Page 147 of The Assignment: Room 3

“I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you my real name. I wanted to, so many times, but I vowed I would never speak my given name ever again the night I left Michael.”

“I am so fucking proud of you for leaving him, pet. That can’t have been easy for you. And to forge a path for yourself while going through withdrawals… I’m proud to be your Dom.” Her body tenses at my side.

“I’m not proud of that period in my life. To hear Michael tell you what I let him and his friends do to me. I am so ashamed. I was a good person until I met him. The first hit was free, and then my body became his payment. I was his whore.”

“You are no one’s whore but mine. Hetookfrom you. Yougiveyourself to me, pet. There’s a difference. I need to know if that’s a kink you still want to indulge.”

She shifts at my side, but I keep hold of her as best I can in my weakened state. “I know I shouldn’t.”

“Fuck that. I’m asking you a question. What doyouwant?”

“I enjoy it when you say it.”

“Good.”

“Really?”

“Yes, and do you know why?” She shakes her head. “Because you took control. You became strong, and you changed your own narrative. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. You found a way to take something negative and empower yourself. I will proudly call you my whore until my dying breath.”

“Thanks. I think.” We both start laughing, but even that small movement is agony.

“It sounded better in my head.”

“Yeah, and while we’re at it, you are forbidden to say anything is ‘until your dying breath.’ I have been reliving that moment for weeks.”

“I’m sorry, pet. I don’t plan on going anywhere. You’re stuck with me until we’re old and gray.”

“Should I be concerned that our first discussion when you wake up from a coma is about kink?”

“Kink doesn’t discriminate, so cuddle in while I plan all the ways I’m going to make you come when we get back in my playroom.”

“Ourplayroom.”

“That’s what you choose to focus on? I just proposed to you a moment ago.”

She pushes herself up onto her elbow, giving me one of those sexy-as-fuck smiles of hers. “You did not.”

“I told you I want to be your husband.”

“That’s not a proposal.”

“Yes, it is.”

“No, it’s not.”

“Are you for real? I say I want to be your husband. You know how that works, right? You wear a pretty dress. I stand nervously at the altar, looking devastatingly handsome in a three-piece suit. Gracie sprinkles petals everywhere while everyone wants to love on her because she’s cute as heck. They declare ushusbandand wife.”

“Yes, smartass. I understand the concept. What you fail to realize is that you’re supposed to get down on one knee and ask if I’ll do you the great honor of becoming your wife.”

“I can’t get down on one knee right now, pet. I took a bullet to the thigh and walked toward the light.”

“Could you hear us when you were in the coma?”

“Sometimes. It was mixed with my worst nightmare, and I couldn’t tell what was real and what wasn’t. I kept hearing my mom and dad’s voices, but then I could hear you.”

“Flex, you did hear your mom and dad.”

“What?”

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