Page 44 of Hideaway

Kara struggled to remain standing on trembling legs as he whipped her hard across the thighs.Seventeen.

“Answer the question, Kara,”Cade commanded, striking her again.Eighteen,

“Y-yes,”she sobbed in response.

He hit her again. So hard.Nineteen.Kara’s nails dug into the top of the desk; faint scratches marred the smooth surface from her gripping it so tightly.

“Are you going to disobey me again?”

Cade drew his arm back and delivered a blow with such force that Kara’s entire body shuddered.Twenty.

Kara mentally pleaded that Cade had satisfied his need to punish her having delivered a score of lashes. She didn’t think her body could withstand much more. She knew the strength of her mentality had depleted to the point of defeat. Her slippery grasp on self-control was very close to being vanquished, and she was about to start screaming beneath the wicked blows of Cade’s belt, personal dignity be damned. Though she could not speak to the actions of her future self in their entirety, Kara knew, in that dreadful moment, nothing in the whole expanse of the world could have provoked her into crossing Cade again. She would bend to his every desire, submit to his every request, provided she never had to feel the sting of the belt across her skin again.

“N-no, sir,”Kara answered, choking on tears. Her unusual address had been an unconscious decision, the word startling her as it escaped her mouth. Cade hadn’t asked for the title of formality, but something about the situation—his authority and her unavoidable submission— pulled the wordsirfrom her lips.

Cade stilled at her response, his face awash with surprise as he shifted the belt in his grasp. Her words disarmed him as much as they stoked the burgeoning stirrings of passion and need that had begun the moment he bent and bared Kara over the desk. With those two, simple words, Kara had sealed her fate. She had provided him with the proof that he couldn’t conclude her punishment. Not quite yet. She was close, so incredibly close to giving him everything. Her absolute surrender.“To truly learn your lesson, I think you need to be taken past your breaking point. One lash more than your limit to truly part with your self-detrimental disobedience once and for all.”

Kara cried softly at the harrowing meaning behind his words. He wasn’t done yet. He was going to keep hitting her. And she wasn’t sure she could continue to take it. The next lash came so hard and so fast, Kara barely had time to register the sound of it hissing through the air before it struck mercilessly on the already broken skin of her backside.Twenty one.

Kara broke.

A scream tore from her throat, every last shred of composure completely obliterated beneath the overwhelming agony. Unable to resist her body’s need to purge itself of the pain, she wept loudly, the pent up anguish escaping along with the tears. Kara had never allowed herself to cry with such abandon, not even after losing her parents. She had always managed to maintain control. And there she was, coming undone in the audience of a man she currently loathed more than anyone else on the godforsaken planet.

Panic stole the air from her lungs as Kara heard the rustle of the belt behind her. She couldn’t possibly take another lash. She would certainly collapse or pass out or both. Could Cade truly be that cruel? The harsh bite of leather on her tender, bruised thighs answered her question.Twenty two.

Yes, yes he could.

When she heard the belt clatter to the floor, her tears fell abundantly, this time in relief. Was he done? Was it finally over?

“Kara,”Cade breathed, his voice thick with emotion as he drew toward her. Having finished his unsavory task, Cade wanted nothing more than to tell Kara how proud he was of her unyielding strength, her submission, her complete surrender. His arms ached to hold her, to smooth away any lingering pain or embarrassment. Cade didn’t regret his actions. Kara had earned the punishment, and he hadn’t hurt her more than was duly necessary to exact her remorse. But the sight of Kara trembling as she remained bent over the desk, her cheeks stained with tears and the deeply colored marks of his belt written prominently across her skin, twisted at his insides in unusual ways.

Kara flinched as she felt Cade’s touch at her hips, wary of being forced to endure more pain at his hands. Gently, almost reverently, his fingers found the hem of her nightgown and drew the soft material down over her legs, granting her the dignity of being covered once again. Kara sucked in a breath as even the silkiness of the thin dress felt like sandpaper on her tender and bruised skin. Cade’s hands lingered on her thighs, stroking as though attempting to soothe, and Kara felt the anger rising within her to the point of bursting at his pretense of tenderness.

How dare he touch her like that after what he just did?

“Get your fucking hands off of me,”Kara commanded coldly, her tears evaporating in the wake of her blossoming fury.

A flicker of hurt crossed Cade’s face as he swiftly rescinded his touch, backing away slightly to allow Kara to rise and get her bearings without feeling suffocated.

Kara lifted her head gingerly, her right cheek feeling like it carried the bruising imprint of the desk after being crushed against the hard wood for such a long period of time. Her fingers were stiff as she pried them from the sides of the desk, identical deep red lines etched into the middle of her palms from grasping the sharpness of the edges. The overextended muscles of her body protested as she slowly lifted herself. Kara couldn’t even imagine what the backs of her thighs and backside looked like, but they hurt like fucking hell. Standing straight with all the pride she could muster, Kara wiped the tears from her cheeks, smoothed the unruly mess that was her hair, and straightened the nightgown to appropriately cover what little it could of her breasts and thighs. Having fully composed herself, she directed the complete extent of her ire at Cade, meeting his cautious, questioning gaze with dark, hate-filled eyes.

She despised Cade. Completely. Irrefutably. Irrevocably. Every space in the entirety of her now hardened heart was reserved for the unfathomable loathing of the detestable man.

“Kara,”Cade warned, disapproving of her misplaced anger.

“Do not say my name. You are unworthy of addressing me.”

“Unworthy?”Cade questioned with a raised eyebrow.

“Would you prefer another adjective to describe your reprehensible character? I can think of several that are far less courteous and far more apt,”Kara spat back, defiantly crossing her arms over her chest.

“Mind your attitude, Kara,”Cade cautioned, feeling his anger rising to match her own.

“Or what?”Kara asked bitingly.“You’ll beat me?Again?”

“Do I need to beat you again?”

Kara flinched at the threat, cursing herself for the habit of talking herself into an even worse situation. Biting back a spiteful retort for the sake of her already wounded backside, Kara settled into a stance that was a little less confrontational.“No,”she answered quietly, the fiery outrage cooling to embers.

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