Page 144 of Their Ruthless Sadist

“Please?”

“Of course.” I leaned in and kissed him before stepping back.

My eyes met Brax’s, and I could see his pain. He hadn’t heard this story before, and it was enough to bring a man to his knees. What Case had gone through was intense. The fact that he’d forgiven the man who had done it was a testament to his strength.

I picked up the whip and pulled the strands through my hands. I would get no pleasure from this session, but a promise was a promise, and I would always give Case what he needed.

“I want you to fly, pretty boy.”

And I proceeded to make him do exactly that.

Two hours later, after I had sent Brax and Case to bed, I finally headed up to join them. I thought for sure Case would be asleep, having worn himself out with his confession.

Instead, I found Brax snoring softly while Case lay in the middle of my bed, his eyes open as he stared up at the ceiling.

I quickly shed my clothes and climbed in beside him.

“Come here,” I whispered. “Let me hold you.”

I knew the marks on his back were still there, still sensitive. I also knew that if I spooned him, they would burn from my touch. For whatever reason, Case relished the pain both during and after a scene. Honestly, I didn’t want to hurt him anymore tonight, but I wanted to ensure he knew I was there, that I would protect him in every way possible.

Case turned onto his side, and I moved up against him, tossing one arm over him, the other beneath the pillow under his head. We stayed like that for long minutes. I would press kisses on his shoulder, tightening my grip around him because it felt good to have him in my arms.

“Thank you for telling me,” I said softly, wanting him to know what it meant to me that he had.

“I feel better. Now that I talked about it. It was a long time ago, but sometimes it feels like yesterday.” He shifted, his head turning slightly as though he was trying to look back at me. When he moved again, I let him roll over onto his back.

I peered over to see that Brax was now awake, his sleepy gaze pinned on us.

“And you?” Case asked. “What happened with Matt?”

I knew he would be asking, and I had promised to tell him, so I resigned myself to doing just that. I sighed, then dropped onto my back and stared up at the ceiling.

“I met Matt at a kink club. He was a masochist who’d run through nearly every Dom in the place at the time. No one seemed to be able to give him what he needed, or so he had told me. There were a few rumors about him. About how he wanted intense scenes, and he preferred to be in public. For a few weeks, I would watch him, see how he interacted with other subs and Doms. He was polite but a little uptight. I thought it was because he was looking for something he couldn’t find.

“So, one night, I offered to scene with him when he asked, and it went from there. We spent the majority of our time together at the club. Every single Friday and most Saturdays. We never went out anywhere else together. I didn’t think anything of it. Things progressed, and a couple of months in, I suggested we draw up a contract. He wanted to be owned, and he’d told me as much. I figured a contract would keep him from looking elsewhere, perhaps give him the security I thought he was looking for.

“It was a standard contract. Nothing too horrible, but I’d been playing the part of the big, mean Sadist because he wanted me to. So I added a few things, such as he would cook me dinner two nights a week at his place, and he would be available for sex whenever I wanted. He seemed to like that.

“After we’d been together about a year, I asked him to stay the night with me a couple of times. He turned me down. Said he liked the distance because it kept things more intense. I didn’t argue. It was true. So, I would meet him at the club. It didn’t take me long to figure out he was an attention whore. He wanted to be seen, wanted people to watch me beat on him. Over time, I’d garnered a fan club. People who wanted to watch me. Matt ate that shit up, thought he was the star of the show.

“Needless to say, I thought I had fallen in love with him. We talked, we laughed. I opened up to him, and I thought he was doing the same. Turned out, he was only there for the scene. He wanted me to be the man who hurt him all the time. He wanted my domination. One night, I decided to change the script. I made him dinner, invited him over. I wanted something more. A real date, some time away from the audience. When I told him I loved him, he freaked. Told me I wasn’t allowed to love because I was a Sadist. He walked out and never looked back.”

“So, he didn’t want you; he wanted the part you were playing?” Case asked softly.

“Yeah. He wanted me to play the part. He didn’t like the fact that I was human after all, that I had needs that he hadn’t fulfilled because he expected me to be the Sadist at all times. After he left, it was easier for me to be who everyone thought I was. I could keep people at a distance if they thought I was unapproachable.”

“I’m sorry he did that,” Brax said softly.

I glanced over at them. “I’m not. If I’d stayed with him, I never would’ve met the two of you.”

I turned my head away because what I had to say would leave me more vulnerable than I could bear. While I trusted them more than I’d trusted anyone in a really long time, I was still scared of their rejection.

“As far as I’m concerned, it worked out the way it was supposed to.” I took a deep breath and blurted out what was on my mind. “If I’d stayed with Matt, I never would’ve fallen in love for real. With the two of you.”

“Fuck,” Case groaned.

I didn’t get a chance to look over before he was on top of me. His mouth fused to mine, and I felt a warm body move up beside us. I only broke the kiss so I could look at Brax. He put his hand on my face and kissed me. It was far gentler than Case had been, and it made me laugh, that uncertainty that I’d lived with for so long finally shattering.