“Don’t tell me who she is!” Brian snarled. “Get the fuck away from me!”
Lindsay backed off, then left the cafeteria. He didn’t move as fast as others nearby had, but at least he went away.
Mina squeezed her eyes tight and breathed, as if breathing would make it go away. She’d woken to a sharp tingling between her legs. At first she’d thought Brian was touching her, but she quickly realized that wasn’t the case. She squirmed and twisted, trying to find a way to satisfy the intense arousal. It went beyond an urge. It went beyond need.
She’d been so distracted she hadn’t noticed the button nestled in her palm—not until Brian came on the intercom and explained it to her.
Last night she’d started to feel what? Attracted to him? She wasn’t sure. He’d been so… kind. The attraction hadn’t diminished this morning. But what he was doing now… it wasn’t that it was terribly wrong, but there was a sadism in it. What if he pushed and pushed and over time hurt her?
As foolish as it was, she was beginning to believe he didn’t want to hurt her, but if he was playing mildly sadistic games on day two… what would happen on month two or year two?
The door opened and Brian stepped in with a tray. He placed it on a side table. “I’m sorry I didn’t get you anything hot this morning. Just a pastry and fruit. I didn’t want to get you something that wouldn’t taste right cold.”
“Please…” She struggled against the chains.
He sat beside her and began stroking her hair and the side of her face. The gesture would be sweet and appreciated if there weren’t other places she needed to be stroked. And Brian knew it. He didn’t know how to be anything other than a sadist.
He unlocked her hands, but left her feet in the spreader bar. She hadn’t noticed the pain in her arms. She’d been too focused on the one thing she needed to happen to make the world right again.
But now that her hands were released, she didn’t dare make a move, no matter how much the aroused flesh between her legs demanded to be touched.
“I’m impressed. You certainly don’t lack training, despite what the good doctor implied. That pleases me very much.”
A blush crept up her neck. It was a horrible moment to have an attack of shyness. She wanted to cover herself and was thankful for the patch of hair that covered her like a fig leaf from a piece of biblical art. One less layer of exposure to cope with.
He sat beside her. “Do your arms hurt?”
“Yes, Master.”
He took one arm and then the other and massaged the soreness out of them. He was almost as good as Anton—which was unexpected, since Anton was a professional, and Brian’s only known skill set was causing pain.
She desperately needed to come, and instead he was massaging the soreness out of her arms. He arranged her hands as if she were a life-sized doll, placing them on either side of her mound, mere centimeters from the aching need.
“You’d better not so much as twitch toward touching yourself.”
It took every ounce of concentration and willpower not to flick her thumb over her clit, but Brian’s hard stare and the anxiety that look created within her, helped her manage the needed self-control.
“Still impressed,” he said.
He picked her up and slung her over his shoulder as if he were a fireman rescuing her from a burning building. Mina tensed as he carried her from the room. She was too afraid to ask where he was taking her. Surely not upstairs. All she could think about was Jason passing her around. Would Brian do that? Why wouldn’t he? She hadn’t even thought to list no sharing on her limits—which was insane, given how much it upset her when Jason had done it.
Brian pushed one of the dungeon cell doors open and carried her in.
“N-no, please. Please. You promised. Please don’t hurt me, Master.”
“Shhhh. I’m not hurting you.”
But what he did next didn’t reinforce hope. Brian draped her over a spanking horse, so that her legs straddled it. They were still trapped immobile by the spreader bar he had yet to unlock. Even if he didn’t bind her in any other way, she couldn’t run or crawl away.
She whimpered, and the tears she’d fought to hold back came spilling forth. His hand was gentle on her back as he caressed her skin.
“Do you still want to come?”
She was afraid to answer. She didn’t know what the right answer was. Which one would get her beaten? Which one would set her free? She didn’t want anything right now as much as she wanted safety. Even the insistent throbbing between her legs took a back seat to her self-preservation instinct.
“Tell me. Now. The truth.”
“Y-yes, Master.”
He pressed a button on the side of the spanking horse, and it came to life, vibrating underneath her.
“Grind into it like a good girl.”
He didn’t have to tell her twice. The dual relief of stimulation between her legs and him not hitting her was enough to send her over the edge after only a few seconds. But he kept her there and made her come several times before he turned the vibrator off. The vinyl padding felt slippery underneath her, and she flushed, embarrassed by how wet she’d made it.
Brian didn’t comment. He unshackled her feet and went to sit in a chair at the other end of the room he used to torture the poor women unfortunate enough to catch his eye or be sent to him.
He unbuttoned his pants. “I want your warm mouth wrapped around my cock.”
Mina slid off the spanking horse and crawled across the floor. How could any of this be okay? How was it possible that she wanted to do this with him, after the others? There was a loneliness inside of him that reached out to the loneliness inside of her.
As she kissed and licked and sucked him, his fingers threaded through her hair—comforting her. How could this be the man she’d been afraid of? All she wanted was to please him.
“That’s it. Such a good little cocksucker.”
She froze. Jason’s friends had made the same comment. She had to forcibly remind herself that she wasn’t being passed around down here. It was only Brian. And he didn’t know the history of those words.
He stopped her. “Look at me.”
She looked up, surprised to find concern in his eyes.
“Are you all right? You left me for a second.”
She hadn’t thought it possible for a man to be more perceptive than Lindsay with the fancy degrees lining his walls and books to decipher the inner workings of the mind and human behavior. But Brian saw each shift in her demeanor. He saw things she didn’t realize she was broadcasting.
“I’m fine, Master.” She went back to servicing him, but his hand on her shoulder stopped her.
“Mina, I’ve warned you about lying to me. Do. Not. Lie.”
She cringed and shrank from his tone. It took so little to erase trust.
“I asked if you were all right.”
She shook her head, her gaze trained on the floor. She couldn’t look at him.
“Come here.” He pulled her onto his lap and cradled her in his arms.
She could barely let herself breathe, afraid even the tiniest movement might shatter whatever this was forming between them. Jason and the others had play acted at being kind at first, but they never increased in kindness or concern. Could Brian really care?