Page 165 of What We Become

“Hands on the chaise,” Eli orders.

I obey.

The velvet is cool beneath my palms. I bend at the waist, keeping my eyes on the mirror as Eli draws the leash forward over my shoulder. The chain tightens, positioning my head exactly where he wants it while Holden lifts my hair away from my back.

Micah runs his palm over my ass. The touch is soothing, almost gentle, warming my skin before anything lands.

“I want five,” I tell them.

Eli’s eyebrows lift above his mask.

“Five from each of you,” I explain.

“Twenty-five?” Milo asks. “I love it when sex involves math.”

Micah’s palm stops moving. “That’s a lot when one of the hands belongs to Knox.”

“I can take it.”

Knox comes to stand beside me, his size swallowing half my reflection. “No proving anything, Fury.”

“I’m not.” I meet his gaze. “I want every one.”

He rests his hand against the small of my back.

“Then you’ll have them.”

Micah goes first.

I know it’s him because his touch lingers, sweeping over the curve before his palm comes down. The crack rolls through the room and out across the speakers, but the sting is measured, heat spreading beneath his hand when he immediately rubs over the same place.

My breath leaves me slowly.

“Good, baby girl?” he asks.

“More.”

He completes his final four, each strike a little firmer than the last. My ass burns.

Milo takes his place next.

There’s no warning. One second I’m watching his bright eyes in the mirror and the next his palm connects hard enough to make my hips jerk into the chaise.

“Fuck!”

“That was for doubting my commitment to slap games.”

“I never⁠—”

Slap!

I bite my lip to stop from laughing after each strike, but it escapes anyway—a sharp, breathless sound that carries through the speakers overhead. The gallery counter flickers. Twelve now. Twelve strangers watching me laugh while I get spanked by a man who made a joke about it.

“Focus, Fury,” Knox growls beside me, his hand still warm against my back.

“I am focused,” I say. “I’m focused on how Milo’s going to pay for that.”

Milo appears in my peripheral vision as soon as he’s finished his five, already unbuttoning his shirt. “Do you accept payment in sexual favors? I hear I do a great Cookie Monster impression.”