Free Bind and Keep Me, Book 2 by Cari Silverwood Page B

deserved punishment for swearing and refusing an order?”
    Stupid. This was
my
body. Yet there was nothing I could do that wouldn’t make him punish me more. So I waited, humiliated, for them to discuss what to do with me.
    “Yes,” Jodie answered.
    “And how many more for kicking you?”
    I heard her sniff. The bed rocked a little. “Ten?”
    “Ten it is.” Then he shifted, leaning over to pull out a bedside drawer at the same time as keeping me in place.
    I heard a scrape then the drawer shutting.
    “Klaus? Isn’t that too harsh?”
    “No.” The croak of that word speared a chill into me. “And an extra five to put behind us what happened on Saturday night. I think that’s fair.”
    He touched me with something hard and thin down there, pressing it onto my buttocks. Then he drew his hand back and began again, only this time it was some sort of stick, making a lethal swish in the air before it connected. I curled my hands into fists, grunting with each blow. Then instinct made me stretch back to protect my ass and he grabbed my wrists and pushed them higher.
    Over and over, licks of molten fire flared across my skin. He didn’t stop at fifteen and, by then, I was shrieking non-stop in the back of my throat. I thought Jodie was saying something but all I wanted to do was to get away from the relentless scorching pain.

Chapter 7

Jodie

    He wasn’t going to stop hitting Steph, or not any time soon. He was scaring me, and Steph…he was turning her ass bright red. The last hit had broken the skin. There was blood. When he got to eighteen—I’d been counting—I put my hand on his shoulder and spoke loudly to get through to him.
    “Klaus. Stop, please. You’re frightening me, and Steph will never see you as more than an ogre if you keep this up.” I shook him, feeling the almost granite hardness of his muscles as they flexed under my hand.
    The crop clattered to the floor. Then, without looking at me, he untangled himself from Steph and got to his feet.
    Outside birds screeched and wings flapped. Our house was close to the beach, though atop a cliff, and sometimes the compost heap that we kept for the garden enticed seagulls. A fresh breeze sent the light blue curtains billowing in above the bed. The serenity of world outside contrasted with what had just happened.
    Klaus stood with his back to me; his hands were loose at his sides, but from the tension in his muscles, I knew he was upset. He’d not lost his control before like this, not even at the play party when he’d nearly let Kat put a needle into my nipple. Kat had given us advice on how to approach his sadistic drive, as had Moghul, and he’d been so careful to restrain himself since then. He liked causing me pain, and I liked that pain, to a degree. We matched up so well.
    But now…I looked from him to Steph, who lay quivering and whimpering on the bed. There were bruises already, big bright blotches, and the leak of a tiny trickle of blood down into the cleft of her buttocks. They both needed me. I didn’t understand why, but I was torn between consoling her and hugging him. I had never thought Klaus was perfect. I could forgive him, but could she?
    I put a gentle hand to her back and leaned in quickly to whisper in her ear. “It’s over. I’ll take care of you. Okay? Nod if you heard me.” When she nodded, I leaned over and placed my other hand on Klaus’s hip. “Sir?” I was lost as to what to say. I wanted, needed, to talk to him, but knew he might not take it well if I instructed him in any way. “Klaus?”
    Then he turned and took my hand in his, entwining his fingers through mine and raising them to his mouth to deliver a kiss. He went to one knee before the bed to undo the gag, slipped it from Steph’s mouth and placed it to one side.
    “We’re done. We’re square now. Okay. Done. I was angry at you, Steph. I never do this. I promise I will not again go beyond what you can take. You’re going to have some nasty bruising but