Chapter Twenty-Four

Ivy

I needed pain.

I craved the detached state, where the anguish flowed through me like a mighty river, overpowering my senses and compelling me to relinquish control. In order to regain the necessary determination to move forward, I needed the surrender, the temporary detachment of myself from my identity, finding solace in the process. I found myself grappling with the fact that I had become reliant on Luc to fulfill my need for pain. Desperation consumed me as I contemplated taking matters into my own hands.

I could do it.

I'd done it before.

To feel the cold steel against my skin as I slid my blade deep. The desire for the burning sensation, the exquisite ache caused by my steel blade, consumed me. The desire was overwhelming. My body throbbed with the ache.

I needed more.

Something harder. Something darker.

The disturbed hunger gnawed at me relentlessly.

I paced back and forth, restless and desperate, like a junkie deprived of their fix.

The desire for pain incinerated me until I imagined my life seeping away, like a river flowing out of control. The longer I went without it, nothing else mattered. Time slowly ticked by until the thought of pain was all I could think about.

The door opened, then closed.

I heard the lock engage.

I turned and there he was.

My pleasure. My pain.

He was stunning. An overwhelming force that could easily bend me to his will. Darkness radiated all around him, almost like he was daring me to defy him. He stood rooted, arms crossed over his massive chest, determined and powerful. And like a moth to a flame, I felt myself drawn to him. He was the only one who could give me what I wanted now.

Nothing else mattered.

Only the disturbed lucidity of pain.

I shivered when the reality of my situation hit me with the force of a wrecking ball. Heat rose off my chest, my heart inflamed, as goosebumps rolled under my skin. Tickling my arms and puckering my back. My nipples stiffened angrily as they jutted out in desperation. My body cried out in abject need for him, demanded that I relent.

Yet something stopped me.

Staring at him, I tilted my head and whispered, "When I walked in here, all I could think about was how much I needed the bite of pain. The feel of the burn searing my skin. It's what I know. What I crave all the time. I'm not good at anything else. I needed the release so badly I was willing to do anything to get it."

Raising my hand, I showed him the knife I held.

His eyes widened as he looked over my body.

"But you know what stopped me?"

He shook his head.

"You," I said, dropping the knife as I walked over to him. "I realized that nothing I did to myself would ever compare to the high that only you could give me. What does that say about me? That I need you more than I need the pain I crave?"

"You want pain, baby," he crooned, reaching for me. "I'll give you all the fucking pain you need."

"But is that enough?"

"We decide what's enough. Fuck everyone else. Told you once before I wasn't good at relationships. That shit downstairs just proved it."

"You just shocked me. You've never done anything like that before. I didn't think that was what you wanted."

"I don't. I'm not soft, Ivy. I don't know how to be."

"No one has ever kissed me like that before. I didn't know how to react."

"Next time I do something stupid like that, slap my face."

I smirked.

"I do that, and you will whip my ass raw."

His eyes heated devilishly. "Oh, babe, I'm gonna do that and more, regardless."

"Promise?"

"It's a fucking guarantee," he said, releasing me. "Now, are we done pretending? Can we go back to what we know?"

"Thought you'd never ask."

My fingers toyed with the leather cuffs around my wrists that held me off the ground. No matter how much I squirmed, the cuffs held me firmly in place. Writhing, I cried out in need as the whip stung a trail across the tender flesh of my back.

I gasped.

My flesh was so tender, my back arched without conscious movement on my part while jolts of electricity shot through me. My raw nerves pulsed in receding waves of agonizing ecstasy.

He held the braided whip expertly before delivering another short, stinging stroke. The heat of the sting seared across my brain.

A slash across the other side spewed a whimper from me. My throat was raw from screams that ravaged my throat. Pain spasmed up and down my back. The overloaded sensation drove my muscles to the brink. A dozen more strokes, each with exquisite precision, left sharp red tendrils crisscrossing against my back as my pussy clenched, forcing cum down my thighs.

He lowered the whip as his mouth bit my neck.

I moaned. The heat of his body soothed a painful ache I couldn't shake. The scorching heat of his mouth pulsed through my body like a roaring furnace, fueling my desire to offer my breasts as an invitation for his mouth and tongue.

I moaned and writhed.

The pain I felt was almost too much to handle, a constant ache that refused to subside.

"Please fuck me."

His mouth latched onto a nipple, causing a jolt of pleasure that almost made me scream. The desperate, vicious need for more grew while he continued to suck and bite my nipple with increasing intensity, heightening the agony.

I felt his hand glide smoothly along my sides, the gentle pressure leaving a tingling sensation in its wake. Confidently, his hands traversed the expanse of my body, exploring every curve and contour, their movements leaving a delicate, sensual trail. His fingers definitively probed my body, completely dispelling the ethereal sense of disconnection I felt with my tormented body. His firm and confident touch left a lasting impression on me. He compelled me to experience every sensation, from the warmth of a gentle touch to the sting of a harsh word. An insatiable desire consumed me as I returned to my tortured corpse.

Before I could make sense of anything, he unhooked the cuffs, throwing me on the bed, face down. His hands settled firmly on my hips and yanked me back toward him. My face pressed gratefully against the cool sheets, but my breasts protested anything touching them. Aching, even against the soft surface.

His thumb circled my tight asshole.

He didn't wait as a hard slap stung my ass, causing me to squirm. I inadvertently pulled away. He growled, yanking me back, hitting me again. This time, his grip was firmer. There was no escaping. He applied more pressure to my tight hole. I whimpered and received another hard slap. He grabbed my hair and yanked my head back. He stretched my neck as he tightly gripped my hair.

Leaning over my back, he sneered, "I'm fucking this ass tonight, one way or another."

My back arched, searching for relief.

It was only when he reached between my legs and pinched my clit that my body relented and succumbed to his demands.

The sudden filling made me groan with pleasure as I felt him sink into the base. His palm resting on the underside of my ass. He shoved and jerked, nearly lifting me off the bed while he used my body for his own pleasure.

He pushed deeper into my ass while he physically lifted my body, pressing my face and my breasts harder into the mattress as he reached around and shoved three fingers deep into my pussy, while his thumb vigorously rubbed my clit.

I screamed and the dam burst, and I finally felt myself falling into the torrent of pain. Floating in the stinging sea of torture, I relished the agonizing tenderness of torment as he pounded deeply into my ass, unrelenting and unforgiving, while I drifted off into nothing.