Target This
Page 22
Tears fell from eyes held wide open. Her skin shone with a fine sheen of fearful sweat and my cock was rock hard at the sight of it. “Answer me.”
“I – I don’t know what to say, please …”
Dropping her to the floor, I backed up so that I could look over her body. I wanted to know everything about her, study every way she moved to see if I could discover what was inside her. The body was the outward reflection of the brain, the actions becoming the symptoms of her thoughts. Mysterious and ever elusive, I’d never been able to hear my victim’s voice, but now that I was truly in the head of the monster, I could see. She shifted, tears falling hard from her eyes as she rubbed at her knees. She was thoroughly broken. Her spirit had been ripped from her body the moment she relented to being my slave.
“Do you think you should be punished?” Her permission, I needed her permission and despite knowing that what I asked of her would ultimately hurt her, she gave it to me.
“Yes.”
I smiled.
“Stand up.”
She hesitated at first, sobs racking her body, but eventually my beautiful girl pushed up on her arms and stood before me. Her eyes were closed, but her shoulders were pulled back, prideful. I wondered what ran through her head now that caused her not to cower.
“Take off your clothes. Strip that body bare, beautiful, to show me just how much it belongs to me.”
Her body visibly shook, her expression shifting into a bleak canvas of defeat and loss. Slowly she unhooked the buttons of her blouse, revealing to me breasts that were as full as they were round. My eyes glanced down at the muscles of her stomach, how they flexed with every small movement of her arms. The material of the shirt hit the floor, liquid silk as it puddled at her feet. My gaze traveled her legs to watch as her skirt was released, finally falling and rendering her completely exposed.
I hadn’t lied when I said she was exquisite. She was the perfect female, smooth skin, soft in places and tight in others. I was so fucking hard it was painful not to grab her and bend her over the first available fucking surface just to slam myself inside.
Reaching out, I allowed my finger to trail along her jaw. My face was beaming, my smile hurting the skin of my cheeks. “How does it feel, beautiful? How does it feel to know that you’ve lost?”
Her tears poured harder and her bottom lip quivered, but she still stood with strength behind her posture.
I was surprised when she answered, “It hurts. I don’t know what’s going to happen and I think not knowing will be worse than going through whatever you plan to do. I hate that you’ve done this to me and I hate that my body responds!” The volume of her words grew with her anger and I continued to pull everything out. I wanted to know, but I also wanted her to know. I wanted her to openly acknowledge where she’d allowed herself to go.
“Did I not warn you, Autumn? Did I not give you every fucking clue and rule that I could? Why didn’t you listen?” Eerily calm, my voice was as relaxed as it would be if I were only asking a simple question about the weather.
It took her several minutes to formulate a response. I watched with absolute attention as she fought against herself. “I didn’t think…”
My finger was over her lips quieting her instantly. “But that’s just it. You. Didn’t. Think.” Grabbing her face in my hand, I squeezed while turning her eyes to the door. “You can leave, Autumn, you don’t have to suffer the abuse. Go claim your freedom.”
“I don’t want it!” Her voice screeched over mine, the tiny bits and pieces of her fractured soul scraping at her skin, irritating her and crushing her under the realization that she was now owned.
“Fine.”
Releasing her, I moved quickly around my desk, opening a drawer and pulling out leather cuffs that I kept on hand. I returned to her, offering out her punishment, seeing if in this moment, in the last chance she had to escape, would she accept what I was going to do to her, or find her strength again in order to escape the abuse?
“Put your hands out.”
Seconds ticked by like hours as she looked at the cuffs, but then, eventually and silently, she stuck her arms out in front of her, closing her eyes to the cruelty, as she willingly accepted her punishment.
Autumn
He’d won.
There was no other way to look at it. I was so damn scared of facing what was going on outside his home that I was freely handing myself over. He was the only salvation I had and if it meant enduring abuse, if it meant debasing and humiliating myself just to seek his sanctuary, I would do whatever it took to stay.
“Turn around and walk over to the mirror above that side table. I want your hands spread at shoulder width, palms flat against the wall on either side of it. I want your eyes, Ms. Cleary, constantly focused on the mirror between your hands. They are not to close or look anywhere else but at yourself. If you look away at any point, your punishment will start over. Do you understand my instructions?”
“Yes.” It was a weak response, but one I knew I had to give him. He made me choose every time. He wouldn’t even let me hide my shame inside my thoughts. He made me voice it and give it life. His true cruelty was how he made me face what I was allowing him to do to me. There was nowhere I could run and hide because he constantly made me see.
“Yes, what?” Spoken so softly, I’d almost missed it. It was a reminder – a challenge – I knew it and yet I still gave him what he wanted.
“Yes, Master.”
Stepping slowly, he came up behind me, his hands rubbing over my ass. From the reflection in the mirror I could see the adoration in his expression, the complete abandon that flooded his eyes when he touched me. It shouldn’t have affected me, it shouldn’t have made me feel wanted, but it did.
“I love to hear that word roll off your succulent lips.” He looked up so that our eyes met in the mirror. “I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that I won’t enjoy this, Autumn. There is no way I can hide how much I will appreciate the marks on your skin. Just remember that it’s your choices that bring pleasure or pain.”
I couldn’t contain the tear that broke free and rolled along my cheek. He was being honest, he didn’t demand that pain be involved between us, but I was the foolish girl, wasn’t I? I’d questioned him. I’d stubbornly demanded answers to questions I knew he wouldn’t give, so why did I ask them?
I’d chosen my own fate.
When he let me go to move across the room, I missed the heat of his body. His scent still lingered and I breathed in deeply while watching him through the mirror. I made sure to blink slowly. I refused to move my arms despite the way they shook from being held in the same position. I didn’t dare go against a single thing he’d instructed.
But I didn’t do it for him.
I did it for me.
I reasoned with myself that whatever Lucas did to me couldn’t be worse than the years I’d spend in jail for the crimes they believed I’d committed. Without people to help, or money to pull from, there was no way I would be able to defend myself against their accusations. How many years would I lose of my life rotting away behind bars? The thought scared me more than any punishment from Lucas. At least here, the time could be shorter, I didn’t have complete freedom, but I could take it if I discovered the answers to what was being done to me. I wasn’t being held against my will.
When he stepped up behind me, I saw the leather strap he held in his hand through my peripheral vision. Long and black, it looked thick up to the point where a silk handle was wrapped around his palm. He stared at me, studied me; his eyes running down to watch how my body trembled before him.
“5 strikes, Autumn, and you’ll be done. Please…” His voice lowered, his words becoming dangerous in their tone. “…Follow my instructions. For each indiscretion, another strike will be added.” His eyes met mine again as if he was waiting for my answer.
Swallowing hard, I nodded my head in understanding because I wasn’t able to voice the words.
His arm stretch
ed back, the muscles of his shoulders flexing and contracting as he moved. It was in slow motion when he first struck. I watched his body in the mirror in order to distract myself. When the leather met my skin, and when his expression became vibrant in response to my scream, I couldn’t take it. I closed my eyes for several seconds before remembering. When I opened them again, he stared directly at me. His head was shaking from disappointment and a sly grin fighting to break free from his lips.
“You must have liked it. That’s the only reason I can determine as to why you would break my rule.”
The hair on the back of my neck stood up because he was eerily calm. Anger, lust, sadness; none of it existed in his voice. The leather hit again and I screamed out, my body shaking violently in response. I fought not to pull my hands from the wall or turn to block him.
His body covered mine suddenly, the heat of his chest rolling over my spine, causing chills to break out over my skin from the contact. His hand was between my legs and his fingers were sliding inside me. I cried out again, but this time, for a far different reason.
“You’re so fucking wet.” He growled into my ear and my body bucked up against him. I didn’t know what was happening to me. My desire was foreign, almost feral in its strength and the muscles of my core gripped at him. Every single movement of his fingers sent lightning across my nerves and electricity over my skin. I watched through the mirror as he finger fucked me, his mouth running greedily over my sweat soaked skin. Just when he’d pushed me to a point where I knew I couldn’t stop my body from breaking apart, he pulled away and I cried out again in complaint.
A soft chuckle followed by the feel of his hand running along where he’d struck me. I flinched but kept my eyes open. Ultimately, I controlled how many times I would be struck. It was becoming clear how he wanted me to play this game.
“It’s stunning, the red against the milk white. My god, you are a treasure.” His finger slipped slowly through the slick skin of my cunt before he brought it up to his mouth, catching my eyes before licking it clean. He paused, continuing to hold my stare before finally saying, “Let’s get this over with. I suddenly feel the need to fuck the shit out of you, Ms. Cleary, and I don’t like that this punishment is getting in my way.”
Four more strikes. Four more times that I screamed out in pain, each time noticing how my body hummed with desire after the feel of fire had left my skin. Hatred towards myself sickened me, but I was torn from that feeling when he was on top of me again. My ass was pressed against his rock hard cock, with only the soft silk of his pants between us, his hands roughly gripped around my hips, holding me in place.
Bringing his mouth down to my ear, he bent over me, his body pressing more fully against mine. The heat of his breath trailed over my skin. My hands were still on the wall. My arms burned from holding that position, but I wouldn’t let go until he told me I was allowed. I waited for him to talk, to say something, but his hands came between us, his pants were suddenly gone and he was buried so far inside me that my jaw dropped open and my knees shook, threatening to give out. He never looked up, his mouth constantly on my skin, his teeth lightly grazing across. My body arched outwards and I presented myself in a position where he could take me harder, deeper. Through the reflection, I watched as my breasts bounced in time with his thrusts. The table over which I was leaning slammed against the wall, the iron pull to the lamp clanking heavily against the glass shade. My hips hammered against the wood, the skin above the bone undoubtedly bruising.
When he’d finally pushed me to a point where my body writhed beneath him and clenched around him, he looked up. It looked like blue flames in his eyes and I combusted, thoroughly and completely, over him. A scream tore from my lungs and my mouth opened wide and as much as I wanted to close my eyes to become lost in the orgasm he’d just forced through me, I kept them open, completely enchanted by his stare.
He slowed only slightly as my body came down, but as soon as I was breathing steadily again, he powered into me, eventually finding his own release. I was mesmerized to watch his expression when he finished, an odd sense of pride flooding me as I watched him come inside me.
My back met his chest from our heavy breathing and sweat dripped from his dark brown hair. Starting to pull my arms down, I had to catch myself, remember the rule. He backed away after a few minutes, pulling his pants up before putting his hands over mine where they were still pressed against the wall.
“You never let go.” Still attempting to catch his breath, he paused before adding, “That was very smart.”
Keeping my eyes trained to the mirror, I smiled. I was sated, but I was sore; however, the pain seemed to disappear as soon as my body found its release.
“I’m going to pull your arms down now, but I have to warn you, the strikes across your ass weren’t the only physical punishment.”
My eyes met his and I saw the amusement that was usually so implicit to his expression. The rage was gone, the carnal heat all but dissipated and what was left was the Lucas I’d known in the days before I’d arrived at this house. He pulled my hands from the wall, continuing to hold on as he brought my arms down in front of me.
“Ah!” I cried out when I noticed how the muscles over my arms and ribs felt like they had been set on fire. Softly chuckling behind me, his large smile reminded me of a charming schoolboy. He was so widely varied in his moods that I was amazed how quickly he changed. His hands moved to my shoulders when he turned me around to look at him.
“Thank you.”
My lashes battered over my eyes as I tried to understand why he would thank me. “For what?”
He shook his head, a sad look coming over his face. “You must be hungry. I’m not sure that you’ve eaten all day. I’ll order us some food. You can go upstairs and get a shower. Feel free to use the one Sarah showed you before.”
When he started to walk away, I looked down at my naked body, glancing behind me to see the red marks on my ass through the mirror. Grimacing at the sight, I turned back to him and called out, “Are you going to remove the cuffs? I won’t be able to get dressed while wearing these.”
He looked back at me over his shoulder and smiled. “It’s all part of the punishment, Ms. Cleary. I never intended for you to get dressed.” A quick wink from his eye and he was out the door, disappearing down the shadowed length of the hall.
Lucas
Setting dinner out on the table, I heard the familiar sound of bare feet padding across the hardwood floors. Turning, I found Autumn, arms still cuffed in front of her body, her hair left in a dripping mess and a towel clutched in her hands. I scowled, but chuckled when I realized she hadn’t been able to dry it. Stepping forward, I took the towel from her hands and indicated for her to turn around. Silently, she complied and I wrapped the terrycloth around her head, gripping the hair in between to squeeze it dry.
When only a slight dampness was remaining, I tossed the towel aside and laughed again. She looked like a drowned rat that hadn’t seen a comb in months.
“We’ll have to brush that later, but for now, let’s eat. I don’t want the food getting cold.” She sat in the seat that I pulled out to offer her and placed her bound hands on the surface on of the table.
Sitting down, I asked, “Have you eaten dinner naked before, by any chance?”
Laughter, light and sardonic, sounded before she simply answered, “No.”
A grin pulled at my lips. “Then I suggest placing the napkin in your lap. You’ll also want to be very careful when eating the soup. It’s hot and I’d hate for it to fall on your skin. I suspect that would be very uncomfortable.”
“Are you the expert in naked dining?”
I smiled in response to her spite. Still fighting … I somehow knew my little rabbit hadn’t completely lost her spirit. “There have been accidents; therefore, I think it’s best to make the suggestion.
Silence fell like a heavy curtain between us; only the sounds of our silverware hitting the plate could be heard in the room.
When I’d settled into the absence of conversation, her small voice uttered a question.
“So, is it like this with all of them? Your muses. I’m probably going to get my ass whipped for this question, but I can’t contain my curiosity. Why do you do this, Lucas?”
The metal prongs of my fork clinked lightly against the porcelain plate when I set it down and sat back to address her question.
“You were punished because the question you asked me about Mary Beth contained an inlaid accusation. I don’t like being accused of things I didn’t do.” Speaking clearly and making sure to pronounce each word, I bit back the rage in my response. Her neck moved as she swallowed down her newfound bravery and she shrank back in her chair, folding her arms over her chest.
In a matter of fact voice, I continued. “I’m also not sure what you mean by ‘like this’. Are we discussing my sexual interests? Or are we discussing the punishment you just endured?”
It was obvious by her expression that she wanted to end the conversation; however, she’d dug her hole too deep. I wasn’t going to simply let the topic go, brushing aside the fact that she’d just made it obvious her level of submission wasn’t complete.
Regardless of my annoyance in being questioned, I quickly assessed that this would be a golden opportunity to discuss what she’d just been through. For once, I would hear the story of abuse from the mouth of the victim herself. No - it hadn’t been the same level of violence as some of the sickest monsters. However, with Autumn being so pure and clean, it was a level that didn’t cause permanent damage, but still brought about the same shock and fear that real violence created in less delicate women.