Page 8 of Bought

“Fuck!”

“Stop swearing,” he orders calmly. “You’re being punished because you didn’t listen the first time around. I made you a very good offer, Casey. You could have been at home right now, making plans to move to a nicer apartment, but you wanted to do this the hard way. So we’re doing it the hard way.”

“You can fucking… ow!”

The belt lands again, viciously finding the skin that was already seared by the first stroke. He’s done this before. I can tell. His aim is perfect. He swings his arm in a steady motion and he brings the leather down in a brutal arc over and over, lashing my poor tender skin with harsh strokes that burn long after they land.

I thought he might have me killed for what I know. But he has something else in mind for me. Humiliation. Pain. How do I make this stop?

Crack!

The belt lands again and the answer to my question makes me desperate. I can’t make this stop. He will stop when he wants to. And I’ve spent practically every second I’ve had with him pissing him off.

I feel so fucking small, so totally desperate. It hurts like hell, and every single stroke leaves an aftermath that combines with the other strokes to make my butt throb.

“If you had been polite, I wouldn’t be doing this,” he informs me. “I would have still taken you regardless, but I would have made it pleasurable. You’re the reason this is happening to you, Casey.”

I know he’s an asshole. I know I haven’t done anything, not really. Swearing is nothing compared to what he’s doing to me. Taking over my goddamn life. But there’s some part of me that’s buying into this. Feeling bad, somehow, for daring to be rude to the man holding me captive.

He’s in control. I can’t deny that. I might hate it, but it’s what I’m stuck with. There’s some part of my animal brain that understands. That part wants me to apologize. But fuck that.

“You’re mine now, Casey. I own you. I will do with you as I please. And that includes whipping your insolent little ass when you need it.”

His words make my head spin.

“This is illegal!” I protest.

“At a certain point, constructs like legal and illegal cease to really exist,” he says, pausing for a moment to let that arrogance sink in, along with the burn of his belt.

“That’s what criminals say,” I mumble against the table. The officers are still holding me down, so I can’t move at all. They should be ashamed of themselves, but it’s me who is feeling the shame. I’m exposed and sore. I’m at the mercy of these men, as women have been from the beginning of time.

Ethan leans over me. I hear his voice coming from somewhere just above the back of my head. “The law is made to keep the populace in line and avoid chaos. It was never intended to hamper the powerful.”

He drops a kiss on the back of my head, an unexpected little moment of affection tainted by his words.

I know he’s right. There’s no doubt about it. Everybody knows the rules are different for the rich than for the poor, but hearing it stated so boldly is jarring. Like everything about him. Ethan has never been hemmed in by shoulds and supposed to’s. He breaks rules. And he breaks people.

I let out a sob as he whacks me again, that leather biting harshly, proving the point.

“Fuck,” I gasp, no longer swearing at him, just… swearing to swear.

“You need your mouth washed out,” he says in that dark, droll tone. “Such a bad little girl.”

“I’m not little.”

“Oh, yes, you are,” he says. “In so many ways.”

The belt lands again. It snaps harder against my punished cheeks after a short break. I was becoming somewhat acclimated to the pain, but he took that from me. I let out a hiss and I try to squirm my hips away from it, but I can’t. He’s made me a public spectacle with these two silent cops. There is no modesty anymore. There’s only pain and exposure and embarrassment.

One more time the leather meets my ass, a hot flash across already heated skin. I can’t take this and stay stoic anymore. I let out a yelping cry and bury my face against the table with a sob.

“Starting to learn, Casey?”

I’m not learning anything that I didn’t already know. Ethan is brilliant, brutal, and twisted. He’s prepared to do whatever it takes to get what he wants. He does not lose. Not under any circumstances.

“Yes,” I grind the word out, not wanting to admit that he’s winning, but unable to resist him. I’m afraid of what he’ll do next if this doesn’t work. Because I’m sure he’d do absolutely anything to bring me to heel. He’s already made that clear by having me brought here, having the police themselves participate in this demonstration of control.

“Good.” I hear the satisfaction in his voice. It’s deep and resonant, comes from his core. This is a man who eat, sleeps, and breathes dominance.

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