The snap and the pain hit her brain at the same time as the center of her right ass cheek blossomed in delicious agony. Her body strained, tried to run, struggled to move; her muscles writhed under her skin as her heart slammed in her chest, and the throbbing between her thighs became more insistent.
Left ass cheek. Not a blossom, but a pinpoint of magnificent anguish. She heard herself say, “Yes,” very low, and opened her eyes in shock at the sound of her voice.
Her right shoulder and then her left, only seconds apart, and both were on fire. The inferno always raged more on her back, the focused strikes going from skin to bone without the muscles in the ass to absorb the impact, and she needed that intensity. She remembered she was supposed to tell him, it wasn't Topping from the bottom. Not today.
She licked her lips, tried to make her tongue work. Finally got her brain firing the right way and said, “Yes, more up there."
A voice repeated what she'd said, and then Max was behind her, his hands lightly resting on her upper arms. “Talk to me. What do you need?"
She struggled to put it into words, into a sentence. “Shoulders, where you hit... more intense. Need that. Stay there."
"I'm going to keep moving around, to draw this out for you. Do you not want more on your ass, or are you saying you want the level of pain your shoulders are getting?"
"Need the intensity. Feel it more. Want to hurt. Please."
"Okay. I'm going to move back and forth so I can make it last, but I'll give you plenty on your shoulders, okay?"
She tried to nod her head, wasn't sure there was enough movement for him to see, and said, “Yes."
She wasn't expecting the floggers, but he began the relentless Florentine pattern on her shoulder blades, striking over the single-tail marks, and Dana heard herself howling, the merciless pleasure/pain of the continuous blows pulsing through her body, catapulting her to dizzying heights.
The flogging stopped and she moaned in disappointment, but soon felt the single-tail on her ass again, the most violent strike yet to her right ass cheek. She finally screamed, shocking herself with the sound. Max was behind her again, his hands stroking her arms, sides, hips—coaxing her into taking deep breaths, reminding her to relax and not fight the restraints. She hadn't realized she was struggling. She didn't want to be let loose.
"Good girl. Stay relaxed, it's time for the next."
Her left ass cheek received the same intensity, and she was screaming again, felt herself fighting the restraints as the adrenaline spiked through her body.
Max's voice was back, and his hands. The mask was wet, she hadn't known she was crying. When she could breathe enough to talk she said, “More. Oh god, please more."
"You'll get more. Do you trust me to draw this out and make it last another thirty minutes? Or would you rather I make it super intense for the next five minutes and not have a spot left to hit?"
In a moment of clarity, her mind put a full sentence together, though her lips had a hard time saying it. “Make it last, but I want the intense five minutes at the end."
He chuckled. “I'll see what I can do."
She felt him move away, waited for the next strike, but he returned with a bottle of water and a straw, holding the straw to her mouth. “Drink."
She did, realizing her lips weren't working because they'd been stuck to her teeth. She drank slowly, wetting her mouth without putting too much into her stomach. “Thank you."
"You're very welcome.” He smiled softly, caressed her cheek over the top of the hood. “Ready for more on your shoulders?"
"God yes."
Sir Max went back and forth from flogger to bullwhip to single tail. She opened her eyes once to see Brent doing something that made Jacob struggle and fight his bonds. The next time she looked, he was gone.
Dana lost all sense of time—there were only the whips, the pain, the pleasure, Dana's screams, and Max's voice and hands.
Max was behind her again, his hands on her hips below the waist strap. “You know this can't last forever. I'm running out of blank canvas, so this'll be your final couple of minutes."
"Will you draw blood? I want... feel the whip, break skin? Shoulder blades. Please?"
"I'm sorry, but no. I'll make it hurt worse than I have, but I won't tear you open with the bullwhip on top of what I've already done."
"Do it. All of them.” His hands disappeared and then he was in front of her, holding her gaze until she fell into it. His eyes were intense, analyzing her, feeling her out.
"Make it hurt,” she said. “Like you're drawing blood. I like asking, thank you."
"Okay, but you'll get a few on your ass in between the ones on your back.” He finally released her from his gaze and kissed her on the forehead, over the leather. “Enjoy it while it lasts, we're just about done."