“No, you’re not,” Jared agreed. “You’re fucking amazing. You’ve got more courage in your little toe than most people have in their whole body.”
“You’re right. I’m a total badass.”
“Now, badass, how are we going to punish you for speaking badly about yourself?” North murmured.
33
Punish?
Um, no. She didn’t think that she needed any punishment.
“Punishment, hmm,” Jared said. “I think it would be punishment if she could only look and not touch, don’t you, North?”
“Not where I was going. But I suppose that’s acceptable.”
She almost asked where North had been planning on going . . . then she decided she was better off not knowing.
“Of course, she’ll have to be brave,” Jared goaded. “No running.”
North’s hard gaze landed on her, full of challenge. “No running.”
Angie swallowed. She hadn’t wanted to run. She guessed it was instinctive.
But she’d rather be a fighter. It was who she’d always been. Sometimes, it did get tiring though.
Sometimes, it would be nice if someone else fought for her.
“We will take care of you,” Jared told her. “All you have to do is give yourself to us. Trust us. I know that’s easier said thandone. But you wouldn’t be here, in this room, if there wasn’t some trust.”
He was right.
She knew they wouldn’t hurt her. And the main reason that she’d just attempted to run was because she’d been embarrassed about using her safeword.
A safeword was for when she felt unsafe. It was in the freaking word.
Jared lifted his hand up, cupping her chin and tilting her head back.
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” he ordered.
“You mean you don’t know?” she challenged. “I thought you knew everything, oh, wise one.”
“Smart ass. You’ll pay for that. And I do know most things. But sometimes your brain works in ways that make no sense. Like calling yourself broken or dirty. I don’t like that, Angie.”
Shit.
“That’s why you’re getting punished. If I was a betting man, I’d say that you are still calling yourself bad things in your head. So I’ll punish you for those too.”
“We will,” North said.
“That’s right. We will.”
Angie swallowed heavily. This wasn’t the way she’d thought her evening was going to go. By now she could have had an orgasm, damn it.
Well, she hoped she could. Hoped that they could give her one. Because she was hopeless at doing it herself.
“What are you thinking about now?” Jared asked.
Yeah, she wasn’t telling him that.
