Page 85 of Snitches and Serpents

A truly wicked idea forms in my mind.

“You would have much better luck begging me to release you instead,” I finish.

Her eyes widen.

After holding her gaze, I shoot a pointed look at the floor before my feet. “Crawl up to my feet and beg.”

She sucks in a sharp breath.

“What are you waiting for?” I taunt. “Do you want me to release you or not?”

That makes her lurch into motion. She casts one last glance towards the clothes still out of her reach, and then she lowers herself to her knees. Completely naked, she crawls towards me on her hands and knees.

Her face flushes bright red with every inch closer.

My cock hardens at the sight.

Her life, her body, her mind… utterly at my mercy. Just like it should be.

Once she reaches me, she sits back on her heels. I watch her kneel there naked before my feet.

All sorts of really bad ideas flash through my mind. All sorts of depraved things that I want to do to her until pleasure floods her face and she moans my name.

Fuck. I need to focus.

With great effort, I block out those images and instead raise my eyebrows expectantly.

She draws in a shuddering breath.

“Please,” she whispers.

“You call that begging?”

Desperation pulses in her eyes. “Please, Tristan, let me go. I’m begging you.”

I smile at her.

Relief washes over her features.

Leaning down, I draw a gentle hand along her jaw while I keep that smile on my face.

The hope in her eyes is so bright that it practically illuminates the room.

I caress her cheek and then finally reply, “No.”

She jerks back as if I had slapped her. “What?”

Chuckling, I straighten again.

“But, but,” she stammers, staring up at me in confusion and disbelief. “But you said?—”

My smile twists into a wicked smirk. “I just really like hearing you beg.”

29

ELLE

Ispent most of Monday bawling my eyes out and having panic attacks that I was missing the first day of exam week. On Tuesday, I threatened to end Tristan and tried to attack him with my dinner utensils again. Wednesday, I was back on my knees, begging and pleading with him to let me go. But by the time Thursday rolled around, I had found a strange sort of calm.

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