Page 72 of Please Hate Me

“Trust.” My echo was barely a whisper.

He nodded. “And if you need to call it, there will be absolutely no repercussions. If you hurt at all—in a bad way, of course—if you’re uncomfortable, or you’re just not feeling it anymore, I need you to promise me you’ll call it.”

I nodded, but his brow deepened.

“I need verbal confirmation, fucktoy.”

I took a deep breath and tried to steady the fluttering of my heart.

“I promise.”

He pinched my cheeks together as he pulled my face up, the disgruntled look lingering on his face.

“Use your big girl voice. If I can’t hear you, I don’t want you.”

“I promise! If it hurts, I’ll call Trust, just—”

He yanked on my hair, tugging me backward. The pain caused my heart to jump as he leaned in.

“Who the hell areyouto make demands?” His smile betrayed his snarl.

“But—”

He yanked my hair again, resulting in a yelp from me.

“The only things you’re allowed to say are ‘yes, sir,’ ‘no, sir,’or‘trust.’Do you understand?”

I swallowed hard, “Yes, I—”

His grip tightened, and I braced for Lucian to pull my hair yet again.

“Try that again, fucktoy.”

“Yes, sir,” I squeaked.

He released me as he breathed in a deep, shuddering breath.

“Good girl.”

Lucian pulled away, slowly rolling to his feet. He placed a hand on the ceiling, stretching to his full height. Thick footfalls echoed off the tile floors as he turned his back to me.

“Take your clothes off. I need to look something up.”

I obeyed without a second thought.

Unlike Cameron and Sebastian, Lucian wasn’t afraid to hurt me. Ineededsomeone to control me. For years, I had been verbally abused and degraded by people who didn’t care about who I was, only what I could do for them. But Lucian had never been like that.

I needed the rush of giving him control over me. He could belittle me as much as he wanted, make me feel as dirty as he needed, leave my ass black and blue if he so pleased. I mentally gave him permission to treat me like nothing more than a whore. In a twisted way, letting him hurt me felt like the first step in taking mylifeback.

I didn’t pay Lucian much attention as I cast all my garments behind me, leaving them in a nice pile so I could easily locate them once we finished. But, as I sat naked, I noticed Lucian was staring at his phone.

“... What are you doing?”

He peered at me through his brow before putting his phone on the black desk in the corner.

“That doesn’t sound like something you’re allowed to say… but I was checking on a few things. In case you haven’t noticed,” he started popping the pearlescent buttons of his shirt apart, “you are pregnant withmyboyfriend’s child. I’m not risking hurting her just to punish you.”

“Actually, Cameron’s my baby daddy, not just your boyfriend.”

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