Chapter 9
The three of us spent the day together watching movies and playing games.
It was the oddest sight ever, seeing Gage crouched on the floor playing something as elementary as Candy Land.
Witnessing how Eve responded to him disturbed me on all kinds of levels.
He kept up a constant stream of chatter with her that night during dinner, as if he talked to kids on a daily basis.
He asked about her favorite shows, if she knew how to sing her ABC’s; he even asked what she wanted for her birthday, though that was still a couple months away.
He was using her innocence to worm his way into her heart, and I could do nothing to stop it.
Not unless I wanted to cause a scene in front of Eve, which I didn’t.
He cleaned up after dinner while I gave her a bath, and afterward, as I tucked her into bed, he lingered in the doorway watching us.
I wasn’t ready to leave her alone yet, but even more so, I wasn’t ready to be alone with him.
“Do we live here now? I like my room.” Her question was so guileless, it broke my heart.
I forced a smile. “We’ll see. Goodnight, baby.” My gaze darted to Gage. “I’ll be in the next room, okay?”
She nodded as she sank into her blankets, and her eyes fluttered closed. I turned on the nightlight before shutting off the overhead light. Gage led me down the hall, and we stopped in front his bedroom—the room he expected me to share with him. I couldn’t fathom calling that space ours.
“What if she wakes up?” I asked.
“I installed monitors in our room and down in the basement. We’ll hear her.” His gaze wandered down my body. “I have to take care of a few things in my office first,” he said, pointing to another door at the mouth of the hallway. “I’ll leave the door open.”
I didn’t miss the warning in his tone. He’d always be watching me; that much was clear.
“There’s a private bath off the master suite. Prepare for me. When you’re done, I expect you on your knees waiting.”
“And if I don’t?”
“I’ll punish you.” He smiled as his attention dropped to my chest. “I wouldn’t mind seeing your nipples clamped and aching. You think the ones I used last year were bad? I have worse sets.”
Just like that, he’d transitioned me back into the role of submissive. I shrank into myself, keeping my eyes downcast as the sheer presence of his body closed in.
“Wait for me on your knees, thighs spread and hands behind your back.” His breath heated my forehead. “I want you naked. Understand?”
I nodded.
“How do you address me, Kayla?”
“Master is my safe word.”
“Like hell it is.”
I raised my eyes to his. “You got what you want. You have me here following your orders, but I won’t call you Master. So beat me, rape me, show me how ugly you can get. I’ll never call you that again.”
His eyes narrowed. “You did the other night.”
“What are you talking about?”
“In Texas, when we were fucking, you called me Master.”
I reached into my memories and recalled the word slipping from my traitorous lips. “I was caught up in the moment.”
His grin was positively evil. “So if we’re ‘in the moment,’ and you utter that word because you want to come so badly, should that be my cue to stop since that’s your safe word?”
I bit down on my tongue to keep from coming unglued. He was the most infuriating man I’d ever known. “You mentioned compromising.”
He gave a slight nod. “I did.”
“Can we at least compromise on this?”
He leaned into me. “What do you have in mind?”
“I’ll call you Master when we’re…”
“Say it. Fucking.”
“I’ll call you Master when we’re fucking.” That word struck me as all kinds of wrong. What we did transcended a casual coupling, despite my protests to the contrary. “But you have a name, and I’ll use it.”
“I am your Master. You don’t have to say the word—we both know it’s true.” He smirked. “Wait for me on your knees. I don’t care how long it takes. Don’t move from that position until I say otherwise.” He backed away a couple of steps. “I bet you’re getting wet just thinking about it.”
“You’re an asshole.” But he was right. I was getting achingly warm between my legs.
“And you need to be punished. I’ll be in shortly.” He turned and strode down the hall.
I stumbled into the room on jittery limbs and entered the private bath. He’d be a while. I was almost sure of it, so I took my time in grooming for him. Like a good little slave.
God, what the hell am I doing here?
He hadn’t left me with any other choice, but at the same time…I wasn’t fighting him as hard as I could be. I shaved every inch of my legs and worked on my bikini area. Afterward, I pulled a brush through my thick locks.
And then I surrendered to his demands.
I kept my hands clasped behind me and thighs spread, and the floor became uncomfortable beneath my knees. Cool air drifted between them, igniting more heat in the place he owned. My nipples pebbled in the chilly room.
He was going to clamp them. I’d mouthed off to him one too many times, and now I’d pay the price. I almost groaned at the thought. Why couldn’t he fuck me like a normal man?
Normal doesn’t get you off so good.
So it was true; I was a masochist after all.
Even though I was waiting for him, I jumped when he pushed the door open. “Close your eyes,” he demanded.
My lids fluttered closed, and I strained to hear him, picking up his quiet steps as he neared me. He covered my eyes with a satiny piece of cloth.
“Part your lips.”
My mouth opened, breath escalating at the sound of his tone, which sparked through me like fireworks.
He pressed on my lower lip before slipping a finger inside to stroke my tongue. “Don’t speak, and I won’t gag you. I know you don’t like when I do that, so I won’t as long as you behave. But you will get the clamps. I won’t stand for you disrespecting me.”
His finger left my mouth, and he gently rolled a nipple between thumb and forefinger.
His caress made me ache so intensely that I almost begged him to take me.
His touch was a tease at first until he pinched hard.
He applied the most excruciating clamp imaginable, and I managed to remain silent until he did the same to the other side.
I cried out and jerked away. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean—”
He pressed a finger against my mouth. “Don’t move. Don’t make a sound. When I’m ready to remove them, I’ll remove them, but not a second sooner. Endure it, Kayla, and the next time you have the urge to call me ‘asshole,’ you’ll remember this pain.”
Asshole.
If I didn’t rebel vocally, at least I could silently. I remained still as the dead and sensed him standing before me the entire time, his eyes on the vises that caused me so much pain but turned him on all the more. My eyes stung and watered, and after a while my nipples went numb.
It was going to hurt like hell when he removed them.
He did so without warning, and I bit my lip hard to keep quiet as pain flooded my sensitive peaks. He slipped a hand between my legs. “See? Not nearly as wet as you were after I used my belt on you. This is definitely a more effective punishment.”
“Gage?”
“Yes?”
“We never established a safe word.”
“Pick one now.”
“Um…I can’t think of one.”
“Then we’ll use yellow and red. Yellow means you’re uncomfortable with what I’m doing and you want me to slow down. Red means stop so we can assess.”
“Okay.”
“Doesn’t apply to punishments though. You don’t get a safe word during those.”
Of course I didn’t. Had I expected otherwise? The sound of his clothing whispered to the floor, and I wished I could see him. His finger wedged between my lips and pushed down until my jaw went slack.
“Keep your mouth parted just like that.” The wet tip of his cock tickled my tongue, and his taste brought back all kinds of memories; mostly of fear and hatred, overshadowed by intense desire.
He bathed my lips with his moisture, and I didn’t know if he was going to fuck my mouth like he had so many times in the past, or if he only intended to tease.
“We never discussed introducing new things. We’ll try them, and if you’re uncomfortable, you can tell me later, but you can’t deny me something until we’ve tried it.”
Nervous tension spread through me. What was he proposing now? And I was getting sick of him making up the rules as he went along.
“What do you—”
He shoved his cock all the way in. “I’m going to come on your face.
” He slipped in and out of my mouth, quick and rough, and his ragged breathing roared in my ears.
I didn’t have time to process what he intended—didn’t have time to agree or disagree.
I gagged as he pushed deep, and he came in a rapid burst. Some of his cum hit the back of my throat before he yanked out of my mouth.
He pulled the blindfold from my eyes, and his thick and warm liquid flowed over my forehead, down my nose and cheeks, and lingered on my lips. I darted my tongue out to clean them.
“Fuck, that’s a sight. My cum all over that gorgeous face of yours.” He gazed at me, entranced for several moments before helping me to my feet. “Go clean up, then crawl to me on your hands and knees.”
I scurried into the bathroom, my pulse thrumming at my collarbone. I didn’t recognize the woman in the mirror. She looked insanely aroused with her face and lips damp from the essence of him, her eyes mud brown with want.
I wasn’t me anymore. I hadn’t been me for a very long time.
He’d taken what was left and had locked it away somewhere in the vault of his possession.
I lifted my left hand, wiggled my fingers, and stared at the rock.
He was steamrolling me again. Compromise didn’t exist between us; he was getting exactly what he wanted.
“Kayla, hurry up!”
I splashed cool water on my face, dried off with a towel, and then got to my hands and knees. Cold tile smoothed into hardwood as I left the bathroom. Maybe I could talk him into putting carpet in; these floors were killing me. I glanced up as I crawled to him.
“Eyes on the floor.”