Page 52 of No Rules

A shiver shot down Ryan’s spine. They were treading a fine line between pleasure and pain, but seeing Alex surrender to the sensations was intoxicating. “Embrace the pain. Let it fuel your pleasure.”

He reached out and gave the chain connecting the clamps a gentle tug, eliciting a moan from Alex that was equal parts agony and ecstasy. “I want you to count for me. Every time I pull on this chain, I want you to tell me what number we’re at.”

“Y-yes, Sir.”

As Ryan pulled the chain, Alex inhaled sharply. “One.” He breathed out.

“Very good,” Ryan praised, pulling the chain once more.

“T-two.”

The mix of emotions on Alex’s face was both beautiful and dangerous. Ryan knew he was pushing boundaries not just physically but emotionally as well, but in this moment, as Alex yielded to him, he couldn’t bring himself to care.

“Three.”

By the time they got to ten, Alex’s eyes had grown distant and dreamy, as if he’d retreated into himself. Alex’s flushed face and trembling body, his nipples clamped and tormented, were a beautiful sight. Waves of fierce arousal rippled through Ryan again, fueled by the intoxicating power he held over his sub. Alex’s cock was hard and leaking, and the desire to push him further was overwhelming.

“Look at you,” Ryan murmured, his voice thick with lust. “You’re so fucking beautiful like this, all desperate and needy.”

It took Alex a second or two to respond, proving how deep he’d sunken into himself. “Thank you, Sir.”

As much as he wanted to continue, he couldn’t. Alex was new at submitting, and both his body and mind weren’t ready yet.

“This is gonna hurt.” Ryan took off both clamps at once.

Alex blinked. “Jesus fuuuck… Sir. Oh god, sorry, Sir. It hurts so much.”

He could forgive him for that under the circumstances. “But you’ll bear it for me, won’t you?”

“Yes, Sir.”

Mark had flogged him during that first scene. Ryan had seen the marks on Alex’s ass. So another flogging made little sense and wouldn’t let Alex experience new things…and yet he couldn’t help himself. The evidence of Mark’s handiwork was long gone, and still, Ryan wanted to put his marks on that perfect ass as if that would erase the previous ones. He’d debated long with himself, but in the end, he’d lost the battle with this need, whatever fueled it.

“Follow me,” he told Alex, who meekly stayed on his heels as he led him to a flogging post. “Do I need to secure you?”

Alex hesitated, then nodded. “I don’t trust myself yet not to move, Sir.”

Pride filled Ryan. “Thank you for being honest.”

He looped Alex’s hands around the post and tied them with a simple knot he could release with one tug. Simplicity and safety always trump aesthetics.

He tilted Alex’s chin up. “Color?”

“Green, Sir.”

Ryan strode to the wall where Jesse kept his collection of implements and, with a practiced eye, selected a leather flogger. The weight felt comfortable in his hand, even after all this time. He’d yielded similar ones countless times before, both in pleasure and punishment. But with Alex, everything seemed different, charged with an intensity that made Ryan’s skin tingle.

“Remember your safeword,” Ryan reminded him. “If it becomes too much, don’t hesitate to use it.”

“Understood, Sir.” Alex’s breath hitched as Ryan ran the tails lightly across his back, the leather teasing his skin.

Ryan stepped back, gauging the distance between them, then swung the flogger, the tails landing on Alex’s back with a satisfying thud. A gasp escaped Alex’s lips, and his muscles tensed beneath the impact. Ryan checked Alex for any signs of distress, but the kid relaxed again.

“You want more?”

“Yes, Sir.”

“Ask me nicely,” Ryan ordered.

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