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Then he lets go of my clit only to slap my pussy in quick succession, the sting building fast.

Every part of me feels alive. My flesh, my insides. Everything thrums with an unfamiliar need. My own existence has never felt this vivid.

Punishments before were meant to whittle me down to nothing. This binds me instead. To the moment. To him.

Edwin buries his cock in me, then turns the vibrator back on.

“Cum with my cock up your ass like a good little slut,” he says nonchalantly.

He presses it to my clit and my body clamps down on him. Heat flushes through me, leaving me shuddering against the table, pulling on my restraints. I cry out, helpless, as everything crests and spills over at once.

The vibrator stays there even when the sensation turns painfully sharp. Every muscle clenches until I nearly cave in on myself.

Then he groans. A shameful warmth spurts from his cock deep in my ass. I want to soak all of him up, even as I hide my face against my outstretched arms.

When he withdraws, the absence leaves me weak and trembling. I whimper as I feel his cum leak from my raw hole.

A finger slides in and pulls down, creating a gape that shouldn’t exist.

“What a beautiful, used asshole.”

I curl inward as much as the rope allows, mortified by the evidence of what we just did and how exposed I am.

When he frees my wrists, I stand slowly, rubbing at them, my limbs heavy and sore. The discomfort in my ass pulses too vividly to ignore.

I’m exhausted down to my core, every nerve spent, every thought dulled. When I look at him, he seems to hold the answers to questions I haven’t known how to ask.

“You’re safe with me,” he says, brushing his fingertips down the side of my face. “I’ll protect you with my life. I need you with me.”

The words sit strangely in my chest. Having him twist pain into pleasure created a closeness I never expected. It unsettles me how connected it makes us, how easily the line between his darkness and mine begins to blur.

Edwin carries me into the adjoining bathroom and brings me under the walk-in shower. The tenderness in the way he washes me is the complete opposite of the way he just used my ass. That contrast plays tricks on my mind. Does he really care, or am I only something to use?

It’s too much to think about now. My eyelids droop as the tension drains from my body, and I sway where I stand.

“You need rest,” he says.

I nod faintly, barely able to keep my eyes open.

He dresses quickly, wraps me in a black robe, grabs my clothes, then lifts me into his arms. Ignoring the bed in the Black Room, he carries me out to the elevator.

I don’t dare think about who might see me. Being in his arms is the only security I’ve felt all day.

The elevator hums softly as we rise a few floors. Then he takes me into a suite, vast and elegant at first glance, though it all blurs past me. Soft bedding sinks beneath me as the covers are drawn over my body.

“I’ll be back to check on you.”

Panic flares. I reach for his arm without thinking, holding tight to his sleeve. “Where are you going?”

He stares at me, weighing something in his mind.

“Nowhere.” He undresses and gets into bed beside me, pulling me close. “You’re not alone.”

I curl against him, my cheek resting over his heart. The steady rhythm beneath my ear lulls me towards sleep.

For the first time in longer than I can remember, I close my eyes without fear.

CHAPTER 33