Page 45 of Crushed
“Do I get a safe word?”
“There is no such thing as a true safe word.”
I wouldn’t be able to tap the hidden buttons to alert the security guards, but I knew the trigger words needed to trigger the smart security system. I knew them. I could say those words if I needed them.
He handcuffed my hands behind my back, then secured the cuffs to a link on the harness. I took a deep breath. I almost wished I was blindfolded so that I wouldn’t see what was coming. He accessed something from his phone, and the harness lifted. He kept a grip on my stomach and back, keeping me steady while I turned upside down.
Count to ten. Transport yourself somewhere else.
This was for a good cause.
In the end, these are just words to tell yourself. Nothing can pull you away from that blinding fear.
The rigging lowered until the tip of my hair was touching the water. I closed my eyes tight, then opened them. My harsh breath bounced off of the top of the water back to me. It was humid and moist and I couldn’t think.
“Any last words?” Cormac asked.
“Don’t do this,” I said. My throat burned. My eyes burned. Everything in my body burned, begging to be let out. To be freed. “Please, Cormac. Please.”
He clicked a button, and it lowered again. I yanked at my wrists. My hands throbbed. His warm fingers ran over the slits of my sex, and my forehead dipped into the water.
“Please, Cormac!” I cried. But it didn’t stop. My brows. My eyes. The top of my nose. My nostrils barely sticking out. I thrashed, knocking into the sides of the bucket and he lowered it still.
Until I was submerged.
At first, I was calm. Ten seconds. I could handle anything for ten seconds. One. Two. The water in my nostrils. The pain in my throat. Not being able to breathe. To breathe. Three. To breathe. Four. Lowering down. The water over my breasts. A hand skimming between my legs.No. I couldn’t. Not like this. I thrashed as hard as I could. I couldn’t do this. I couldn’t wait to die like my parents. Cormac knew who I was and this was his revenge, to kill me like this. I had to fight back. A huge gulp of water filled my mouth and scorched my nostrils.
Quickly, the harness raised. I swallowed the air. More air. Precious air. Cormac stared at me, then pulled my wet body against his torso. Wetting his shirt.
“Shh,” he said. “Calm down, my pet. This is only the beginning.”
The beginning?Fuck. “Please, Cormac.” My head was at his cock, and his cock twitched as I begged each word. “Please,pleasedon’t do this.”
“You’re a smart woman,” he said. “If you want to get out of this, you’ll figure out a way.”
The trigger words. They were on my tongue. He dipped a finger into my slit and slid inside easily. My arousal. How could my body betray me? Being turned on at a time like this.
“You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” he said, grinning.
I shook my head in panic. “Cormac.”
He sucked in a breath. “Your arousal. Your fear. It’s divine.” Then he clicked the button, and it lowered me down again. No matter how hard I thrashed, no matter the blubbering words that came out of my mouth, the harness lowered still. There was no counting to ten. There was only surivival. The instinct to breathe overwhelming me as he shoved his fingers into my sex and I tried, tried so hard to get out, and only for him to lower the harness further so that I was submerged to my waist. The bubbles from my mouth. The garbled sounds. The panic. The tightness everywhere. Everywhere. And still, he pushed his fingers down, curving towards my g-spot.
The rigging raised up and I gasped for air. Pleaded for it.
“Please, please,please,” I begged. “I can’t. I can’t.”
His cock was at eye level, hard and pulsing. He shoved it down my throat. I couldn’t catch my breath as he fucked my face, his cock gagging me as I sputtered in defense. He pulled out, and I sobbed. The salty tears mixed with the water dripping down my face. Hot tears. Cold skin.
“Please, Cormac.” I would rather him fuck my throat like a rag doll than do that again. “Please,” I whispered.
“Despite those urges,” he said, “despite that will to live. Understand this. Youwilllive through this, Scarlett. Do it for me.”
I sobbed desperately, but he lowered the rigging. The water once again covered my nose, my mouth. I was so damn desperate. He shoved a second finger inside of me and I couldn’t take it any longer. Panic overcame me, and I sucked in the water.
Suddenly I was out, but I still couldn’t breathe. The breaths that I could manage came out in harsh, hyperventilating sobs, but soon, the harness and handcuffs were off and I was in his arms, tight against him as he carried me. I was soaking his shirt, his pants, but he took me out of the room and into another where there was nothing there, there was no one else. No harnesses. No handcuffs. No buckets of water. Just us. Just me. Just Cormac.
His deep green eyes beamed down into me.
“You’re safe now,” he said. “Breathe.”
