Page 26 of Writhe
I smile as he trembles before me, his breathing shallow, eyes darting between Eliza and the floor. Good. He’s still unsure. Still malleable.
“Theo,” I say smoothly, my voice like silk over steel. “You hesitate because you still believe control is cruel—that it is something taken—but that’s your first mistake.”
He’s a nervous little thing, still clingingto the illusion of selfhood. He doesn’t yet understand that I’m not here to strip it from him. I’m here to reshape it. To make him better.
“Take off your shirt.”
He flinches, that beautiful recoil of reluctance, and I smile. “Did you think control was a one-way street, Theo? That you could give without learning how to take?” His fingers tremble as they find the hem of his shirt, hesitating. I lean forward, dropping my voice to something darker, heavier. “You want to know what it feels like, don’t you? To understand? How can you ever truly own someone if you don’t know what it means to be owned?”
Theo swallows hard, but he obeys. The fabric slides up, revealing pale, toned skin. He’s so delicate. So . . . breakable.
“Good boy,” I murmur, watching the way his breath catches. He doesn’t like that. Not yet. But his body . . . Ah, his body is already listening.
I walk around him, placing my hands on his shoulders, digging my thumbs in just enough to make him feel me. “Now, on your knees.” He shudders, then his jaw tightens as he slips down until he’s kneeling on the cold floor. Exquisite. “Tell me how it feels.”
Silence.
I slide a finger under his chin, tilting his face up. His eyes are defiant, but there’s something else beneath it now. A war raging inside him. Good.
“I . . .” His voice is hoarse. He swallows. “I don’t want this, doctor. I don’t feel it’s necessary.”
I chuckle. “Your body says otherwise.” His blush is immediate, crawling up his throat like a confession and my smile widens. I step closer, lowering my mouth near his ear. “That’s the thing about submission, Theo. It doesn’t ask for permission.” He shivers as I run my fingers through his hair, gripping just enough to make him aware of my strength—of how easily I could force him lower. How easily he would go. “You’re hard, aren’t you?”
His hands curl into fists. Shame is painted across his face, delicious and raw.
“Say it.”
His breath comes faster now, shallow and erratic, and his eyes dart away.
I grip his chin, forcing him to look at me. “Say. It.”
He exhales shakily. “Yes.” Ah, there it is, the moment of collapse. Beautiful.
I release him, brushing my fingers over his throat, feeling the frantic beat of his pulse. “Now, do you understand? Do you see?”
Stepping back, I see the slow rise and fall of his chest, the way his body leans toward me despite itself. I have him now. All I have to do is let go of the leash.
And watch him run wild.
I crouch down to his level, watching the war waging behind his eyes. “You think I’m breaking you, Theo?” I tilt my head. “No. I’m freeing you. You’ve spent your whole life afraid of what’s inside you, haven’t you?” A twitch. A flicker of panic.Oh, yes. I struck a nerve.“That hunger—that's what I want. You tell yourself it’s wrong,that good men don’t crave power.” I brush my thumb over his bottom lip. “But you’re not a good man, Theo. You never were.”
His breathing stutters and his tongue darts out, wetting his lips.There it is.I release him suddenly, standing tall above him, looking down at his kneeling form. Making him feel small, so he craves the chance to feel big. “She’s waiting for you, you know.”
Theo flinches.
“Eliza.” I pace slowly, circling him like a predator. “She’s waiting for you to take her—to own her. Do you think she respects weakness, Theo? Do you think she wants a boy trembling at her feet? Or a man who will make her kneel at his?”
A slow, delicious shudder rolls down his spine.
“She pities you.” His body goes rigid.Ah, there’s the rage for which I was waiting.“She feels sorry for you. You think she doesn’t see the way you hesitate? The way you question every touch, every command? She looks at you and sees a boy who wishes he could be a man. And yet, she aches for you to claim her. To ravage her. To make her into something else. But right now, Theo? You are not that man.”
He sucks in a sharp breath. His fists are clenched so tightly I wonder if he’ll split his own skin. I smile. “You want to be, don’t you?” His silence is delicious. “You want her to need you the way she fears you.” I stand, towering over him again. “But fear requires power, Theo. And right now, you have none.”
“Show me,” I say. “Show me that I haven’t wasted my time on a pathetic little boy.”
I watch as he stands like a man rising from the grave. His hands are still shaking, but there’s a new weight to them now. A decision made.
Good.
