Our beautiful Little Bird is giggling as we enter the warehouse after the party, her cheeks a rosy color and her hair beginning to tumble out of the complicated updo the stylist put it in earlier. I love her like this, all disheveled and ripe for us to mess her up even more.
“I believe I promised you something earlier this evening, Dove,” Aeron purrs, and her eyes widen, her face serious as she remembers whatever it was. “Ah, so you haven’t forgotten. Care to share with the class?”
She swallows, the movement making her slender neck bob. I get momentarily distracted with the image of my hand wrapped around her throat as I impale her on my dick.
“You said that I was owed an edging session,” she replies, not taking her gaze off him, and her voice husky and breathy. My dick immediately stirs in my pants, but I don’t give a fuck as all I can see is her and the way she’s vibrating with lust right now.
“Good girl,” he praises, and I watch her chest hitch as she sucks in a sharp breath. “Now, Knox, strip her, leave the heels.”
“Yes, boss,” I readily answer, stalking towards her like a tiger stalking its prey. She goes to turn around, but I get there first, pressing up against her back and holding her jaw in my palm. “Stay facing that way, Little Bird,” I order in a deep whisper, allowing my other hand to skim the curve of her waist.
She stills, and after a couple of seconds, I let her go, bending down and reaching inside my boot for my knife. It comes out of its sheath with a slight hiss; the sound filling the quiet room. Her body trembles as I straighten back up, and I can’t resist trailing the tip of the blade down her exposed spine, stopping just above where the lacing to her dress starts. Her skin pebbles as I wait for a beat, then I slide the knife under the ribbon the same shade of green as her eyes and slice down in one quick movement.
She gasps as the shredded silk falls away, the dress immediately gaping and falling down around her in a puddle of green net and sparkling crystals.
“Fuck me, Nightingale,” Jude rasps and she stands there, dressed only in her red-soled heels and a deep green, lace thong. I lick my lips at the sight, biting down on the bottom one when I run the knife down her spine again, this time stopping at her thong and cutting that off her too.
She doesn’t flinch, the slight hitch of her breath the only thing that tells me she’s affected by what I’m doing. Aeron steps closer, so close that the front of her breasts must be touching his shirt. She has to crane her neck to hold eye contact with him, and it’s just another thing I love about her, how small she is compared to us all. Yeah, I know it’s some macho bullshit, but I like what I like.
He was a dick earlier, pulling rank on us and making us wait while he all but proposed to her. I’ll get my own back soon,though, perhaps I’ll steal her away for the day, take my bike and just drive off into the sunrise.
“Do you trust us, Dove?” he questions, and I raise a single brow at him.What’s he up to?
“Yes,” she answers without hesitation, and a warmth spreads inside my chest. It’s something fucking special to have the trust of a woman such as Lark Jackson, soon-to-be Taylor so I’ve heard.
“Good.”
He doesn’t look away from her as he reaches up and undoes his black bow tie, taking it off and wrapping it around her eyes. His gaze connects with mine and sliding the knife back into my boot, he passes me the fabric. I knot it securely at the back of her head, watching as her skin pebbles. My hands fall down to my sides as he takes both of hers in his, kissing the ring that we all chose.
Walking backwards, he leads her in the basement's direction and my heart thuds painfully in my chest.
“Aeron—” I caution, shaking my head slightly. He pauses, looking up at me.
“It has to be here, Daddy” Jude murmurs from beside me, taking a step towards our bird and his brother.
“Where?” she asks, but I can’t bring myself to tell her that Aeron wants to take her to the place where we had to hurt her so badly.
“The basement. It’s the last place of forgiveness,” Tarl comments on my other side, placing a hand on my heaving shoulder, and her shoulders tense slightly.
“Knox?” I hear her request, and I briefly close my eyes before stepping away from Tarl and coming around in front of her. Aeron lays her hands in mine, squeezing my shoulder and pulling back so I can be fully in front of her. My palms slide against hers, sweat coating them at the thought of taking herback down there. To the place where we broke her, where she saw the worst in us.
“I’m here, Little Bird,” I whisper, the lump in my throat making it impossible to raise my voice any higher. She tips her head to me, although the tie covering her eyes prevents her from seeing me, and I want to rip it off so I can stare into those beautiful, baby blue eyes of hers, but her hands grip mine strongly.
“They’re right, we need to go back down there and lay to rest the ghosts of our past. Then we can focus on our future.” She speaks softly, calmly, and it astounds me that even though I can feel the tremble in her fingers, she’s willing to face the fear of going back down there. I suppose there’s some poetic justice to be found in bringing her exquisite pleasure in the place where we doled out so much agony.
“I’m scared,” I confess, bringing my head closer to hers so that our foreheads touch. “I don’t like the man that I become when I’m down there.”
“Then become someone new, Daddy,” she advises, her voice husky, and it takes me right back to that first time when Aeron sent me down to retrieve her and I fucked her up against the wall instead, unable to resist her siren call. If the way her nipples pebble is any indication, she remembers too. “You gave me pleasure before down there, so fucking much.”
Taking a deep inhale, my dick filling with blood and pressing against my slacks once more, I place a gentle kiss on her forehead.
“Come on, Little Bird. Time to take your punishment like a good little girl.” Her entire body shudders at my words, and suddenly, the basement where I had beaten her doesn’t feel so scary, not when her body begs me to make her sing a different tune.
I take Aeron’s place in the lead, my hands still clammy as I walk backwards and through the door, the dark, cool air lifting the hair on the back of my neck. My eyes don’t leave her body as I lead her down the steps, taking my time as I watch every shudder and twitch of her skin. Her heels make aclickingnoise on the concrete steps, and she looks so fucking hot wearing those and the blindfold that it’s a wonder we make it down in one piece.
Jude and Tarl squeeze past when we reach the bottom, heading into the room where we gave her pleasure then pain, and I pause on the threshold, waiting while they light the candles that were left from her night in the coffin. They lift the St. Andrews cross into the center of the space, and I flashback to the time we tied her to it previously, Aeron not letting her come for hours as we played with her body using our tongues.
A grin that I know has an edge of evil spreads across my lips as I help her move into position.
