Page 73 of Violent Delights

I try to shake my head at his accusations, but I can’t because he still holds me in a tight grip.

He pauses, adding a hysteric laugh between his ranting.

“I gave you a fucking collar,” he adds. “A fucking collar.”

I choke up under another rush of tears that takes away my ability to speak.

“You may not be a whore, but you can’t be trusted,” he hisses. “You bewitched me like a fucking succubus. You made me lose myself, and play fucking boyfriend and girlfriend with you. I fell for your fucking tricks. You made me believe things that weren’t there.”

“That’s not true!” I disagree. “I never tricked you. I didn’t mean for this to happen, but I never played you. Everything has been honest and real. Everything we did was true-”

“No!” he barks. “It was all based on a lie, an imbalance of knowledge that put you in power. You fucking witch!”

I’m sobbing in his hold, simultaneously glaring up at him with determination. He’s angry, but I can tell that he’s not really angry at me. He’s angry at himself.

“The only person who fell for anything was me,” I say through compressed lips. “I fell for you. I may not be the woman you ordered, but I want to be yours.”

I halt for a moment, trying to regain my composure.

“I’m proud to wear your collar,” I say in a suppressed whisper. “I don’t do it because you pay me to.”

Despite the ferocity of a hurt beast still apparent in his gaze, I can see him softening to my words. He has every reason to feel betrayed, and he’s told me enough about himself and his past to enable me to make sense of this outburst.

He’s all about control, a safe setting, an agreed upon arrangement, set in a safe and consensual setting. His mistake and my knowledge about it turned all of this upside down.

He needs to know that he’s not to blame, and that I had to intention of playing him.

“You might have made a mistake,” I breathe, fixating on his tormented gaze. “You didn’t take the woman you ordered, but you did take the right woman.”

His eyes flicker with confusion.

“This was meant to happen,” I add. “It’s what I’ve always wanted.”

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