by Bella J
***
I jerked awake with a masculine hand covering my mouth. Fear exploded through my body as my mind started to race. The lights were off, but from the distinct scent of cedar wood and amber, I knew it was him. That and the way my body hummed from his touch, even though panic surged through my veins.
“Shh.” He leaned down and I felt his cheek against mine as he placed his other hand on my middle. “I need you to be quiet, little mouse. Can you do that?”
I nodded, and he lifted his hand off my mouth. My body was rigid, my heart pounding like a jackhammer as he took hold of my elbow, guiding me off the bed and out the room. The first thought that went through my mind was another dining hall humiliation scene, and I couldn’t handle that.
Just as we passed the door, I grabbed the wall of the doorframe pulling myself back. “Where are you taking me?”
“Be quiet, and come with me.”
I shook my head. “No, I’m not going to the dining hall again. Please, not that again.” My throat closed, my chest tightened, and my legs felt like they would give way beneath me at any moment.
It was dark, and I sucked in a breath when his palm cupped my cheek. “Relax, little mouse.” His thumb touched my bottom lip. “There will be no spectators tonight. Only me.”
My fear settled, yet my heartbeat didn’t slow down in the slightest.
“Where are you taking me?”
His hand moved around my shoulder, his fingers wrapping around the back of my neck. It was such a simple touch, yet he managed to make it erotic, sensual, slowly coaxing my body to respond to him. He traced a delicate line across my jaw with his nose, and I could hear him inhale, taking in my scent. With a nudge just under my jaw, and a tug at the back of my neck he urged me to lean my head back.
“I’m taking you to a place no man has ever taken you before.” Soft delicate kisses slid down my throat, his lips and tongue touching and lapping against my skin. Everything inside me was coiled tight with a kind of anticipation that had the power to render me incapable of moving.
The touch of his hand moved from my neck, over my shoulder and down my arm before he wrapped his fingers around my elbow. “Now be silent, little mouse.”
My legs moved, and I put one foot in front of the other—willingly. I let Castello lead me without knowing where, and without putting up a fight. It didn’t make sense that my body moved to follow him while my mind screamed at me to fight. But with every step I gave behind him, the anticipation that brewed inside my belly, pooling between my legs got stronger.
It wasn’t until we took a turn down a familiar hall that I realized where he was taking me.
“We’re going to your bedroom?”
He didn’t say a word as he opened the door and pulled me inside. With my back toward him I heard the door shut, and the click of the lock. My heart was racing, my palms sweating, my goddamn thighs clenching as the ache got more intense.
“Why did you bring here?”
I felt his hard, warm body push against my back as he placed his hands on my shoulders.
“I couldn’t sleep, Tatum. Wicked, enticing, dirty images of you were keeping me awake, and all I thought about was that I wouldn’t be able to rest until I’ve brought those images to life.”
I swallowed hard, unable to breathe evenly. “What are you going to do to me?”
His lips touched my ear. “Everything you’ve ever fantasized about.”
My legs started to shake, my spine tingling with expectation, my body buzzing with so much eagerness. Yet I couldn’t tame the fear that lingered—once again the fear of the unknown. I probably should have gone on my knees pleading and begging for him not to hurt me like any normal person would do, but I didn’t. I just stood there, waiting, breathing, praying that I’d survive whatever he had planned.
“Do you trust me, Tatum?”
“No.”
I felt his lips turn into a smile against my ear. “Good. You shouldn’t.”
He stepped away, my traitorous body immediately pining for his warmth. My gaze followed him as he walked toward an oak cabinet.
Only then did I notice he was wearing a pair of jeans and a white shirt, a drastic change from the sleek, perfectly fitting suits he always wore. Placing a key into the lock, I wondered what he had hidden in that cabinet that required it to be behind lock and key.
When the lock clicked open, I flinched, the sound echoing through the room. My stomach was nothing but knots of equal nerves and excitement as I watched him reach inside.
It’s when I saw what he pulled out of it that I sucked in a breath, my stomach and heart both fighting for a way up my throat.
He noticed my reaction.
“It’s only chains, Tatum.”
“Chains can hurt me.”
“They can also give you what you need.”
He started toward me.
“What is it that you think I need?”
“Oh I don’t think, Tatum. I know.” He stopped mere inches from me, the silver chains in his hand glinting under the soft light of his room. “What you need…is me.”
The chains dropped to the ground, clattering together, the sound sending a jolt of electricity throughout my body.
A roguish grin crept up on his face, the scar around his eyes twisting with the movement. “You see, Tatum, just the mere idea of being bound and left completely at my mercy has your body coiled tight.” He lifted a hand, then slowly dragged a finger down my chest, between my breasts over the silk nightgown, all the way down until he reached between my legs. “Now imagine what would happen to your body when I turn your fantasy into reality.”
I sucked in a breath when he swirled his finger between my legs, still touching me through the silk fabric. No matter how hard I tried, it was impossible for me to fight the hold he had over my body. But I still tried, even though I knew by the desire throbbing between my legs that it was a lost cause.
“Stop fighting it, Tatum. You’ll lose, just like you did when you were on your knees crawling in front of me, wanting nothing more than to please me. Embrace it like you did last time. Let me push your body. Let me show you what you’re capable of.”
Fear slowly turned to desire, apprehension to lust. The temptation clung to his every word like a virus, its sole purpose to infect me.
“Let’s play, Tatum.” He leaned forward, his lips touching my shoulder. “Just. Say. Yes.”
Lord, help me. I couldn’t stop myself from saying, “Yes.”
Again I felt his smile against my skin, his lips working their way up my neck. He was right. I loved pleasing him like this. It was so fucking insane, yet so utterly necessary.
“Do you know what a safe-word is for, Tatum?”
“Yes.”
“Good.” He nipped my earlobe with his teeth. “Now forget it, because you won’t need one.”
“I don’t think that’s how it works,” I countered, my insides a lethal mixture of nerves and anticipation.
“It’s how I work.” His hand moved up my middle and cupped my breast, the sensation causing me to sway as my legs weakened. “How will you know what your body is fully capable of if you have a way out?” He pinched my nipple hard, and I yelped with the sudden pain that slowly eased into pleasure as it moved down my spine. “Your mind is a powerful thing, Tatum. It will convince you that you’ve reached your limit when in fact, your body is far from it. A safe-word will only give your mind more power to stop you from pushing every boundary it has ever set.”
He gave a step back removing his lips and hand from my body. I inhaled deeply, trying to tame the burning desire threatening to bring me to my knees.
Shaking, shuddering, and craving more I watched with eager anticipation as he pulled a pair of scissors from his back pocket, the silver blades winking with cruel intentions.
My body went completely stiff when he reached for the hem of my nightgown
His gaze shot up to mine. “Let go, Tatum. Please me, and let go.”
For a few
seconds we stared at each other, something unspoken passing between us as if an invisible line of trust was being drawn.
With a slight nod of my head, I forced my body to relax. The sound of the sharp scissors cutting through the fabric resonated around us, every slice, every crunch causing my insides to coil tighter and tighter. His eyes never left mine, and I found comfort in the darkness of his gaze. We might be enemies, but somehow whenever we were this close, it felt like we were the same—the same creatures craving the forbidden.
And then the scissors nicked my skin just as it reached the end of the fabric between my breasts. I gasped as the slash burned my flesh, but the way his eyes grew darker, the intensity stronger I knew he had done it on purpose—and I loved it.
I glanced down, a tiny drop of blood pooling between my breasts, and the most sordid part of my being loved the sight, loved the pain…loved how twisted all of this was.
Without saying a word he reached up and wiped the drop of crimson away with his thumb. It burned, but not as strongly as the fire in my core. After the ecstasy I experienced with him earlier, my body already craved it again, wanting, needing, demanding to be taken back to that edge of decadent wickedness.
The black nightgown fell in tatters around my feet leaving me completely naked in front of him. A wild, untamed look crossed his face as his gaze swept over my nakedness, and it fed the hunger inside me. It’s like he was capable of touching me with his gaze, caressing me with his stare that screamed uncontrollable desire.
“This is so fucked up,” I whispered.
“Isn’t it?” He leaned down and sucked a nipple between his lips, his tongue swirling against the tip.
I gasped, my eyes rolling back in my head before my nipple popped out of his mouth as he straightened. “That’s what makes all of this so goddamn good.”
“What? The fact that you want to kill me the one minute, then fuck me the next?”
“That’s what’s turning you on, isn’t it? The fact that you feel unsafe with me, that you don’t know what to expect? You think you fear the unknown, Tatum, when in fact you relish it.”
“That’s what you—”
He drowned my words with his mouth, kissing me hard as his tongue pushed past my lips. With every sweep of his tongue he assaulted my mouth like he craved the taste of me. God knows I hankered for his, unable to get enough of the flavor that was so uniquely twisted and forbidden…so him.
Every second his mouth remained on mine I drifted deeper and deeper into his corrupted world of dissolute seduction and sinful temptation. Funny how my mind no longer even bothered fighting it, but rather chose to accept it since it has lost each and every battle with my body so far. It was liberating really, not having the urge to fight it anymore—just allowing my body to bask in the power this man seemed to yield over me. Whether I died next year, next week, or tomorrow—right now I didn’t care because my mind, my soul, my body was all about him, all about him owning me in this moment.
A soft groan rumbled in the back of his throat as he peeled his lips from mine. My subtle moan followed suit.
Taking my chin in his hand he pinned his gaze on mine. “Now shut that pretty little mouth of yours, and let me have you the way I want you.”
He crouched down, and reached for some of the chains he had dropped on the floor.
“Put your hands behind your back.”
I obeyed, slowly slipping back into the role of his pet, and him my master. Amazing how it came so easily now, so naturally for me to obey. Was one fuck all it took for him to tame me?
The steel chains were cold against my heated skin, and my breathing became more labored the tighter he wrapped the chains around my wrists.
“Does it hurt?”
I tugged a little, moving my wrists. “No.”
He jerked it tighter, the cold steel pushing hard against my skin. I flinched.
“How about now?”
I nodded. “Yes.”
“Good.”
He stepped forward, and I swear to God every move he made had the power to send shivers throughout my body. It’s like I was completely tuned in to him, feeling his presence in every corner of every bone in my body. The air around me was filled with nothing but him, like he possessed all my senses, making it impossible for me not to be aware of him.
From his other back pocket he pulled out a blindfold. “Do you trust me yet, little mouse?”
“How can I trust a man who wants to kill me?”
He paused, and for the briefest of moments I saw a flash of guilt pass through his dark eyes as he stared at me. But it was gone just as quickly as it came.
He placed a hand on my chest, his thumb brushing against my throat. “Not tonight. Tonight I’m once again the man who can give you what you need, the man who will make your body come alive.”
And then everything went black, the blindfold secured over my eyes. Not being able to see was exhilarating yet frightening at the same time, my body instantly going on full alert.
There was a sound of more chains before I felt something soft, like velvet wrap around my neck. It was a collar, and I swallowed hard when I heard the click as it locked. There was a cold chain hanging down my front, thinner, more delicate than the chains wrapped around my wrists.
“What are you doing?” I whispered into the darkness, my heart beating faster with every second that passed.
“Hush, little mouse. Ignorance is bliss, remember?”
I didn’t dare counter with my comeback of ‘knowledge is power.’ The last time it came back to bite me in the ass, and I had a feeling the outcome would be the same now.
“Spread your legs.” His voice was demanding, just like his grip around my ankle.
I spread my legs.
“Wider.”
I moved a little more.
“I said wider.” And then he pushed against my leg, widening it even more. Cold air assaulted me between my legs, making me hyper aware of how aroused I was. With legs spread open, it’s like my body started to prime itself to be filled, anticipating a release.
There were more soft velvet cuffs that met my skin, this time wrapping and locking around my ankles. My chest was rising and falling, my insides about to explode with feelings that were alien to me, but every part of me relished it, loved it…craved it.
“If only you could see yourself now, you would realize that you were born to look this fucking good.” His voice was dark with hunger, a low rumble of sexual ravening.
A soft finger traced around the swell of my breast, a warm breath skidding across the skin of my neck. “If I should touch you between your legs right now, Tatum, what would I find?”
I didn’t answer. His touch was consuming my body, my mind, affecting my capability to form any coherent thought or answer.
Abruptly he grabbed my hair and jerked my head back, my scalp stinging with the force. “Answer me.”
“Wet. I’m wet…sir.” My answer came out with a huff, and he immediately let go of my hair.
I felt him move around me, and I shuddered when he took my bound wrists in his hand.
“If you’re wet now, Tatum, you’re going to be soaked by the time I’m done with you.”
Slowly he lifted my arms. The more he pulled my arms up, the more my shoulders started to ache in protest, leaving me no choice but to bend forward. I was bent in such a way that my ass was in the air, with my legs spread wide, my most vulnerable parts exposed. The thought of him watching me like this turned me the fuck on. It was insane, but I liked the idea of him seeing me in such a sexually vulnerable position. It was exhilarating.
There was another click and his hands left my wrists, but my arms stayed in place, lifted above my back.
“Now I don’t have to touch your pussy to know how wet you are…I can see it.”
The thought of him looking at me, staring at me from behind sent a new wave of desire crashing through every bone in my body. I was bound, exposed, and completely vulnerable to the one man who wanted to
destroy me, yet right now that knowledge only added to the thrill of it all. It only made me feel more helpless, more at risk, but I’ve never wanted anything else more.
Suddenly there was a tug on my neck, forcing me to bend more. The back of my legs stretched to a point of pain, my shoulders aching, every muscle in my back and neck pulled tight. Another clip, and I was secured in place.
“Now you can’t run from me, little mouse. You are completely at my mercy, not knowing what I’m about to do to you. And the best part, you can’t do shit about it. You can’t run, you can’t hide. All you can do is stand there and fucking take it.”
He shuffled, and I heard the sound of a zipper. The idea that he was naked too, stalking around me, staring at me, harboring impure thoughts about me and my body had everything clenching tight between my legs.
“Does it hurt?”
I sucked in a breath. “Yes.”
“Good. Now do you remember when you told me that I was wrong about you craving pain, and that you couldn’t handle Vico’s lashes?” His fingers slowly moved along my back, caressing my skin softly, and I imagined that he was tracing the marks Vico’s cruelty had left on my skin.
Cold spread like ice through my spine as the memories of pain and humiliation bombarded my mind. “Yes, I remember.”
“Do you remember my answer, little mouse?”
I tried to nod, only to realize that I couldn’t even move my head without pulling the muscles in my shoulders. “Yes. You said that my body didn’t respond to him.”
“Why?”
I swallowed. “Because he wasn’t the one.”
“And what else did I tell you?”
“That my need for pain, for pleasure is rooted to my deepest, darkest desires, and that it can’t be met by just anyone.”
He placed a palm against my ass, rubbing lightly, the sensation spreading across my skin in waves. “Good girl. Now tell me, Tatum, who has the power to meet your deepest, darkest desires?”
There was no hesitation in my answer because it was the undeniable truth. “You.”
