“In an alternate timeline,” I say between struggling breaths, “I’m saying those exact words for a very different reason.”
He frowns. “What?”
“You know. Different context.” I grin weakly. I try to change my voice up a bit, but it’s not like it can get any more husky or breathless. “Please, Reese. I can’t take any more. Your cock’s too big. Please stop.”
His stare goes flat. “Cason.”
“Oh, come on. Don’t tell me you never imagined it.”
His jaw ticks. “Stop.”
But the thing about torture and almost dying is that it really lowers your social inhibition. Also, I might actually be losing my mind.
“So what’s the safe word in this scenario?” I continue conversationally. “Because I feel like we skipped that step in the negotiation process.”
“Cason.” My name comes out as a growl this time, a warning.
But I’m already committed to the bit.
“You always did have a thing for control,” I say as I push myself up onto my elbows, grimacing from the pain that flares hot through my entire body. “And I have to admit the whole shadow daddy thing is intriguing. Very intimidating. In anotherlife, this could’ve been a really weird kink.”
“I said stop it.”
The shadows at his feet stir as anger flashes across his face. But there’s something else there too, something I swear I’ve seen before.
Then, because apparently I’ve completely abandoned the concept of self-preservation, I push myself to my hands and knees and start crawling toward him. Every movement sends pain rippling through my ribs, but the absurdity of the moment keeps me going.
“What are you doing?” he asks, his voice hard and tense as he speaks with a clenched jaw.
“Testing a theory.”
“What theory?”
“That if I keep talking long enough you might actually snap and—”
The shadows move.
Cold, dark shapes form out of the shadows swirling around Reese’s feet, stretching across the floor before curling around my arms. This time, they don’t just wrap around me.
Theygrabme. With…hands.
Actual fucking hands.
“Holy fucking shit,” I whisper.
The shadow hands yank me backward. Hard. My back slams into the wall, the air ripping from my lungs as the darkness pins my arms to either side of me. My heart starts racing for an entirely new reason.
“You havehandsnow?” I say, staring at them in horrified fascination. “That feels like a serious fucking upgrade.”
Reese takes a few calm steps forward until he stands over me, breathing slower than he should be. His shadows hold me there, firm and unyielding as I stare up at him, my chest heaving.
He tilts his head. “You want something, Cason?”
I swallow hard. “You.”
Always fucking you.
I shouldn’t, of course. Not after everything.
