The Scotch Series: The Complete Series (Scotch #1-3) - Penelope Sky Page 0,336

you. I’ll see your appetite then.” He held my gaze with a winter chill in his eyes.

My thighs squeezed together automatically, knowing he was right. My body was dangerously dehydrated because he made me wet every time he was in my presence.

We sat in uncomfortable silence and finished our meal. I waited for him to tell me his plan for the evening, but he never did. He finished a glass of wine like he did every night with dinner. He threw the remaining liquid away, never keeping a bottle that had already been uncorked.

“I’m finished.” I set my napkin on the table and stood.

“Sit.” His command erupted from deep within his throat. He never raised his voice, but he sounded powerful all the same.

I didn’t want to obey. I wanted to stand there out of defiance. But I wanted to know what plans he had for me. A bottle of wine was sitting on the table, and I could whack him upside the head with it. I lowered myself back into the chair.

“Your actions last night really got to me.” He sat upright in his chair like he was a king and I was a citizen about to be executed. “I’ve never been so hard in my life.”

That last part confused me.

“But you have to be punished for your actions. So I’m going to tie you up, spank you with my belt, and then fuck you. That’s a fair punishment for your behavior, Button.”

I’d been slapped with a belt before. It didn’t seem painful, but it was. The bite of leather always marked the skin, making it welt and redden. The pain lingered for days afterward, and the scars took weeks to disappear. “You expect me to do that for a button?”

“You will do that for a button.” He held my gaze, telling me defiance wouldn’t help in this situation. He was going to get what he wanted no matter how much I fought.

“No.” I wasn’t going to let him throw me around like a rag doll. Been there, done that.

“Yes. Your actions aren’t excusable.”

“Maybe I wouldn’t have tried to kill you if you didn’t try to choke me last night.”

“And maybe I wouldn’t have had to do that if you just admitted you’re mine.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “I’ll die before that happens.”

“Then I’ll kill you and bring you back to life.” The threat wasn’t idle. He stared at me like he meant every word.

Sometimes, I forgot he really was a psychopath. Not a psycho like Bones but mentally unstable nonetheless. “I’m not letting you beat me. Get over it.”

“I’m not going to beat you.”

“That’s what you just said.”

“I said I’m going to spank you. It’ll hurt a little bit, but it’ll feel so good you won’t even notice.”

“I’ve been slapped with a belt before. It doesn’t feel good—at all. Maybe you should let me slap you around and see how you like it.”

He didn’t respond to the sarcasm. “You’ll enjoy it.”

“Will not.”

“You’ll enjoy it with me. I can promise you that.”

“Nope.”

He leaned over the table, his elbows resting on the surface. “Button.”

I met his gaze without flinching. “Crow.”

He hated being defied, but he loved it at the same time. It was obvious in the intensity of his eyes. His arms shook in frustration. He held up two fingers. “Two buttons.”

I raised an eyebrow. “What does that mean?”

“Instead of one, I’ll give you two.”

I didn’t realize the cost of my actions was negotiable. “Nothing less than five.”

He stared at me with a calculating look.

I wasn’t going to go through that without serious compensation. Five buttons for one session was reasonable. That saved me five days of enslavement. That put me five days closer to freedom.

“Five is too many.”

“If you were the one being whipped, you would feel differently.”

“It won’t hurt, Button.”

“Easy for you to say. Five.” I wasn’t going to budge. I was worth more than two buttons.

He clenched his jaw as he considered the offer. His cock was hard in his jeans from thinking about the violence he was about to cause. He didn’t want to waste time bartering back and forth. He wanted to get down to the good stuff. “Four.”

“Five.”

He gripped the edge of the table before he gave in. “Five.”

He pushed me on the bed and tied my ankles together with the yellow lace he pulled out of his pocket. I was buck naked and on my stomach. He grabbed my wrists and tied them together behind my back, making it impossible for