“Very nice …” he murmurs, which makes my skin turn red. “Still as pretty as ever, I see.”

“Don’t do this …” I say.

“Why not? Don’t tell me that you don’t want this because I know that’s a lie. You certainly didn’t object to it back at that party about four years ago. Or did you forget?” he asks, his fingers circling my breasts, taunting me.

“I didn’t forget, but that was different. I wasn’t in a cage, and I didn’t know you were going to kill my husband.”

“That only makes it kinkier, not unwanted,” he muses, his finger reaching the tip of my nipple, which hardens under his touch. “You can say all you want, but I know your body. I know your mind. I know everything about you, and I know that you like it rough. This prison doesn’t make you want me less. I bet that you were actually secretly hoping for me to do this …” With his thumb and index finger, he pinches my nipple and I bite on my cheek to prevent a moan from spilling out. He seems to enjoy it. With his other hand, he holds the knife close to my other nipple, pushing the tip into my flesh, but not far enough to puncture it. “Instead of that.”

Grinding my teeth, I refuse to let him provoke me, so I keep quiet and wait for his commands, as it’s seemingly the only way to keep him from hurting me. I know what he wants, but I’m not going to give it to him by myself. He’ll have to work for it.

“Hmm … quiet and obedient. I have to say, I kind of like it this way, Princess.”

“My name is Vanessa,” I say.

He suddenly tugs on my nipple, causing me to gasp. “I’ll call you whatever I want, spoiled little Princess. Don’t think you didn’t earn that name because you are a fucking brat and you know it.”

“Fine, call me whatever you want. I don’t care,” I sneer.

“Sure, you do,” he jests. “You just hate having to give in to someone. Except, this time, you have no choice, which makes you even more uncomfortable than normal. But I know how to play your strings, Princess, and this is exactly what you want.”

He lets go of my nipple, which burns like hell from his touch. The knife exits the cage, and with his finger, he tips up my chin. “Now, where’s that hand?”

CHAPTER 10

VANESSA

With my lips slammed together, I bring my hand down between my legs and start rubbing myself through the fabric. It feels wrong and dirty, but this is what he wants, so this is what he’ll get. I feel shameful for doing it, but if I have to choose between this and pain, I’ll pick this any time.

He leans back and cocks his head, only to bring the knife back into the cage. I flinch as it hovers close to my panties. He stares intently into my eyes as he grabs the side and tucks the knife underneath. “Don’t move.”

And then he rips it apart, pulling it out with him. My hand cups my privates, the sudden nakedness making me self-conscious. Licking his lips in the most seductive way, he brings my panties to his nose and sniffs hard.

“Fuck.” He throws them to the side. “I remember that smell. Nothing excites me more.” His eyes linger on my cupped pussy. “Spread your legs.”

“I can’t,” I say, pointing at the metal that’s surrounding me. “Bars, remember?”

“Tsk … Bad start, Princess. You have enough room to put your feet on the floor, bend your knees, and spread. No need to have your legs on the floor.”

He’s making me expose it all. Goddammit.

I slowly do what he wants, easing my way into position, as he stands up and looks down at me. I fear the knife in his hand, which could come striking down at any moment when he’s bored with me. It means I have to keep him entertained to live. I have no other choice.

“C’mon. Rub that pussy for me. Show me what you got,” he muses, cocking his head.

Sighing, I lower my fingers and start toying with my own clit. His eyes spark up as he watches me do it, his tongue darting out to lick the bottom part of his lip.

“Play with yourself, Princess. Make that pussy wet for me,” he says, stepping back even further, as if he’s admiring a tiger in the zoo. But this tigress isn’t behind a thick glass, and she’s not afraid to strike out if the time is right.

As I toy with myself, Phoenix grabs a chair and positions it a little further away from the cage so he has a full frontal view. He bites his lip while watching me, and I can’t help but feel a little rosy from it. That and the fact that I’m pleasuring myself makes it hard for me to concentrate on the task at hand. I don’t want to enjoy it, but it’s hard not to. My body always responds to my touch because it was trained that way. When I was still married to Phillip, this is the only thing I could do to give myself what I needed because he wouldn’t. So now, I immediately feel the urge to come whenever I pleasure myself, even when I don’t want to.

But I know Phoenix wants me to.

I can see it from the horny look in his eyes, and the way he’s touching himself through his jeans.

After a few seconds, the button of his jeans pop, his zipper lowers, and his pants and boxer briefs come down. The elastic band has trouble sliding down over his cock, which is massive. When it pops out in full glory, I have to swallow down my saliva. There’s a piercing going horizontally through the head of his cock. I feel bad for looking at it, especially when my clit begins to thump.

“What’s the matter, Princess? Like what you see?” His gruff voice has my body shaking with need.

Goddammit, I hate that he always has this effect on me. He can make me want things I thought I could do without. The way he touches the knob of the piercing, circling it with his thumb, makes me wet my lips. When a hiss comes out of his mouth, I almost explode right there and then.

“Ah-ah, Princess. Don’t come just yet,” he muses, biting his lip. “But don’t you stop teasing yourself either or I’ll come and play with you myself.”

He seems highly amused by all of this, which pisses me off, but I continue nonetheless. The more excited I get, the easier it becomes. With one hand, he’s stroking his cock, while he uses the knife with his other hand to etch into the armrest of the chair. The wood curls and drifts to the floor as he jerks off faster and faster, licking his lips at the sight of me. My lips quiver as I’m on the verge of coming, but I don’t allow myself to. I don’t want to, even though my body is shaking with need.

“That’s it, Princess. Fuck, I’m so hard right now,” he growls, his cock bouncing up and down.

I try to control my pleasure, try to ignore it, but it’s impossible. “I can’t … please,” I mumble.

“What?” he says, raising an eyebrow. “You wanna come?”

“Yes, oh god, yes,” I moan.

Shit. From the wretched smile on his face, I can tell he loved hearing that. Goddammit.

Suddenly, he says, “Stop.”

My fingers lay restless on top of my pussy, my heart beating in my throat, pumping blood toward that one region. I can’t think of anything else but coming right now, and there he is, making me stop out of nowhere.

Why? And why in heaven’s name do I listen?

“Good little Princess,” he says, and then he gets up from the chair. “Time to join in on the fun.”

“What?” I exclaim. “That isn’t part of—”

“Part of what? Agreement?” He laughs. “There’s only what I want and what you will do, and those two will always match.”

Kicking off his pants and boxer shorts, he walks up to my cage butt naked and sits down on his knees. “You’re going to pleasure yourself in front of me, and I’m going to thoroughly enjoy myself,” he says with a smirk.

Sighing, but not responding because I won’t give him that satisfaction, I start toying with my pussy again. It’s still sensitive to the point of erupting within a few seconds, but now that he’s up close and personal, it feels more wrong than ever. It’s like he’s invading my privacy, probably to make me uncomfortable as part of his punishment. Bah. I hate it. And yet I can’t stop myself from flicking my nub, overly aroused.