“No, Bunny,” Nico answered right away.
Mal finished binding his other ankle before he answered, draping himself over Nico’s back to whisper, “Because it’s going to make what comes next so much worse for you.”
“Bunny, I?—”
“Quiet,” Mal said sharply, laying a smack on Nico’s already abused ass.
Nico snapped his mouth shut. Mal palmed his hands over Nico’s ass, nails digging into the angry red welts he’d left just that morning until Nico cried out. Then he was gone, once more doing something behind him. Nico sucked in a sharp breath as cold lube touched his hole. That same breath left quickly when Mal speared two fingers into him painfully without warning.
Mal didn’t want for him to adjust to the invasion, immediately thrusting his fingers in, spreading them apart before he dragged them back out. Nico didn’t know what was coming, but the way Mal was stretching him made his insides shake as much from fear as anticipation. There was nothing soft or sweet about it. It was almost perfunctory. A means to an end. He just laid there and took it. What choice did he have?
When Mal’s fingers slipped free of him, Nico whined. When something appeared before him, he had to blink a few times to truly register the object. His thoughts were already growing hazy, but even he could see it was a butt plug of some kind. A weird looking one, but a butt plug nonetheless.
“Do you know what this is?” Mal asked.
Nico studied it, willing his brain to come up with the right answer. He whined when he figured out it wasn’t a toy at all. Not really. Oh, God. This was about to get so much worse. His cock throbbed as he whispered, “Ginger.”
“Smart boy.” Nico basked in Mal’s praise despite his predicament. “Since you decided to take your time playing your game and disobeying me, I had just enough time to peel this and make it into the perfect shape.”
He’d whittled him a butt plug made of ginger? What was he, Davy Crockett? They’d never done this before, but it was on Nico’s list of things he’d wanted to try. Theoretically, anyway. Was that why he’d had Nico shower? Heat activated the oils in the ginger, creating a tingling sensation that only got worse the longer it was inside. That was why he’d loosened him up, too.
There was a light smack on his ass. “Color, Fidget.”
“So green,” he gasped.
Mal soothed one hand down Nico’s back, then said, “Hold yourself open for me.”
Nico whined but reached back, his own touch painful on his raw skin. When he felt the plug touch his rim, he jumped.
“Relax, baby,” Mal said softly. And just like that, Nico did. He made a noise of complaint as the largest part of the plug slipped inside, but other than that, it fit snug without stretching him too much. It wasn’t bad at all. “Good boy.”
The tingling sensation started immediately, almost like an itch he couldn’t scratch. It made him want to squirm.
“How many do you owe me from this morning?” he asked.
“Fifty, Bunny.”
“That’s right. Now, I was going to give them to you with the belt. I know you like the way the stripes look on your skin. But since you decided to be a disrespectful little brat, I think it’s time we play with something else.”
Nico began to sweat, as much from Mal’s words as from the uncomfortable sensation growing inside him, that itch already becoming maddening. He wished he could say he hated it, but his neglected cock still throbbed, bobbing between his legs. Maybe if he was really good, Mal would still let him come.
“I’ve been saving this for a special occasion,” Mal said, like he was discussing a bottle of wine and not whatever torture device he was about to use on Nico. “You really seemed to like it in the store.”
That didn’t narrow it down at all, but Nico couldn’t think anyway. His rim was burning like fire and they hadn’t even started. Once more, Mal draped over his back. Another desperate whine escaped as a wooden paddle appeared before him, but not just any wooden paddle. It was the same thick, smooth wood of the bath brush they had hanging in the shower. Minus the bristles, of course.
Mal had swatted him with it once as a joke. Not only had it left his skin scalding and throbbing, it had also left the most delicious oval-shaped red mark in its wake.
“The rules are simple. No squirming, no begging. If you can get through these fifty without a fuss, I’ll consider letting you choke on my cock. If you can’t, then I’ll add another ten for each time you break the rules. Understand?”
“Yes, Bunny,” Nico said, breathless, tears already pricking at his eyes.
Soft lips pressed against his temple, and then Mal was gone. The first smack didn’t come right away, but when it did, the pain stole the air from his lungs. The second left fire trailing in its wake, bringing Nico up on his tiptoes. He clamped his teeth down on his lip to make sure he didn’t sabotage himself as his punishment went on. How was he supposed to get through fifty of these? Just forty-eight now.
Oh, God. Forty-eight.
By the tenth strike, Nico no longer cared about the ginger burning his most sensitive skin. He was sweating so much he was slipping along the table’s surface, face buried in his folded arms as he sobbed.
By twenty, the pain had morphed, his brain taking it and twisting it into pleasure, making his brain feel like cotton candy. His ass and thighs were stinging, like he’d sat in a nettle bush, but he was floating, the sensation near euphoric, adrenaline surging through him like heroine with every strike of the paddle.
