Page 87 of Obey

I finally smile at him. “Thanks for that.” I pause, then add, “Thanks for everything, Carl. Really. I’m sorry I didn’t answer you. I really did lose my phone, then I was overwhelmed, and it got a little rough.” I glance at Knives. “But it’s all up from here.”

Knives smiles back at me. “Yeah. We just needed a life-or-death experience to get our shit sorted.”

Carl’s expression morphs into horror. “Life or death?”

I snort and say, “Also not literally.”

Knives releases me with a laugh and claps me on the back. “All right, let’s find these floggers so I can show everybody how it’s done. You will not be coherent by the time I’m through with you, Mads.”

I let out a low groan, already forgetting about Carl as we walk past him and toward the play room. “You’d better work me over as good as you say you will,” I warn him. “Or I’ll find some other Dom to give it to me.”

“You are not finding some other Dom unless you want me to punch a few teeth out,” Knives answers cheerfully. “Maybe his, maybe yours.”

I laugh, leading us into the room. “Your pick of the floggers,” I say, gesturing at the display.

Knives goes to the case and assesses the available tools. None of them are too extreme, but they aren’t beginner tools either. Knives ends up picking one with multiple tails and a thick, braided leather. It’s not like the soft one Carl had picked out the last time.

Knives looks at me, his hands rubbing over the leather, and says, “Do you need a safeword? I’ll stop if you tell me to, unless you want to pretend not to be into it.”

“I’ve never used a safeword,” I admit. “Never played with anyone hardcore enough to need it.” My eyes are glued to the flogger, to the rough leather and the way I imagine it’s going to fall so heavily against my skin. “Just for the sake of appearances, if anyone asks, I use the stoplight system. But I know you can figure out my limits.” I quirk a brow at him. “Right?”

How much experience has he actually had with floggers? He said he’d never had a partner at one of these clubs, but that doesn’t mean he’s never been.

Knives meets my gaze. “Did I ever push you too far before?”

“Not far enough, if anything,” I tell him, not breaking the stare. “I trust you.” I shrug. “If I didn’t, we wouldn’t be here right now.”

He nods and leans in to kiss me briefly. “All right. Let’s go, before we both get too frustrated.”

I walk side by side with him over to the St. Andrew’s Cross, which is mercifully unoccupied. Carl is sitting on one of the benches beside it, and he sits up when we approach.

“No interrupting,” I say to him, resisting the urge to sigh at our self-appointed babysitter. “No matter what happens. If I’m not safewording, I’m fine.”

Knives suppresses a laugh. “Hopefully it won’t come to that.”

“It won’t,” I say. “You know my words, Carl.”

He nods. “Just… Let me watch over you, just this once, Maddox.” He sounds tired, and I hate that I’m partially to blame for that.

I sigh. “Yeah, okay. But when he drags me off into a private room, that’s our time. All right?”

“Got it.”

With that out of the way, I take my shirt off, going to the cross. I rest my chest against the cool wood, and Knives secures my wrists into place. I don’t really need the bondage, but I like it, and I’m not going to argue with him using it.

Knives kisses my shoulder—still sore from the bullet wound—before stepping back. “Just a warm up first,” he says. “And I don’t want to hear you complaining that you can take it harder.”

I roll my eyes. “I will, if you chicken out. You know I can?—”

Knives snaps the flogger across my back. It’s a light tap, not too painful, but I feel the leather thud against my skin. Warmth spreads out from the impact zone.

I groan more out of surprise than anything, my body briefly tensing before I relax against the cross once more. “That… That was cheating,” I say with a slight laugh.

“Watch out, if you backseat dom I’ll dump you in a swamp somewhere,” Knives threatens, his tone overly amused.

I can’t help but laugh again, and I glance over my shoulder to see his face. I’m struck by just how fucking handsome he is, especially when he’s relaxed like this.

“Face forward,” he orders.

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