Page 29 of Desperate Valentine

Among the trees, I can barely make out what looks to be a cabin of some sort. It’s not very big, but it looks to be newly constructed.

He starts to walk toward the treeline, so I assume he’s showing me the cabin. As we approach an opening in the brush, he stops and reaches for my hand.

“You’ll be the first person to see this—and hopefully the last.” He pulls me further down the path.

Why does he want to show me this? Is this how he gets rid of me?

Typical, really.

Fuck the damsel in distress and then dispose of her after so she doesn’t run her mouth about what she knows.

As we approach the cabin, he leads me up onto the front porch and reaches to undo the padlock on the door. I let go of his hand and step back, looking in the direction that we just came from.There’s no way I can outrun this man.

“Veronica? You ready?” he asks, pushing the door open and flicking on the light.

Red hues immediately flood my vision as he guides me inside. My eyes take a few moments to adjust and the very second they do, I freeze.

“W-what the actual fuck?” I ask as my eyes scan the room.

“I know, its a bit much.” He reaches for another light switch. The second he does, I hear the intro to one of my favorite songs.

“The Letter” by Steven Rodriguez echoes off the walls around us as our eyes lock. Fear and arousal both fill my veins as heslowly makes his way over to me. I start to back up against the lounger in the middle of the room, but that only excites him more.

“Is something wrong, Veronica?” he asks, a sinister look in his eyes.

“I—” I begin to say before he abruptly grabs my hips and turns me around so my back is against him. Before I can say another word, his hand is tightly wrapped around my throat.

“What should we use first?” He growls before letting go of my throat and walking over to the wall of floggers.

Christ. None of them. They all look terrifying.

“I’ll let you pick first,” he says. “Then it’s my choice.”

“Fuck, Jude. I—” I stutter.

He smiles, reaching for one directly in front of him. “Wait—you’ve never done this before, have you?”

The leather tails dangling from the handle are thicker than the others, but no less intimidating. I’ll bet the thinner tails hurt even worse.

“I made this one,” he says, running the tails over his hand slowly, his eyes fixed on me.

“Oh?” I murmur, not really sure what else to say.

“Yeah.” His reply is almost a whisper.

I clear my throat. “I-It’s beautiful,” I stammer, second guessing my life choices in a matter of seconds.

Look what you got yourself into now, Veronica. Fuck.

Chapter 10

As I scan myeyes over the rest of the floggers, I see one that catches my attention more than the others.

“Are those… chains?” I ask, pointing toward the one in question.

“Yup. I made that one too.”

“Why?” I hesitate. “I mean, why so many?”

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