Page 44 of Descent
Halting behind her, I set my hands on her warm shoulders and leaned down to inhale her scent. “You ready for this?”
“Yes.” Conviction laced her tone, but I still detected the tiny tremor stringing that word together.
“Tell me the rules again.”
“Don’t look at him. Don’t talk to him. Don’t acknowledge his existence.”
“And what happens if you break one of those rules?”
Her breath hitched. “You won’t let me come.”
And she wanted to. We were both aching for each other after two weeks of celibacy.
“That’s right,” I said, nuzzling her ear as I parted her legs with my knee. I drew the hem of her dress up and slipped my fingers beneath her panties. “But you’re not going to break those rules, are you, sweetheart?”
“No.”
“Good girl.” Fuck, how I ached to taste the sensitive spot on her neck.
Soon.
Her agreement of those three rules was the only way I’d go through with this. “You forgot one other thing.”
She glanced at me from over her shoulder. “I’ve always trusted you, Rafe. That hasn’t changed.”
And yet so much had. The knowledge seared me to my soul, and I closed my eyes for several seconds, breathing deep until the ache in my chest subsided. “You should have a safe word.”
“I don’t need one.”
“Then promise you’ll tell me if it becomes too much.” It was one thing to make her bend when it was just the two of us, but doing so in front of Zach…
“Promise me, Alex.”
“I promise.”
Lacing our fingers together, I urged her to follow me out of the kitchen. Her breathing picked up as soon as we reached the door to the cellar, and I wondered if she was reliving that morning when Zach forced her to flee down the staircase.
God, how fucking terrified she’d been. How smart. If she hadn’t locked herself in that prison, there’s no telling how much worse it could have been. He’d fucking violated her, which was horrific enough all on its own, but he could have taken her off the island if she hadn’t taken action. That prison had saved her from a life sentence more horrible than death. It had saved me from a lifetime of searching the ends of the earth for her, because I would have never given up.
Sometimes the stars did align. Even in the blackness, those pinpricks shone through, like little symmetrical signs of hope.
As I reached for the doorknob, her breathing stalled altogether.
Five seconds.
It was her thing, some technique she used in order to cope. I’d never called her on it, but I was aware.
“Are you sure about this? I’ll make you do all kinds of shit, Alex, but not this.”
She nodded. “Don’t baby me. I need you to be…you. I need you to do it in front of him.”
The desperation in her eyes, the submission begging to be unleashed…Jesus. I grabbed her by the chin as my cock throbbed in my jeans. “The asshole in me wants to use ginger on you.”
“So you want to punish me.”
Not a question, but a fucking statement her mind had tricked her into believing. As if I would ever hold her responsible for any of this.
“God, baby. No.” I lowered my head, an inch away from touching my lips to hers. “There’s nothing to punish.”
“Then why the ginger?”
“Why do I do anything, Alex?”
That earned me a glimmer of a smile. “Because you’re fucked up?”
“Yeah, baby. I’m fucked up over you. Let me show you the pleasurable side of ginger. If you don’t like it, we never have to use it again, punishments excluded, of course.”
She swallowed hard. “Of course.”
“Is that a yes?”
“It’s not a no.”
We locked eyes for several seconds, exchanging excited breaths. Without severing the connection, I pulled the cellar door open. “Go down and undress. I’ll grab the ginger and be down in a second.”
“No, Rafe, I—”
I placed a finger against her lips. “He can’t hurt you anymore. Never again.” I darted a glance into that black space where she’d gone through so much. “You’re going to go down there, ignore the bastard, and wait for me. It’s your turn to take his power. Understand?”
With a quick, nervous nod, she flicked on the light and disappeared down the staircase.
24. The Gift of Ginger
Alex
I didn’t dare glance in Zach’s direction, even though I was tempted to. Averting my eyes had nothing to do with the fear he’d instilled in me over the years. Instead, it had everything to do with Rafe. His cellar, his rules, his way, and I would honor him. Obey him.
I would trust him.
“Lex.”
Ignoring the plea in Zach’s tone, I stopped in the middle of the room, keeping my back to him, and pulled off my white tank.
“C’mon, talk to me.”
Next went the bra, falling onto the concrete floor beside my shirt.
“What are you doing?”
I never imagined that stripping in front of him, all the while ignoring his pleading questions, would be this satisfying, but it was.
