86. Chapter 84
Emery
The bed shifts behind me, cool air flooding my skin, before the blankets are put back. As I start to turn in Derek’s direction, a hand touches my head, gently stroking, and there is the brush of stubble by my ear.
“Shhh, I’ll be right back.”
Not ready to open my eyes, anyway, I settle back into my pillow and let my mind float in that space where I’m vaguely aware that things are going on around me—doors opening and closing, someone moving around the room—but then everything is quiet again.
My hand is pulled free of the blankets, and this time I do open my eyes, watching as Derek straps something soft around my wrist. “Hey.”
He glances up and smiles at me. “Hey, baby. Sleep okay?”
There is a clicking noise as I nod, and then, like my brain can’t comprehend what’s happening, I watch as a not-so-thin chain is padlocked to a very thick metal ring hanging from the headboard.
A weight sinks down into my stomach as I raise my arm, and the chain moves with it, a tiny padlock securing it to the padded leather cuff now wrapped around my wrist. “What?”
Derek rests a sweats-covered knee against the bed and leans forward to drop a quick kiss onto my lips but pulls back just as quick.
“This is only for now. We need to talk, and I have a feeling the moment I leave this room, you are going to try and disappear on me. I’ve waited too long to have this conversation with you. ”
“Are you seriously holding me prisoner?” I sputter, giving the chain a hard yank, testing its strength, indignation burning in my chest. “You can’t do this.”
“As always, you can use your safe word. I will never make you do anything you do not truly want to do.” Derek brings over a tray that has cute little fold-out legs.
“I had the carbonara delivered from Lizzottes with garlic bread and a Coke. Unfortunately, I cannot provide you with a dessert tonight.”
“Derek, seriously? You can’t keep me here like this.” Anxiety is starting to brew beneath my lungs.
He then goes to the dresser and brings over an armful of things.
An iPad.
Teddy.
My sketch pads and graphite.
“The code to unlock the iPad is your birthday. There are several streaming services available for you to use, and I have even taken the liberty of downloading a few games. You are more than welcome to add other apps.”
The way he ignores me is not helping my spiraling thoughts. “What if I promise not to leave?”
Derek pauses and looks up from where he is arranging everything at the foot of the bed. “Would you keep your promise?”
When I don’t answer, he nods and returns to fixing things the way he wants them.
With a huff, I flop back onto the bed, but then a thought occurs to me, and I jerk up to sitting, the blankets pooling around my waist, leaving my tits exposed to the room. “Wait, why aren’t you staying with me?”
“The guys will be arriving in the next few minutes for our weekly poker game. Once I was no longer distracted by your arrival, it was too late to cancel on them.” Derek straightens and stuffs his hands into his pockets, not a single ounce of regret over what he is doing to me on his face.
“If you need me, send me a message, and as soon as I’m able, I’ll come to you.
But unless you want all of them knowing you’re here before you’re ready to have a conversation with them, I suggest you keep the requests to a minimum. ”
“When are you going to let me go?” I quietly ask, dropping my gaze to the dark blue duvet, picking at the fabric. Emotion is clogging my throat, and I have no idea how I feel.
On the one hand, so fucking ridiculously happy.
Happy to be with Derek, to be in his bed, that he wants to keep me, that he is protecting me from the others for a little bit longer, that I get to stay the night.
But also, fucking terrified.
Terrified that this was a mistake, that I shouldn’t have taken the bait and come here, because that was clearly Xavier’s intention.
What if I fucked everything up?
Did I just lose all my choices?
Derek comes back around to the side of the bed and sits, scooping up my hand with the handcuff.
“This is just for my peace of mind. I need to know that you will be here when I’m finished with them.
You’ll be free to leave tomorrow, and they will never have to even know you were here if you don’t want them to. ”
I nod, my smile watery. “I know.”
Derek kisses the back of my hand, then lowers it to the bed. “I’ll send you messages, checking in. I expect quick responses.”
He stands to go but pauses, a stillness coming over him that makes a pinch of fear spear through me. “One last thing. Could you please come and stand here, beside the bed?
Trepidation fills me, causing my limbs not to work right away. But, slowly, I crawl to the edge of the bed, slip my feet off the side, then stand.
Derek being completely dressed, compared to my nudity and captivity, makes me feel small and a little humiliated.
“Bend over, put your hands on the mattress,” he orders, voice low and grumbly, similar to when I pushed him too far in his office.
I do as I’m told, those fucking tears back, because I have a feeling I know where this is going.
“Do you remember when you tried to knee me in the groin, and I told you that you were going to pay for that?” Derek’s voice gets farther away as he speaks, but he is back before my mind can run wild.
My arms start to tremble as a hand pushes down on my lower back, forcing my ass to present. “Y-yes.”
“You’re going to count to three. Are you ready, baby girl?”
Swallowing, I nod. “Y-yes.”
“Yes, what?”
Oh, fuck. My core gives a little throb. “Yes, daddy.”
I get absolutely zero warning as a warm line of fire streaks across my ass, worse than the lines from his belt. Pain, icy cold pain, shoots up my spine and catches my breath in my throat and tears fall as I gasp for air.
“O-one.”
This time, I hear the whoosh as the cane comes back down, but that doesn’t help with the sudden crack of pain.
When I manage to get the word out, it’s on a sob. “Two.”
My head drops down to hang between my shoulders, a cold sweat breaking out over my body, as the cane comes down on its final swing. “Th-three.”
Pain registers everywhere. My skin feels overly sensitive from the backs of my knees all the way to the base of my skull, and heat flares out from my ass.
“Good girl, baby. You took your punishment so well, I’m so proud of you. I’m just going to check…”
Fingers slide along the underside of my ass, so fucking close to the marks that I’m bracing for pain, but instead, I’m suddenly stuffed full, with at least two fingers in my pussy.
“Mmm…definitely my little masochist,” Derek murmurs, pumping his fingers in and out of my very wet pussy. “Look how wet your punishment made you.”
Something grazes over my clit, and my elbows give way as pleasure mingles with the pain running up and down my spine. “Fuck.”
Derek continues with his lazy motion, clearly not in a rush to go anywhere or to actually let me come again.
I smoosh my face into the sheets, fingers clenching into fists around the fabric, and moan everything I’m feeling, the sounds coming out muffled. I’m pretty sure I’m crying, too, but holy shit, this feels amazing.
There is a loud bang from out in the house, and Derek sighs before removing his fingers. “The others have arrived.”
Pain fucking flares like a wildfire igniting as he wipes his wet fingers on my ass, right over the striped marks. “Ahhhhh.”
“Shh, you don’t want them hearing you.” Derek leaves me bent over the bed, a hot fucking mess, and heads for the door.
“Message me if you need my help for things like going to the bathroom, or the marks begin to hurt more than they already do. They shouldn’t, that caning was barely above a funishment.
You don’t have any broken skin, but you might have bruises. ”
Just above a funishment? Firstly, what the fuck is a funishment, and why the hell do I get the feeling that he means this punishment was on the lower end of the pain scale?
Derek gathers a pile of clothes—my clothes—from on top of his dresser, then reaches for the handle, but turns back with one last reminder. “And remember, you need to remain quiet. I won’t protect you from them if you draw their attention. And no touching my pussy.”
And with that final demand, he is gone, and I’m left seriously questioning my sanity for coming here today.