Page 32 of Desperate Measures
I close my eyes, ashamed of the way they burn. “I don’t know how to do that.” I don’t know how to do any of it, and that knowledge stings just as much as the tears I refuse to allow to fall.
“I’ll show you.” He takes my hand and tugs me toward the back of the room.
I dig in my heels out of instinct, but as often as Jafar and I are at each other’s throats, he hasn’t done anything tonight except keep me on my feet. Yes, I know being here serves his ultimate purpose and that he’s showing me off like a prize for a conquering king, but it doesn’t change the fact that he’s been startlingly careful with me.
I can trust him this far, can’t I?
I keep my gaze pinned to the middle of his back as he navigates the room. It’s full of significantly more people than when we first arrived. I get flashes of men and women of every age, shape, and color engaged in various sexual and painful displays. Some of them seem to just be here for the conversation, though impossible to miss the way most have someone kneeling at their side. Eyes downcast. Silent.
Jafar’s not the only one who extends those rules, apparently.
He stops in front of yet another door, though this one doesn’t have anyone guarding it. As soon as we step through, quiet descends, and I breathe out a sigh of relief, some of the tension bleeding out of my body. I can do this. Whatever this is.
Doors line the hallway, and it takes me several steps before I realize what’s strange about the walls. “They’re mirrors?”
“No.” He pulls me toward a section of the hallway bathed in light, and I finally understand. The wall isn’t a mirror.
It’s a window.
There are two women in the room. One is an icy blond so beautiful that it almost hurts to look at her. The other is dark-haired, but I can’t see her face because it’s buried between the blond’s spread legs.
“Oh.” I take in the cuffs holding the brunette’s arms captive behind her back. Her bare back is red, and I realize why as the blond brings a flogger down across her skin.
The blond lifts her gaze and meets mine, the sheer strength behind it driving me back a step.
“Oh.” I press my hand to my lips. “Do they…”
“Yes, they like being watched, and yes, they like knowing they’re being watched.” He doesn’t give me more opportunity to observe before pulling me farther down the hallway. I catch sight of a discrete green light above the handle, and then Jafar opens the door and tugs me into the room.
Lights flip on the second we step inside. I’m not sure what I expected, but it’s a relatively normal-looking bedroom. Jafar clears his throat, and I drag my attention to him. He points to a series of switches next to the door. “You control the transparency of the wall here.” His finger moves to the red button. “Panic button. It will bring Hades’s people running.” He points to a camera tucked into the corner of the room. “Once your membership passes the three-month mark, you have the option of turning off the camera while you play.”
“My membership.”
His lips quirk. “Starts tonight.”
A lot of information to process, but I allow it to slide away for when I’m alone. Right now, it’s easier to focus on Jafar and what he expects of me. To anticipate my reward.
He leans against the wall and crosses his arms over his chest. “Your reward, your choice, baby girl. How do you want to play this?”
I open my mouth to tell him that he’s ruining the fantasy, but it’s not the truth. He’s giving me a choice, a clear choice. He has been since the beginning, even if it suited my purposes to pretend otherwise. Part of me still wants to push him, to make him choose so I don’t have to. The rest of me knows Jafar won’t let me get away with that. I lick my lips, gathering the shreds of my courage. “Make me, Daddy.”
His dark eyes flare hot enough to scald me to the core, but he doesn’t move. “Remind me of your safe word.”
Remind myself, he means. “Rajah,” I whisper. The thrill I get out of the fight, out of telling him no, is unparalleled, but it only works if there’s no miscommunication between us. I know that. I’ve always known that.
I take a step back, and he pushes off the wall, stalking toward me. My heart leaps in fear and desire. Yes, this. This is what I need. Him chasing me down and fucking me back to safe ground. I step out of my heels and pick up my dress so I won’t trip on it. There isn’t much space to maneuver in this room. I have to get the bed between us.
I bolt right as he grabs for me. He catches my dress and yanks me back a step, but I’m not going down so quickly. I jerk away, ripping the fragile fabric. The sound only makes me hotter. Wetter.
He sees it. Of course he sees it. His grin is nearly feral. “I’m going to rip that dress right off your body.”
“You’re going to try.” I scramble back to the edge of the bed, only then realizing what a poor plan this was.
Or a brilliant one.
He’s on me before I reach the corner of the mattress. Instead of tackling me, Jafar hooks an arm around my waist and tosses me onto the bed. I land and flop onto my back, aiming a kick at his head. He laughs. The bastard laughs.
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