Page 28 of Break Me
17
EMMA
“Don’t restrain her arms,” Dax tells the guard who has just brought me breakfast when he comes into my cell in the morning. Whenever I’m alone in here, they keep my hands locked in the manacles to make sure I won’t touch the piercings—or my pussy in general.
The guard walks out and closes the door behind him, leaving me alone with Dax.
“I have something for you,” Dax says.
Nervous energy mixes with anticipation as I notice how he hides his right hand on his back.
“What is it?” I sit up on the mattress, taking the kneeling position he has taught me, which has come to feel like second nature—straight back, palms on my thighs, and lowered head.
He crouches in front of me and gives a satisfied hum as he strokes my cheek. “Such a good girl. You’ve come so far. Already submitting so readily. But I want to take you even deeper.” He moves his arm out from behind his back, revealing something black and smooth that he presents to me in both hands. It’s a large, molded piece of solid leather with straps.
I gaze from it to Dax a few times. He smiles warmly as if it’s a gift I’ve always wanted, but I’m quite sure this is not something I want. From the looks of it, it’s some kind of mask.
My belly twists as I imagine wearing something restrictive on my face. But beneath the twisty feeling, there’s also something else. A sense of anticipation.
I’m still fighting this urge to submit that Dax has awakened within me with a raging force. When I’m alone in my cell, I can reject the desire to kneel at his feet, but once I’m there, kneeling in front of him, I can’t deny how right it feels. Especially not when I sink into the fluffy, floaty headspace that he easily brings me into. All it takes are a few strokes of his hand, a strict command, or the feeling of leather around my neck.
His expression turns grave as he says, “I want you to thank me before I put this on you, because once I do, you won’t be able to speak.”
“I can’t.” My fingers tap on my thighs as nervous energy and insecurity thrum within me. It’s hard enough as is to accept who I am down here; I don’t know how to handle it when he takes me even deeper. “I can’t cope with more. I—” Something inside me will snap.
“What has you struggling, my sweet little sub?”
“Everything,” I say with too much force as I fist my hands on my thighs.
“Uh, uh. Tell me exactly what it is.” He grabs my jaw, forcing me to face the commanding burn in his eyes. “You’ve already accepted the tattoo, the kneeling, and the piercings.”
Closing my eyes tight, I want to deny it, but I know my words wouldn’t hold any conviction. Because they wouldn’t be true.
“Look at me.” He gives my head a shake. “Tell me.”
I gulp as I meet his demanding eyes. I want to melt beneath them—open up and let him take whatever he wants. Disobedience is simply not possible when he watches me like that.
“It’s the episode yesterday,” I say.
“What about it?”
“I can’t believe you did that.”
“Did what? Staple her mouth shut?”
“Yes.”
“Why not? You know what I do. Was it the shock of seeing it with your own eyes?”
I nod against his hand.
“And what else?” he asks, reading me perfectly.
I jerk against his hand as the need to hide coils within me. But he won’t let me, and I fall a bit deeper under the spell of his command as I confess, “It was my reaction.”
A smile curves his lips. “Yeah, I didn’t expect that either.”
“I should have tried to stop you. Not take part in it.”