I lay staring at it, longing for sleep. I finally got comfortable and was lulled to sleep by the fan’s motor moments before my alarm went off. Work...the next day was slow and dull. I felt as if I were underwater. I hung a Do Not Disturb sign on my door and avoided my coworkers as much as possible. I was cranky and I had the sinking feeling I was going to take it out on someone. My boss, Brian, was at a conference out of town, so I didn’t have to worry about taking an attitude with him. As it. She doubted it to be anything serious.At home, I crawled around on top of Ean for maybe half an hour before it finally broke through to me just how much Ean doesn’t like company when he’s not feeling well. When that reached me, I retreated to my own bedroom to call and talk with Montana. As we spoke, I kept feeling out of place in my room. I felt as if I was in my room from when I was maybe just twelve, possibly younger. We just didn’t match each other anymore. I liked Ean’s bedroom. All his life he had followed that creed, and usually at a cost to him. He looked down at her picture, her eyes, the face he loved, but had never touched. Again, he stared at the words. An open invitation. An invitation for happiness. For love. Love, he loved her so much. He would easily give up everything in his life for her. He had done it once before. Simply walked away from a life. This was more complicated this time. More people would be hurt. And that was something he wasn’t sure he could. I kindly reminded her of the ring again, before setting course to Lena’s house. After a drive of about twenty minutes we had arrived. I unlocked Amy’s handcuffs, opened the front door and took Amy inside. Then I handcuffed her once more. She had breached my trust. “Listen to me very carefully,” I sat myself down right in front of her.“When Lena gets here you’ll be completely silent, unless I speak to you. Do you understand?”She gave a silent nod.“You ought to say ‘I understand, Master’. Don’t.