I sigh. “Then I’ll have to bond with her.”
“What’s the other option?”
“There is no other option.”
“There’s always another option. What do they want?” She shakes her head, not accepting this as the truth.
But for me, it is the only option because the alternative isn’t acceptable.
“You.”
Her brow unfurrows, and she looks off into the distance.
I pull her attention back to me. “I won’t let that happen.”
She swallows hard. Barely above a whisper, she asks, “But what if the only thing she wants... is you?”
The silence followed by the hypothetical is deafening. Jay is beginning to understand the reason for my spiral. There’s a real chance that we won’t be able to be together.
The possibility weighs heavily on my chest. My gaze drifts to the floor. I look down at her hands in mine and glimpse her wrists again.
I did this to her. I caused her pain. She could’ve paid with her life. Both of us are hurting, and I tried telling myself she’d be better off without me. But those marks indicate the opposite.
I can’t be mad for how she chose to cope with the pain I caused. I will be mad at how careless she was with her safety. The other reason I’m mad is—
“You broke the rules.”
“Wh-What?”
“You are playing fast and loose with your life again,” I say as I unbutton my shirt and shed the fabric. “That’s something I can’t allow. I pull my arm out of the sleeve and throw it on the floor. I’m panting because I’m seething. I take her dress and pull it over her head. She steps out of her thong. “Get on the stage, Jay. Stand with your stomach against the cross.”
Her eyes bug like a deer in headlights, but she does as she’s told. I watch from below as she slowly moves to the cross, center stage.
“Grab it,” I say to her.
She spreads her arms wide and grabs it on either side.
I walk up to the stage. “Don’t let go.” I remove my belt and push her feet with mine, so they’re shoulder-width apart. “Do you remember your safe word?”
She nods.
“I asked you a question. Speak.”
“Yes, Master.”
“Good girl.”
“Stick your ass out for me.”
She pulls her pelvis from the cross, and her pink pussy comes into view. I paw at myself through my pants. I inhale and exhale audibly at the sight.
“I told you: Your body belongs to me. You broke the rules. Now... I’m going to punish you.”
At my promise, the beltsnapsagainst her backside, leaving a red mark.
She gasps.
I smooth away the pain. “Count.”
