Page 170 of Ashes of Sin and Stardust

“Hmm.” He studied me, one bushy eyebrow quirking slightly. “Five days isn’t much of a punishment, is it?”

“It’ll be a bigger punishment for you than it would be for me!”

“Fine,” he said, and I could see the smile pulling at his lips. “Five days maximum, and only when you’re really, really naughty.”

I took a deep breath and let it out in a gust. Something told me I was going to regret this. But I said it anyway. “Ugh...Yes sir.”

Reuben was unimpressed. “You didn’t say that with a lot of conviction. Try again.”

“Yeah well, I’m agreeing to it, notexcitedabout it.”

He grinned and his eyes flashed with that evil, sadistic excitement. “Okay.”

He was on his feet suddenly, and he had grabbed my nipple through the body suit and held tight to the ring. I gasped and struggled to keep up as he dragged me by the breast through the house and into the room at the end of the hallway. The lights flickered on and I was dragged down the stairs into his personal dungeon.

Holy fuck.

He’d brought me down here last night, but I’d barely noticed anything because I was so desperate and needy by the time. Now I got a good look at it.

It was a beautiful, terrible place, like something out of a dream. Black cement floors set off the wooden ceiling with metal suspension bars mounted across it. One wall was brick while the others were dark wood, giving it a grunge vibe. He had a variety of bondage furniture, and a set of chains hung from the ceiling in the middle of the room. He had tasteful artwork hung, mostly gesture drawings, and photographs of light and shadow on leather and latex. The lights were on dimmers, and he lowered them to a medium setting; bright enough to see clearly but not bright enough to hurt my eyes.

He dragged me by the nipple to the edge of the room. In the corner was a table with stirrups, similar to something I’d expect to find in a doctor’s office, only it had leather restraints attached to it.

I tried to pull away but he had a good grip on my nipple ring, and I wasn’t going to risk tearing the thing out. I liked my tits, thanks very much. But I did struggle as he tried to grab me and haul me onto the table.

“Stop... ugh. Stop fighting me, you brat!” He released my nipple and grabbed at the bodysuit, and I heard a snap as a seam tore. He lifted me up and shoved me onto my back, attempting to pin me down to the table.

“You ain’t seen nothin’ yet, old man!” I laughed and kicked his hands away. He managed to get me on my back and strap the waist restraint around me, but I accidentally kicked him in the shoulder in the process.

He froze, looked up at me with narrowed eyes, and growled like a fucking wild animal, angry and ready to attack. I felt a heavy tug in my stomach at the sound and my arms broke out in goosebumps.

He spoke as he buckled my ankles and thighs into the stirrups, and then adjusted them so my legs were spread obnoxiously wide.

“I buy you fancy dresses and pretty panties,” he growled. “Take you shopping and get you a tattoo, and in return... you lie to me, give me attitude, and then kick me?” He walked around to the other end of the table and secured my wrists behind my head, the leather cuffs he’d bought earlier today snug against my skin.

“When did I lie to you?”

“When I asked you what you said outside Julia’s shop. I know you said something cheeky, and you lied about it.”

Oh. That.Yeah, I wasn’t going to get myself into even more trouble than I already was, considering my current helpless situation.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Sir,” I said as innocently as possible.

He gathered up my hair and pulled it through the head rest, wrapping something around it. Suddenly I couldn’t lift my head. The asshole had used my own hair as bondage.

“You’re going to add another lie to your predicament. Okay. That’s fine, Alice. But I’m warning you... you have no idea what I’m going to do to you. You would be smart to quit while you still can.”

Quit? And miss out on the process of you completely destroying my will to fight? Nah.“I’m no quitter.”

He disappeared from my field of vision and returned with a series of leather straps. Instantly I felt myself freeze and chill to the idea that one would go around my neck, but he went to my legs instead.

He now wore a pair of black leather gloves, and the texture against my skin made me hot. He removed the belt I’d been locked up in all day, mocking me for the mess I’d left on it. With one hand, he trailed a leather-clad finger from my inner thigh down towards my pussy. I clenched my jaw in an effort not to react. I was splayed out for him in the most indecent way, and he seemed to take pleasure in making me uncomfortable about it, so fuck if I was going to give into that.

He studied my sex for a moment, smirked, and then adjusted those leather straps. I craned my neck up to see what he was doing, but the angle was wrong, and I couldn’t move my head. But I did see when his lips quirked, right before I felt a sharp burst of pain bite into my labia.

“Ow! What the fuck!”

Reuben chuckled. “So much to work with,” he said, pinching my labia. He looked up at me, and his eyes were bright with something intense and terrifying that made me shiver.

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