

Peter announces he needs to go, and I feel relieved. I just wanted to sleep for a few hours but instead I kept looking at this small person beside me who is now looking at the garden. She looks around but we never make eye contact. After a few minutes of staring I feel a wet nose on my elbow. I look down and there they were. The only creatures on the world that are not pissing me off daily, but Max. The Pitbull is Dust, the German Shepperd is Boss and the biggest one, a Leonberger is Max. When I went to Germany, this guy I was doing business with gave me one puppy. He might be the biggest and heaviest, around 170 pounds but he is lazy and not very friendly, but I like him. In fact, none of them are friendly and that is what I expect from them.

I pet them and lean on the chair and closes my eyes. I stay there until I open my eyes and what I see is Max crying to Harper to pet him. She looks direct at him. I bet it is the only creature she looks in the eyes for years, without fear. They are just a perfect match. He taps his nose on her knee. He is a giant that tries to be gentle, most of times unsuccessfully but with her, he seems to know he can't go all crazy. He lay his big and furry head onto her thigh. She gives him a smile – fine – I hear her saying very, very low, in a murmur. Like a voiceless person trying to speak.

I watch as she pets him. She is sitting in a stuffed bench and, well, this dog is lazy. Too damn lazy. He sits next to her and I watch as she tries to make him come down. There is no way her 114 pounds can move his 170 pounds. But she tries and the only thing it does to him is a back massage. He is the happiest with the "petting" she is giving him. He turns his muzzle in her face direction and the next thing I see she is she flinching. Damn this dog! He touched her collar and, obviously, it didn't recognise his muzzle as an ID. I get up to tell him off. But the one who got scared wasn't him but her. Max knows he did some shit. So, he lays his head and whimper on her lap. As if he knew he hurt her. I get back to my seat and she comes back to normal. I lean back and feel the fresh hair. I fall asleep.

I wake up and check the time. It is two in the morning and I'm still outside. Even the dogs went to their houses and I'm still here. I get up and started going inside when I hear a snoring. I look back and see Harper and Max crawled and tangled in each other. Max is snoring and she is warming herself, used his long fur. She must be cold. She is not wearing something warm but this fat dog. But why did she stay here? Then I remembered the contract "she may not leave the room, until you say so". Now I got it. "Fuck it",  I say to myself.

I study the position, which is better for me to pick her up, but I don't see I way unless Max's fat ass gets down. "Move Max",  he stays there. "Move!",  he stays frozen. So, I bend down and try to get her, but he stops me. he shows me his big white teeth and growl at me. Is he kidding me? He just met her and I'm the one who gives him food for a year now and he prefers someone who he just met. "See",  I "pet" her arm. '"I'm not going to hurt her",  I murmur to him.  With that he sits and let me take her.

I was going to close the door when I noticed he was inside, "out!",  he does nothing. "Out!", he bites the air, showing his teeth. "Fine, but just for one tonight", I close the glass door and head upstairs. I watch as his fat ass walks in front of me. When we reach the bedroom floor, he goes direct to my door and waits to be open.

I remember mom made a room for her but from all 20 rooms which one was the right one? I was not going to open every single door. "Fuck it", I murmur. Just for tonight. I open my door and places her down and then I do the same, putting the sheets on top of us both. Max is on the floor next to her. When I'm almost falling asleep, I hear her coughing. My eyes open and I see max getting up too. This collar doesn't seem comfortable to sleep with. I watch as she, while sleeping, get in a position where the collar doesn't bother. Her skin is soft, like a baby butt. She smells good too.

I lay back and finally I guess I can sleep. But now I feel something between she and I. I look at my left and see a big fluffy head with pleading eyes looking at her. "Get out Max, you are fat", I whisper to him and he growl at me. I'm sure he knows what I am talking about – just stay in your area – he lays next to her body. His whole body shield hers. She hugs his neck from the back while his back is on her chest. She seems more relaxed and so does he. He starts snoring in my ears but eventually it stops, and I get to sleep as well.