Page 606 of End Game

Micah takes everything.

Maybe too easily.

Not because it does not hurt.

I can see that it does.

The marks on his skin prove it must.

His breath stutters now. His legs tense after each strike before he deliberately relaxes them. Sweat gathers between his shoulders.

But some part of him is still evaluating every sensation.

Still deciding.

Still enduring.

I lower the crop.

“Color?”

“Green.”

“Do you want more?”

“Yes.”

“More pain, or a different pain?”

He takes longer with that. “More. But different if it will cause more.”

I reach for the strap.

Micah looks back at me.

“Hands stay where they are.”

He faces forward again.

I trail the leather lightly over the back of his thigh before stepping away.

“This is where you stop trying to prove anything.”

His head turns. “I'm not.”

“You are very good at enduring.”

His brows furrow.

“So endurance isn't submission.”

His jaw shifts.

That lands.

I continue before he can turn it into an argument.

“You do not get points for taking everything I can physically give you.”