Pulling off Sable’s pants, I’m relieved to find there aren’t any more bandages, but she is too damn skinny. Any guilt I might have had for hurting myself over the past month leaves swiftly. Each day she was gone, she suffered, and what I felt wasn’t even a weak shadow of her pain. At least she wasn’tentirelyalone. We were both suffering together in a way. I drop to my knees in front of her, gripping her hips and pulling her into my nose so I can smell her straight from the source. She gasps. Her hands wind in my hair as she tries to get her balance, but I’m not going to let her go anywhere.
“Parker,” she whines, but the complaint sounds half-hearted at best.
“There are more knobs,” one of them comments before water starts flowing from the multiple valves around the ceiling. The effect is like rain, and there is something almost spiritual about this place. It’s certainly meditative, with the warm stone and water all around. Her panties go last, and I stuff them into my pocket for safekeeping.
“Sometimes Bellthorn freaks me out so much that I forget how beautiful the castle actually is,” Sable comments as she looks down at me. “You’re all wet. Let’s get your clothes off.” Her pretty blue eyes widen with hot intention, and I want to return her energy more than anything. She reaches toward me,grabbing my shirt, and it’s my turn to act suspicious. None of them knows what’s been going on with me, and I certainly didn’t do it for their attention. The kind of pain I was in without her only had one outlet, and it was physical. The signs of that line my body, and I’m suddenly filled with bone-deep shame at the thought of her discovering it.
“Uh, I don’t know if you should.” The words come out brittle, and she bends her pretty blond eyebrow at me as if to question my sanity, but she stops immediately.
“So you’re going to what, fuck me fully dressed and soaking wet?”
“Yes,” I answer, glad that she took it upon herself to offer me a suggestion.
“It’s not the worst idea I’ve ever heard,” Orion says. “But why are you so opposed to taking it off, Park? We’ve all seen it.”
They have not.
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do,” Sable assures me, but a sadness and concern crinkle the edges of her eyes. This might be worse than her knowing the truth. I can’t stand for her to be the one to take off my shirt and discover what I’ve done. Some semblance of control should remain with me.
“You can’t get too upset, okay?” I say, echoing her words from earlier.
She swallows hard, immediately bracing herself for what she’s about to see. She nods.
My shirt is up and over my head in one fluid move. Her delicate gasp is like a knife to the heart. The fabric drops to the floor beside us, and her eyes run over the thick patch of purple bruises that disappear beneath the hem of my pants. A few thick gashes from the trophy’s base are just scabbing over.
“What happened?” Tears hang in her voice, and I hate that she’s worried for me.
“Someone had to pay for you being gone.” The words are nothing but the truth, yet they illicit a sob. I look up, finding her bruised but beautiful face scrunched in distress, her eyes full of tears.
“What do you mean pay?” she says, but she can easily see what I mean. They all can.
My fingers move on their own, touching the unharmed part of her cheek. I plan to kiss each and every bruise later. Every spot on her body that could possibly cause her harm or pleasure, I plan to worship them all. “It’s fine, baby, we match.”
“I didn’t do this to myself,” she says, like that will change my mind about my actions.
“I’ll have to pay for that too,” I answer, giving her nothing but the complete truth. Alarm flashes in her eyes, and she grips my face in both her hands like her insistence can prevent the inevitable.
“You’re done paying,” she insists.
“I would love to agree with you, baby, but you’re wrong on this one.”
“Damn, and I thought I was taking things hard,” Orion says, giving me a look as if to size up some competition he didn’t realize he had.
“Fine,” she says, a different type of light entering her eyes. “You’re going to start paying right now.”
CHAPTER 37
SABLE
“What would you like?”Parker asks from his place on his knees in front of me. He’s so tall that we’re almost face-to-face. My eyes can’t help but dip to the bruises and cuts. They’re layered, many different colors, and in all stages of healing. What really stands out to me is how very hard he must have struck himself to cause them. Am I positively insane because it makes me feel loved? Despite that insane need inside me, I’ll do anything I can to prevent this from continuing.
Between Soren and Parker, I’m starting to wonder if these boys are even smart enough to survive without me. Maybe I’ll wind up their manager instead of their girlfriend. My panties and bra are still on. The four men surrounding me have their eyes pinned on me like I’m the goddess of sex herself. The bruises and cuts don’t seem to deter them, and there’s something remarkably powerful in being revered sexually rather than used as a sexual object. Though in all fairness, I like a bit of both.
“Stroke your cock,” I say, suddenly sure of exactly what he needs. He looks up at me from his knees, not seeming to understand what I want from him. “Isaid,stroke your cock.”
He bends his eyebrow into a wordless question, a flash of guilt in his dark eyes, but he finally listens, hand sliding into his pants to pull out a truly impressive cock. To my surprise and pleasure, he’s already hard. Of course he is. Parker never disappoints me. The guys all stand around watching, and I smile a little with the switch in our relationship. I’m used to being the center of attention, the one being made a spectacle of, so having the power in this situation is so thrilling it nearly makes me dizzy.
His hand wraps around it and jerks once or twice. There’s no passion there, and I tsk at his pitiful attempt. “Parker, do you want to make things up to me?”
