Chapter 17
Gage awoke me the next morning with breakfast in bed. As soon as I sat up, I gripped my throbbing head.
“Hungover?” he asked, setting the tray on the nightstand. He held out two white tablets and a glass of orange juice.
I nodded, and then swished down the pills.
“I’m afraid we hit the champagne a little too heavily last night.
Now we’ll both have to suffer the consequences.
” He sat down next to me, and only then did I notice the belt in his hand.
My eyes shot to his. He immediately adverted his gaze.
“Last night was…incredible…but that doesn’t give you free rein to call me anything other than Master. ”
“I-I’m sorry, Master. It just slipped out.” His name had more than slipped out; I’d screamed it to high heaven as I came undone in his arms.
He rose to his feet. “I am too, Kayla. Let’s get this over with.” He gestured to the space in front of him. “On your feet. Bend over and grab your ankles.”
I slid from bed, and as I held onto my ankles, preparing for the strike of his belt, I went back to despising myself. He’d gotten to me last night, had snuck into a small corner of my heart. Now that little piece shattered to dust.
Bastard.
I mentally chanted the epithet with every strike, though I had to admit the punishment hurt more on an emotional level than a physical one; perhaps I’d gotten under his skin as well because he was now going easy on me, though recognizing that didn’t make me feel any better.
Gage calmly put his belt away once he was satisfied I’d been thoroughly punished. “I promised you a phone call. Check on your daughter.” He handed me his cell phone.
I studied him, trying to find a hint of the man I’d seen last night hiding under his cool exterior, but all I found was impenetrable steel. “Why do you do this?”
He tilted his head. “Do what?”
“Shut yourself off from emotion.”
His body stiffened. “Are you trying to earn another punishment?”
I stepped closer and placed my hand on his chest; he flinched under my touch. “I’m trying to understand you.” I peeked up and met his eyes. “You’re tender one minute, and a brute the next. I can’t keep up with your mood swings.”
“You know nothing about me, except that disobeying will earn you another punishment.” He gestured toward the bed. “Bend over the bed this time.”
I turned and placed my hands on the mattress. “I know you care enough to let me contact Eve.” The snap of his belt made me jump. I couldn’t hold back a yelp as it landed on my bottom.
“Stop analyzing me!” He put more strength into the lashes, releasing his anger on the back of my thighs as well as my ass.
“I’m sorry!” I cried. God, would he ever stop hitting me?
“I’m a bastard, Kayla—don’t fool yourself otherwise.” I heard the belt buckle hit the floor, and neither of us moved.
“I know what you are, Master.” A walking contradiction. So were my feelings for him.
“Good. Now call your daughter before I change my mind.” He stomped from the room and slammed the door upon his exit.
Exhaling a long breath, I dialed the hospital from memory.
Guilt lanced through me at the sound of Eve’s voice.
She cried, wanting to know where I was. I held my breath and sought composure.
I’d give anything to be with her, and as I recalled how effortlessly Gage had made me forget everything, if only for a while, my self-loathing intensified.
I hung up after her doctor assured me she was doing okay—the only thing bothering her at the moment was how much she missed her mother.
All things considered, I had to find the silver lining; the new treatment seemed to be helping.
I paced Gage’s bedroom, taking in the furnishings for the first time.
The bed and dresser overpowered the room with mahogany-toned masculinity.
Unlike the crimson of his basement, this room had been decorated in shades of brown, complemented with touches of royal blue.
I eyed the breakfast tray. I didn’t have an appetite, but I forced down what I could.
A half hour had passed, and he still hadn’t returned.
I was completely naked, my dress lying in tatters on his floor.
Wringing my hands, I went over my options for my next move.
Did he want me to leave the room and find him?
Or was I supposed to wait here? Not knowing what else to do, I sank to my knees and waited.
Eventually, he pushed open the door. I let out a breath of relief at the sight of him. My knees ached to a point that was unbearable.
“How long have you been waiting on your knees?”
“A while, Master.”
The corner of his mouth turned up. “You know how to behave when you want to.”
“Can I get up now, Master?”
He held out a hand. “Yes. You have chores to get to.” He pulled the nipple clamps from his pocket. “Present your breasts.”
I almost begged for mercy, but in the end I stood up straight, clasped my hands behind my back, and suffered in silence as he clamped my nipples.
The passionate, lustful, out-of-control Gage from the night before was long gone, overpowered by a man who apparently guarded his emotions above all else.
He kept me busy with chores for hours. After dinner, he returned me to the basement, where he abused my bottom some more for his perverse pleasure.
Like the previous weekend, he took me anally.
Wrists and ankles locked into place on the spanking bench—a term I’d learned through my research—I was powerless to stop him as he probed my tight hole.
“Stop,” I sobbed. Every last shred of composure I’d held on to vanished as he slowly inched his way in.
“It’ll get easier each time we do it. Relax your muscles.
” It burned like hell for the first few minutes, but then Gage buried his fingers in the place he’d staked as his, and a different kind of fire erupted.
“Relax,” he repeated, “eventually you’ll learn to enjoy it.
” He pushed all the way in with a hoarse groan.
My body opened for him, and as he rubbed me to pleasure, my cries took on the sound of ecstasy.
His body owned me, demanded my surrender, and with a smack to my crimson bottom, he commanded my orgasm.
Completion crashed over me, like a tsunami that couldn’t be stopped.
He held his own orgasm at bay for a long time, forcing me to release twice more before he withdrew from my ass.
“Sweet dreams, Kayla,” he whispered after he’d unfastened the restraints.
The door to the basement clicked shut. I remained on the bench for a while, replaying what had just happened in my head.
Not only had he made me enjoy it, but he’d brought me to orgasm three times.
The realization stunned me, yet on some level I realized it shouldn’t have.
Gage had slowly knocked down my defenses, gaining compliance, and if my heart didn’t yield to his intrusion, my body sure as hell did.
Again and again, whether I liked it or not.
I fell into bed and questioned my very being.
What was wrong with me? What kind of person enjoyed being forced like this?
How could I enjoy anything in life—least of all something so sinfully twisted—while my daughter fought for her life in the hospital?
Tears trickled onto my pillow as sleep pulled at the edge of consciousness.
My last thought before I fell asleep was how I’d need to find a good therapist after Gage was finished making me his plaything.