Page 215 of Love Me in the Dark

I’d been at work when the delivery had been made, so they put her in the holding kennel I kept in my cellar, beneath the two-bedroom, two-bathroom cabin I lived in up in the mountains. It was quiet up there, and visitors were scarce.

The delivery guys had left the lights off in the cellar, which I’m sure did more to scare her than just being alone in the chilled room. I found the switch on the wall as I stepped off the stairs and eased the dimmer up to bring a soft glow to the otherwise dank area. It was damp down there, so I kept it mostly for storage of old furniture and tools.

And the kennel, of course, for when they acted up and needed some time to settle down. It was a good reminder of how much worse things could be. Left alone down in the dark. No toys to play with.

From the foot of the stairs, I glanced over at the kennel, an eight-by-eight space fenced off with floor to ceiling chain-link fencing. No luxury trappings, but there was a large bed in the corner.

I stopped for a moment and winced. I could smell her from where I stood. Didn’t they give her a bath before bringing her to me?

Letting out a low whistle, I took out my keys and headed for the door of the kennel. She shifted inside, burying herself farther into the far corner. Of course, she was frightened. It would be strange if she didn’t have some misgivings. Hell, I worried about the ones that didn’t seem to give a damn when they found themselves stashed in my house. Those were the broken ones. Completely lost before they made their way into my kennel.

Metal clanked as I shoved the key into the lock. I kept my eyes on her huddled form. What seemed like a submissive stance could quickly turn into a full-blown attack if I wasn’t careful. By the marks on her side, I could see she gave them a fight. I had to be ready.

Once inside the kennel, I shut the door behind me so she couldn’t run loose. My boot scraped against the dark gray concrete flooring as I came to stand over her.

“Gabriella?” I nudged her toes with the tip of my boot. “Gabriella, look at me.” I snapped my fingers at her.

She remained folded into herself. Her arms wrapped around her knees, hugging them close to her chest. She’d been stripped already. That was good.

I squatted down in front of her. “Gabriella, I said look at me. Don’t make me repeat myself.” I kept my voice firm. She needed to know who was boss here, and it sure as fuck wasn’t her.

“Please.” A soft whimper came, but she kept her face hidden in her knees. Her hands were bound with a dirty rope. Red marks were already ruining her wrists, probably from her trying to free herself.

“Look at me.” I gave her another chance to obey. It was a damn simple command, but girls like her, the ones that thought they could withstand what was coming, didn’t give in easy. If I didn’t enjoy the taming so damn much, I’d be annoyed by it.

A woman who kowtowed too easily bored me. What fun was breaking them and training them if they had distanced themselves from the act? No. The ones like this girl, the ones that had some defiance left in them—they were the ones I liked best.

I ran my hand over her long dirty blonde hair once, twice, and on the third stroke, I fisted my hand into the tangled mess and yanked her head back until her eyes were finally on me. Large, dark blue eyes locked on to me. Her mouth opened, ready to scream, but I twisted her hair hard to keep her quiet. Dirt smudged her face with thin streaks from her tears.

She brought her bound hands up, pushing them at me as though that would get me to go anywhere. I grabbed the rope between her wrists and shoved her hands down.

“They didn’t bathe you.” I frowned. “Are you hurt?” I asked, glancing down her body. She was still coiled up, though, making my inspection impossible. “Get up.” I released her hair and got back to my feet, taking a step back to give her room to move.

She shook her head. “Please. Just leave me alone.”

“Not gonna happen.” I nudged her with the toe of my boot again. “Get up, Gabriella, or you’re going to have your first lesson in obedience.” I’d rather wait until I had her cleaned upand fed before we went over the finer points of her stay with me, but if she was going to keep being so stubborn, I wouldn’t delay a punishment. Best to get her to understand her place right away. It would be easier on her later.

Not that anything coming her way would be easy. Wherever she’d been taken from, she’d never see it again. If she had family, they’d probably never know what happened to her. And if she had any dreams for her future, they were never going to come true.

She was nothing more than a pet now. Mine for the time while I had her, and then to whoever had actually purchased her. It was my job, my fucking pleasure, to train her and get her ready for her new life of obedience and servitude.

“Fine. Have it your way.” I grabbed hold of her hair again and yanked her to her feet. She brought her hands up to my fist, trying to push me away.

“Okay! I’m up! I’m up.” She scrambled to her feet, but it was too late.

I walked her backward to the wall, not stopping until her bare back hit the concrete.

“You were warned.” I let go of her hair and moved my grip to her arm, spinning her around until her bare ass faced me. Pinning her to the wall with my left hand between her shoulder blades, I unbuckled my belt with my right hand.

“No! Please no!” She wiggled, trying to get free, but I had the benefit of having played this game before. She wasn’t going anywhere.

I had the belt free of my jeans and wound around my fist to the length I liked before she could make another plea. In one hard, fluid movement, I brought my belt across her ass.

She moved up onto her toes, howling from the lash. But I wasn’t finished. Again and again, I whipped her with my belt. Through the dirt and grime on her flesh, I could see the brightpink from the lashings. I lowered my aim, striking her across the back of both her thighs. Another screech of pain from her, and my cock was steel hard.

Only when she finally stopped trying to twist away from me did I stop the belting. Soft sobs echoed in the kennel. Her shoulders slumped, shaking softly from her crying. I release my hold on her and stepped back, replacing the belt back into the loops of my jeans.

“When I give a command, follow it the first time,” I reiterated the lesson. “Now turn around so I can get a good look at you.”