Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 129027 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 645(@200wpm)___ 516(@250wpm)___ 430(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 129027 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 645(@200wpm)___ 516(@250wpm)___ 430(@300wpm)
Dr. Ezra says it’s not lying; it’s just massaging other people’s perceptions.
I’m just lucky no one insisted on seeing my cards during my last round of play. I only had a pair of kings high when I bet, but with the last card that came on the river, I got a flush. Flush beats a straight.
But I wanted to prove to myself that I do have a poker face. So, by losing and not letting Isaak know I wasn’t bluffing, I really won and broke my first rule: I don’t always have to be honest.
Plus, the thoughts bombarding my brain said get naked and tempt him to stay and play. Reckless, maybe, but my therapist says as long as the intrusive thoughts aren’t self-destructive, I shouldn’t worry.
A.k.a., it’s okay to break the rules sometimes.
The question is: is having a wildly intense affair with Isaak right before my wedding self-destructive? I don’t know. It’s not cheating. It’s not as if me and my husband-to-be are even having sex.
And maybe some part of me thinks my pathetic life needs some fucking destroying.
Tear me apart, I want to beg. Rip my little fucking box to shreds.
Instead, I say calmly, “Hard limits are no pain beyond an eight on a scale of one to ten. No fisting, no gags, no gut punching, no trampling, no whipping, no electric shocks, no blood play, no water sports, no breath play.”
“Jesus,” Isaak says. “Gut punching? How the fuck do you have a list like that in your head to reel off? Most people check things off on a list at the front desk. I was about to go get one.”
I laugh with nervous excitement. “I may have studied up. Just in case one day.”
“Teacher’s pet,” he says, spanking my exposed ass.
I let out a noise at the contact, squirming where I’m cuffed in place. The chaotic thoughts in my head still for a moment. My butt cheek feels warm where he spanked it, and it’s almost like I can still feel the impact reverberating all throughout my body. And it’s not pain. Just sensation.
I want more. Please, God, could I just escape my brain for two seconds?
“I’m going to take your limits seriously. But everything else is on the table then?”
I nod quickly. “Yes. My safe word is red. Now do it again,” I breathe out. “Please.”
Because the thoughts are already racing back in. Should I have texted Drew details on when I can meet him tomorrow? It was probably cold of me to just cut him off like that and then turn off the phone. What if he kept texting me back or was having a really dark night? Yeah I might be going through my own shit, but his father is a legit monster. He’s your fiancé and you’re a selfish cunt.
But then Isaak spanks me again and my thoughts go blessedly blank. All guilt and shame I’m feeling about letting Drew down disappears like a storm cloud blown away with a fresh wind.
I breathe out with such peace.
“Again. Please.”
After Isaak’s third spanking, a tear falls down my eye.
I’m crying.
I almost laugh with shock.
Oh my god, I’m actually crying! After so long with no tears at all—five whole years—I’ve been worried I was broken somehow.
“Kira?” Isaak questions in concern, leaning over.
I shake my head, my throat thick. He doesn’t get it. I’m not crying because it hurts.
It takes everything I have to make eye contact with him and beg, “Please. Keep going. Don’t worry if I cry. It’s a good thing. Trust me.”
He’s still frowning, but he nods. He continues spanking me and the precious tears flow, my mind blessedly empty.
I mean, there’s obviously something going on. But marvelously, it’s happening in my unconscious, or maybe just in my body. I’m so thankful for the release, either way.
And unlike during my rigorous meditation sessions where I try so hard to empty my mind, with each new spanking Isaak delivers on my quickly heating ass, my brain goes immediately blank.
He’s not spanking me hard. They’re more like swats that make my flesh jiggle. It’s only when he smacks in a place he’s already hit before that I begin to feel the sting.
But then, my whole butt’s just so warm that it almost feels like nothing at all the more he spanks me, even when I can tell he’s spanking me harder.
I start to wait for the harder spanks, closing my eyes. I know there are probably people in the club watching us. Wasn’t that part of what thrilled my rebellious mind when I climbed up on the table? Was that only fifteen minutes ago? Or a half hour? I think I’m starting to lose track of time in this limitless, hazy place.
I just know I don’t care about the people out there anymore.
I want to be here, in the bubble of this quiet place, with my body and Isaak, who’s holding me tethered here.