Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 55099 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55099 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
“Yes, Sir.”
“Good. As for your reactions to receiving pain,” he went on. “Are you a screamer, a bratty little shit who’ll curse me out, do you get euphoric, do you moan, gasp, get excited…? Tell me what I can expect from your sounds and body language. Oh, and—” He faced Penelope. “With the protective observer’s permission, I’d like to give her a beating before the event so I can pick up cues easier.”
Uh-oh!
Penelope’s sadistic little smirk said it all. “I have time right now. Why don’t we torture her together in the club?”
Ash turned wolfish, and both looked at me.
Gulp.
CHAPTER FIVE
Penelope Darling
Ash circled the X-cross and inspected Nora’s body. “She wasn’t exaggeratin’ when she said she loved pain.”
No kidding.
We’d learned that she was a teeth-gritter. At least so far. No crying, no screaming, no gasping. She gritted her teeth and breathed heavily through each impact. She had only panties and a sports bra covering her, and I was officially obsessed with watching the marks appear on her perfect body. Her toned stomach, her soft thighs, the gorgeous curves of her hips, her arms…all flushed, all red with welts, all exquisite.
I picked up a new whip, this one a cat-o’-nine tails with tiny stainless-steel balls at the ends, and I noticed we’d garnered a bit of an audience in the club area. River and Reese both sat at the bar, eating their dinner and watching, and Shay was blindfolded and kneeling by River’s feet. Standing a little closer to the small demo stage were Beau, Walker, and Santiago.
I turned away from them again, and I watched Ash go through his inspection. He was really good with her, and I was looking forward to seeing them at the event. He pinched her flesh in different places to gauge her sensitivity level because, as we all knew…at some point, you stopped registering pain. But Nora was highly alert, highly sensitive, and she squirmed when he hit the jackpot around her thighs.
“Ow.” She sucked in a couple quick breaths and screwed her eyes shut.
God, I wanted to see the moment she broke.
“Green? Yellow?” Ash asked.
“Green,” she gritted out.
“All right—let’s proceed.” Ash checked her restraints and then returned to my side, and I stepped forward and eyed the soft flesh of her stomach.
How her muscles contracted with each heaving breath was fucking mesmerizing.
With the distance closed between us, I ran the ball-tipped ends of the whip over her skin, and she tensed up before exhaling shakily. I knew the metal would feel cold to her heated-up flesh.
I leaned in and kissed her jaw. “I will break you, baby girl.”
Her eyes flashed open, and the burning desperation seared into me. I had to kiss her. I kissed her hard, with all the promise I was dying to give her. Fuck, she was bringing me back to life, this girl.
I eased back and gave her cheek a light smack, and then I got in position while she caught her breath and squeezed her eyes shut once more.
After that…I let the pain rain down on her.
In complete silence, I was lulled into my own rhythm, reminding me of how much I needed this place. It wasn’t the parties or the big events; it was this right here. A few friends watching because they shared similar interests. A beautiful girl being beaten, taking my pain, suffering for me—wanting me. Only me. And fuck if I wasn’t falling into her trap, hook, line, and sinker.
The day I got to chase her down in a proper primal event, I might keel over. Or fucking propose.
The heavy leather strands whipped through the air before the tips smattered across her skin, and a light sheen of sweat had started dampening her face. She wasn’t far away from tears now. Over and over, I whipped her stomach, and she writhed fruitlessly against the shackles.
When I took a break to throw her off, she drew a raspy breath and blinked hard. Tears clung to her lashes, but so far, not a single one had trickled down her cheeks.
I went over to my toy bag and dug out a blindfold.
Deep breaths.
Her breaths came out more rapid and shallow for every minute that went by, and I was sure I saw a flash of both determination and surrender in her eyes before I blindfolded her. Christ, to be in her head now…? To watch the battle unfold—give in or fight, give in or fight, scream or suck it up a while longer.
Time for a new toy.
I settled on a small switch that Walker had made me once. The ten-or-so-inch-long strands of the implement were harder, leather woven with wire, ends knotted, producing the stingiest of sting-y pain.
Ash extended a half-full water bottle and kept his voice down. “Throw it on her.”
Good idea. It should provide a nice shock to her flushed body.