Page 114 of Savage

“My parents just kept telling me that these things happened, that I needed to get up and go to school and prepare for the real world,” I manage to get out. “Then they found the drugs, and suddenly… I wasn’t their daughter anymore.”

Hunter presses a soft kiss against my shoulder. “I’m sorry.”

I wonder if he’s sorry about my parents, or about his own attitude toward me when he’d caught me taking drugs.

It doesn’t matter. He’s comforting me now; he cares about me now.

“Dylan was the only one who didn’t judge me. He liked me when I was happy. When I was high.” I laugh bitterly. “I wasn’t really happy. But I could pretend to be, when all the bad feelings were numbed away by the drugs. The fake euphoria that lasted less and less as the months went on. But going without wasn’t an option anymore.”

“Addiction is… difficult,” Hunter says. “I’ve been doing more reading. And I know the physical effects of withdrawal… well, we’ve seen them.”

I pull back, surprised, to look at him. I almost want to make a snarky comment about how he was so sure that going cold turkey was the best way to handle the poison I’d been injecting into my veins, but now isn’t the time—even if I do feel defensive because of the conversation. “Yeah,” I say softly. “It’s hard.”

That’s putting it lightly.

“I’m sorry,” Hunter says again. “That you went through that. That I couldn’t protect you. That I—”

I place a finger to his lips to stop him from continuing, even though his words warm me from the inside. “Please, I need to finish. I can’t… I don’t want to talk about all this again.” I take a deep breath, steeling myself for the hardest part of this conversation. “I realized that the past few years of my life really have been… nothing. But I don’t want to be nothing. I want to be… better. I want to matter, just a little. So, Master, may I… may I please get my GED? And maybe take some online classes?”

I look anxiously at him, afraid he’s going to deny me—and maybe I’m a little afraid that he’s going to agree, too, because then what? Once I get a GED, there are so many things I could do… but I don’t want to do them. I want to be here with him, home for him when he wants me and needs me.

Hunter meets my eyes, and I can’t tell what he’s thinking. He isn’t smiling, but he isn’t scowling either.

After a few seconds, he nods. “Yes. I’ll buy prep books for you. And a laptop so you can sign up for online study classes.”

I bite my bottom lip, hesitating. “I still… I still want to be yours,” I whisper. “I’m not going to try to… to run away or anything…”

He tilts my chin up and brushes his lips against mine. “I know. You are mine. And I want you to be perfect. Being educated isn’t wrong.”

I relax a little against him. It feels like a weight has been lifted from my shoulders now that something I’ve been thinking about so long is within reach. “I want you to be proud of me,” I say. “I want to be something more than just a useless drugged-out whore for you.”

“You already are,” Hunter says, and my heart melts. His hand is surprisingly gentle on me. I’m so used to him being demanding, and I’m so relieved that he isn’t punishing me for this.

He brings one hand up to my breast and plays with the nipple while he brings his mouth to mine for a sweet kiss.

A shudder runs through me, and I arch my back, running my hand down his bare back to keep him close to me.

I never want to let him go.

I tentatively graze my nails along his back, and he lets out a little growl that goes straight to my pussy. He pushes me down onto the bed, and I moan as I move my hands. He grabs my wrists with one hand and pins them over my head.

“Keep them there,” Hunter says as he kisses my neck. “Don’t move your wrists at all.”

A shuddering breath runs through me, and I quickly nod. “Yes, Master.”

He starts kissing his way down my body, stopping to bite, suck, and lick my nipples. I gasp at the pain of the bite, then moan when he soothes the pain with gentle licks. He blows across the wet, swollen nub and has me groaning. I want to wrap my arms around him, but I remember the order.

It’s easier this way. I don’t have to figure out what he wants me to do. I don’t have to psychically know what will turn him on, what he finds sexy. He tells me, and all I need to do is follow orders. I don’t know why that thought has my cunt throbbing even harder.

“Good,” Hunter murmurs, turning his attention to the other nipple. “I love how you obey.”

I bite my bottom lip, trying not to squirm. I want him to be proud of me, to be pleased with me, and the knowledge that he likes something about me—loves something about me—sends a wave of warmth through me.

I’m doing something right.

I’m not being a disappointment, or a failure, or anything else.

Hunter gently bites my breast, making me gasp—and whine in disappointment when he moves away to kiss my navel.

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