Page 4 of Elicit (Decadence After Dark)

CRACK!

The last blow shatters me, my limbs giving out.

I lie there facedown, fragmented on the bed, my tears unstoppable, his breathing ragged.

“Why?” I whine. “Please just tell me why.”

I’m so pathetic. I deserve to die.

Master sits on the bed next to me and rubs my sweaty back. Never has he touched me so gently. Never consolingly.

“You’ll know soon enough, pet.”

I lift my wet eyes to look at him. “I hate you.” He said he wanted to hear everything. Why hold back now?

That cruel smile returns to his lips. “Good.”

Good?

This man does not make a lick of sense.

He gets up off the bed and goes back to the closet.Oh, no. I tremble harder. I’ve done it now. I hammered the last nail into my own coffin. I weep some more, crying for my old life. For my old self. For the innocent girl who loved books and music and art. I cry because this is my tragic end.

“Shhhh.” Master placates me. I squeeze my eyes shut and retreat into myself. “Lift your head.”

So you can cut my throat?

“No.” I weakly refuse, pressing my forehead against a spring.

“Pet.” His voice is stern but not threatening. “Open your eyes.”

It takes me a second, but I finally crack one open. He shows me what he’s holding. A black scarf and a pair of handcuffs.

“Now, do as I say and lift your head.”

I warily listen.

He covers my eyes with the material so everything goes dark.

“Hands over your head.” I slide my hands up, and he cuffs them together. I’m laid out on the mattress, restless, worried, and wound so fucking tight.

“Relax, pet.” Master runs his fingertips leisurely down my spine. “Do you know how long you have been with me?” His baritone voice is almost melodic.

“No.” I squeak.

“Two years.”

I gasp.That long?

“Do you know what today is?” he goes on.

“No.”

“Your birthday.”

I instantaneously cry. Two years? I’m eighteen today.

“Why are you telling me this?” I fight to ask.

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