Mine.
"I told you to behave. I've tried over and over to make you fall in line the nice way. That failed, so now I'm going to regain control in the only way I know how. I'm going to take it."
CHAPTER 28
ANNA
“Get on your knees,” Darius demanded. I couldn’t move. My eyes stayed glued to his hands.
His shirt sleeves were rolled up, showing off the thick veins in his forearms. The lines and curves of his tattoo made them seem more pronounced as it extended down toward his fingers, which were clutching the thick black leather of his belt.
“No,” I said, my voice shaking. I knew what he was going to do with that, and I couldn’t. It was too much. His palm was bad enough, but the sting of leather... I couldn’t see how that could bring anything but pain.
“Anna, I’m not going to tell you again. Get. On. Your. Knees.”
I hesitated another moment, and then he grabbed the belt with both hands, folded it in half, and snapped it. The sharp, loud sound echoed throughout the room, making me jump.
Suddenly, I wasn’t thinking about the weight of the necklace around my throat. I wasn’t thinking about all the things that he had done to me, about what Peregrine said and did to me, or what my mother said and thought of me.
The only thing I could think about was the sharp bite of that leather and what Darius was going to do to me with it.
He snapped the belt again, and another jolt of fear rocked me. But I knew I didn’t have a choice. I was tied to the bedpost. There was no way for me to run, no way for me to hide.
My legs shook as I carefully sat up and turned around to grip the bedpost where my hands were tied.
I closed my eyes and focused on the sounds of the room. His footsteps were slow and steady as he rounded my bed, his breathing fast and shallow.
When he touched my lower back, I jumped, but it was only his hand that ran up the curve of my back until he got to the zipper of my dress.
“Please,” I whimpered. It was bad enough that he was going to use the belt on me, but I thought that at least he would let me keep my clothing on. That he would give me some relief from the leather on my bare skin.
He didn’t pull the zipper down. Instead, his hand moved back down my spine, sending warmth and tingles to every single place he touched until he got to my ass. He flipped my skirt up, the soft black fabric that should have been at my ankles now covering my shoulders. The cold air in the room kissed the backs of my thighs.
I braced myself, gritted my teeth, and waited for the first snap of the belt, but it didn’t come.
Instead, the belt was laid down over my calves, and his hands went to my uncovered hips. They rested there for a moment before his thumbs slid under the waistband of my panties and he pulled them down.
My body flinched at every single touch, and my heart roared in my ears. I tightened my grip on the bedpost and waited.
He pulled the belt off my calves, letting it slowly trail off and drop. And then in the same breath, the end of the belt lashed out in the first strike.
I heard the snap of the belt before I felt its sting. Somehow, it wasn’t immediate. The pain was delayed for half a second, but when it hit, it was intense. Like a lash of fire landed on my skin.
Darius gave me a moment. At first, I thought it was a kindness, but maybe it was just a warning, and he was done. Then I realized it was part of his mind games. He wanted to wait until I was relaxed, until I didn’t suspect the next lash, and that was when he struck.
The second lash hurt more. I didn’t know if it was because I was expecting it or because he lashed across the very tops of the backs of my upper thighs.
I cried out, not bothering to hide my screams.
“All you had to do was be a good girl,” he said as he lashed out again and again. “All you had to do was to do as you were fucking told. But no, you had to be a brat.”
“I’m sorry,” I cried out every time the belt landed.
“Sorry? You’re sorry?” he spat. “For what? All the problems you caused?”
There was another volley of smacks before I could ask what I had done.
“I was in control.” The next whip was harder. The scream caught in my throat and came out in a hiss. “My world had order. It made sense. Then you came along, and you fucked everything up.”
