“It does seem unlike you.”
“It does. Now. Then? I can’t really tell you. I was young and horny, and she was offering.”
I scoff. “Men are pigs.”
He chuckles. “I suppose I should be offended by that.”
“And you’re not?”
He shakes his head. “I’m not. Men—especially young men—have the habit of thinking with the wrong head.”
“You don’t do that.”
“No, I don’t. Not anymore.”
Not since that time in my life.
He doesn’t say those words, but they’re clear as day, buzzing in my head as if he actually uttered them.
“Go on,” I say.
Chapter Forty-Nine
He didn’t bind her that first time. He simply made her stay on her hands and knees while he flogged her ass until it was pink. Then he fucked her from behind.
…
“Skye?”
I exhale. “Yeah?”
“You okay?”
I wait a few seconds, gathering my thoughts. “Yes. It’s just harder than I thought to hear you say you fucked her.”
“I did fuck her. You already know that.”
I inhale again. Exhale. “I know. But hearing you say it…”
“Would you prefer a little less detail?”
“Maybe. Let’s keep it on a need-to-know basis, okay? Explain what happened and what the final result was.”
“Without explaining how we got there?”
“Fuck.” I bite my lower lip. “I don’t know.”
“I wasn’t planning to paint a picture in your mind, Skye. All I said was I flogged her and then I fucked her. To me, that’s not a lot of detail. I’m hardly painting a picture.”
“But you are painting a picture. I’m an artist. I see pictures in everything. How do you think I figure out what to photograph?”
“Then you’re creating the picture yourself.”
He’s not wrong. “I know.”
“You want me to fast forward?”
“Maybe just a little.”
“Good enough.”
…
The affair went on for several weeks. They got together on Braden’s days off and experimented with BDSM. He bound her wrists, her ankles, sometimes all four appendages. And he spanked her and flogged her. Braden was content to leave it there.
But Addison wanted more.
When he refused to go further, she began the stalking again. She showed up at his workplace and his apartment.
Braden did some reading up, and finally consented to go further.
They began with more elaborate bondage. Eventually he added some sensory deprivation and experimented with hot and cold.
It was Addison who brought up erotic asphyxiation.
…
“So that’s why it’s your hard limit,” I say.
“Because she brought it up? No.”
“Then why?”
“For God’s sake, Skye. Be patient.”
I sigh and nod. Patience will be the death of me.
“I did some research. I thought I could handle it.”
“And you couldn’t?”
“I’ve told you before. We were both inexperienced. Totally in over our heads.”
…
After a lot of research, Braden was ready to bind Addie’s neck and try some minimal choking. The scene started with getting them both worked up through a series of flogging and breast play and then going to oral. When Addie was good and turned on, Braden tied a loop around her neck, kind of like a doggie choke collar.
He gave it a yank right when the orgasm was imminent, and Addie came.
“That was incredible!” she exclaimed when it was over.
Braden admitted it was amazing to watch. Amazing to exert that amount of control over another person’s pleasure.
He thought he’d found his calling. He was good at this. Good at taking control. At dominating. Perhaps he was a Dominant after all, though he disliked labels.
They practiced neck binding and breath control several more times, each time Braden taking more and more of her air to induce erotic asphyxiation.
Until the last time—
…
Braden stops talking mid-sentence.
“You can’t stop now. I just got used to the image in my mind of you going down on her. This isn’t fair.”
“This isn’t easy for me to talk about,” he says.
“You’ve come this far.”
He nods and continues.
…
Braden was hard, so hard, and he had Addie going. Her eyes were closed, and he’d teased her with a few small yanks.
“You want more?” he asked.
“Yes. Please, sir.”
Another soft yank.
“More?”
“Yes, sir. Please.” Her voice was breathy, airy.
He circled her clit with his fingers while, with his other hand, he pulled on the restraint around her neck. “Tell me you want it. Tell me you want me to choke you. Hard.”
“Yes, sir,” she said. “I want you to choke me hard. Harder, please, sir.”
He gave the rope one last yank as he thrust his cock into her. It didn’t take long for him to come, and when he withdrew…
She was limp. Addie had gone limp.
“Addie?”
No response.
He moved her onto her back. Her eyes were closed, her neck still bound. Quickly he removed the rope. “Addie! Wake up!”
He placed his fingers at her neck. Thank God. Her pulse was light, but it was there.
What the hell had he done?
911. Call 911. And tell them what? That he’d choked a woman in his bed? Not the best idea.
He patted her cheek. Soft at first, and then harder. “Come on! Wake up, Addie! Come on!”