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Griffin

Breathe. Count your breaths and breathe.

The irony of giving myself the exact same advice I’d just given to the boy trapped in my cellar wasn’t lost on me.

Boy.

He might’ve been half my age, barely in his early twenties, but he wasn’t a boy.

I thought about him that way anyway, and I needed to stop before it gave my conscience a bigger attack than it was already having. It had taken all I had to stand firm with him — with the pet I’d call Toby, the pup who was going to be so much better than the spoiled kid Ryder had ever been. I knew it would be better in the end, but it had still been difficult.

I leaned back against the metal security door, shuddering at the feeling of it at my back. Going into that room and knowing it would lock behind me had been terrifying, more terrifying than I’d thought it would be… but I’d done it.

My therapist would’ve been proud of that part, at least, even if he would’ve been horrified at the last. It was part of the reason I’d stopped going. I couldn’t let anything change my mind — challenge my resolve — because now that I’d committed, that was that.

Maybe if I was some regular old person, but no. Not only was I the scarred remnants of a man, but I was the scarred remnants of someone who had been something once. It didn’t seem like he’d recognized me down there, but they’d warned me the drugs would wreak havoc on his system.

They’d told me they’d make him more pliable, too, but that hadn’t happened… yet.

Another deep breath, then I went to my office. I’d promised I’d bring him a blanket if he did what I told him, which meant I had to keep an eye on him.

I sank down into the comfortable office chair I spent most of my days in, my eyes flicking to the second computer I’d purchased just for this. The only thing it could do was play footage from the cameras I’d set up in the cellar. Everything else had been blocked. I couldn’t risk anything going… public.

That would be a disaster.

He was still curled up there, stubborn and starting to shiver. I watched in full color as he tried to adjust beneath the thin blanket he’d been given, like that was really going to do anything more than taunt him with the promise of warmth, and I palmed myself through my pants.

I was a sick bastard for getting off on watching this and getting hard at the idea that he’d eventually give in and do what I said.

I didn’t dare set any of this to record, which meant I’d have to rely on my imagination later on. It didn’t matter. All of this would be imprinted upon my memory well enough.

I set the volume louder then rested back in my chair .

A few hours later, the sound of his voice jolted me fully awake.

“Hey!” he called out.

I rubbed my eyes, gazing at him. He was shivering more then, looking absolutely miserable.

“Hey, asshole!”

Because that was really the best way to get me to do what he wanted.

He threatened me, mocked me… and finally, after an hour of nearly nonstop talking, he turned to begging.

It made my semi from earlier turn into a full erection, and there were so many things I wanted to see him do. This, though, was only one of the first steps… and it would be far more gratifying to watch him debase himself for the first of many times to come.

Finally, I heard what I’d been listening for.

It was a quiet sound, and I had to strain to be sure, but there it was.

He barked.

It was a low, pathetic excuse for a bark, but it was a bark.

God, I was fucking hard. If there was a Hell, I had a one-way ticket after this.

I immediately grabbed the soft, plush blanket I’d bought for him and headed back to that door, keying in the security code and touching the secondary key on the chain around my throat. He wouldn’t be able to see it from where I’d hidden it beneath my shirt, but I’d know there was another way out.

He wouldn’t. He couldn’t.

I didn’t need him focusing on the idea of snatching up the key to try to escape, even though he’d never be able to. Even if he did, there were perks to being an eccentric billionaire ex-singer. I had plenty of land for him to get lost in. I didn’t know how to track worth a damn, but there was only so far he could go…

But it wasn’t going to come to that because he wasn’t going to escape. Not now. Not ever.

The finality of it even scared me. It was so much pressure…

I exhaled slowly and opened the door, just in time to hear him bark again, a strangled sob accompanying the sound.

His head jerked up when he heard the sound of it opening and closing.

I slowly crossed the room, not necessarily wanting to go back into the light that shone over his cell — unrelentingly bright, harsh, designed to disorient him as much as to let me watch him better.

“You’re ready to cooperate, then?”

He swallowed hard, but he nodded.

“Do it.”

He hesitated, tears glistening so beautifully on his eyelashes as he gripped the bottom hem of his shirt, yanking and pulling it over his head.

The boy was lovely, his body more androgynous than masculine, just as his face was prettier than it was handsome. He didn’t have the harder planes of someone who worked out, but the softness was part of what was so appealing about him.

I smiled at him, even though I knew it wasn’t what he wanted to see. “Now throw the shirt over here, by the door.”

He clung to the fabric, wringing it in his hands.

I waited patiently. He would either do it or not, then we’d go to the next step .

“You didn’t say I’d have to d-do that,” he argued as a particularly violent shiver ran through him.

“That’s one of your lessons,” I told him, even though I just hadn’t thought to be that specific. “I’m not going to spell everything out for you. You have to take a little initiative.”

I held up the blanket, letting him see it.

“Blanket first,” he said.

His misery looked beautiful on him.

“Shirt first,” I countered. “I’m your master. You don’t get to negotiate, pet.”

That lesson was going to take some time to learn. I could tell that much already. He’d still try, thinking he could somehow get the upper hand. He might’ve been less defiant than before, having spent his curses uselessly on the cameras, but he was far from broken.

Good. I didn’t want him broken. I just wanted to… reshape him.

He hesitated another moment.

Even though guilt ran through me as he shivered from the cold, I held onto the blanket.

Finally, he tossed the shirt at the side of the cell, and I took my time going to get it. I wasn’t going to play tug of war with him.

Not yet. Not with a shirt.

I grabbed it through the cell’s bars, throwing it somewhere behind me into the basement. He let out a choked sound of protest, but I tossed the blanket toward him. It fell on top of him, and he quickly shook it out, wrapping it around himself.

“Now your pants,” I told him.

He stared at me. He had no idea what was going on, and it made him slow.

Then again… neither did I .

But if he knew that, he would pounce on the weakness like he was the predator and I was the prey. I couldn’t let him figure out how uncertain I really was. I couldn’t afford to. I’d already committed to this, and I reminded myself that there was no going back.

“Pants,” I repeated, more firmly that time.

“Why the fuck would I take off my pants?” he asked, burrowing deeper into the soft blanket. “It’s fucking cold down here.”

“Because I told you to.” I probably should’ve made him strip entirely before giving him the blanket, but there was something about the idea of breaking him down painstakingly slowly that appealed to me. He had to realize he was mine.

Until he accepted that this was going to happen, he would keep fighting me… and as long as he kept fighting me, he was going to regret it. I didn’t have to beat him or rape him to get him to obey me. It might be quicker, but that wasn’t how I wanted to teach him.

I wanted him to surrender, not to break.

He laughed, low and ugly, then he mimicked the sound of a buzzer going off. “Nope! Wrong answer, asshole.”

I shrugged. “You must really like begging,” I told him.

His eyes narrowed. “And why’s that?”

“You don’t seem to understand the way this works,” I said, my voice hardening. “I give you an order. You obey. If you don’t, I take something away… or in this case, I don’t give you something at all.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

I was doing the villain thing. I was being vague and telling him my plans when I needed to keep this simple. He had to listen to me, and if I justified my words at every turn, he wasn’t going to learn to do that — or at least, it would become arduous.

“I’m not giving you water until the pants come off.” An ugly smile curved onto my lips. “You’ll have to bark to tell me you’re ready to obey, too… and I might not be around to hear you. You might have to bark all night like a little yappy dog.”

“Dude, this is seriously fucked up.”

He already was like a little yappy dog.

“Water when the pants come off,” I repeated. “The temperature goes up when you lose the undies. Actually… I think it’s a little too warm in here right now.” I crossed over to the thermostat, adjusting it until even the blanket wouldn’t be much of a help.

He let out a choked sound, and I could see it on his face. He wasn’t that desperate yet, no matter how cold he was.

He’d be begging for water soon enough, though. The drugs would’ve left him with a horrible case of dry mouth, and with the way he wouldn’t stop talking…

“You’re going to get very familiar with the routine,” I told him. “Refusing to do something then eventually giving in… You could make this a lot easier on yourself.”

He sneered at me, the expression twisting his face into something a lot uglier than my scars. “Fuck you. You don’t get to win that easily. You want my clothes off? You’re gonna have to work for it.”

I arched a brow. “You’re half-naked in a cell in my basement with no food and water, while it steadily gets colder,” I summarized, “and you’re telling me that I’m the one who’ll have to do the work? Did you hit your head too?”

He scowled, pulling the blanket over his head until just his face was visible. “Just go away.”

There was no sense in staying downstairs. It was cold down there. It was only a matter of time until he surrendered, but I didn’t have to be uncomfortable while I waited for him to give in.

“Your wish is my command,” I mocked him. “Just bark when you’re thirsty.”

Then he’d be in for another treat, something else for him to balk at. I almost felt bad for him.

Almost.