Sean guided the shopping cart down the aisle, perusing the shelves. He spared a glance over his shoulder at his wife, following him obediently a few steps behind him. It was the first time he’d taken her out, and she was being remarkably well behaved so far. The mask over the lower half of her face didn’t look at all out of place in the world anymore, and it hid her tape gag perfectly. Not that the gag was necessary; Sean knew she wouldn’t dare try anything, but he liked her gagged, how easily a simple strip of tape and some cloth between her lips could rob her of her voice.

Brook met his gaze when he looked back at her, and quickened her pace to get right back on his heels.

“What do you think? Should we get the thick spaghetti, or angel hair?” He moved his fingers from the boxes of pasta to run his hands through her hair. She didn’t even shy away like she used to when he touched her.

Brook pointed at the angel hair, and Sean smiled, and tossed a couple boxes in their cart. “Grab some sauce, dear,” he said, getting the cart moving again. He hadn’t minded doing things like grocery shopping by himself; he liked taking care of his family. He was the man, the provider, and he would’ve happily kept doing the menial tasks like grocery shopping solo forever, but he thought the outing would be good for her. Sean stopped at the end of the aisle, listening. He could hear her footsteps, the click clack of the nice heels he’d bought for her as a gift amid the easy listening Muzak playing over the grocery store speakers.

He didn’t have to look at her to know what she was thinking. Without turning around, he spoke slowly, in a whisper so only she could hear. “You could do it.” Her footsteps stopped. He could hear her breathing coming in quick puffs through her nostrils. “You could attack me. You might even kill me. Or you could pull your mask down and rip that tape off your mouth and scream for help. I might even be arrested, and you could go free.” Sean turned slowly. Brook was clutching a heavy glass jar of pasta sauce in both hands, tomato garlic and basil, her knuckles white.

“But they’d never find Sara and Kelsey.” He used their names. Not the dog and the baby, but their human names, and right then, it had the desired effect.

Brook made a strangled sob behind her gag, tears coming to her eyes.

“Don’t cry, my love. Be strong. For them. They need you. But don’t forget that they need me too.”

Brook had no idea where his cabin was, he made sure of that, blinding her with opaque sunglasses for their little outing into town over an hour away. Even if the police got him, he’d never talk, and she knew that. They’d be trapped, alone, slowly starving to death locked in their cages, waiting for her to come back and take care of them.

He gently grabbed her face and kissed her neck. “They need us,” Sean told her.

Brook managed a barely perceptible nod. Her hands trembling, she dropped the jar in the basket. He was right. He didn’t need any restraints for her on this outing. The gag under her mask was just because he could without arousing suspicion. She wouldn’t act out, she would remain obedient, and once his errands were done, he’d take her back to his cabin, and she would be able to take care of her friends. They needed her. Kelsey needed to be taken for a walk and fed. Sara would need to be changed and breast fed. That was her job, and the responsibility came with extra freedoms, but that same responsibility was just as much a shackle as any of the restraints that kept her roommates perpetually helpless.

“Good girl.” He patted her on the head. “Now, let’s see, we still need milk.”

She nodded and followed him to the dairy aisle. No more thoughts of bashing his head in crossed her mind as she followed him around and loaded up the cart. She kept her gaze on the floor as they went through the register, not wanting to draw attention to herself. No one spoke to her, and no one had any reason to question why she didn’t speak. She helped him load the groceries into his car.

“Take the cart back for me.”

It was a test. She looked at the cart, then all the way back to the entrance of the store, and then back to him.

“Hurry up,” he said.

She nodded, and started pushing the shopping cart across the parking lot. Outside the front door, a teenage employee was corralling the carts strewn about the entrance. Sean watched her patiently from the cart. Brook nodded politely to the employee when he offered to take her cart, and she dutifully turned and walked briskly back across the lot to him, back to her husband.

Like a gentleman, he opened her door for her, helping her into the passenger seat. The employee was too busy pushing carts to notice Sean slip Brook’s wrists and ankles into the cuffs he’d attached under the seat. Anyone watching wouldn’t know the sunglasses he put her on her completely blocked out her vision, and that the mask she still wore hid a gag.

“Let’s go back home, shall we?” Sean gave her a kiss on the cheek before shutting her in and going around to the driver’s side. He’d planned on taking her gag off for the drive home, but he decided she still needed some quiet time to think. Sean needed some quiet contemplation himself, and he left the radio off, driving back home in silence.

He’d made great strides with her. Brook really was special, and in many ways, she’d surpassed Melody as a wife. Of course, she’d always hold a special place in his heart, she was his first after all, but in such a short time, Brook had really come into her own as a partner. She still had a long way to go, the trip to the grocery store had proved that. Maybe she wouldn’t have tried to crack his skull open with that jar of pasta sauce, but even if she’d never gotten the courage to try it, the spark of the idea was there. Sean couldn’t have that.

By the time they made it back to the cabin, he’d made up his mind. “Unload the groceries while I take the dog out, and then I want to show you something,” he told her as he released her from the seat.

Brook nodded, removing her mask and rubbing the backs of her ears where the strap had dug into them, but she didn’t touch her gag. That was his job, and gently he peeled the tape from her lips and pulled the sodden stuffing out. “I love you,” he said, kissing her. Her tongue didn’t fight his, accepting his kiss, and while it wasn’t her most passionate effort, she returned his kiss.

“I love you too,” she said softly when their lips parted.

Sean smiled. Hearing that always made him smile. His smile faded when he opened the door and Kelsey’s hate-filled eyes glared up at him from her kennel. This one was a problem. The dogs always were. The baby had been sufficiently molded into her role, it had been almost too easy, but he’d had no such luck with the feisty bitch before him.

It wasn’t that he didn’t enjoy the struggle the girl put up. He relished punishing the haughty pet, and in a fantasy world, he could keep breaking her for the rest of eternity. But Sean knew all too well how dangerous that indomitable spirit could be. If not properly quashed, it would spread like a cancer through his house.

“Let’s go, bitch.” Sean held up her leash.

Drool dripped from the corners of her stretched lips as she got up on all fours, waiting for him to unlock her crate. Every muscle was tensed, ready, poised to strike. As she had been every time he came to let her out. She dropped her head and crawled out when he opened the door, letting him clip the leash to her collar. She was patient, calculated, he could feel it in her stares, her very movements as he took her for a walk. While he’d hoped that eventually playing at being an obedient dog would turn into habit and then, eventually, her reality, the stubborn creature was determined to prove him wrong. As long as she had that spark, it would spread like a wildfire, and he’d always be watching his back for one of them to try something.

“Back to your crate.” Sean unclipped her leash once they were back inside, and Kelsey went immediately for her cage, climbing in and turning around to watch him while he locked her back in. He wanted so much to shock her, to just drive his thumb into the button in his pocket and hold it down, just to wipe that look off of her face. Those eyes that said “you can’t break me.” He’d show her alright, but not like that.

“Good girl.”

Even the dehumanizing praise didn’t have the same effect it used to on her. Masking his anger, Sean turned and left, back to Brook, his loving and obedient wife. It was time to show her something.

“Let’s go for a walk.”

Brook stiffened, looking at the door he had just come from. Walks were usually reserved for the dog. “I was just gonna go check on the baby.”

“She’ll be alright,” Sean assured her. He held out his hand, and Brook took it, his comforting squeeze seeming to calm her.

“Where are we going?” Brook asked as they crossed the line where the invisible fence kept Kelsey penned in.

“For a little stroll, it’s such a nice evening.”

The leaves crunched under foot as they headed deeper into the woods. He helped her as she struggled with the uneven ground on her heels, putting his arm around her shoulders. “I’ve got you.”

“Thank you.”

Sean smiled. There was honest gratitude in her voice. Despite a few hiccups, she was really getting it. He really just wanted to take care of them. This was the kind of outing he wanted with his wife.

But they were getting close, and there was still the issue at hand. “The dog is still being willful.”

“She’s been good!” Brook blurted. Always quick to come to their defense.

“I want her to be happy. I want you all to be happy.”

“I think, just maybe, she might just be, uncomfortable. I think her suit might just be a little too tight.”

“It’s not that.” His grip tightened reflexively. If anything, the dog’s restraints were too loose, the ungrateful bitch, but he wasn’t going to get distracted. Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to relax. “I don’t want things to be like before.”

“Before what?”

Sean stopped as they came to a clearing in the woods. He could feel Brook’s heartbeat quicken as she surveyed the clearing, seeing the three mounds of dirt, the piled stones at their heads, the decaying flowers at their feet, and she put the pieces together.

“My last dog managed to get her collar hooked on something and choked,” he said. He’d had a whole speech planned, to explain how hard he’d tried with his last family, how much he’d loved Melody, and how he’d gotten her a dog to try and make her happy, and how he’d gotten her a baby when at first it seemed like the addition of a dog had brought some joy into her life. But in the moment, he could feel himself getting choked up, and he jumped straight to the end, muscling against the sudden, unexpected onslaught of unwanted emotions. “After that, my Melody, my wife, just lost the will to keep going. I thought she’d keep trying for the baby, but by then, she didn’t care, she became despondent. I had to put her on a feeding tube, I gave her antidepressants, but eventually, we just, we couldn’t make it work.” He looked away, willing himself to keep it together, but the tears were already starting to run down his cheeks. Brook shouldn’t have to see her husband like this.

“Things—” he started, his voice cracking. Clearing his throat, he tried again. “Things will be different this time,” he said, forcing himself to look back at the graves. “This only works if we’re all in this together.” That had been his mistake the first time. Melody didn’t care about their dog and their baby, not the way Brook cared about Kelsey and Sara. Not the way he cared about her.

A stifled sob from behind him brought him back to reality. He furiously wiped his eyes before turning to Brook. She was crying, the tears he wouldn’t let himself shed running openly down her face. Sean hugged her, holding her tight. “It’s okay, Brook. I love you. I’m sorry to upset you, I just, I believe in us! I want us to work, and as wonderful as it would be if we could pretend our lives only began when we met, we have to acknowledge our pasts, and learn from them.”

She melted into his arms, sobbing.

“It’s gonna be okay, Brook. I’m always going to take care of you. You’re my wife, and I love you.” He kept repeating it over and over, that he loved her, until the words melted into just meaningless noise.

“I don’t want to start all over again.”