Grant sat there motionless and silent. Lost in apparent deep thought, he finally said, “The biggest thing I worry about is Morgan’s psychological well-being.”
“I’ve thought about that,” Blake said. “After you and I first talked about sharing Morgan if she ever came home, I researched how addiction should be handled in a Domination and submission or slave relationship.
“The first step is to teach Morgan to rely on us for every aspect of her decision making. Another important point is to use the punishment practices appropriately and consistently for her drug offenses. If she thinks about buying drugs there will be a consequence. If she actually calls a dealer or purchases drugs, another one altogether, and if she does drugs—but we won’t give her the chance—a more severe punishment will be handed down.”
“You know I don’t have a problem with this, but I’m worried about you and how this may affect your relationship with her. Morgan sees you as her rock. She always has. We can’t take away her security.”
“You’re right. You’ll definitely need to be the hard-ass.”
Grant smirked. “I’ll do what it takes to make sure Morgan is safe. I can bust her sweet tail on a daily basis if that’s what she needs.”
“She enjoys spankings, but you’ll have to come up with new ways to punish her, too. We need to keep her guessing. You’ll have to think of other ways to punish her.”
“I’ll work on it,” Grant promised.
“Good. We have a long road ahead of us.”
Grant rubbed his chin. “Blake, there’s something we’ve overlooked here. In the past, Morgan liked being held accountable for her actions because she enjoys discipline. We need to figure out the best way to incorporate a punishment and rewards system to enhance her overall experience.”
“Once again, you’re right.”
“I want a recording of this conversation. I’ve never known you to be so agreeable.”
“Someone in the house needs to be cooperative.”
“Mmm,” Grant muttered. “It sure as hell won’t be Morgan.”
“And that’s what bothers me. We’ll lose her again if she begins to feel pressured.”
“She’ll feel pressure all right,” Grant said, his lips twitching. A beat later, he added, “Okay, here’s what we’ll do. We’ll focus on what Morgan enjoys—particularly the pain-pleasure aspect of Domination and submission. She looks for ways to provoke discipline because punishment leads to sensual rewards.
“We’ll hold Morgan accountable for the obvious reasons—to help her beat this addiction, but we must be consistent. We can’t let anything slide, not even a small mention of using again.
“Morgan wants a heightened sexual experience, so it will cost her. Domination and submission is the only way she finds true satisfaction, and that may very well be the only way we can distract her. We must keep her mind occupied. Strenuous training is the only way to go.”
“You know Kit and Kemper won’t approve of this. Right?”
“Until we get a good feel of how Morgan responds to her training, I don’t want to tell them she’s here.”
“We can’t let anything happen to her, Grant. I mean it. One of us must be with her at all times. If she came home looking for help and we run her off before Kit and Kemper have a chance to see her, they’ll never forgive us.”
“I’m still not convinced she came here for help.”
“You don’t buy the Nashville story.”
“I believe about half. I think she needed a break from the whole Kilo scene,” Grant said. “If we hadn’t walked in this house when we did, Morgan would’ve left here the same way she ran away years ago—with full pockets and a letter left behind on the table. Question is, what would Kilo do with her once she returned to Memphis? After talking to him, I’m not convinced he’s ready to let her go.”
“Me either. Guys like Kilo look for gals like Morgan.”
“Yeah,” Grant agreed. “And she’s the goose laying the golden eggs.”
“Exactly.”
“So you aren’t buying her little spiel, either?”
“Nope. Not now.” A beat later Blake added, “I wanted to believe her. I needed to trust her again. Now, I understand what we used to preach a long time ago. Trust is earned.”
“Unfortunately, a drug addict has a hard time earning that trust back once it’s lost.”