Switch (Black Ties Book 2)

by Brynn Ford

Suddenly, I was at the edge, desperate for release, and now he was telling me I couldn’t have it. Even worse, his instructions to Desi had been to make me come, so she didn’t relent.

  “Please, Sir,” I begged him, “Please, Sir, let me come.”

  I had shifted uncomfortably low in my seat, Desi’s face buried in me, and I feared I couldn’t control it, not when he looked at me like that, not when she twisted her tongue like that.

  That.

  Right there.

  “No, Angel. Don’t come. You don’t have permission.”

  I groaned and whined, aching to please him by following his command while burning with the need to explode in pleasure that was building and building at Desi’s insistence.

  Screw Desi for being so unexpectedly good at this.

  Law hit her again with the paddle, thrusting her forward again. This time, she moaned, and I felt the vibration of it in my core.

  “Please, Sir, let me come, let me come,” I begged.

  Every muscle in my body tensed against the release that fought to break through. My eyes squeezed shut to help me focus inward on fighting it.

  “Please, please, please, Sir,” I begged.

  Nothing.

  I panted.

  Nothing.

  I weakened.

  Nothing.

  I struggled.

  Sensation disappeared as Desi whimpered.

  I opened my eyes in time to see him dragging her away from me by the hair and pointing to a spot on the floor, where she immediately kneeled.

  He uttered a quick command, “Touch yourself, Blue.”

  Then, he was on his knees in front of me.

  On his knees.

  He replaced Desi, quickly bending to kiss my swollen clit like he needed to taste me for his sanity. He sucked on it and brought his fingers beneath his tongue, pressing two inside me and curling them over my g-spot.

  His mouth left me only long enough to give me the order I needed, the order I had been waiting for, “Come on my face, Angel.”

  Jesus holy fucking hell.

  His blue eyes watched me as his mouth clamped down around my clit again.

  I wanted to laugh.

  I wanted to scream.

  I seriously thought, for a moment, I might cry.

  But I didn’t do any of those things because all I could concentrate on was the massive amount of pleasure welling deep within me.

  “Yes!” I latched my fingers into his dark hair, holding him to my cunt as I came hard on his face, just as he had ordered, “Yes, Sir. Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir,” words tumbled out in breathless spurts as I rode a massive wave of ecstasy.

  I was met with the applause and appreciation of the crowd.

  I guess I had become part of the entertainment.

  Law looked up at me with the biggest, most well deserved, shit-eating grin I had ever seen. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and we both suddenly snapped our heads back to look at Desi when she moaned loudly behind us.

  She was on her knees, one hand between her legs, the other on the floor barely holding her up as her body trembled.

  I feel like we’ve created a beautiful little monster.

  Vaughn would be so proud.

  Law whipped around lightning fast, snatched her hand from her pussy and yanked it away.

  “I told you to touch yourself, Blue, I didn’t give you permission to come.”

  “I’m so close, Sir. Please, Sir, may I come?”

  Her forehead was scrunched in frustration that he had stopped her mid-act.

  “Not yet, sweetheart. I let myself get a little off track there, but we’re not done being entertained by you yet.”

  Law stood as I sat there, panting, coming down from my high.

  “Get up,” he told Desi and she climbed slowly to her feet.

  He grabbed his suit jacket that he’d discarded on the ground before he paddled Desi, reaching into the interior jacket pocket and pulling out a folded-up sheet of paper and black permanent marker.

  I sat up straighter in my seat, eyeing him curiously as he walked toward her. He looked back at me over his shoulder first.

  “My apologies, dear Queen. I had intended to start with this, but I was sincerely carried away by the temptation of your truly majestic cunt,” he was met be some crude laughter from the crowd, “Forgive me?”

  I pulled my dress back over my legs, crossing them with grace and placing my arms intentionally on the arm rests, “You are forgiven by the grace of my truly majestic cunt, Sir,” I smiled as I was met with laughter of my own.

  He shook his head at me with a grin before turning back to Desi. He unfolded the piece of paper and held it out toward the crowd.

  “It may not come as a surprise to you, dear subjects, that our little minx here has a bit of a masochistic streak. What I have written on this page proves it. Do you know what I have written on this page, Blue?”

  Her head dropped, “No, Sir.”

  “Over the past week, I’ve written down every self-deprecating comment that has come out of that pretty little mouth of yours. Do you know how many items there are on this list, Blue?”

  “No, Sir.”

  “Twenty. Twenty items of self-deprecation that I’ve gathered straight from your mouth over the course of a week.”

  “Well, shit,” she muttered.

  “What was that?” Law asked sharply, stepping forward to invade her space.

  “Nothing, Sir. Sorry, Sir.”

  He held the page directly in her line of sight, “Take a look, Blue. Are these terms of endearment something you’re proud to have thought about yourself?”

  Her eyes scanned over the list and widened, “Fuck, no, Sir.”

  “But you did say all these things out loud, didn’t you? Please tell me if I’m wrong.”

  “You’re not. You’re not wrong, Sir.”

  “Do you understand that each of these items is a lie?”

  “Y-yes, Sir,” she stuttered.

  I hadn’t seen this list and I had no idea what was written on it, but her hesitation gave me the sense that she believed whatever was written there was true.

  He wasn’t having that.

  Law leaned toward her, putting his face a breath from hers, “They are all lies, Blue. Lies you tell yourself that hold you back. Lies you tell yourself that keep you from letting anyone in because you don’t accept yourself the way you are. I don’t care much for lies, Blue. But since you seem so inclined to keep spewing them, I’m going to make you own them. I’m going to make you own them by wearing them.”

  Oh, no.

  Is that what the marker is for?

  “Subjects, I invite your participation in decorating our entertainer this evening. If you would like to assist in marking her in her own self-created shame, you may write one of the twenty items on this list on her body. Stomach, lower back, ass or thighs only. Everywhere else is off limits,” he held up the black marker like a talisman, “Who would like to begin?”

  I stood, “Shouldn’t the Queen have the first right?”

  I wasn’t all that interested in writing words of shame on my best friend, but I wanted to take a look at this list and check in on Desi before this went any further. She seemed okay, but I wanted to give her an out if she needed it.

  I stepped up to Law’s side and he handed me the marker. I grabbed the paper from his hand and read through it. I could feel the wrinkles creasing my forehead as I tried to wrap my mind around what I saw written there.

  Does she really think so little of herself?

  Anger crept in as I lifted my head to look at Desi.

  “I cannot…” I was nearly lost for words, “Please, sweetie, let me best the first to write the biggest lie on your skinny little body. Then, perhaps Law will let us beat them off you later.”

  “Always one step ahead, aren’t you, Angel?” Law winked at me.

  If Desi could talk about herself this way in normal conversation, she could wear these untruths at Black Ties
. Hopefully, it would shame her into never saying them again. I bent down in front of her and used the black marker to write the word that stood out to me the most in large black letters across her tiny torso, just beneath her belly button.

  INSIGNIFICANT.

  I crossed it off the list, then handed the page and the marker back to Law, “Lies, Blue. A list full of lies. Are you ready to take your punishment for being so unnecessarily mean to yourself?”

  She lifted her head in defiant resignation, “Yes, Angel.”

  Law handed the page and the marker off to the first member already falling into line to mark Desi with shame. She kept her head high and arms still at her sides and took her punishment with a certain level of grace.

  She had to.

  She had been the one to create the list after all.

  Chapter 17

  Ris

  “Unnecessary, worthless, embarrassing, childish, needy… replaceable? For Christ’s sake, Desi, how could you say these things about yourself?” Vaughn finished reading the page I handed him from our scene at Black Ties just a few nights ago.

  Desi and I were sitting across from him at the dingy metal table during her weekly visit. She asked me to come with her to offer support as she told him everything about what happened at Black Ties over the weekend.

  “It’s not like I sat down and wrote the list,” she said, tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, “Sometimes stupid shit just flies out of my mouth and I can’t control it. Law just happened to be taking detailed notes of that stupid shit, so, yeah, it looks like a lot all together like that.”

  “It is a lot, baby,” Vaughn said, “None of these things are true.”

  She sighed, “I know, I get that now. Wearing my words the way Law planned really fucked with my head. But in a good way?”

  “Is that a question?”

  “No. No. I see now just how much damage it’s done to me, to let those words own me the way they have for so long.”

  “Honey, I still don’t understand where all of these thoughts came from,” I said to Desi, “You didn’t just start thinking horrible things about yourself one day.”

  “You’re right. I didn’t,” she said, "I didn't know I had all those words in me. I didn't know they'd been living in me for so long. That they hurt me so much. That they could still hurt me."

  “So who put them there?” I asked.

  “Her Dad,” Vaughn said, and at the same time Desi said, “My Dad.”

  “I’m so sorry, honey,” I replied, “I hope you don’t mind me saying so, but your Dad sounds like a total prick.”

  “He was. He was a fat, bald, emotionally abusive alcoholic who drank himself to death when I was fourteen. I never respected him. But I guess his words burrowed deeper inside me than I knew. I guess in a way I have Law to thank for noticing and forcing me to come to terms with my own emotional self-sabotage.”

  I nodded, “I mean, the Black Ties punishment was a pretty twisted way of going about it –”

  “No, shit,” Vaughn interrupted.

  “But,” I went on, giving him a look, “Law is very insightful when it comes to sharing his observations and his rather creative punishments seem to be effective in a fucked up way,” I paused, looking at Desi, “Wait, why is your last name hyphenated if your relationship with your Dad was so awful?”

  “Rhodes is my Mom’s maiden name,” she said, “It’s always been my last name. My Dad wasn’t around when I was born, came back when I was four, then died ten years later,” she shrugged.

  “Her mom’s pretty cool,” Vaughn said to me, “She deserves the hyphen.”

  “She does,” Desi agreed, “Though, I don’t know. Sometimes I think about dropping it. Would be less confusing when we have kids without a hyphenated last name, right?”

  “Just plain old Desi Cooper, huh?”

  I smiled at the way Vaughn’s eyes brightened to the thought. Even though she had his last name now, hyphenated as Rhodes-Cooper, it seemed quite fitting that she should drop that last evidence of reservation, that last tie to who she was before to become the woman who belongs to him now.

  “That sounds sweet, baby,” he grinned at her, “It’d be nice to have a consistent family name. I wouldn’t mind hearing people say shit like, ‘Hey, look, it’s the Coopers!’ or, ‘Hey, there go the Coopers, off to that sex club again.’”

  Desi giggled.

  Adorable.

  Vaughn’s eyes crinkled at the corners, his smile reaching all the way across his face as he watched her. It was easy to see how the sound of her laughing made his heart beat.

  “Okay, okay. We’re off topic here,” Desi said as she bit her lip.

  She had a tough time being so close to him without being able to hold him. The way she changed the subject told me that she was trying to focus on conversation, to avoid wanting him more. Wanting him more now only made it hurt more when she left.

  I understood that feeling better than she knew.

  “Okay,” Vaughn conceded, “So what happened next? After they wrote this horrible list on your body.”

  Desi reached out to hold both of his hands, her thumbs brushing over his knuckles. He watched her, noticing the sudden anxiety in her expression, the guilt behind her eyes. He looked down at their hands and I could see his face strain as he started drawing his own conclusions.

  “You had sex with Law,” he sighed, “It’s okay if you did. I told you to do what you needed to.”

  “She didn’t have sex with Law,” I said, “She had sex with me. Kind of.”

  Vaughn’s head snapped up to look at me, “You already told me she went down on you, so I’m not sure what you mean.”

  I leaned in and lowered my voice, resting my arms on the table, “After our subjects finished writing every sordid, horrible word on that stupid list,” I gave Desi the side eye, “We spent some time punishing her. Flogging, whipping, the usual.”

  “Yeah, sure, just another day at the underground sex club.”

  “She took it like a champion, of course. Quite the pain lover, that one. Anyway, she needed to be rewarded, Vaughn. I wasn’t going to let her go through all of that without some sort of pleasurable outcome. But let me tell you what, your girl is stubbornly loyal to your cock. She absolutely refuses to let Law come anywhere near her with his,” I looked at Desi, “Which is an absolute shame, if you ask me.”

  “So you’re telling me…” Vaughn asked.

  “So I’m telling you Desi’s my responsibility in our little triad and I took care of her. She deserved the reward. Did you know she’s been starving herself sexually for you?”

  He looked at Desi, then back at me, “What do you mean?”

  “According to her, that’s the first time she’s come since they locked you up,” I smiled at Desi, “Self-serving little masochist she is, saving herself up for you. It’s adorable.”

  Vaughn regarded me with interest as Desi sat quietly, a half-smile pulling at the corners of his lips, “And you were the one to make it happen for her?”

  I straightened in my seat, “I’m very proud to say that I was.”

  Vaughn still held Desi’s hands, but he leaned toward me.

  “How’d you do it? Feel free to give me a detailed play-by-play.”

  Desi let go of him to bury her face in her hands, “Oh, God,” she groaned.

  My smiled broadened, “A good girl doesn’t kiss and tell,” I told him, reaching over to pet the side of Desi’s head.

  “Come on now, Ris, you’re not fooling anyone. You’re no good girl,” Vaughn teased.

  “On the contrary, I’m an Angel. Sir tells me so all the time.”

  “Sir is trying to get in your pants.”

  “Sir doesn’t have to try all that hard.”

  “Are you two gonna be a thing now?” Vaughn asked.

  He meant me and Law. I sidestepped the comment because I really didn’t want to go there.

  My eyes narrowed a bit, “All four of us are a thing right now, wouldn�
��t you say?”

  “The three of you, sure,” there was a twinge of longing in the way he said it, sadness for his predicament.

  “Vaughn,” I said, “You’re just as much involved in this as the rest of us. You make the decisions for Desi. You have so much more control over her life than you know.”

  “You know it’s not the same,” he reached out, grabbing Desi’s wrists and coaxing her small hands into his again, “I can’t touch her, feel her, love her.”

  “I’m so sorry, V,” Desi said.

  “Sorry?” Vaughn’s eyebrows rose.

  “For what I did with Ris. It was just, you know, it’s been a long time since we’ve –”

  “Baby, baby,” he stopped her, “Don’t apologize. I told you it was okay by giving you to them. I told them it was okay to do what they needed to do with you. I thought for sure that would mean sex with Law. Which, for some fucked up reason, even that I was okay with.”

  “Why?” Desi asked reasonably.

  “Because I know you’re not going anywhere. Your heart belongs to me, baby. And you don’t belong to him. Contract or not. You know where your loyalty lies.”

  “I do,” she said, “I do, and that’s why I feel so bad about Ris…” she lowered her voice, “…about Ris making me come.”

  She blushed about thirty different shades of pink.

  “Oh, but I don’t feel bad about that at all, baby,” Vaughn said, “Gotta admit. Kinda hot.”

  They smiled at each other, quietly enjoying the shared energy and space between them. Even during that brief flash of happiness, I could see the pain on both their faces. It was the ache of separation, the need for more than what their circumstances would allow them.

  It was crippling to be able to see their love. It was a visible thing, crackling fire in the space between them. It made my heart beat faster because I had known that feeling before. It was a feeling I was afraid of because it was dangerous.

  Though I suppose it wasn’t dangerous for Desi and Vaughn. Their explosive love was made to withstand the flames. They had become fireproof.

  I sighed, “I wish there were anything I could do to get you out of here sooner. Your girl misses you like crazy.”

  Desi glanced at me with a sad smile, then back to Vaughn, “I really do.”