Page 77 of Corruption

Alik comes in his hand. Hard enough that his seed shoots into our tub and some of it even gets into my tea.

“Alik,” Nadia chides.

I look at my come-filled tea thoughtfully before taking a sip. “Hm. Your come actually makes a good creamer.”

Alik looks like he’s ready to snatch me out the tub and devour me again despite the punishment session we just had. Nadia seems to notice this and rolls her eyes.

“Alright. Out the tub with you and into some clothes before all this time is wasted and we’re all back in the bed fucking again.”

“I don’t see a problem with that.”

“Someone still has a bunch of feist in her even after her punishment,” Alik says.

“I normally wouldn’t see an issue with it either, but Alik and I do actually have to get the work done that you interrupted by misbehaving,” Nadia says. “And we want to show you something before we do. Otherwise, you’re going to find it before we can surprise you.”

With the promise of a surprise, I don’t protest getting out the tub and getting dressed again. When we’re all dressed, Nadia and Alik grab either of my hands and pull me down the hall to where their work offices are. We walk past Alik’s office and to the one next to it a door down and across from where Nadia’s office is on the side opposite where the sun shines on the house for most of the day.

“Close your eyes, Kitten.”

I do, even though I think it’s ridiculous. But I don’t want to delay my surprise any longer.

“Are your eyes closed?” Nadia asks.

“Yes,” I assure and then hear the door open.

Nadia and Alik pull me through the threshold.

“Can I open my eyes now?”

Alik chuckles, and I feel his lips on my forehead. “You’re so impatient. But yes. You can open them now.”

When I open my eyes, I lose my breath in the same way I did earlier while Alik and Nadia were punishing me. But this time, not because I can’t catch my breath between coming but because I’m stunned speechless.

It’s an art studio. Like the ones I’ve only dreamed of using. Like the ones I’ve only dreamed of having. Gray, wooden floors. A counter along the wall with drawers of all different sizes. An easel in the middle of the room. A desk in one corner by the floor-to-ceiling window and a little padded, seated nook in the other corner with a piece of the window cut out for a little enclosed ledge with a seated cupholder in it. And one perfectly blank pale gray wall opposite the side with the drawers and counter space.

“What… I… Is this…”

“Do you like it?”

“It’s… breathtaking.”

“Good. Consider it a late Christmas gift. Or an early birthday present.”

“My birthday’s in July.”

“She said early.”

“But it’s… it’s too much. This had to cost…”

Alik pulls me into his side and buries his face in my hair while saying, “You’re ours now, Kitten. Nothing is too expensive for you if you want it. Cost means nothing.”

Theirs… except, not really. Not if I can’t get out of this engagement with Vaughn. Not if I can’t prove it was Vaughn who killed his and Alik’s father, clearing Addy’s name and making this arrangement null and void.

I’m not going to think about that right now though. Because for the first time in ever, I’m happy. For the first time, I know what happiness feels like. Not resignment to my fate. Not contentment because things could be worse. Happy.

“This is the kindest thing anyone has ever done for me.”

“I thought it was stabbing a man in the shoulder and shooting him in the hand?” Nadia asks.

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