Page 44 of Violent Delights

“Does it hurt?” I ask.

She shakes her head.

“No, not really,” she says, sounding almost disappointed. “It’s beautiful, though.”

“I agree,” I say. “Nothing prettier than marks on a woman after an intense play session.”

She blushes as she looks up to me. Our eyes lock onto each other for a few moments, silence filled with unspoken questions stretching between us. I know she hasn’t forgotten, and neither have I. I was hoping that she’d be smart enough to refrain from pointing out my other mistake again, but it turns out she just waited for the right moment to go back to it.

“Why did you call me Ruby earlier?” she wants to know, shifting over to the headboard and leaning against the cushions with her legs pulled close to her body.

I cast her a dark look.

“I’m sorry,” I retort. “I shouldn’t have done that. This is another thing that won’t happen again.”

She looks at me as if that reply confuses her even more.

“But… why?” she presses. “Why Ruby?”

Now, I’m the one who’s confused. She knows very damn well why I would call her Ruby. Ruby Red. That’s the name written on her business card, the name she was listed under at the agency. She must be aware of the fact that I know that name. Why is she so surprised?

“It was a mistake,” I repeat. “You’re my pet, and I’ll never address you any other way again.”

“Okay.”

She looks at me as if she’s trying to solve a puzzle, still in the dark about the meaning behind my mistake.

There is no meaning. Nothing to solve, nothing to understand. There can’t be.

“Are you hungry?” I ask, diverting from the subject.

She hesitates for a moment, before she nods. “Yes, I am.”

“I’ll bring you something up,” I say, gathering my clothes, before I flee from her room.

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