THWACK.Pain flares, hot and vicious. “I said,SAY IT.”
“Y-you’re—” I stutter as I wail out, “You’re not going anywhere!”
“Again.” Another strike, this one on my right cheek. The burn spreads through me, mixing pain with something else entirely.
“You’re not going anywhere!” I gasp a second time.
His fingers slide between my thighs, finding me still slick and swollen from before. He pushes two inside me without warning, and I cry out at the intrusion.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he rasps, pumping his fingers in and out as his thumb tortures my clit. “I’m staying right here. With you. I’ll keep you safe. I’ll take care of you.”
The spatula lands again, and this time, I moan instead of yelping. The pain and pleasure blur together until I can’t tell where one ends and the other begins.
“Say it,” he demands once more. “Tell me you believe me.”
“I—I can’t?—”
Another strike. Another thrust of his fingers. “How many times do I have to tell you?Yes, you fucking can.”
Tears stream down my face, but they’re not from pain. They’re from the overwhelming realization that he means it.
Every word.
Every touch.
Every spank.
Every brutal, beautiful promise.
“I believe you,” I sob as I lose count of how many times he spanks me. “I believe you’re not leaving.”
Finally, his hand stills. The spatula clatters to the floor. Then his arms are around me, lifting me, turning me until I’m cradled against his chest.
“Good girl,” he murmurs against my hair. “My good, stubborn, infuriating girl.”
And for the first time in my life, I let myself believe that someone might actually stay.
42
BASTIAN
break·down: /'brak?doun/: verb
1: the process of separating a whole animal carcass into individual cuts
2: what she does to you. what you do to her. and then what you do to the man who put his hands on her.
I hold Eliana against my chest. She’s shaking for half a dozen reasons, and I’m responsible for damn near every one of them: the orgasms, the crying, the violence. Everything I just put her through. My anger drains away like water through a sieve, leaving nothing behind except bone-deep exhaustion and the realization of what I’ve done.
I spanked her. Fucked her with my fingers while her ass was still burning from the spatula. Made her repeat my promises until I was convinced she believed them.
And she let me.
Sheletme.
Fuck.
“Come on,” I murmur against her hair. “Let’s get you cleaned up.”
