Page 11

11

Ryder

No matter how much I’d expected him to touch me, nothing could’ve prepared me for it actually happening. I could feel the warmth of his hands on my skin, the way his strong fingers dug into me, and I had to fight not to squirm.

The mitts were freaking me out, but it was better — marginally — than having my hands held behind my back. I’d known he was larger than me on a practical level but feeling him up close had only driven home how much smaller I was. I didn’t like it. The discrepancy in our heights and weights made it that much easier for him to hold me captive.

Of course he wouldn’t have kidnapped someone who would’ve been able to overpower him.

Coward. I’d have liked to see him try to take on some of my friends.

But then, they weren’t what he wanted. He wanted me for reasons I couldn’t even start to understand.

Why did I have to be the one to get picked up for this twisted shit? I may not have been the best guy around, but I didn’t deserve this, either.

“You can let go of me now,” I finally said through gritted teeth when he didn’t release me. I tried to flex my fingers in the mitts, but they wouldn’t budge. It was nearly panic-inducing, but I didn’t want him to see me break down over the claustrophobic feeling. It was only my hands. What if he got into the serious shit and started with the leather masks and all?

I shuddered.

No, I wasn’t even going to think about that.

He held onto me a moment longer, and I was all too aware of his hands on my bare skin. I squirmed, and his grip tightened momentarily before he released me.

I put as much distance as possible between us, which wasn’t very much, still all too aware of the feeling of his erection pressing against my front. He might not be treating this like something overtly sexual yet, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t. He was only getting started.

That thought was nearly enough to shatter what little resolve I had left. He kept fucking winning, and all I could do was surrender even though it was the last thing I wanted to do. I wasn’t into this, my soft cock more than attesting to that fact, but it wouldn’t matter because he was.

I stared hard down at the ground, but I could see him shake his head out of the corner of my eye before he headed for the cell door. I may have called him a coward, but I wasn’t any better. One failed attempt, and I’d given up.

I tried to tell myself it was just for now, but the simple truth of it was that I was too tired to fight. I didn’t even know how that was possible, considering all I was doing was lying around and sleeping, but I was exhausted.

Maybe that was why I was exhausted.

That, and he’d kept me busy almost every waking hour with one humiliation after another. It was like he was trying to throw me off balance and keep me that way — and he probably was.

The sound of the key turning in the lock of the cell door was impossibly loud. I stood there with my mitted hands held out in front of me, my back just shy of pressing against the wall, and I watched him leave the cell.

I couldn’t even imagine what he’d come up with next because I wasn’t some perverted freak like he was, but I knew it was going to be even worse. How it was going to be worse, I really wasn’t sure, and thinking about it was only going to drive me insane.

Instead of leaving, though, he waited outside of the cell door, watching me.

“What?” I snapped. “Why are you watching me?” I shifted self-consciously, realizing entirely too much of my body was on display for him.

“Because I like what I see,” he replied.

I scowled. “Well, this ain’t for you,” I asserted.

He gave me a look, a brow drawing up. “I don’t know how long it’s going to take for you to realize you belong to me, but it’s going to be easier when you do.”

“For you,” I said.

“For both of us,” he said, using that mild tone of his that I hated so much. It almost made this sound reasonable, even though it was anything but.

“Oh, fuck off.”

“Getting mouthy again now that I’m on the other side of the bars,” he noted .

I stared at him, not liking where that train of thought might be going.

“I have different types of gags I’d love to try on you,” he went on. “Some of them will be more comfortable than others, but you’re not going to like them.”

What kind of stupid comment was that? Of course I wasn’t going to like the gags. I wasn’t into kink. I’d heard enough stories from my friends to know it wasn’t my thing. Gags and spanking and cock rings and all sorts of other shit could just stay far away from me.

While we were at it, the mitts could go too.

“You might want to get something to drink if you’re going to continue to run your mouth,” he said. “Because I will gag you, and you won’t even be able to tell me when you want to behave again…” He canted his head to the side. “Then again, I can always watch for you to get on all fours and present your ass to me since you wouldn’t be able to bark…”

I gaped at him. “Is there some sort of manual for this sort of thing?” I finally demanded after a moment of dumbstruck silence. “Where are you coming up with this shit?”

His smile was brittle, that terrible thing that drew his scarred face up and made it all too clear what kind of person he was by the outside alone. “Let’s just say I read a lot.”

“Don’t get out much?” I taunted, unable to help myself.

His eyes flashed, and I saw something in them that went beyond anger. I almost felt bad for what I’d said — or at least, I would have if he hadn’t gone straight for the boxes.

Fuck .

“I’m sorry,” I blurted out.

“No,” he said, shaking his head, “you aren’t. You’re just saying what you think I want to hear.” He closed the distance between us again, a ball gag in hand. “Get on all fours with your ass up in the air, and I won’t put the gag in.”

I stared at him, horrified all over again. How could he keep making the choices get worse like this? Every time I thought it was impossible, there he went again. The depths of his depravity went beyond anything I could’ve imagined in my worst nightmares.

And his sole focus was me.

He shrugged when I didn’t move. “I suggest you get something to drink before I get in there.” He was already moving for the door when he spoke.

I didn’t want to drink in front of him, but I didn’t want to end up going thirsty either. Shit. In a desperate moment, I closed my eyes and wished I was anywhere but there.

It didn’t help.

When I opened them again, I was still in that basement cell, and he’d already unlocked the door.

“Wait!” I burst out, miserable but making yet another choice to damn me even more. “I’m thirsty.” I wasn’t getting down on all fucking fours for him, but I’d drink out of that stupid thing with his eyes on me. He could watch that from his secret cameras anyway, probably.

“Hurry up,” he said. All of the mildness, the near warmth, had faded from his voice. It was curt and distant, something I didn’t like hearing. It betokened something wrong, which meant I was going to have to deal with yet another punishment.

I didn’t know how many more of them I could handle.

I went reluctantly to the waterer, wrapping my lips around the head of the false cock. I heard him hiss in a breath as he watched me, and my cheeks flushed as I realized just how intently he was watching me suck off some dildo for water. It couldn’t be helped .

I took as long as I could, but in the end, he lost patience.

He grabbed my arm again, more gently that time but just as firmly as before, pulling me away with a loud, obscene smack of my lips.

I closed my mouth, pressing my lips together and shaking my head. Like hell was he putting that thing in my mouth!

He’s going to win this too, and you know it . That ever-present fucking voice was right, but that didn’t mean I had to just yield. If that was the case, I’d be on all fours like some fucking mutt.

Chances were that after wearing the gag for a few minutes, I’d be wishing I had, but I just… couldn’t. The gag was less humiliating than getting into position like I was preparing to be fucked.

Like I was really surrendering to him and taking the next step toward being his fucking dog.

He grabbed my jaw, and even though I fought against him, he pried my mouth open. Before I could protest, the ball was situated firmly behind my teeth, and I gagged as he tied it into place. I tried to reach it, to unfasten it, but the mitts got in the way. I let out a little whine, feeling entirely too helpless.

“There,” he said. “Maybe that’ll get you to start thinking about what you’re saying, Toby.”

My name isn’t fucking Toby .

I couldn’t say the words, but I could give him the most murderous glare I could summon up.

It was too bad he only offered a grim smile in turn, which meant it wasn’t successful at all.

He pushed me back, and I stumbled, surprised.

He let himself out of the cell before I could recover. “When you’re ready to behave, you know what you need to do.” Again, that tight smile that wasn’t really a smile curved onto his lips. “And you’d better hope I’m watching when you do it, or you’ll be waiting like that for a while. You don’t have your knee pads yet, so it might get uncomfortable.”

Knee pads? That was so not fucking comforting at all.

From the look on his face, I was pretty sure it wasn’t supposed to be.

Fucking bastard !

Getting the last word again, he glanced over me once more then retreated to the stairs, vanishing up them into what I could only assume was his home.

And I was all alone to wonder just how long it would be until I gave in and did what he told me to do.