Page 286 of Deep Cover

There are possibilities as endless as there are submissives to carry them out.

Later that night, after she'd gone - carrying more of a tip than she'd seen me put into the envelope with the cash, but she was blindfolded before the limo drove her back to Vegas - that night I understood that every sub who came to stay with me retained free will whether they knew it or not. Whether I liked it or not. Most of them discovered it when they hit a limit I made them cross and they either broke the scene or lit out after. If they asked, I sent them with a cash settlement and a limo ride like the whore had received.

If they just ran, I let them run. If I could, I found them later and deposited the money into their account. Only one had ever returned it.

It took two people fully invested for a contract to stand. Annie was right there. The contracts would be impossible to uphold in court. It took two people fully invested to create a true consensual Master/slave relationship and without that, it was just a game. It was still a game I excelled at and enjoyed.

The second thing I understood that night, thanks to a woman I'd picked up outside a southern Nevada casino and beaten for my own enjoyment, was that the lifestyle kept people away from me. Even the most determined sub couldn't hold on to illusions of being in love with me after the canes started to do their work in earnest. After I proved their screams didn't stop me because their screams delighted me. Their screams were what I was after.

I had loved people and I had lost them. Causing pain filled the void because I enjoyed it. It made me hard and it made me happy.

It kept me from getting hurt.

Annie was still on her knees when I went back into her cell.

If Annie ran, it would hurt me. I didn't want to care about her. I wanted it even less with the new rage coiling through me.

"Get up."

She stood instantly, not looking at my face.

"Take your clothes off."

She complied instantly, folding them and putting them on the floor beside her.

"Walk ahead of me."

Her feet made slapping sounds on the tile. Her ass moved before me, her hips swaying.

"Stop."

She stopped. There was a tremor working its way through her, anticipation or fear, or both.

"Hands behind your head, fingers laced. Present."

Which meant she stuck out her chest, her ass, spread her feet, gazed at a spot in the distance. She did everything I ordered. Just – there was some protest there. Something sensed rather than seen.

"I'm going to punish you."

"Yes, sir."

That just angered me. I was wearing a long sleeved button-up and I rolled the sleeves to my elbows as I paced. "Do you knowwhyI'm going to punish you?"

I looked up at the end of the question and saw her face contort briefly with what looked like annoyance.

"Because I wanted to keep you safe."

The answer made the anger rage. That I understood. I let her down when Vincent took her. It wasmy jobto keephersafe. Not hers to keep me anything.

"That's not your job!"

She flared then, met my eyes. "It isexactlymy job. Do you think I've forgotten I'm a cop?"

"You're not a cop here." I held her gaze.

"Yes, I am."

Furious, scared for her, scared for her because of what she'd done with Kie, and because of how off I felt, I went across the room and chose the biggest, thickest crop, a combination of biting, fiery sting and hard thud. I saw Annie shudder.

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