Theirs To Take(15)

“Well, it’s not better than where I came from.”#p#分页标题#e#

“I guess not, princess. I saw the dress you had on the night we were brought here. I know Versace when I see it.” She made a point of scanning me from head to toe. “Not so hot here though, are you?” she said, standing, her eyes filled with a hate I couldn’t understand. This woman was a stranger to me.

All the girls quieted and I stood. “What the hell is your problem?” I took a step toward her but Lara grabbed my hand, holding me back.

The girl grinned and closed the space between us. “My problem is rich girls like you thinking you’re better than me.”

I stared at her, flabbergasted. “I… what? In case you don’t realize it, we were all taken against our will. We’re in the same boat. Equal.”

“I don’t know, watching you get your ass whipped sure put a smile on my face.”

I pulled my hand out of Lara’s when the blonde butted her shoulder against mine, shoving me backward.

“You fucking bitch! I took that so he wouldn’t do it to any of you,” I said, pushing her right back.

Her grin only widened. She was getting to me, and she knew it. I was letting her win. But then I realized something. As impossible as it was, I understood it.

“Wait, you’re not jealous, are you?” I asked.

That wiped the smile right off her face and she would have lunged at me except that in that moment, Syn came walking into the tent. The instant he saw we were about to fight, he swung the cane he held, managing to hit both of us at once with the short, quick flick of his wrist. We both gasped, turning to him, our hands covering the spot he’d hit.

“You causing trouble again, Eva?” he asked.

“She called me a fucking bitch,” the blonde called out. “She was going to fight me!”

“You started it!”

“She did. It’s true,” Lara chimed in, standing, the tension in the room thick.

“Settle down. Everyone sit but you two.” He pointed his stick at the blonde. “Helena.”

“Yes, sir,” Helena answered demurely.

He turned back to the girls who remained standing. “I said sit.”

I’d never seen a group of women drop so quickly at a command. Syn approached us, his eyes on mine.

“Is it true? Did you call her a fucking bitch, Eva?”

I searched his gaze for clues to his mood, but his expression was coolly impassive. “Yes.”

“Yes, what?”

I pressed my lips together, exhaling, my hands curling into fists at my sides. “Yes, sir.”

“Better. We’ll make this easy.” He handed the cane to Helena who took it. “Eva, Turn around, bend over, and lift your dress. Then put your hands on the mattress.”

I looked from him, to the cane, to Helena, who was having a hard time keeping the smirk off her face. I wondered if he saw it.

“Sir…” one of the girls began.

I looked at her. It was Maria, the quiet one. Syn glared at her. “I’d suggest keeping your mouth shut unless you’d like to join Eva here, Maria.”

Maria’s nervous gaze flitted from him, to me, to Helena before she lowered it and stepped back. Syn turned his attention back to me.

“Eva?”

I turned my back to Helena and slowly bent over, lifting my dress to expose my bottom as I did. I then placed my hands on the mattress as he’d ordered. My heart raced, my bottom tensed in anticipation, the pain of my birching still too fresh.

“You hold on to her,” he said to Lara. “If she moves her hands to cover herself, you’ll be punished as well. Understood?”#p#分页标题#e#

Tears slid down Lara’s face as she crouched down in front of me, covering my hands with hers. “I’m sorry,” she murmured.

I kept my gaze down, staring at the ground, awaiting my sentence.

“Three strokes, Helena. Keep them off her thighs.”

“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”

I squeezed my eyes shut as I saw her move into position to the side of me before lining up the cane against my bottom. She rubbed it along my flesh, dragging this out, so obviously enjoying my humiliation.

I tensed everything when she drew her arm back and knew I’d never forget the sound of the cane when she brought it down hard across the center of my ass. I called out, an exhale turning into a gasp, then a bitten off scream as the pain exploded. The cane burned a stripe across my bottom, intensifying as the moments passed, the skin itself feeling tight and raw where she’d struck.

“Count, Eva — and thank Helena.”

I hated him. “One. Thank you.”

“She’s learning. Don’t go over the same spot,” he directed her as she lined up the next stroke just below the first, seeming entirely too experienced with the cane.