Page 62 of The Harbinger

“How long has it been since the hospital?” Sacha asked as he unbuttoned his cuffs and rolled them up to his elbows, revealing a black decaying being, its silent scream had bits of flesh stretched between the lips on his left forearm. Hands reached up from the black abyss below and pulled the being down.

I rose from my seat and backed away from him, my heel hitting the couch. “I—I don’t know.”

He pointed at me. “There’s that phrase again. How long… Has it been… Since the hospital?”

I continued to back away until my back hit the wall, and I struck out in my search for a clock. “Um.” I gulped. “Two… two hours, maybe?”

“And in those hours,” he growled, towering over me with a menacing sneer as his hand tightened around my hip. “You seem to have forgotten the warning I gave you.”

My breath quickened as I shook my head.

“So you didn’t forget?” His fingers stabbed like talons into my soft flesh, digging deeper and deeper until my skin radiated with a fiery sting. “You chose not to obey?”

I gasped and shook my head again, even though that was exactly what I’d done. I’d let my need for his attention outweigh the severity of his punishments. “I’m sorry.” My voice quavered as I tipped my head back against the wall, unable to escape the grip of his steely fingers.

“You apologize too much.”

“I’m—”

“Shh,”Sacha said, his finger slipping across my lips. “Stop making mistakes that require apologies. You’ll find I’m not so forgiving.” He pulled me close, then gestured toward the couch. “Bend over.”

Chapter 15

Mia

Mywholebodyfrozeas chills raced through me like a tsunami. “What... what?”

Sacha twisted my hips, my back pressing into his muscular chest, his breath against my ear. “I want you to bend over.” He pressed his hand between my shoulder blades and bent me over the back of the couch.

My breath warmed my face as it hit the fabric of the couch, my elbows sinking into it. He’d left me with my ass exposed, the skirt he’d insisted I wore, riding up in ways it shouldn’t.

“That’s better.” Sacha’s hand slid from between my shoulder blades along my spine until he touched the crest of my ass. “You said you wanted to know who Nina was to me?”

My stomach dropped at the sound of her name, my brain fizzing as I searched for the time I’d asked him that question.

Sacha’s hand skimmed across the top of my butt, then down the side of my thigh, gripping the bottom of my skirt. “Want me to show you how obedient she could be?”

Katyasaid she was his future. A blatant warning that he’d kept me in his home, knowing full well his girlfriend, wife, fiancée… whatever she was to him, was out there.

He’d touched me and made me feel special, despite his callous words rebuking such feelings.He deceived me.

Sacha gripped the bottom of my skirt and slid it upward, exposing me. The cool breeze against my bare sex jarred me from my internal berating, and I pushed up. Even after weeks of eating and regaining my strength, I was still no match for him.

I grabbed his wrist as my skirt slipped over my hips, his taut muscles covering strong bones and tendons. “Sacha, please don’t.” My teeth chattered, and I bit my lip to stay the sound.

“I’m not going to fuck you.” He grabbed onto the soft flesh of my thigh and backside and squeezed. “Who knows where you’ve been?”

My muscles stiffened, and I froze, my breaths ragged in a thick sea of mortification. The veil I’d draped over him slipped away, revealing the truth beneath. “Get off me.” I twisted, my back arching as he pinned my hips down.

An unyielding agony shot across my rear, forcing a cry from deep within. Tears flooded my vision, cascading like a waterfall over my cheeks as his palm descended, again and again, crashing against me. I tucked my face against the couch, seeking solace from his relentless attack.

Bile rose in my throat like fire, burning the back of my tongue. A thousand fiery ants marched all over my backside, biting and stinging me everywhere he had slapped me.

“Let’s see if this lesson sticks.”

His hand came down again, landing closer to my center than all the others.

I bit my tongue and swallowed my cries, depriving him of whatever satisfaction this brought him.