Page 54 of Bottoms
“Rule number two,” Fynn started, but I cut him off with a renewed set of bangs against the glass.
“Rule number two; I take all the punishments from now on,” I yelled, knowing that they could hear me when Tanner started struggling against his binds.
“Nice try, Nessa,” Fynn smiled, throwing his knife into the air. Watching it spin before grabbing the handle as it came back down. “You haven’t ponied up for the last punishment you offered to take. And after tonight, you’ve proven you are just as willing to break the rules as they are. We have to trust each other for this thing to work.”
“I trust you,” I yelled. “And I trust them to follow the rules better if they knew I was taking the punishment. I’ll take Nik’s cuts right now, and you can show them how serious you were. They’ll listen, I promise.”
Tanner struggled in his binds, and Colten and Nik started banging out their protest on the glass. But my gaze was fixed on Fynn. I could do this. It was just a little more pain.
“Fine,” Fynn said with a smile, and I wondered what else he added to the deal without telling me. He knew I wouldn’t object. It didn’t matter what the cost was. I was willing to pay it to ensure Fynn didn’t end up killing one of them.
The lights turned off in all the rooms, plunging me into complete darkness. He was coming for me. I stood in the doorway and waited for him to collect me for my punishment. It took a few minutes before the door opened, and Fynn stood shadowed in the frame. I could see how grown men would piss themselves in fear if he ever came for them, but his presence still felt like home to me.
“Promise me, Fynn. Promise I’m the only one that gets hurt for whatever they do,” I begged, grabbing ahold of the front of his shirt as I strained to look into the shadows of his eyes.
“You’re always the one they hurt with their antics,” he said coolly. “I’m just hoping when they get a chance to see it, it will be enough to stop this bullshit. Colten wasn’t going to take you back to campus. He was planning on bringing you back to Bottoms the whole time. They planned on killing me the moment I came to claim you.”
Now I could see why Fynn was pissed. I sighed, wishing that boys wouldn’t be so stupid for once. My entire life had been derailed, and all they had to do was follow the rules. I followed Fynn into the hallway, heading for the sliding door on the end.
My feet silently padded against the floor; my back held high as I walked myself to the gallows. My heart beat steadily, confident that I could get through this. Fynn had worked his magic to make me into a fearless badass bitch, and I could be that tonight for the sake of Fynn not taking things too far with the others.
He opened the door into a dark room, and I guessed this was the room beyond the glass. I stepped forward blindly, knowing that Fynn would turn the lights on soon enough. Couldn’t have the others missing a single moment of the show. The bright spotlight turned on, as if on cue, illuminating an empty chair in the middle of the room. Lights flicked on, one at a time, revealing Nik, Tanner, and Colten. Each was trapped in their own personal prison.
They banged on the glass as they yelled, but it was muffled and hard to make out when they were all shouting simultaneously. I sat down in the chair, letting them see how willing I was to protect them. If only they would do the same for me.
I felt Fynn approaching from behind me before he slipped under the light. I watched as he made a show of brandishing his knife for the others to see. He smiled when they banged harder against the glass, determined to break it with their fists by the sound.
“It’s not quite enough,” Fynn said, his eyes on the blade's tip.
“What do you want?” I breathed, knowing that it didn’t matter. I would accept.
“I think,” Fynn started. “I think I want to hammer the point home tonight, Vanessa,” he said cryptically.
“Okay,” I shrugged, facing back towards the other guys. Giving them a soft, sad smile. Hopefully, letting them know that I was going to be fine. But Fynn wasn’t going to make this easy on any of us. I just hoped I would be enough to keep Fynn from accidentally taking things too far.
“Clothes off, Vanessa,” he ordered, and I paused rather than obeying as a wave of dread washed through me. I slowly stood, looking over my shoulder to Fynn, asking him with my eyes what he had planned.
He didn’t answer. Instead, he gestured for me to get moving. I took my shirt off first, tossing it at Fynn. He caught it and brought it up to his face to inhale. He breathed in deeply, closing his eyes as a growl rumbled in his chest.
My mind whispered out to me,fight or fuck.Fynn needed to fight or fuck. I hadn’t imagined the first time I had sex with Fynn would be in the middle of a glass room with the others watching. But taking everything else into account, it felt poetic too.
I turned around to face Fynn as I unbuttoned my pants and slowly pulled them down my legs. I knew the others were getting a wonderful shot of my bare ass since I hadn’t worn underwear for Nik tonight. Guess Colten and Fynn were taking it as their present today.
Before unhooking my bra, I slipped my shoes off and kicked my pants into a pile. I held it out to the side, hanging from the tip of my finger. Letting it swing back and forth a few times before allowing it to drop to the floor.
My eyes never left Fynn’s as I stood before him, entirely naked, willing to let him carve into my skin to release his demons. If he didn’t let me exorcise them with a good fuck first, of course. I didn’t wait for his next move, taking a step forward toward him. Stalking him; now it was my turn to capture my prey. I would have to fight him to get him to fuck me. He was too on edge to respond to seduction.
“Who was the first person to pull a gun on you, Fynn?” I asked, taking another step toward him. His eyes widened for a fraction of a second when he realized what I was doing.
He grabbed me by the hair, the pins scraping across my scalp as he pulled me to him, before ripping the wig off to toss onto the ground with my pants. Leaving me entirely bare, in my still broken form, for them all to see.
Maybe I wasn’t strong enough to handle Fynn at his worst. Trickles of doubt seeped into me, urging me to run from him. That would only rile him up worse. I took another step toward him, getting close enough to just barely not touch. At the same time, another chorus of banging sounded against the glass panels. The guys shouted out their disapproval.
Fynn wanted to hurt them. I would say he found an effective way.
His hand wrapped around my neck like a cobra ready to strike. His grip tightened as he squeezed in on the sides. I told myself over and over in my mind that everything was fine, and I could still breathe under his grip. Taking slow, steady breaths, I remained calm and still.
“Do you see how much better I’ve made her already?” Fynn called out to the others.
