I jerk my head sharply to the side, glaring at him. I take a moment to imagine popping out his eyeball and severing each six of the cords that connect his eye to his brain.
He arches an eyebrow at me. “Care to tell me why you’re angry?”
I stay silent.
He nods mildly. “Alright—we can discuss it later. Communication is the best way to get what you want with me, Ember. I’m not a mind reader, and I’m not particularly interested in your adolescent silent-treatment. It’s unbecoming.” He pauses, waiting to see if I have any response. When I don’t, he goes on. “I’m going to tie you up now. What I’m planning will severely restrict your movement—you’ll be lucky if you can wriggle an inch—so if you need the bathroom or some water, speak now.”
I’ve already relieved myself, and I’m used to running on minimal food and water, so I stay silent.
Maximus goes on to do exactly what he told me he would; binds me until I can scarcely move a fuckingcentimeter.My feet go into cuffs attached to a bar, which he anchors to the bed. My hands go above my head, tied to the headboard with cuffs, forcing me into a face-down, ass-up position. My breath hitches as I test the restraints—barely any give.
I should’ve fought back. Being restricted like this makes me panic. I should’veactuallyclawed his eyes out instead of imagining it, Ishould’ve—
“Has anyone fucked your ass?” he asks conversationally. I squeeze my eyes shut and clench my jaw, biting down on my tongue to keep from calling him a string of creative expletives. “I’ll take your silence as a no.” His palm smooths over the curve of my ass, and my hands clench into fists. If that’s what he wants to do, allIcan do is deal with it and take the added trauma as fuel to findhighlycreative ways to kill him.
“Don’t worry, I’m not going to fuck it…yet. Just going to stretch this hole a bit.” His fingers delve between my folds, and I jerk when I realize something about this hasturned me on. I’m fuckingwet.
Deep shame washes over me. What the fuck iswrongwith me? I know my brain is fucked up in countless ways, butthis?Maybe I should just get myself killed and spare myself any more of this humiliation—
“Dirty girl,” Max chuckles, teasing my clit. “You get off on being restrained, don’t you?”
I don’t acknowledge that comment. Not even to myself.
“I’m going to start out with a small plug.” His thumb returns to my ass. “You’ll get lube—not because you’ve done anything to deserve it, but because I’m not feeling that sadistic right now.”
I hear the noise of a cap, and then, something cool drizzles through my crack. I breathe deeply. Force myself to continue breathing deeply as he gathers the sticky, slick lube and starts rimming my back hole with it. I keep my body very still, every muscle tense, and try to think about anythingotherthan this humiliating moment. Killing Max—then finding a way to freeherand kill Dagon.
I envision myself cutting Dagon into pieces while keeping him alive. Maybe skinning him first. It’d take a long time, but I’m more than happy to spend a fewdays—
Max sharply slaps my ass. “Stay present with me. Don’t get lost in your thoughts—I want you to feel what I’m doing to you.”
I repeat:Motherfucker.
His thumb slowly pushes into my ass. I wince at the strange sensation—it’s like there are a million nerve endings back there, all of them firing at the same time. It’s not enjoyable, but it’s not exactlynotenjoyable. It’s certainly not painful. It’s just goddamnweird.
“Good girl.” Max flattens his hand on my lower back, stroking his thumb over my skin. “Fuck, you’re tight back here. We gotta prepare you for when I decide to take this hole.” His thumb disappears, and then I feel something cool and heavy—metal?—pressing against that hole. I tense my muscles until they ache, breathing harshly as he slowly but surely starts to push the plug in, forcing it past my body’s resistance. It feels like he spends an eternity on it—when he finally finishes, my rosebud closes around a narrow part of the plug. He wiggles it around, and I jump.
“Very pretty,” he says with a chuckle. “Just one more thing, and your punishment can start.”
Another foreign object assaults me—this time, pushing against my entrance.A dildo. It’s slim, not overly imposing, but still feels odd as he pushes it in. I can feel it rubbing against the plug, inspiring a host of strange sensations.
Something presses against my clit—an extension of the dildo? It’s like a tiny arm nestling directly against the most sensitive part of my body. I squeeze my eyes shut, giving my head a shake.
Then, the extension startsvibrating, and I nearly crawl out of my skin. Pleasure overrides the strange feelings, stemming from my core and spreading throughout my entire body. I bite my lip until I taste blood to withhold a moan—an orgasm starts building, but then, the vibrations shut off. Unbearable need grabs me in a chokehold.
“It’ll be going on and off periodically, but only for a couple seconds at a time,” Max says. “Sometimes five, others ten, even thirty on occasion. If you can come from those few seconds, go for it, but I don’t think it’ll be enough.” He pats my ass. “I’ve got a shitload of work to catch up on. I’ll leave you to your thoughts—when I return, we can have a conversation like adults, possibly followed by a reward. Alternatively, you can continue being a fucking brat, and I’ll leave for another, longer stretch of time.”
“Wait,” I gasp. He’sleavingme?
“Too late,” he sing-songs. “Enjoy. I’ll see you later.”
His footsteps carry him away from me, and I hear the door shutting. A moment later, the vibrator turns back on… and when it flicks off just as fast, leaving me a needy mess, I realize I’m going to be in for avery longfucking punishment.
An eternity passes. Sweat drips down my body, staining the sheets. My muscles start to burn from trembling—no amount of writhing lets me squeeze my thighs together and rub myself to an orgasm, and no jerking on the restraints gets them to loosen. I’m so wet I can feel moisture dripping from inside me, slicking my thighs and making a puddle on the sheets.
This is so much worse than the spanking and whipping. Pain, I can handle; I have more than enough experience with it. This is an entirely new form of torture—I can feel tears of frustration prickling my eyes, though I don’t let themfall.
The vibrator buzzes to life again. I’m already on the cusp of an orgasm, so when it buzzes, my trembling intensifies, but just as I crest, it shuts off. I release a groan of sheer fury, only to tense when a chuckle comes from behind me.
