Against all odds, hurt flickered through me. I didn’t know why. It wasn’t like I wanted to be what he wanted, after all. But the fact that I wasn’t… It bothered me. “You wanted me to fall at your feet and roll over,” I said, heat in my voice that hadn’t been there since I’d first arrived. “I’m not that kind of person,Master.”
His eyes blazed as I spat the honorific, and he shoved me back. I fell flat on my back on the bed, and he climbed atop me.
My breath caught as I stared up at him, and I swallowed hard. I’d gone too far.
“You’ll be that kind of person if I tell you you are,” he breathed, his hands sliding down my sides, fingers digging so hard into my skin that I was going to end up with bruises.
I shrank back, trying to wriggle free, but he was relentless. He wasn’t going anywhere, and I didn’t know what he was going to do. He looked so deadly in that moment, scarred face twisted with his anger, and it was exactly why I kept pulling away from him.
I might not have been angry at him, but I was terrified of him.
“I don’t want you to be scared of me,” he said.
“Could’ve fooled me,” I snapped at him, but I could feel the tears welling up in my eyes.
His fingers brushed my face, wiping them away before they could fall, and he sighed. “I don’t know how you do this to me,” he told me. “I don’t understand.”
“I don’t know what I’m doing to you,” I said, trying hard to blink back the tears. “I’m not trying to do anything to you.”
“But you are,” he said softly, leaning in to kiss the corner of my eye, tongue flicking out to taste the salt of my tears.
It made me shudder.
“I want you like I’ve never wanted anyone before, attitude and all.” His features twisted again, in his own special brand of anger that always seemed to be simmering beneath the surface and just waiting to break free. “I know what I wanted from you, and here I am, letting you be something else entirely.” He touched the cat ears, resettling the headband on my head. “Why?”
“Because you want me here willingly,” I whispered, hardly daring to breathe.
“I do,” he said. “Kiss me. Like you mean it. Like you’d kiss your girlfriend.”
I blanched. “I can’t,” I said, shaking my head.
He wiped at my tears again, something dangerously soft in his features. “You can.”
I couldn’t. I couldn’t play this game with him. I couldn’t pretend I wanted him. It would make things worse, would fuel his obsession with me.
“What if I say no?” I whispered.
He turned those dark eyes on me, staring straight into my own. “That’s not an option, Toby.”
I’m not Toby!
I wanted to scream the words, but I was careful to keepmy mouth shut that time. I wasn’t going to risk setting him off again, especially when it had led to… this.
I shuddered beneath him, knowing he was right. Saying no wasn’t an option, not when the consequences would be severe. I could tell he wasn’t playing around, and I didn’t even want to know what would happen if I tried to deny him.
So I swallowed hard, looking up at him and pleading with my gaze for him to relent.
His eyes remained locked on mine, relentless.
I choked back a sob.
There wouldn’t be any going back from this. Once I did this, it would change the entire dynamic. It would make me an even more willing participant in my own defilement.
Of course, that was what he wanted. He wanted me to be culpable in everything that happened. He wouldn’t stop until I’d given everything…
Then he’d take more and more, even when there was nothing left of me.
“Kiss me,” he said again.
