✅ My Cousin's Keeper [NaNoWriMo 2021]

100. My New Destination

I didn't sleep too well. There was a part of me that wanted to keep going back to my phone, keep checking to see if the latest message from theAuthorsLittleSister really said what I was sure it had said. Even after reading it a dozen times, I couldn't believe it. And when I was waking up in the night to check my phone, to see if she had replied to my poilite DM asking for clarification, I got the impression that I needed to let Ffrances get her beauty sleep. She conveyed this idea by putting a hand over my outh and telling me firmly that I needed to focus on her rather than on the messages on my phone. To imagine that it was her voice I was so fascinated by, and that every word grabbed my attention more than the last. As soon as I realised what she was doing it was too late for me to resist it in any way.

"Bound," she said, pinching the skin on the inside of my wrist tight enough to just barely cause pain. And I found a second later that my hand was tied in place, unable to move at all. She repeated the process at my shoulder, effectively pinning me to the bed, and told me that it would be easier to go back to sleep. The next time I woke, I had to turn over with one side of my body immobile, which was a lot more difficult. And then Ffrances only needed one hand to put me down again, locking both of my hands and both feet in place, as well as my thighs and my neck. I was completely tied down, unable to reach for my phone even if I wanted to, and that just made me want to check it more. But lying there with no freedom of movement, I quickly realised that all my efforts were futile, and gave in to rest.

Now, the next day, I couldn't wait to get to work so I could read that message again. Ffrances had told me sternly that she didn't want anything drawing my attention away from her while she was there; and when it came to my Mistress's demands, I was quite willing to leave the most unbelievable, incredible news I had received until I was sitting at my desk. Then I could look for any nuances that had escaped me when I'd read it surrounded by my family; and there would be nothing to distract me until I had figured out how this could be happening.

When I got to the office I saw that it was just as hectic as usual. We had a lot of work in front of us now. We still didn't know the full details, and there were only a few of us who were aware that we might have actual celebrities populating the business centre in a couple of short months. But there was some kind of buzz, a subconscious whisper that told everyone something special was on the cards, even if they didn't know what. Even Rowanoake was busy at his desk, focusing intently on whatever was on his screen right now instead of reminiscing about the weekend's hunting and fishing exploits. Even Carter wasn't sitting at her desk chirpily greeting everyone who came into the main office. Today she was darting back and forth between her iPad and her computer, apparently racing through every work-related assignment she was given in the hope of getting back to whatever her private business was. I couldn't begrudge her that; it seemed unprofessional to me, but so long as she actually did all her assigned work, I had no cause for complaint. And there had been nothing noteworthy to complain about on that front for quite some time. Today might be different; it looked like her friends were being a lot more active than usual on what was already a very busy day. I wouldn't have been surprised if I had to reprimand her over the size of her task queue, or the quality of her work, before the end of the day.

I looked over at her from my office doorway and I could see the guilt in her expression. There was a nervousness there; she knew that she wasn't really pulling her weight in the task she had been hired for. But I had more important things to deal with today, so I hurried to my own desk and pulled up the week ending billed hours parity chart. And after about two minutes of staring at numbers that meant nothing beyond an arbitrary performance metric, I opened another browser window.

This was the important thing; this was why I had been itching to get into the office a little earlier than usual. Not technically work, but I knew that I would be able to focus better once I knew what was really going on. I opened up FetishLibrary, went to The Baby Button, and from there followed the link to TheAuthorsLittlkeSister's public journal. That was where I'd seen the message that had turned all my expectations upside down.