He glanced aside at me, and I noticed he looked exhausted.
“Not sleeping well?” I asked, concerned. He should’ve been comfortable down there. I’d gone out of my way toprepare it — but for the cement, which I thought was countered enough by the blanket and the heating.
He shook his head.
“Why not?”
“Because some psychopath kidnapped me and locked me in his basement and is making me act like I’m a dog,” he snapped, sullen.
And because he’d reacted to said psychopath’s touch, and because he was having a harder and harder time fighting me. I couldn’t get angry at him, not really.
“If you keep behaving,” I said, ignoring his words, “you’ll get to come upstairs with me.”
His head shot up, his eyes locking with mine again. “You wouldn’t bring me upstairs. You know better.”
“You still don’t understand,” I told him. “There are benefits to being rich.”
I didn’t usually flaunt my wealth, but if there was ever a time to do it, it was now. He had to realize I could more than afford to keep him locked up inside until he didn’t want to run anymore.
He inhaled slowly, moving away from the water bowl.
“You should probably get some rest,” I told him. “You’ve been such a good boy today, but I know it had to behardfor you.” I couldn’t resist making the dig at him, couldn’t resist reminding him of what had happened in the tub.
He flinched, turning so he didn’t have to look at me. “You don’t have to—”
“I don’t have to what?” I interrupted him, still calm despite the part of me that was frustrated and impatient and wanted to pull that tail from his ass and fuck him senseless. “Remind you that you got hard when I touched you? It’s natural,” I said soothingly. “You’re a guy. You haven’t been touched in a while.”
“It’s notnatural,” he spat, staring down at the ground. “I don’t like men that way, especially not men like you. Especially not men who look like you.”
He just had to throw the appearance card in there, didn’t he?
My teeth dragged along my bottom lip as I struggled to hide my reaction. At least I’d heard it more times than I could count, and I knew how to deal with it. It wounded me just as it always did, but I stayed as stoic as I always did.
“I’m sorry you feel that way.”
“Oh, stop it,” he scoffed. “Stop pretending you’re some understanding guy instead of some piece of shit. You’re just fucking with my head.”
I was doing a good job of it, if this indicated anything. “I want you to have a good life here,” I replied, completely honest with him. There was no point in lying, not about this. “If I didn’t, you’d be strung up and fucked raw until I was done with you.”
He snorted.
“Believe me if you want. You’ll see. You’ll get comfortable here. This will be your home. You’ll be my pet, and I’ll be your master, and that’ll be that,” I said softly.
He shook his head, but no matter how much he wanted to deny it — to deny the truth — we both knew it was already beginning to happen. He was fighting less, giving in more easily… responding to me in ways that really were natural, though they’d be associated with me soon enough. All of his pleasure would be.
He might not be interested inmen‘that way,’ but he’d be interested inme.
“Now it’s time to settle in,” I told him. “Go on back to your bed.”
For all that he’d been quick to go to it when he hadn’thad permission, he was slow then, having to be as contrary as ever with me. I didn’t know what he thought that would accomplish, exactly — but maybe it made him feel better.
If our situations were reversed, I wouldn’t want to just give in either. I’d have to try not to break… and that was what he was doing. He was trying not to break. He was trying to save his mind despite how difficult that would be.
Despite the fact that he was going to fail.
I left him in the cell, locking the door behind me, and headed upstairs to clean up.
As always, it was quiet and lonely, and I put music on to try to chase some of my melancholy mood away. It was only a matter of time until I had companionship. My methods might not exactly be kosher, but it was the only way.
