"Remove your clothes." Bradley's direction swept over the room, the silky-smooth deep tone of his voice reminding her how hard she had fallen for him. Without hesitation, she slipped out of her shirt and pants, folding everything and stacking her clothing in a pile near the door of the room.
When she turned around to face him, his eyes bore into her. His eyes. A connection he would demand from her, and one she would be hard pressed to hold. She had made him angry, but much more than that, she had disappointed him.
In his right hand, he held a long wooden paddle. During their play times together, she'd learned how much she hated wooden implements. At first, she had thought they would be thuddy, but quickly learned how untrue that was. The sting of his paddles bit into her skin more than his belt. Maybe it was the way he used it, or the way she felt it; either way, she disliked the wooden paddle, and he knew it.
"Tell me why we're here." His sharp words cut through the room.
A chill ran over her bare skin.
"I went to see Jonathan without telling you, and I didn't correct you when you assumed I was going out with Kelly. And I didn't tell you about my decision to sell my house." She clenched her hands at her sides. Maybe he had a different concern other than what she did or didn’t tell him. "I'm not moving in with you. I mean, that wasn't my plan. I wouldn't do that without talking with you. The house will take a while to sell. I'm going to start looking for a place of my own." She hadn't thought his face could grow darker, but before her eyes, a shadow crossed over his features. A storm brewed in his eyes, and his lips were actually turning white from the pressure he'd put on them. Had she misread his irritation?
He shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose, as though needing a moment to collect himself. She tried to hold steady, but damn if she didn't want to throw open the door to the room and sprint home. Naked or not.
"You decided to get your own place? And you didn't tell me? Didn't even open that up for discussion?" The low calm of his voice unsettled her even more than the heated glare he shot at her. "I'm not sure which transgression to address first!" He waved the paddle in the air in an exasperated gesture. "No. I do. Bend over the bench. We'll address the lying. Where you'll be living, we can discuss tomorrow. When we both have had time process this evening. Because I wasn't bullshitting you, pet. This is going to be a severe punishment. Use your safeword if you need a break, but there will be no escaping what you have coming. I will stop if you use your safeword, but it only pauses the punishment. Do you understand?"
He was still calling her pet, at least that was something.
"Yes, Sir," she strangled out, her vocal cords nearly paralyzed.
He pointed to the bench with the paddle, and she took one shaky step after another until she had reached it. She wasn't new to the apparatus; he'd fucked her over one only a few days ago when she met him for dinner after work. Having a boyfriend who owned a dungeon came in handy for an evening tryst.
"Shouldn't we lock the door?" she asked.
"No. There aren't locks on the doors to the private rooms," he explained, pointing to the corner of the room. A small video camera pointed at her. "If security sees a submissive calling her safeword, and the Dom isn't paying attention to it, they can get in without having to break down the doors or having to fuck around with a key."
Her blood ran cold. When they'd played at the club the previous times, it had been either in the main room or his office. His office had a lock.
"You mean someone is watching this?" Her hands rested on the bench, feeling the cool leather beneath her, but not finding any relief from the heat in her body.
"Does that bother you, pet? You've been spanked, flogged—hell, I've even belted you in the main room. People saw you then. What's so bothersome now? That someone is watching you be punished? That they know you've been a very naughty girl and need to have that sexy ass of yours paddled? Do you think they haven't seen this before?"
Another wary glance up at the camera, and she took a steady breath. Her limbs trembled, her eyes filled with tears, and her chest ballooned with pressure. The paddle clunked to the floor and his hands were on her a moment later.
Cupping her chin, he brought his nose close to hers, until they were near touching. “Give me your eyes, Erin. Your eyes." He commanded her to obey in a smooth, controlled voice. She managed to open them, not even realizing she'd clenched them shut. Hot tears rolled down her cheeks. He wiped them away with his hand. "It's just you and me. Forget the cameras. They are here for your safety, nothing more."
She tried to nod, but his hands held her face steady. "Take slow breaths. Breathe for me, baby."
After all the rules she'd broken, all the things she'd done wrong that day, he was trying to soothe her worries? Where had this man come from? Once she had her breath back under her own control, he released her and placed a soft kiss to her lips. The warm tingle his kiss left on her lingered.
"Are you ready, bad girl?" He picked up the paddle again and moved away from the bench to give her room to get into position.
"Yes, Sir." One more quick glance at the cameras, and she made her way to the kneeling portion of the bench. Her stomach fluttered with nerves, and her hands were already a sweaty mess. Her breasts pressed against the leather as she reached for the grip bars.
He had tried to soothe her. At a moment when she felt panic and fear, he'd pushed aside his anger and brought her back to her safe place. With him.
After everything he'd done for her over the past several weeks, all he asked in return was her obedience. Just follow his rules. Yet she couldn't bring herself to do that when it came to dealing with Jonathan. He might have said she couldn't go alone, but when she forced herself to look at the truth of the matter, she knew he would have been reasonable. It's how he did things. All she had to do was submit to him. And she'd fallen flat on her face.
Isn't it what she wanted? Isn't that why she'd gone to the club that first time? Easy to submit to his sexual dominance, it turned her into a gooey mess only to be stared down by him when he held his flogger in hand. But submitting to his rules outside the bedroom, when it came to something she wasn't sure she'd get her way on, she had failed him.
"Don't fly away on me, pet." His warm hand grabbed her ass roughly, squeezing and kneading until she let out a gasp. "You stay with me. Do you understand?”
No moving off into happy subspace, got it.
"I'm sorry," she whispered before pressing her forehead to the leather. Her chest ached with her regret.
"I know you are." His hand stroked over her ass, priming it for what would come next. There would be very little in the way of a warm up. Steadily, his hand came down on her upturned bottom. A slow warmth spread across both cheeks.
"Punishment isn't about making you sorry for what you did, it's about paying the price for it. Consequences, pet." He stopped spanking to rub her cheeks. His fingers were rough as he moved over her skin. When his nails bit into her flesh, she squealed and jerked her body forward. "Do that again and I'll restrain you," he warned her, then gave her three hard swats to the curve of her ass. "If you need a moment, what do you say?" He lightly slapped her left thigh.
"I say mercy."
"Yes, and if you say it, I'll give you a few moments to collect yourself. If you need to me to stop entirely, what will you say?"
"I'll say red." Her stomach soured.
"Yes. But that won't get you out of your punishment. It will only delay it. Do you understand?"
"Yes, Sir." She nodded, but didn't think he was even looking at her anymore. His hands spread her cheeks. She could feel his undivided attention being paid to her back hole.
He didn't comment, didn't even touch her, just let her stew in her own embarrassment of what he was doing. Her face heated, and a new layer of regret formed.
All she had to do was be honest with him that morning. Have a conversation. Instead, she'd done what she wanted without thinking about him.
Her eyes bolted open as the first
strike of the paddle landed. The force pushed her forward on the bench, and she cried out from the pins and needle sting of the damn wood. Again, it fell on her, and she clenched her fists around the grip handles. Another blow, to her thighs, and she grunted. Bee stings would have been less painful. She bit down on her lip and waited for the next blow.
"Aagh! That thing hurts!" she cried out when it landed.
He pressed the wood against her ass, which no longer felt cool to the touch at all. "Does it?" he asked, rubbing the implement in a circle over her burning cheeks. "Then maybe you should be honest with me." He unleashed another stinging blow.
"It stings so much!" she cried out, the pain in her backside starting to spike her temper.
"Whose actions led us here? Mine or yours?" He placed a steady hand on the small of her back. A simple touch.
She felt the tears burn her eyes again. "Mine did, Sir," she admitted on a choked sob.
"Yes," another stinging blow sent a jolt of electricity through her body, "yours did." And then came another. Before she could catch her breath, he continued with a volley of swats. The burn of one stroke barely registered before the next was delivered. Sharp pinpoint sensations shot through her over and over again. She cried out after each, letting the tears fall down her cheeks freely and wishing she could say something to alleviate the pain in her chest.
He was unrelenting. Over and over again, she felt the paddle contact her ass. Her upper body collapsed on the bench, her mind tried to whirl away, to find that sweet spot where his spankings and floggings often sent her, but the paddle pulled her back. Each time she thought she'd found a place to hide, he would move his strokes to her thighs or to the other cheek, higher, then lower.
Unable to hold still anymore, her ass began to dance, trying to avoid his punishing hand. He wouldn't be deterred. One arm wrapped around her waist, holding her in place as he finished the spanking with a quick dozen swats in rapid fire succession.
"Oh. God! I'm sorry!" she screamed. “Mercy” played on her lips, ready to throw it out there to catch her breath, but as she began to call out for him to relent, the paddle was placed on her back.
It took several moments to realize how hard she was sobbing. His hands weren't punishing anymore, they were stroking her back, her hair. He whispered how good she was to take her paddling so well. Reassuring her.
"Come on, pet. Up." His hands helped her move from the bench.
Her ass should have been smoking from the fire he just lit on it. With each step, the tight burn of her skin renewed. She'd never felt so raw. Tempted to touch her skin, just to be sure it was all still there, she began to move her hand behind her. A sharp slap to her ass stopped her. She jumped up to her tiptoes but didn't look at him. How much more could she disappoint him in one day?
"Now, I have some questions." He helped her walk over to the St. Andrew’s Cross and turned her so her back pressed against it. She thanked the genetics of her parents for making her the right height, so her ass didn't touch any part of the wooden X.
Avoiding his eyes while he went about securing her wrist to the top rings, she turned her face away. The tears weren't rolling anymore, but she could feel as much pressure in her chest as before.
After the last clink of the bonds signaled her ankles were locked in place, she drew in a ragged breath. How could she look at him? He held so much confidence and control. The perfect Dominant, while she showed how horrible of a submissive she could be.
He went back to the cabinet and came back with a small metal bucket. "I'm going to do some decorating, and then we'll start our conversation." Between two strong fingers, he held a wooden clothespin.
"Open your mouth." He held the handle of the small bucket to her lips. She took the handle between her teeth, surprised by how lightweight it was.
Taking one pin out of the bucket, he took a long rope out from his back pocket. Wasn't he the perfect boy scout too, always prepared? Who knew what else he had in those pockets of his cargo pants.
There was a sharp pinch just under her bicep as he placed the rope between her flesh and the pin, securing it onto her skin. She winced at the pain, but had to admit it wasn't overly bad. Even when he flicked it with his finger, she managed to keep from crying out.
He continued in this manner up her arm and over both breasts before finishing down her left arm. When he was finished, a steady burn ran over her arms and chest, but no worse than the white fire on her ass.
"Ah, you drooled in my bucket." He tugged the handle out of her mouth, and she licked her lips. "You can clean it later," he assured her, then put the bucket on the floor. "Now." He began to play with the ends of the clips, adjusting and readjusting until she was squirming from his administrations. "What happened with Jonathan?"
Jonathan? He wanted to talk about Jonathan now?
"I…I…what?" She tried to focus, but he continued to unclasp and re-clasp the pins on her arms.
"Your dinner. What did you and he talk about?"
"We didn't have dinner. I only asked him to sign the papers for the listing." She couldn't have eaten in Jonathan's presence even if she had wanted to. The man made her sick with his weakness and manipulations. She couldn't imagine Bradley ever doing what Jonathan did. He was too honest, too open with his communication, to let something like his unhappiness go unsaid.
"Was he alone?"
How could he know? "No." He stopped tinkering with a clip and stepped in front of her, making her stare into his eyes.
"Who?"
"His girlfriend," she whispered, waiting for the sharp sting in her chest, but it didn't come. "He brought his girlfriend, but she didn't sit with us."
"Did he give you any trouble?" Of course he would be concerned about that, about how she had handled it, how it had made her feel. Meanwhile, she hadn't been concerned at all about how it might hurt him if he found out about her lie.
"No, not really. He signed the papers. And…he said he saw us together." Bradley's eyebrows raised, a prompt to go on. "He said…he tried to be protective, said if you ever hurt me—" She closed her eyes as he removed another peg and moved it to a new place before securing it. "I laughed at him and left."
"Then you came straight here because you got my text."
"Yes. I'm really sorry. I didn't think." Fresh tears burned her eyes.
"I know," was all he said, picking up the end of the rope. Pressing his body against hers, his fingers played with her nipple, plucking and pinching until it stood fully erect, then dragging his nails down the length of her torso until he reached her mound. With her ankles bound apart, she couldn't close her legs even if she wanted to. With the skill she'd come to depend on, he slid his fingers through her folds. "Wet, even when you're being punished."
Two fingers sunk into her, and she clenched down on him.
"Oh, don't worry, pet. You aren't coming tonight. Maybe not even tomorrow night. But definitely not tonight, but that doesn't mean you don't get to feel the pleasure you're giving up by being a naughty girl."
The heel of his hand ground into her clit as he pumped his fingers in and out of her. She kept her eyes on him, unable to look away as he drove her quickly to an edge he would yank her from at any moment. Her thighs trembled as the pressure built to uncomfortable heights. Just when she thought he'd changed his mind, he pulled his hand away and ripped the rope across her chest, yanking off every clothespin in a zipper like fashion.
She screamed. Her chest heaved, her lungs begging for air, her eyes filling with more tears, her body trembling.
He held her chin between his fingers, yanking her face upward to meet his mouth. His lips crashed down over hers.
When he drew back, dilated pupils met her gaze. "I'm going to unbind you, and you're going to get dressed. You'll come to my office and kneel in the corner while I finish my work. When I'm done, we'll go home. In the morning, we’ll talk about your living arrangements. Until then, I don't want to hear a word out of you unless I speak to you. Do you understand? If you n
eed me, if you need something, you'll raise your hand and wait until I come to you. Is that clear?"
The lump that settled in her throat finally moved down enough to let her speak. "Yes, Sir." He didn't want to talk to her. Of course, he didn't. Would she want to look at his face if he had lied and hidden so much from her? The punishment may have cleared the air, but she'd damaged them.
Maybe she wasn't cut out for being his submissive. Maybe he was starting to realize that. Maybe she'd messed everything up beyond repair.
Chapter 24
"Are you serious? Nothing?" Bradley stared over the back-patio table at Kendrick. Kelly had been deposited directly upstairs to be with Erin.
Bradley had not had a chance to have a talk with her yet because Kendrick and Kelly showed up first thing in the morning. Kelly with an apology, and Kendrick with some information.
"Not a thing. Jonathan has been completely clean. If he is the one harassing her, he's a lot smarter than I ever gave him credit for." Kendrick hooked one foot over his knee and leaned back in the chair. "There is something else, though, and that's partly why I trekked my ass clear across town this early in the morning. Those photographs you showed me, the one's she received, they weren't taken on the street. They were taken from the security cameras that line the building. Freeze framed and blown up, but they were from those cameras."
"So, there isn't someone following her around?"
"My gut says no, but I could be wrong. And we have to face the fact that someone either within my security team is involved, or someone who knows how to tap into the secure camera feeds."
"I thought that wasn't possible." Bradley tried not to sound accusatory.
"It's extremely difficult, almost impossible, but with the right smarts, it's doable. I'm going back into the logs to find out who was working when these pictures were taken so I can talk to them, but I don't think it's coming from my guys. Almost all of them have either police or military background. It's not their thing to try to blackmail someone, and sure as fuck not someone's woman."
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