“You’ve done well. Cara’s a lovely girl.”
“She is, but I’ll still miss my Cat’s eyes. I’ll miss you so fucking much.”
“I won’t be a stranger,” I smiled. “You know it.”
“Better not be, or I’ll kick both your asses, you can’t escape me now, either of you. We’re friends for keeps.”
I hugged her tight, no longer afraid of the lump in my throat. “Friends for keeps. Forever, Bex, I mean it. You’ve done so much for me.”
She wiped her eyes, and I smiled to myself. I never thought I’d see her cry.
“Shit, I forgot,” she said. “Your leaving present!”
“You got me a present?” I gushed. “So sweet, but honestly, I think James has everything already, you shouldn’t have.”
“He hasn’t got one of these,” she smiled. “Well, not for the wall anyway.”
She handed me my gift, and I didn’t even need to unwrap it. My eyes focused beyond her, to the blank space on the wall. I ripped open the wrapping to confirm my suspicion. “I can’t take this,” I gasped. “I really can’t, it’s yours.”
“No,” she smiled, lifting up the chimera until it sparkled in the light. “This thing is undoubtedly, undeniably, categorically yours, Lydia Marsh, and it has been since the moment you clapped eyes on him.”
I took it off her and wiped away a tear. “I guess it is,” I laughed. “I guess it really is.”
***
“First night back,” Masque said, leading me across to the bar like a peacock. “Nervous?”
“Not anymore,ˮ I smiled. “Not now I know how to cry.”
“And you really want to do this, here, tonight?”
“Show me how it feels to be Violet, James, it’s what I always wanted. My final initiation,” I grinned.
“I wouldn’t go that far,” he laughed. “But it’s a good start.”
***
The chains above rattle as I jerk in my bonds. My legs quiver, knees trembling. Adrenaline pumping.
He circles me. I feel his footfalls. Heavy, purposeful. I can smell him, too. He smells of sex, and sweat, and musk. He smells of sin.
He smells so dirty bad wrong.
The tap, tap, tap of the cane against my thighs, so gently. I take a breath. The cane comes to rest against my skin, and he’s at my side, his mouth at my ear.
“Steady, Lydia,” he breathes.
He trails his free hand up my ribs, and my body flinches. Fight or flight.
In my chains I can do neither. And I don’t want to.
The heat between my legs gives testament to one simple truth.
I want him... the release he delivers through pain... the silky caress of the abyss beyond fear.
I want him to to break me.
I want him to hurt me.
I want him to own me.
And then I want him to love me.
“Tell me what you need, Lydia.”
His savage hand on my breast. Gripping, twisting, hurting. My nipples come alive, begging for punishment, and I roll into his touch. It feels so fucking good.
I hear my own ragged breathing, the string of incoherent murmurs coming from my mouth.
He kicks my feet further apart, spreading me wide. I struggle to keep my balance, but my cuffs pull tight against the chains, taking my weight. Another tap of the cane, harder this time, and then his fingers, teasing me open, grazing my clit. Fuck.
Two fingers hook inside me, pressing in deep. I hear how wet I sound. He groans his approval.
My words catch in my throat, but I force them out.
“Pain... I need pain...”
He kisses my neck, and I’m lost in him, swimming in his darkness. It’s all I want.
“I’m going to hurt you now, Lydia Marsh. I’m going to mark you, and break you, and own you... and then I’m going to make you cum so hard you’ll scream my name. I need to see you cry, Lydia. You’re so fucking beautiful when you cry.”
I screw my eyes shut tight under the blindfold and take a deep breath.
I’m ready.
I’m crying before he’s even hit me, tears spilling from my eyes faster than I can blink them away. Release and pain and beautiful, beautiful love.
He kisses my lips, a gentle touch, followed by little kisses up my cheek as he takes away my tears. ‘I love you,’ he whispers and his lips touch to mine.
THE END
***