would never hurt me. Even in the face of his demon, I knew I’d be safe with him in the end.
Somehow, Enzo would push me to the edge of my limits but never pass them. Even if it felt like a false promise, I knew it down to my core.
He ignored my plea, snatching up my other hand and shoving it above my head. “Enzo!” I yelled as the rope tightened against my skin and stretched my arms over my head.
Sitting back so that his weight settled over my hips, he stared down at me strung up like a feast waiting to be devoured. Even as I squirmed and tested the bonds, the heat that bled into his stare despite his rage threatened to consume me with my own need.
He reached his hand into the nightstand drawer, dragging out a knife slowly. The blade glinted in the moonlight, reflecting light back onto Enzo’s face to reveal the cruel twist to his lips. “Do you want to fucking die, Baby Girl?” he asked. “Is that what you were looking for when you ran toward a burning building?”
“No,” I gasped, the cool metal of the blade touching the skin just below my throat. Enzo trailed it lower, applying pressure so light that he didn’t break the skin, despite the sharpness as it slid over my flesh.
It burned in the knife’s wake, a trail of red appearing as he slid it between my breasts and grasped my sleep-shirt in his fist. “You can’t cope with what’s going on around you and you need a rush to find your balance?” he grunted, slicing the blade through fabric in a smooth motion until it split down the middle. “You come to me, Baby Girl. I am the only fucking rush you need.”
Sliding the knife into the left sleeve, he cut it away from my body. Repeating it on the right, he didn’t stop, carefully touching the blade to my skin just enough to hurt.
Just enough to make me feel and bring me back from the blank void of emptiness that consumed me in the wake of the fire.
He tore my shirt out from under me, leaving me naked from the waist up with my shirt discarded in tatters. I didn’t own many clothes. I’d lost nearly everything I owned, but Enzo didn’t give a shit about the material objects he could easily replace.
He cared about my body. The very same body he tormented with the threat of pain to show me how fragile it could be.
Goosebumps erupted across my skin as he trailed the blade through the valley between my breasts, teasing it back up over my ribcage to draw thin red lines around my nipples. The sharp pain that consumed me made me arch my back as he continued his path down and over my belly button. Unknowingly seeking more of the pain I’d never imagined I’d like.
Rough sex I knew, but I’d never trusted someone to the level where I could let them touch a knife to my skin and know I’d walk away without bleeding. Enzo’s control held steadfast, even as the beast rattled the cage and begged to be set free.
He controlled it just enough to keep me safe. The threat of what came after I was naked hanging in the air around us only adding to the adrenaline that pulsed through my body.
He cut through the material of my sweatpants and shorts in one motion, ignoring the fact that he could have just taken my pants off like a normal person. The unnecessary force of it appealed to me on a primal level I’d have never expected. To be so consumed by the adrenaline coursing through my veins as the tip of the knife dragged over the bare skin of my pussy, my breath wheezed out of my lungs in a ragged gasp.
Enzo finally moved to my shoes, tossing my socks and sneakers to the side haphazardly and pulling what remained of my pants down my legs to follow suit. With the blade clenched in his grasp, he slid a hand behind each of my thighs and shoved them high. Until my knees touched the sides of my breasts, folding me in on myself, and the edge of the blade scraped the skin of my stomach. He bared me to his view, staring down at me as he considered his options.
He finally smiled down at me, a dawning cruelty in his gaze as he seemed to realize what he wanted