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I try to throw my head up, bash my forehead against his. He’s faster and has the instincts of a predator, avoiding me before any contact is made.

“Be a good girl.” He grips my chin. “You might even enjoy it.”

“Never.” Both he and I know it’s a lie. I’ll like it, despite myself. Without my consent, I’ll like it. “I’ll never enjoy anything you do to me, asshole.”

“We’ll see about that.” He moves down my body, reaching for the bag on the floor.

Self-loathing burns my eyes. My cheeks. My heart. Watching him pull out a speculum and a small flashlight wakes things inside me. Dark cravings. Darker desires.

Tears escape my eyes. All of them at once, I think. They roll down my temples, soaking my hair.

Still, I see him clearly. The inside of his palm, there’s an old scar slashed onto it. A white line. It’s out of my line of sight when he grabs another tool, placing it on the bed.

“Shh.” James pets my thighs like I’m a wild animal. “I’m going to touch you. Going to look at you. You’re going to let me.”

He’s said that before. This…request.

Only it isn’t a real request. Not at all.

“Do I even have a choice?”

“No.”

When he hooks his fingers into my panties and drags them down my hips, I don’t kick him as I should. I cry harder.

It’s mortifying, this unstoppable desire for him. My nipples are pulled into tight peaks. My pussy is hot and wet.

The craving in my soul hurts the most.

“Please.” I squeeze my thighs, staring at him through the rivers of tears. “Please, don’t. Call a doctor. Have them look at me. I’ll let them. But you, don’t do it. Please.”

“You tempt me, Ophelia.” James pries my legs apart. Just like that, with his warm hands that get me wetter and needier. “The way you beg so prettily. How you crave this.”

“No. No, no, no.” More lies. I shake my head anyway. “Please. I don’t want this.”

“You’re such a liar.” The flashlight and speculum are in his hands while he kneels before me. “I won’t punish you for it, though I should. No. I have my methods to get you to tell me the truth.”

“Methods?”

“Methods, yes.” He hovers over my pussy, gripping the speculum in his left hand. Without so much as a warning, he spreads my lips with his right one and spits on my clit. “Stay put.” His icy glare is back on my face. “Can’t have you hurting the merchandise.”

“Please, please, oh— Fuck,” I groan when his thumb circles my clit. When he presses it hard until the pain turns into pleasure. “Stop. Stop, please.”

No man has ever touched me there. No one. This is the wrong man to do it. The right one.Jesus. He’s so fucking right for it.

“Good girl.” His thumb is still on my clit, rubbing while he bends lower. “Good little sacrifice, spreading your legs for me.Staying where you are so I won’t damage your perfect, pretty cunt.”

There it is. The cold metal of the speculum pressing against my walls. The pressure of it. The humiliation. It’s not painful. The invasion is not unwelcome. It only makes my heart bleed harder.

I can’t afford to break down in front of him again.

No more crying, then. None of it. I pinch my eyes shut as James pulls out the speculum and runs it up and down my slit, getting it wet.

As the tears slow, I breathe easier. “I hate you.”

“There you go. That’s my good girl.” His hands are on my pussy, eyes burrowing into mine. “I promised you you’d like it.”

“You’re delusional.” He’s not. Heat coils in my belly, and I’m powerless to stop it.