Page 57 of Reclaimed

“By never having what he wants?”

I had no answer to that. I knew Ray and I would always disagree on this.

“So you’re not angry at him?”

“No, I’m not. What do you think I was expecting?”

I couldn’t hide my shock at his words. “You thought we’d get together?”

“Well, no, not quite. But I know what you’re into, and I know what he’s into, and even if both of you are too stubborn to admit it, it’s only natural that you’d be drawn to each other.”

Natural – how could Ray think any of this was natural?

“Maybe, next time he comes, I’ll have to let you both get even better acquainted.” I didn’t know how he had the nerve to be suggestive after everything that had happened that night. I shook my head fervently.

“Even if I did like him then, I don’t feel that way now.”

“Why not?”

I gave him an incredulous look.

“Because he watched while you held me down and caned me until I bled, and he did nothing,”I hissed furiously. Then I realised my mistake.

Ray’s expression was no longer light-hearted. “Until you bled?”

“I just meant—”

“You told me the skin didn’t get broken.” His voice was quiet, but his face was stormy, and I knew this admission was going to anger him far more than anything I could have said about Mark.

“It didn’t… It was just one, on my leg… It was the tiniest bit, and I took care of it—”

“You lied to me.”

“What are you going to do? Punish me for it?” I spat. I couldn’t believe he was angry with me again already. Except that I should have believed it. I’d known it was only a matter of time; I just hadn’t expected that it’d be quite this soon.

“I’ve half a mind to,” he growled in response, but he didn’t make any move towards me. “What if it had got infected?”

“It didn’t. I told you – I took care of it.”

“You should let me—”

“No!” I think we were both slightly taken aback by the ferocity in my voice. I might have been willing to be more civil with him, but I was also prepared to fight tooth and nail to keep him from seeing my marks. There was no way I was going to let him gloat over what he’d done to me.

“It’s not about… It’s not because I’m going to like what I see.”

“Right, because you hate marking my body,” I said sarcastically. “It’s not like that’s what you’ve been threatening to do ever since I got here.”

“I am not proud of these ones, Callie. If I could take them back, I would.”

“Well, maybe if you’re lucky, one of them will scar and then you won’t have to do my big punishment.”

Ray’s mouth opened and closed, but he seemed unsure of what to say. My anger was replaced instantly with fear and disbelief.

“You still want to give me that punishment, don’t you?”

“I always said I would. This hasn’t changed anything.”

“Haven’t you hurt me enough?” I whispered brokenly. “If you actually feel sorry for what you did, you wouldn’t dream of doing that to me again.”

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