Page 57 of Pushed

Machi made a promise to me and I promised him I would listen.

Following him through another passageway, my toes felt the floor, trying to figure out what was coming.

The hard wood turned into soft plush carpet, impressing my feet with sultry fibers of comfort. Delicate streams of small bulbs lined the wall and ceiling, twinkling like Christmas lights against a newly fallen snow.

As I took in a slow breath, clean air settled inside my chest. It was different, fresh and soothing to not have the same recycled sex stench that coated every other area of this place sour my lungs.

“I want you to close your eyes now.” Pulling me up to his side, his hand swept down my face, lowering my lids. Inhaling sharply as the lights dimmed, his palm curled around my ear, holding my head still. “It's not to keep you from seeing, it's part of what we're doing here.”

Biting my lower lip, I nodded.

“Let me have your hands.”

Holding out my arms, he took my fingers in his, and held them for a moment. His thumbs circled the center of my palms as the heat off his body washed down my face and throat, holding me static.

“I don't want you to be frightened about what I'm going to do next, consider it a new experience, a dip in the darkness that you won't have to endure forever.”

Furrowing my brows, I tilted my chin up, keeping my eyes shut tight.

A dip in the darkness? What the hell does that mean?

“Trust me, Imperial, that's all I can say. If it becomes too much, you have permission to speak, to say one and only one word,White.Anything else you say, won't stop me.”

Swallowing the lump that had lodged itself in my throat, I took in a long deep breath. I didn't want to be afraid, I didn't want to shiver on the inside from hesitation.

Stop you from doing what?

Trust was one thing, it was completely separate from the rest of my nerves that kicked up, wondering and anticipating what his next move was.

Before I could nod or touch his fingers with mine to let him know how I felt, my wrists were wrapped in coarse, scratchy rope, jerked up hard and secured above my head.

What are you doing? At least talk to me, tell me what you're doing so I know.

My heart surged inside my chest, rapidly filling with adrenaline and shooting it through my veins. Yanking my arms, I twisted and tugged. Dropping down, I made every attempt to cut myself loose, to force the rope to peel over my hands and set me free.

It wouldn't budge.

“You're not going anywhere just yet.” Chuckling, Machi dragged his fingertips up and down the backside of my arm. “I can't explain this to you, Pixie. You have to feel it, you have to experience it with an open mind. But I'm here, remember that, I'm right here.”

My feet itched to transform into wings, eager to fly high, to lift me to the ceiling and protect me from whatever he had planned.

And while all the trust I had sworn I'd give him played on repeat inside my head, my body nudged and jerked to not be bound.

I didn't want to be confined and strapped, unable to move, unable to fight or run if the need appeared before me cloaked in darkness.

Frowning, I angrily dipped my brows and felt around the rope on my wrists for a knot.I don't like this, haven't I been trapped enough?Pushing out my bottom lip, it started to shake intensely the more I felt the heavy ties above my head.

“It's okay, Pixie, I promise. It's just us here, no one else, just relax.” His finger tapped my chin, and slowly, ever so slowly, trickled down my throat, through the middle of my chest and over my naval.

Sucking in my stomach, chills ran through my muscles, forcing prickles to rise off my skin. I could feel them jump, exploding one at a time as my flesh heated and cooled with just the touch of his hand.

Machi had stopped talking, he had dropped his voice and replaced it with tactility. He was all hands, gently stroking and barely skimming my skin. Muscles clenched, lungs snapped and cracked, all my nerves had lit, firing off in a rapid dance around my brain.

Then his fingers was gone, disappearing as he reached the trim of my panties. Perking my ears, I listened.

For what? I wasn't sure.

The silence was more than just a humble quiet holding me still; it was a hole that had gobbled me up, making me balance on a thin blade of fear. That fear threatened to slice my heels, to cut and maim me as I wobbled to keep myself upright.

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