Page 41 of Fragile Facade
“Mhm.” I grin at him.
He matches my grin, and then, faster than I can react, he brings his leg up and kicks. I fly off the counter, my back slamming against the wall behind the desk, toppling Remi’s stool. The wind knocks out of me, and, crumpled on the floor, unable to breathe, it’s my turn to laugh.
“Fucking finally!” I roar, adrenaline surging. “Took you long enough to drop the pretense and start acting like you. Like Ghost. Like Soren fucking Sauder.” I press my palms to the floor and stand up. “The crazed Ghost of Moros who shines so fucking bright in the dark.”
He’s trembling, though I don’t know what with. Energy. Vitality. Pride because he’s finally getting recognition for who he is. No one is telling him to grin and bear it. No one is warning him that he’ll have to put up with some shit before he gets his reward. He’s not listening to Director’s rules or bowing down to play a part in a gang. He’s hanging from the beam of his brother’s music shop, being praised for how fucking unhinged he is. Because he likes it. He enjoys the thrill of being trussed up and weak because it tests his mental prowess. He wants to outwit me, and that’s the game we’re both too stubborn to lose.
His cock gets hard.
I knew it would.
“You’re the fucking curse, Soren.”
“Ghost.”
I shake my head. “Not right now.” This time, I move fast. With his pants already undone, I rip them down his legs, seeing his stab wound. When he tries to kick out again, I take the slack of his pants between his ankles and press my hand downward, choking him as his body is dragged down. “True or false? Your cock is hard right now because I recognize the parts of you that don’t get recognized enough.”
He fights it for all of ten seconds before he nods, completely unable to breathe. I let up, letting him press his toes to the counter again. He coughs, hacking out laughs that go straight to my dick.
“True or false? You hated not being able to feel my dick in your hand when I paralyzed you in your grave.”
He’s mostly delusional with dark power now, embellishing the game. “True,” he says, laughing harshly. “But not because I wanted to jerk you off. I crave a level playing field. I wanted to rip your cock off and shove it up your own ass.”
“I told you not to lie to me.” I pull down on his legs and wait.
“It’s not a lie. It’s the truth.”
“Not the whole truth.”
He glares, but his smile somehow stays on his face, his eyes flaring with the challenge of the game. “I wanted the satisfaction of saying I made you comebeforeI ripped it off and shoved it up your ass,” he amends.
“Better.” I let his legs go and step back before he can kick me. I walk around to where I tied the rope off, letting him have some slack. He finally removes his fingers from behind the rope, flexing and stretching them as I give him enough length to sit his ass on the counter. His legs give out, and he practically falls to his ass, his feet dangling over the edge. When he reaches to loosen the noose and remove it from his neck, I yank, firming it back up. “Leave it. I dare you.”
His hands pause and he stops trying to free himself. I secure the rope just tight enough to restrain him. He’s no longer choking, but he’s not free either. He can’t bend forward and lift his pants, and he can’t hop off the counter without strangling himself.
I walk back around, face to face with him now. “You listened.”
“I like a dare,” he taunts. “What’s next? My dick is hard, your dick is hard, you’re insane and twisted, and I’m even more insane. Gonna rape me?”
“Would it really be rape if you’re begging for it like this?”
He snarls at me, but it’s all for show. “Never been begged before, have you?”
I have, but not by anyone who actually wants me to unleash on them. I always have to tamp myself down, be safe, play it smart, and tone down my baser needs. Ghost craves a rough fuck and someone who can match him… I crave a power exchange that has no boundaries and no clear successor. I want to let loose, and when he realizes my level of degeneracy, I want him to let himself loose just as hard. I want totrusthim enough to be who I think I am around him.
“Restricted blood flow, right?”
He narrows his eyes at me, unsure where I’m going with this.
Grabbing a pair of headphones off the opposite wall, I loosen the noose enough to slip them under the rope. The head part leaves the rope off his throat, and when I tighten it again, it presses the ear parts against his pulse points.
“Oh,” he mumbles, almost in disbelief.
“You let me do it.”
He looks at me, unsure what to do with his hands. He’s not reaching for the noose anymore, and he’s not fighting me off because he likes the prospect of where this might go. But he’s still Soren, and he won’t submit to this without a little resistance. “It’s funny that you think you’re winning. That you can make me admit a bunch of things, get my cock hard with a few words, cut off my blood flow, and pretend that it’s all about you. It’s not.”
“No?” I brace my arms on the counter, on either side of his thighs. “What’s it about? What’s making you hard?”
