Page 68 of These Monstrous Deeds

Chapter Fifteen

“We’re having a guest over tonight,” sir says quietly, looking down at Carter where he’s kneeling beneath sir’s desk. His brown eyes are dark. Nearly black. “He’ll be here shortly for a meal and a meeting. You’ll behave for me, right, sweetheart?”

“Yes, sir.”

“What are your rules?”

Carter nibbles on his bottom lip, trying to recall them. “Always call you sir, always kneel, and never hesitate to obey you. And don’t leave the bed without permission unless I need to use the bathroom.”

“Good boy.” Sir runs the back of his hand against Carter’s cheek, the knuckles trailing along his cheekbone. “I want you to focus on that third rule. You will obey me tonight, without hesitation, no matter what, or you will be punished. Understood?”

Not liking the sound of that at all, Carter can’t get himself to speak. He barely even manages a nod. His eyes fall to his hands as he clasps them tightly together in his lap. He hears sir sigh, the sound heavy and frustrated, but Carter keeps his eyes lowered and his mouth shut.

Another sigh. Softer. Defeated.

“Would you like to know what your reward will be if you’re a very good boy tonight?”

Reward. That sounds promising.

Carter peeks up through his eyelashes. “Yes please, sir.”

“I’ll give you tomorrow off.”

This gets Carter to fully look up, meeting sir’s eyes. “W-what?”

“A day off. No crawling around naked. No cock warming or fucking. No leaving the bedroom even. You won’t have to be a slave tomorrow. Not really, at least. You get a break.” Sir pauses, eyes narrowing. “If you’re good, that is.”

“All day?” Carter asks, still trying to wrap his mind around it. “Really, sir?”

“All day. I’ll leave you be. My men will leave you be. Just you and whatever you want to do in our room – within reason, of course.”

A stab of loneliness twists inside Carter’s chest. He hates himself for it. He hates himself even more for asking, “Will you be in the bedroom with me, sir?”

Sir gives him a smile that Carter can’t read. It’s almost…sad. “Not if you don’t want me to be. It’s your day.”

“And if I do?” Carter asks, his voice breaking at the end. His face burns in shame when sir tilts his head and raises an eyebrow. “If I want you there, I mean. What happens then, sir?”

“Then,” sir says softly, his fingers curling beneath Carter’s chin, his thumb resting on his bottom lip. “I’m all yours.”

Carter shivers. He doesn’t know what it means that he wants sir to be there with him. It’s fucked up, he knows that.What victim doesn’t want a day away from their abuser?But sir is… more than that. It’s twisted and messy and wrong – so very wrong – but all Carter can think about is that day in sir’s office when he wasn’t touched or acknowledged by the man, and the awful loneliness that was gnawing at him by nightfall. He doesn’t want that again.

It’d be an entire day where Carter can spend his time with sir, a shameful desire of his, without having to dread the pain and humiliation of the man’s torment.

“You can decide tomorrow,” sir says, pulling Carter from his thoughts. He blinks to find the man has stood up, towering over him now, the end of Carter’s leash in his hand. His face is like stone. When he speaks again, his voice is rough. “Keep your reward in mind tonight. Cling to it. Don’t let it go.”

Carter swallows hard. “Sir?”

“And just know that I-” sir stops himself, looking away from Carter. He shakes his head. His jaw ticks. His voice is merely a whisper when he admits, “I’m not going to enjoy tonight.”

Something sick twists inside Carter’s stomach. The enormity of his reward tomorrow fully hits him then. This man is willing to give him an entire day where he gets to be Carter again. That’s not a flippant decision. That’s fucking huge. Add in the way sir can’t look at him, and sir openly admitting that he’s not going to enjoy what happens tonight, and Carter is worried.

No, Carter isterrified.

“Sir-”

“You have to be good,” sir says, each word precise and urgent. His eyes find Carter’s again. “Youhave to be,okay?”

Because sir doesn’t want to have to punish him.

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