CHAPTER 37
Zeke
I could feel the pain radiating from Case with every word he spoke. He was reliving the memory.
“What happened after that, baby?” Brax prompted, his hand sliding over Case’s back.
“Lee kept me locked in that room for two straight weeks. At first, he acted normal. Well, as normal as he could for a man who had abducted me and tied me to a bed. Each morning, John’s alarm would go off the same way it had when he was in school.
Lee would come into the room and make sure I was awake.
He would talk for a few minutes, and I would beg him to let me go.
He said he would eventually, but he had to see it through first.
“He brought food into the room three times a day. He cooked a meal, delivered it to the room, and literally fed me because he kept me tied up. The only time I was allowed out of bed was to use the bathroom and to shower. Lee remained with me at all times, including watching me in the shower.
“On the fourth day from when he’d first tied me up, Lee came into the bedroom, and he was angry.
Not at me. At the situation. At losing John.
That was the first time I’d felt the pain of a belt.
Wearing only a pair of boxer shorts, I was strapped facedown on the mattress, my wrists cuffed to the headboard, my ankles to the footboard.
I couldn’t move, so when he began hitting me with that belt, the only thing I could do was cry.
It hurt more than anything I’d ever felt. And he didn’t let up.
“While he did it, he cried and yelled, cursing God for taking his son away. I begged him to stop, but he didn’t listen to me. After that, he came in and whipped me at least three times a day. I think it helped him in some way. He even said it was therapeutic. I thought he was crazy.
“I begged him to let me go home, pleaded for him to untie me. I promised never to tell anyone. That would only make him angrier. He began using other things to hit me with. He had a whip, a crop, a flogger. I don’t know if those were things he had before or if he bought them because he wanted to hit me with them. ”
Case’s words were coming out in a rush, his anguish apparent. My heart fucking ached for him. I wanted to go back in time and strangle that bastard with my bare hands.
Knowing what I did of Case, I could see how that situation had changed him. It was likely the reason he was as big as he was, as strong. He ensured no one was capable of hurting him ever again. Unless he allowed it.
“For nearly two weeks, Lee beat on me,” Case continued.
“The pain was brutal, and it stuck with me even after the session was over. I began figuring out when he would come in. When I was allowed to shower, I could see the bruises and marks on my skin. He would clean the wounds and focus on a different area of my body the next time.”
Case sucked in a harsh breath, and I put my hand on his shoulder, wanting him to know I was there.
“Until he didn’t.” Case shuddered. “At one point, he took every bit of his pain out on me, hitting me all over. The back of my head, all the way down to the soles of my feet. He didn’t stop until I passed out from the pain.”
For fuck’s sake. Case had been abused by a man who never should’ve touched him. A man he should’ve been able to trust.
“It was never sexual with Lee. He didn’t touch me or try to fuck me.
He simply beat on me, wearing himself out as he cried and begged God to bring John back.
Nearly three long, painful weeks I’d spent like that until finally, the police showed up.
I wasn’t sure who told them I was there, but I was grateful all the same. ”
That was the article I’d read. It had mentioned how his parents began a search, asking anyone and everyone for help. By the grace of God, someone had figured out where he was.
“I didn’t press charges against Lee, and I convinced my parents not to, either. While I didn’t approve of how he handled it, I had understood his pain. I even forgave him, but it’s not something I will ever forget.”
“And now you need pain to deal with that,” I stated, gripping the back of his neck gently.
“And that’s the reason you panicked at the apartment,” Brax noted.
“Yeah,” Case said on a rush of air. “I hadn’t realized it at the time. Didn’t put two and two together, because for the most part, I’ve blocked out the memory.”
But not the pain.
“Zeke?” Case’s voice was hoarse, need threading through the single word.
I stepped around in front of him again.
“Please?”
“Of course.” I leaned in and kissed him before stepping back.
My eyes met Brax’s, and I could see his pain. He hadn’t heard this story before, and it was enough to bring a man to his knees. What Case had gone through was intense. The fact that he’d forgiven the man who had done it was a testament to his strength.
I picked up the whip and pulled the strands through my hands. I would get no pleasure from this session, but a promise was a promise, and I would always give Case what he needed.
“I want you to fly, pretty boy.”
And I proceeded to make him do exactly that.
Two hours later, after I had sent Brax and Case to bed, I finally headed up to join them. I thought for sure Case would be asleep, having worn himself out with his confession.
Instead, I found Brax snoring softly while Case lay in the middle of my bed, his eyes open as he stared up at the ceiling.
I quickly shed my clothes and climbed in beside him.
“Come here,” I whispered. “Let me hold you.”
I knew the marks on his back were still there, still sensitive.
I also knew that if I spooned him, they would burn from my touch.
For whatever reason, Case relished the pain both during and after a scene.
Honestly, I didn’t want to hurt him anymore tonight, but I wanted to ensure he knew I was there, that I would protect him in every way possible.
Case turned onto his side, and I moved up against him, tossing one arm over him, the other beneath the pillow under his head. We stayed like that for long minutes. I would press kisses on his shoulder, tightening my grip around him because it felt good to have him in my arms.
“Thank you for telling me,” I said softly, wanting him to know what it meant to me that he had.
“I feel better. Now that I talked about it. It was a long time ago, but sometimes it feels like yesterday.” He shifted, his head turning slightly as though he was trying to look back at me. When he moved again, I let him roll over onto his back.
I peered over to see that Brax was now awake, his sleepy gaze pinned on us.
“And you?” Case asked. “What happened with Matt?”
I knew he would be asking, and I had promised to tell him, so I resigned myself to doing just that. I sighed, then dropped onto my back and stared up at the ceiling.
“I met Matt at a kink club. He was a masochist who’d run through nearly every Dom in the place at the time.
No one seemed to be able to give him what he needed, or so he had told me.
There were a few rumors about him. About how he wanted intense scenes, and he preferred to be in public.
For a few weeks, I would watch him, see how he interacted with other subs and Doms. He was polite but a little uptight.
I thought it was because he was looking for something he couldn’t find.
“So, one night, I offered to scene with him when he asked, and it went from there. We spent the majority of our time together at the club. Every single Friday and most Saturdays. We never went out anywhere else together. I didn’t think anything of it.
Things progressed, and a couple of months in, I suggested we draw up a contract.
He wanted to be owned, and he’d told me as much.
I figured a contract would keep him from looking elsewhere, perhaps give him the security I thought he was looking for.
“It was a standard contract. Nothing too horrible, but I’d been playing the part of the big, mean Sadist because he wanted me to. So I added a few things, such as he would cook me dinner two nights a week at his place, and he would be available for sex whenever I wanted. He seemed to like that.
“After we’d been together about a year, I asked him to stay the night with me a couple of times.
He turned me down. Said he liked the distance because it kept things more intense.
I didn’t argue. It was true. So, I would meet him at the club.
It didn’t take me long to figure out he was an attention whore.
He wanted to be seen, wanted people to watch me beat on him.
Over time, I’d garnered a fan club. People who wanted to watch me.
Matt ate that shit up, thought he was the star of the show.
“Needless to say, I thought I had fallen in love with him. We talked, we laughed. I opened up to him, and I thought he was doing the same. Turned out, he was only there for the scene. He wanted me to be the man who hurt him all the time. He wanted my domination. One night, I decided to change the script. I made him dinner, invited him over. I wanted something more. A real date, some time away from the audience. When I told him I loved him, he freaked. Told me I wasn’t allowed to love because I was a Sadist. He walked out and never looked back. ”
“So, he didn’t want you; he wanted the part you were playing?” Case asked softly.
“Yeah. He wanted me to play the part. He didn’t like the fact that I was human after all, that I had needs that he hadn’t fulfilled because he expected me to be the Sadist at all times.
After he left, it was easier for me to be who everyone thought I was.
I could keep people at a distance if they thought I was unapproachable. ”
“I’m sorry he did that,” Brax said softly.
I glanced over at them. “I’m not. If I’d stayed with him, I never would’ve met the two of you.”