Page 61 of Ace of All Hearts

Her breathing accelerates slightly when I start circling her. She tries to follow me with her gaze but doesn’t dare turn her head around when I stand right behind her.

I notice tiny, circular scars on her back, just below her left shoulder. Three of them. How did I not notice them before? She didn’t have them before her stay with the Volkovs, that’s for sure, although I have seen her naked since.

Maybe her hair was hiding it, maybe I didn’t care enough, or maybe I was too busy looking at the rest of her body. The tattoo of the six phases of the moon she now has under her left breast often grabs my attention. The Wolves symbol. It always brings anger out of me, but not tonight. Who’s to say she had a choice in the matter?

I run my index finger on each of the circular scars.

“Are those cigarette burns?”

She shudders, but I don’t get an answer. That’s okay, I will soon, and I won’t have to force anything out of her. She’ll say it for her own healing process.

“How are you feeling?” I ask as I start warming up her skin with the palm of my hands. I run them along her back and then her ass cheeks, which startles her.

“Uncomfortable,” she confesses before shifting on the balls of her feet.

“Good.” I nod to myself. “You’ll be relaxed soon enough. Don’t worry.” I put down the crop I had used to force her legs open and grab a flogger—one with thick strips.

“This won’t hurt,” I explain calmly. “It will just get you used to the feeling of being flogged. Contrary to beliefs, thick floggers don’t really hurt. I also won’t put too much strength into it.”

“But I want to hurt.”

“Each thing in its own time, Rose.”

She doesn’t say anything, but I watch her head nod slightly. I take a step back, and I start slow. A rhythm to get her used to the sensation of the thick bands of leather striking her back. I do a figure of eight up and down her back, and then against her ass. Slowly, her head drops forward as she starts to relax. I keep the same movements, the infinity sign going up and down, up and down. Her breathing relaxes as her skin tinges pink.

I slow down and step away, putting down the thick flogger. I grab the one with thinner strips that I know will hurt. Coming back behind her, I run a hand against her ass cheeks as I ask, “More?”

“Yeah,” she murmurs back.

“Okay. I’m going to use another one now. Do you remember your safe word?”

“Freedom.”

“Good girl. Relax now.”

The same process starts again. A step back and then the same pattern, the same strength. Once she’s completely relaxed and accustomed to the repetition, without making any sound, I strike her hard on her left cheek.

She shrieks, her entire body tensing and her head coming up. Her breathing accelerates and she shifts.

“Stay still,” I order just before I strike again. Hard and in the exact same spot.

“Oh my god!” she gasps. “This is too hard.”

“I’m the one who gets to decide that. Be quiet. I’ll tell you when to start counting.”

“Counting?”

I strike again. Exact same place, making her wince. “I believe I just told you to be quiet.”

Another strike, this time on her other cheek. I repeat the process. Two on the right, two on the left. When stripes of red start to show and she struggles to keep her screams down, I stop.

She’s shaking now, her entire body traversed by spasms. She’s panting, her chin against her chest and her hair falling in front of her face. I run the palm of my hand against her shoulders and spine, feeling the sweat on her skin.

I put down the flogger and grab the crop again. This is one of my favorites. The end of it is a small shiny, red disc that makes the crop look like a long lollipop. I can bring perfectly round-shaped bruises on her skin if I put my mind to it. But that’s not exactly my aim tonight.

“You’ll count from now on.” She doesn’t respond, so I slide my free hand into her hair and pull gently until her neck and spine straighten. “I didn’t hear your ‘yes, Sir’.”

A pause. This is a defining moment in our long relationship—childhood friendship, protection, love, desire, hate, revenge. We went through it all. Tonight, I’m asking her to add a power exchange to it. I’m demanding that she relinquishes it all and hand it to me. And she will call me by the appropriate name if she wants to keep going.

---