Page 42 of Red Velvet

The dark threat in his voice sends a cold shiver down my spine to my core, where it mingles with a different sensation.

Excitement, anticipation—lust even.

He's promising to hurt me, and I'm getting wet at the idea.

My breathing turns erratic once he’s closed all the shackles around my wrists and ankles. I'm standing with my legs apart, a silent invitation for him to do whatever he pleases with me.

I hear him rummaging through something, but even if I wanted to, I can't turn enough to see what he's doing.

I close my eyes, focusing on the feeble sounds behind me. He must be selecting something to whip me with. I wonder if he'll go for a similar flogger to the one I chose, or even the exact same one. It's doubtful. I'm sure whatever he picks will cause a lot more ache and damage than the one from last time.

A sick little part of me hopes for that to be true.

I know I can take more than what he was willing to give me last time, but I'm also scared to find out where my boundaries truly are.

Heavy steps announce his return, and I tense right away, my entire body stiff, preparing for an attack that is yet to come.

"Are you scared, little girl?"

"No," I lie.

"Do you remember your safe word?"

My eyes fly open in surprise. Oh right, there was that. I'd totally forgotten about it.

I could end this at any time. I could get out of it.

At least that's what he says. But could I really rely on him stopping if I uttered the word?

"Red," I whisper. "The safe word is red."

"Good girl."

I could try. I could say ‘red’ when it's first starting to hurt, just to see how he'd react.

But do I really want that? It could end everything between us if I disappoint him. And even worse, I would be disappointed in myself.

A fiery bite to my skin brings an abrupt end to my mindless pondering, causing me to stand up a little straighter, pulling at the shackles on my wrists as I take the first blow.

It wasn't a hard one, I can tell that much. But it hurt like fucking hell. He chose a flogger, just like I did last time, but it's definitely not the same one. This one is bigger, heavier, and when he lands it on my behind a second time, I realize it hurts a little extra because the strings have something knotted to them.Is it just knots in the tails, or are there little stones attached to them?

The third strike certainly feels like it might be the latter. He alternates his blows, never hitting the same spot twice in succession, but since the flogger is so big, that only means he covers more of my skin with every hit, landing painful stings on my back and legs as well as my ass.

He doesn't increase the intensity of the first few strikes, going at a steady pace as the tails rain down on my skin.

I stand stiff, immobilized and breaking a sweat as the pain grows stronger.

"Relax!" he commands behind me, continuing the sequence of burning hits against my back. "Let it happen, Lila. Give in."

I don't even know what that means. The pain is too strong to focus on anything but the ongoing affliction that robs me off my senses. I can't move, can't speak, can't think.

My eyes are closed when a howl echoes through the room, sounding more wolfish than human. It takes me a few moments to realize I was the one producing that noise. I didn't even know I could evoke such feral sounds, coming from a place buried so deeply I didn’t know it existed. Another one follows the first, almost sounding like a chant, the song of a deeply tortured soul.

"Let go, Lila."

His voice is soft now, almost a whisper, and full of affection. It stands in stark contrast to the excruciating strikes he unleashes upon me. I don't know if I'm just getting sorer and more sensitive, or if he actually upped the strength he puts into his work. Either way, the anguish seems to double all of a sudden, turning my howling into high-pitched shrieks.

"That's right, let it happen."

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