Page 46

I can’t believe he brought me here. He brought me to a store where one of his old submissives works. Great, just freaking great.

“You know, you’re not his usual type.” The dark-haired beauty with a hand on her hip scans my body with a raised eyebrow and a twist of her lips.

“Maybe he wanted something different,” I tell her, trying and failing miserably to disguise the tremor in my voice.

I hate feeling like this—inadequate. It’s why I feel so comfortable in my community church, everyone is accepted.

It doesn’t matter what your background is or what you’re capable of, everyone is welcome.

“You wouldn’t be able to handle the real Vinny, his darkness and all.” Her cruel taunt sends a shiver down my spine. “I don’t think any of us truly would,” she mumbles to herself so low I don’t think I’m meant to hear it. I can handle anything Vinny gives me; I welcome it.

“Has he taken you to his basement, his dungeon, to play with you?” My face falls and my stomach rolls at the fact he hasn’t done that, but I quickly school my features.

“Amazing, isn’t it?” she gloats. “All the incredible things he has down there,” she continues while I try to suppress the whimper building inside.

Why is he keeping things from me? Does he see me as fragile? Unable to handle him?

“Still”—her lip curls in distaste—“I don’t know what he sees in you.”

My heart freefalls when I think about him holding back to appease me. Is that what he does? Does he see me as a delicate toy who will break easily? Doesn’t he realize how strong I truly am?

“Ah, bless.” She toys with the collar Vinny made me. Then her lips pout into a ducklike pose. “He didn’t even get you the real thing.” She huffs and pushes off the doorframe to circle me, like a hunter rounding up its prey.

Her heels click with each movement, and the fitted black dress she wears has me darting my eyes away.

She looks like a grown up compared to me in my flimsy, worn dress.

No wonder Vinny brought me here. “You’re young too.

” She flicks my hair with her finger. “Barely even have tits.” That’s a lie, my breasts are practically bulging against the fabric of my summer dress, full of milk.

“And your stomach isn’t even flat.” There’s a sneer on her lips as she glances down toward my stomach, but I’m struggling to make out the issue.

I know I have a pouch since giving birth to Bonnie, but I wasn’t aware it was a problem.

She turns and leaves the room while I exhale.

When she returns only moments later, she drops a pile of clothes at my feet. “I wouldn’t have thought a little girl like you would want someone like Vinny.”

“I’m not a little girl,” I snap. She’s starting to piss me off.

Just what the hell was he thinking?

“You’ve been in his dungeon, so you know what he likes.” She kicks at the red thong by her foot while wearing a spiteful smile.

Her words have a hint of curiosity to them; she’s testing how much I know. The fact she knows something which I don’t has my veins swirling with disappointment, but why should I feel any different from the others, maybe I am just like them.

“Aww,” she mock pouts, and I want to tell her lips might get stuck like that, but I don’t want to lower myself to her level. “He didn’t, did he?”

She pats my shoulder in a patronizing gesture. “Don’t worry. I don’t think you’d be able to handle what goes on down there anyway.”

Jealousy courses through me, and I hate it.

Instead of showing her how inadequate I feel, I act unperturbed, but inside, my heart constricts, and my legs tremble with a need to flee.

Tears spring to my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall.

I won’t let a bully like her beat me. I’ve had what feels like a lifetime of them, and I won’t take it any longer.

My hands ball into fists as she continues ticking off a list of issues she has with me.

The door to the fitting room swings open, and as quick as it draws my attention, I move my gaze away from the man who caused me my distress in the first place.

His eyes are attempting to bore into my soul and pull it out in the tattered form that it is, then mold it back together with his sweet words and gentle affection.

“Is everything okay?”

I choke on thin air. Is he serious right now?

“Yes, Daddy.” I flinch at her words. Daddy? It’s like a punch to my gut, and my heart skips a beat at the stark reminder he’s had other women call him this.

I’m disposable.

I’m nothing more than another little pet, to be used and discarded, toyed with and forgotten.

Jealousy and self-loathing combine, surging from deep inside me, and heat rushes through my veins, baring my feelings to them both as my cheeks flame. I want to curl up in a ball, to run for the door, to cry and beat my fists against Vinny’s strong chest.

I want him to want me.

Me.

The broken, unwanted, unloved girl who only feels whole when her daddy loves her back.

Vinny’s jaw sharpens.

“Everything is fine. We’re just choosing your new little pet’s panties. Isn’t that right, Grace?” she announces proudly with a flirtatious smile, making me jolt at her change in demeanor? I hate her. My eyes flare with anger toward Vinny as well as the catty woman who thinks she can degrade me.

Vinny steps into the room and closes the door behind him, and I take a step back, not missing the way his nostrils flare.

His jaw clenches, and his palms twitch as he balls his fists and uncurls them, only to repeat the process. I feel the heat emitting from him, and as much as I want to throw myself at him, I’m too hurt to move.

“Show me what you chose.” He gestures toward the clothes on the floor, and a smug smile spreads over her face. Something tells me she’d take anything Vinny gives her and twist it into praise.

She slowly digs round the clothes, then lifts a pair of the lacy red panties on the tip of her finger. “I remember how much you liked red lace, Daddy.” She beams, and my heart thumps wildly against my chest.

Vinny’s venomous sneer toward her causes my pulse to race.

His nostrils flare, his eyes darken, then he masks the anger and replaces it with a patronizing smile, one just as sinister as his cruel glare.

He drags a calculating finger over his lips.

“I didn’t say you could call me daddy. Gracie is my little pet, isn’t that right, Gracie? ”

The woman’s smile falls from her pretty face, and as much as I want to smile back at her, I’m too angry to delight in her disappointment.

Vinny’s eyes drill into mine, the intensity radiating from him consumes me, and my pulse kicks up when I realize he’s waiting on a response.

He inches toward me as though he’s unsure.

When he reaches me, he tucks my hair behind my ears.

“Trust me?” he whispers against my ear and places a tender kiss on my cheek.

Then he turns my head and lowers his lips to mine before pulling back and eyeing me skeptically.

“Y-yes.”

“Good girl, Little Pet. Good girl, my Gracie,” he croons, in a velvety tone that has my anger fluttering away like it was never there. My Gracie ?

He backs away and stands taller, then clears his throat. “Take off your dress, Gracie.”

My heart rate kicks up, and my eyes meet his in the full-length mirror. He gives me a stern nod, and I swallow hard, knowing damn well that woman is still in the room watching me.

My fingers tremble as I step out of my tennis shoes and kick them to the side.

I can feel their eyes on me, but I ignore them and lift my dress over my head, and when I make out the bulge in Vinny’s pants, it gives me the confidence I need to do as he asks.

Dropping my dress to the floor, I love the way Vinny sucks on his teeth and shoves his hands into his pant pockets like he’s struggling to not touch me.

I shake my head, knowing how much he loves my blonde locks and the silky feel of them.

My hair brushes over the top of my ass, and he shifts from foot to foot.

Then I glance over my shoulder and deliver the words I know he craves. “What now, Daddy?”

His Adam’s apple slides slowly down his throat. “Hands on the mirror.”

I lean forward and place my hands on the mirror.

“M-maybe I should leave.” The woman moves, inching toward the exit.

“Stay the fuck where you are,” Vinny fires out in a deadly tone he’s never used with me, and my lip twitches at the way she freezes and her face pales. Her eyes are wide like a deer caught in headlights.

Vinny’s fingers work through my hair, and I preen at the way the tips massage my scalp, then he yanks hard, straightening my neck, and our gazes lock in the mirror. He whispers, “You like that, Gracie? You like when I put the bitch in her place?” and his breath sends a shiver racing down my spine.

“Look at her panties,” he demands, and Selina slices her gaze over to my panties. “Her little cotton panties that drive Daddy wild. I want to slide them to the side and thrust up inside her tiny cunt until she screams for me to stop. Isn’t that right, Little Pet?”

“Yes, Daddy.”

“I don’t want red lace. Red lace was for the whores I fucked. This little pet is for keeps.”

My heart swells on his words, and Selina’s eyes widen, and her mouth falls open. The look of shock on her face makes my chest swell with confidence.

I swallow hard and nuzzle his cheek, and he sucks in a sharp breath. “Tell Cindy here what Daddy likes to do to you.” He didn’t call her by her name, and I revel in it. Then he rests his palm on my stomach. “Tell her what I’m going to give you.”

My breathing becomes labored and my footing wavers, but his firm grip on my hip holds me steady.

Then he whispers, “Tell her I’m putting my baby in you.” My heart skips a beat, and when he pulls back, my shoulders sag, but the sound of him frantically working his belt buckle and lowering his zipper sends a rush of exhilaration through me.

“Daddy’s going to put a baby in me,” I declare wantonly. “He’s going to fill me with his seed until I grow again.”

A heavy pant leaves him, and he leans forward to brush my hair off my shoulder, then he places a tender kiss on my bare skin, sucking it for longer than necessary .

His head snaps up, and he glares back at the woman with contempt.

“I’m putting a baby in my little pet because this one, I’m keeping.

” Then he surges forward, taking the wind from my lungs.

“She’s mine.” Thrust. The fury behind each powerful grunt is overwhelming, and my fingers tighten around the mirror.

“She’s fucking mine!” Slam. My pussy clenches tightly around him, loving the way he’s marking his territory, emphasizing my importance to him and showing her I’m not replaceable.

My heart soars and my body simmers with each delectable thrust. “Breed for me, Little Pet. Let me cage you both forever.”

I want that.

I want that so bad.

A fire erupts from inside me so strong I burn us both in the process. Warmth spreads through me as I combust around him, and when his teeth sink into my shoulder and he pushes deep inside me, harder than ever, I know he’s making his claim.

A permanent one.