Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
A drian told me he would stay with me if I wanted to call out of work the following day. But I insisted on going. I wasn't going to let Ethan frighten me out of living my life. Not now. Not ever again. On my way in, I called my carrier to have my cell number changed. During downtime, I blocked Ethan on every social media account I had. Now I only had to worry about seeing him in public, and if he dared to come to my house again. I honestly wanted to pack up and move, but in the middle of the semester on a tight budget, it was impossible. There were only so many cheap apartment options near the university.
"You can stay with me," Adrian offered immediately. "As long as you need to."
I turned down the offer, but gladly spent the next night sleeping at his house. But the thing was that I couldn't just hide from Ethan forever. I couldn't just keep hoping he wouldn't show up. He had to be faced, in one way or another.
"Don't be scared," Adrian said, as I lay in his bed to sleep for the first time. "I won't let anything happen to you. This will be handled."
His kisses that night were fervent, his grip on me hard enough to make my muscles ache. He tied my wrists and ankles, so that I was spread eagle beneath him. Helpless, basking in the glory of submission. His every movement - from the sharp slap of the leather crop he had pulled from within his toy chest, to the bite of his teeth along my inner thighs – left my body tingling with sensation and longing.
"Don't be afraid of the lack of control," he said, whispering down my body as he trailed the crop along my spine. "Don't be afraid to trust me."
Blindfolded and gagged, he commanded all my senses. I enjoyed the strain against my bindings, I relished struggling when I knew I couldn't escape. I trusted him. Of course I did. Every touch, every scratch, every bite, every slap, was controlled. He was conscious of my expressions, my smallest noises. He listened for the point at which my muffled shrieks reached a pitch that said the pain was too much. He pushed my limits of frustration, pushing me to the brink of orgasm only to skillfully pull me back again. Blind and bound, I could only wait for what he intended to do to me.
It was thrilling, therapeutic. It took away the worries that tormented me and made them insignificant. It forced me into the moment where there was just the two of us, just his voice commanding me and the experience of my body.
It made 3 little words that I was terrified of ever saying again press dangerously hard against my lips.
The day before class, Adrian assured me again, "Trust me. Everything will be fine."
I was torn between my trust for him and my doubts. I wanted to believe him. I just couldn't see a scenario in which everything would be "fine."
Walking to class, I saw Ethan andSophia go in ahead of me. I felt like running at her, shaking her, asking her if she knew what the person she was with was truly like. But I bit my lip. I met Ethan's gaze when it went over me. I kept my face hard and didn't let him see my intimidation. I sat in my seat at the front of the class, head up, and waited for Adrian to come. I waited for that rush of relief I always felt when I saw him.
But the professor who arrived wasn't Adrian.
"Good morning class, I'm Mrs. Tichmond. I will be taking over this class for Mr. Blackwood, who is unfortunately unable to finish out the semester due to personal circumstances."
My heart felt frozen in my chest. The woman was middle-aged, blonde hair, and wore a plethora of bug-themed brooches on her sweater that I swore I had also seen my grandmother wear. She took 10 minutes to get the projector working, but even when the lesson began I could hardly hear it. I stared blankly, my phone clutched tightly in my hands, resisting the urge to leave the classroom and call Adrian immediately.
Had Ethan already reported Adrian? But surely school officials would have talked to him . . . would have talked to me . . . would have done something to see if what Ethan said was even true. I thought irrationally that perhaps Adrian had been arrested, before I reminded myself that nothing we had done was illegal . Still my heart pounded in my chest. Fear that I had ruined things for Adrian. Ruined his opportunity to graduate, to continue working at the school. I couldn't manage to take a single note.
The moment class ended, I was already calling him. It rang, and rang again, with no answer. Come on Adrian, what's going on? Finally, I heard the click as he picked up. Before he could even greet me, I blurted out, "What's going on? Where were you? Why aren't you teaching?"
"Calm down Cass," he said gently, and I was relieved to hear the faint amusement in his voice. "Everything is fine. I'm in the Quad getting coffee, can you meet me there?"
"Yeah, of course." I had nearly an hour and half before my next class. There was a long walkway between the parking garage and the science labs that would take me to the Quad, so I turned and took that path. The moment I did, I heard someone call behind me.
"Cassandra!"
I glanced back, and my stomach clenched. It was Ethan.Sophia was no longer with him. No one else was walking this way. I turned away quickly, walking faster.
"Ethan is following me, Adrian," I said softly.
"Where are you?" His voice was immediately serious.
"The walkway next to the parking garage and the science building," I tried not to sound afraid. Ethan wouldn't try anything in the middle of the day, and on the university campus. At least, I didn't think he would.
"Cass, would you stop walking and fucking talk to me?" I didn't turn around. Didn't look at him. Just kept walking, head down.
"I'll be right there, Cass," Adrian said. He sounded so calm, still in control. In the distance, I saw him round the corner to the walkway.
At the same moment, Ethan grabbed my shoulder and spun me around to face him.
"Would you stop running away from me like some freak?" Ethan was right in my face, his voice exasperated, his grip still squeezing my arms. "You ready to talk to me yet? Now that your little boyfriend has run away from class?"
"Get away from me, Ethan," I said, jerking myself out of his hands and backing away.
He scoffed. "No. I have as much right to walk here as you do. You're just-"
His voice died in his throat, and I felt another arm go around me. Protective. Possessive. Adrian had his other hand in his pocket, his eyes narrowed behind his glasses. I shrunk against him. Ethan looked him up and down skeptically, and then grinned.
"Is there a problem?" Adrian asked, and Ethan shook his head with a curled lip.
"Of course not, Mr. Blackwood," he said. "I mean, I guess now that you're not her professor anymore, it doesn't really matter that you're fucking my ex less than two weeks after we broke up."
"It's been three weeks, Ethan," I muttered.
"Shut up, Cass," he said, stepping forward aggressively. "Why don't you just admit that you're a nasty little ho who couldn't wait to get away from me so you could go fuck your teachers?"
I started to answer, to protest, to yell at him and ask why the hell he should even care when he didn't want to be with me anyway, but Adrian squeezed my shoulder and quieted me.
"I think you need to leave, Ethan," he said softly. "Just turn back around, and walk away."
Ethan spread his arms, pacing on the sidewalk. "It's a free country. I can walk where I want. I'm not gonna have this bitch-" he jabbed his finger at me "- and her pervy-ass professor tell me where I can't-"
Before I realized what was happening, Adrian had stepped away from me, closed the gap between him and Ethan, and punched him in the mouth. For a second both Ethan and I stared blankly, stunned, and then Ethan fell flat on his back, mouth bleeding as he stared dazedly at the sky.
Adrian turned back to me, a pained expression on his face, wiping his hand on his shirt. My mouth was hanging open.
"Probably shouldn't have done that on school property," he muttered, coming back and putting his arm around me again, leading me away as if nothing at all had happened. I was shocked into silence on the outside; on the inside, I was cheering. Adrian mused, "I really think possible suspension was worth it. How did you put up with that asshole for two years? Wait, no." He held up his hand. "Don't answer. You're going to say the reason was stupidity and then I'm going to have to spank you for calling yourself stupid."
***
I was pretty sure Ethan dropped our class altogether after that.Sophia continued to show up, alone. I tried to smile at her if I ever caught her eye. I honestly hoped that whether they were still together or not, she wouldn't have to go through the same bullshit I had.
"I left the teaching course on my own," Adrian had told me. "That's why I had that meeting with my professor. I figured since I felt like things were getting more . . . serious, despite what you said you wanted, that I should admit it to someone up front. So my professor arranged for me to do the course next year. He said it wasn't the first time this kind of thing has happened."
I was relieved, in every possible way. Ethan was no longer bothering me, and Adrian and I were no longer sneaking around campus. We met for coffee between classes, and Maya finally met him without being a drunken mess. She almost screamed when she walked by Starbucks and happened to see us sitting together.
"Oh my goooddd, you two are so cute ," she said, giving me a suffocating hug around my chest. "Hold on, hold on, let me take a picture."
She stood back and snapped a photo of us with her phone, smiling over our cups of coffee, Adrian holding my hand across the table as I furiously blushed. It was the same photo we used later that semester to make our relationship official on Facebook.
"To whom do you belong?"
"You, sir."
Dark cotton cloth blinded me. Leather straps hugged my limbs and spread me. I was lying on my back on his bed, naked and blind. Ready and willing.
I felt the bed creak, and his breath on my face. Slim leather sensations trailed down my chest, between my breasts and over my navel. "To whom," he insisted, "Do you belong?"
I gulped as excited shudders flooded over me. My bindings were a promise of what was to come: I needed to be held down. Controlled. Perfectly captivated. A little smile curled my mouth, both nervous and excited. "I belong to Adrian Blackwood, sir."
The words were as sweet as sugar on my tongue. I absolutely relished saying it, and I knew how much he loved hearing it too. Now that there was no denying it, he took every opportunity both to remind me, and to confirm with me: to whom did I belong?
The leather flogger stroked between my legs, threatening my most sensitive places with its deceivingly gentle tease. I exhaled deeply to steady the energy that was building within me, adrenaline telling me to brace for pain even as my nether regions tried to prepare for pleasure. The flogger caressed my inner thighs, making me jump and twitch as tender nerves were awoken. Down it continued to go, exploring my flesh, leaving me in wonder as to where it would strike.
"You look beautiful, Cass," Adrian's dark, gentle voice surrounded me, my guiding light in the dark. I could imagine him standing there beside the bed, blonde hair tousled, shirtless, his jeans unbuttoned, the flogger in one firm, commanding hand. The image made me bite my lip, and I almost told him he looked beautiful too.
"I love to see you like this," he said, his voice moving as he walked around the bed. I squirmed, testing my shackles just to feel the tightness with which they held me. "Helpless, needy, desperate for a touch. Entirely at my mercy."
The flogger bit across my breasts, more sting and impact than true pain. I gasped nevertheless, cut off mid breath by another solid strike. The urge to cover myself was strong, and my arms strained uselessly. Struggling in vain made me hot, even wetter than before.
"Where shall I flog you, Cass?" Adrian said curiously. "Here on your tender little nipples?" The flogger barely brushed over them. "Or on this needy pussy?" Again, the flogger taunted its potential victim. I whined at the prospect of a choice. My rational brain said to choose the former. My cruel, masochistic inner self wanted to choose the latter.
"Well?" he coaxed, when several seconds had passed without an answer from me. "Tell me what you want, baby. Or I'll choose for you."
"Pussy!" I said quickly, almost immediately regretting my choice so much that I whined some more and squirmed on the bed.
Adrian laughed. "Is that meant to be a full and complete answer, or are you insulting me? Tell me what you want. "
"I want you to flog my pussy, please, sir," I said, choking out the words and almost squealing as I did. The fight-or-flight was strong and I was thankful for being tied down. Although there were times now that I enjoyed struggling against him without ties, playing at denial but ever eager to give in, when he would use only the strength of his body to control me. There was a special intimacy in that, one I had come to crave just as much as the careful, methodical control he exercised with straps and chains.
"What a good girl you are," he said. "You're really trying to earn your reward today aren't you?" He paused, and in the silence I softly whimpered, wondering when the flogger would strike again. I jumped when he spoke instead. "Mmm, we are a little more limited on time then I thought. Your final starts in only an hour."
"Please don't stop!" I said. He put my studies before anything else, and had ended a session far too many times because he discovered I had not studied, or had a test coming up. There was nothing more frustrating than trying to study after being denied my release.
"I guess that just means I'll have to be harder on you baby," he said, amusement in his voice. "Hopefully a little soreness will remind you what will happen if you fail your final. You studied didn't you?"
"Yeesss," I whined, growing frustrated with the change of topic. I heard a hiss, and the flogger landed between my legs, stinging every tender bit of me. I squealed, my legs tensing as Adrian clicked his tongue in disapproval.
"Don't take that tone with me. You've really earned it now."
Adrian's floggings were merciless, shifting between slow and fast, with long pauses that made me squirm and shake with anticipation. The flogger hit my inner thighs with an unbearably growing sting, and every strike across my clit pushed me closer to being manically turned on. Before long I was gasping with every strike, my whimpers increasing in volume until he had me shrieking.
Suddenly he climbed on the bed between my legs. His breath was on my stinging thighs as I trembled and quieted my whimpering. His lips trailed kisses along my legs, his teeth occasionally nipping at my punished flesh. My gasps were now filled with breathless pleasure, desperate desire filling me. I tried to arch my back and raise myself towards him, practically demanding that he put his mouth on me.
He chuckled as he lay on his chest. His eyes were on me, taking in my readiness, my desperation: I could tell even with the blindfold on. Suddenly his finger stroked between my lower lips, slick with wetness, pressing barely within my entrance.
"You'll have to be leaving in only 10 minutes, baby girl," he said, his finger continuing to stroke over me. "I don't think that's enough time to let you cum."
"Yes it is!" I insisted, trying to strain myself closer to him. He gave me a swat with his open palm on my burning thigh, making me stop my struggling.
"Oh no, no, no, it isn't," he whispered. "Especially not for demanding girls like you. But since you look so delicious . . ."
His mouth enveloped me. I strained back, moaning as his tongue made circles around my clit, sucking and stroking. He devoured me like a starving man, and before long my volume was increasing, every muscle tense as the pleasure drove me wild. I was on the verge of orgasm, right there, so close-
His mouth left me. His breath gasped against me, hot and stimulating. I cried out for more, as demanding as ever. I knew he was smiling at me. He got up to crouch over me, kissing and sucking at my neck, his chin wet from eating me.
"Cass," he whispered, just in my ear. "To whom do you belong?"
"I belong to you, Adrian, sir," I said desperately, every bit of me aching for releasing. "Please don't stop, Adrian. Please."
"If I stop now, you'll have something to look forward to after class," he said, and I almost snarled my frustration. He grasped my chin, commanding my attention. "I may not be your professor any more, but there's still plenty I can teach you. Today's lesson is patience."
He released my wrists from their bounds, and I knew the game was over. I could not be disappointed, only frustrated and stimulated beyond belief as he slipped the blindfold off my eyes. With my hands free, I grasped his neck to pull him into a deep kiss, the kind of kiss that promised more to come – the second he would allow it. He was smiling at me, with that tight, controlled smile he wore when he was trying to maintain his stern, dominant domineer.
"Be a good girl for me," he said softly. "And come back tonight."
"You don't have to tell me twice," I said, with a cheeky smile. I was dazed as I got up from the bed to get ready for class, rushing to wash my face and brush my hair. In the mirror, I caught sight of the freshly formed marks on my neck, red and purple, broken blood vessels as a testament to our passion.
I was his. Heart and body, all his.
And he . . . he was mine.