Page 80 of Safe Word

The sound she made – saints and sinners – that sound.

I drank it in.

My hips bucked. The woman choked, gagging wetly around me.

I didn’t even notice it at first – not as the switchblade slipped into my palm, not as my fingers flicked the hinge with muscle memory – not until I felt the hot, crimson spray, consecrate my knuckles.

Her throat split open like a seam unpicked, guided by a higher power.

Blood poured out in ribbons, cleansing her wretched body.

I watched the sacrament unfold, Ghost’s and Scarlett’s murmurs bleeding through the speaker like a congregation in prayer.

Another sinner cleansed. Another soul offered – all thanks to my Paula.

I let the body crumple to the ground, twitching and gurgling, and I looked back at the window.

He was still draped over her, as though she was his to keep.

She wouldn’t be his forever.

I had already built the stage.

And when I took her back, there would be no masks, no words, no name to scream except mine.

Just us.

In the quiet.

With the slowing rhythm of her heart under my hands.

An eternity for only us.

FIFTEEN

Heat pressed against me like a suffocating blanket, dragging me from the depths of a restless sleep. I stirred. My eyes cracked open, and the brightness of the day hit me like a slap. Sunshine streamed through the curtains, filling the room with an oppressive glow. My mouth was dry, and a dull ache throbbed at the back of my head.

Reaching blindly for my phone, I squinted at the screen, the glare sharp enough to make my skull splinter.

Ten minutes – that was how much time I had to get ready.

I lurched upright, panic blooming hot and fast. The motion teased the tender parts of my body, and it split the veil between now and then.

Obsidian.

Darkness. Leather. The sound of my own breath caught in the back of my throat.

Damn, his hands—

So rough, but so gentle all at once.

The pressure of his fingers curling around my throat, the blunt heat of the plug still inside me…

My body had burned when it swallowed him. Sure, he’d tried stopping it; he’d tried walking away.

There were clauses that allowed touching – despite there still being boundaries, consent, protection for both of us. But after last night, when nothing happened even though we’d had sex, those became just letters on paper.

I knew I’d crossed a line no sub ever should. And he would retaliate.