Tara Me - Seduced by Fire

“Peter, your required reprimand is thirty lashes with the bullwhip. You will be gagged to ensure your silence, as you silenced the submissive who gave you her trust. If you accept, Master Covington will administer tonight.”

Julie’s mouth dropped open and she shifted her gaze to Daniel. His expression was grave and she realized in that moment he’d known what would be required of Peter. What would be required of him. He’d probably tried to persuade her to stay away because he remembered her panic in the playroom. But because she insisted on coming to the meeting, she would have to witness her fear, her hard limit.

She swallowed a moan.

“Sasha,” Jeff said, and Julie straightened her back, scared anew for her friend. “It’s the agreement of all involved that you have suffered enough for your poor judgment. Your only additional requirement is that if Peter agrees to submit to the whip, you will watch.”

All the color drained from Sasha’s face, but she nodded.

“Do you need time to decide, Peter?” Jeff asked.

“No, sir,” Peter said, and Julie noted he’d turned as white as Sasha. “I’ll submit. But if I may, can I address Sasha privately?”

Daniel answered. “No. If she wants to talk, you can go to the far corner, but you’ll remain where you can be seen.”

Sasha didn’t look like she particularly wanted to talk with Peter, but she nodded as Dena whispered to her. “I’ll talk,” she said.

Julie didn’t miss the look that passed between Daniel and Dena. He didn’t seem overly pleased with the blonde, but Dena basically lifted her chin and gave him an I-couldn’t-care-less look.

He stood up and Julie thought he’d go scold Dena, but instead he walked toward her.

“Julie, I need to talk with you, in the playroom. Jeff, keep an eye on those two,” Daniel said with a nod at the corner where Peter was now talking quietly with Sasha. Sasha stood with arms crossed, shoulders slightly hunched.

“Will she be okay?” Julie asked.

“Yes, Jeff will ensure it.”

She nodded. The stern-looking Dominant appeared to have everything under control.

Daniel led her to the playroom. Again, her feelings upon entering this room were so different from what they had been before. The other times there had been excitement and desire between them. Walking into the playroom that Friday night, all she felt was empty.

He opened the door and she gasped as she entered. The whipping post was centered at the back of the room.

“You need to get it out of your system now so you can be strong for Sasha.”

She nodded. He knew how she’d react and he’d brought her in here so she would be prepared. “Thank you.”

His eyes were sad. “I care a great deal for you, Julie. I hope you know that.”

“I know.” She cared a great deal for him, too. That was why everything hurt so much.

He looked like he wanted to say something else, but instead he walked farther into the room. “Everyone will stand here. Peter and I will be in the back. I need space when working with a whip.”

Her knees wobbled. Fuck, she hoped she could do this.

“My entire concentration will have to be on what I’m doing,” he said. “I need to know you’ll be okay. Take deep breaths. Close your eyes. Leave if you have to.”

She filled her lungs and exhaled deeply. “I’ll be okay.”

He walked to his cabinets and took something out. Silently, he passed it to her.

“What’s this?” she asked. It looked like a diamond-shaped piece of Styrofoam.

“It’s part of how I practice. This was a rectangle earlier today.”

She traced her trembling finger down one neatly cut edge in awe of his strength and accuracy. “You did this with a whip?”

“I’m the single-tail expert of the group.”

“It’ll hurt him?”

“Yes.”

His gaze was filled with questions when she looked up at him. Unfortunately, she had no answers. Not the ones he needed and not the ones she wanted. She handed the foam back to him. “Thank you for bringing me here.”

“If you want to leave, I’ll have Cole drive Sasha home,” he said. “You don’t have to stay.”

But she did. She had to stay for Sasha and for herself and, for a tiny part, for Daniel. “I’m okay.”

He brushed her cheek with the back of his hand. “My brave, brave girl.”

She closed her eyes, lost herself in his touch, and tried not to think about how it hurt he didn’t call her “kitten.”

“I’m not so brave,” she whispered.

“Look at me,” he said, capturing her face in his hands. “I never lie. You’re braver than you think. When you finally realize it for yourself, that’s when everything will make sense and you’ll lose that confused feeling.”

He tipped her head forward and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. “I need a few minutes to prepare and get in my headspace. Let me take you back to the group.”

He left after taking her back to the meeting room. From the corner of her eye, she saw Cole slip out as well. Glancing around the room, she noticed Sasha was no longer speaking with Peter, but stood surrounded by Dena and other submissives. Peter was in deep conversation with Master Greene.

She closed her eyes, still feeling the touch of Daniel’s lips on her forehead, and only opened them when Jeff instructed everyone to move into the next room. Dena caught her eye and motioned for her to join her. In unspoken agreement, they led the way with Sasha between them.

Daniel stood beside the whipping post, his arms crossed. Julie recognized his expression immediately and shifted her eyes to the floor. It took all her self-control not to drop to her knees in supplication. Her belly twisted at the realization she still craved it. Still needed it.

Cole stopped them from moving any closer. “Stay here. We don’t want anyone to get too close or accidentally move within range.”

Sasha swayed against Julie and stumbled forward.

Cole caught her, placing his hands on her shoulders. “Easy there, little one. Are you okay?”

Sasha nodded and glanced down at his bracelet. “Yes, sir.”

“Look at me. Do you need to sit? Should I get you a chair?”

“No, sir. I’m fine.”

Cole didn’t look convinced. “Inhale deeply through your nose for me. Good girl. Now out through the mouth. Good job. Again.”

Julie had respected Cole as a writer, but watching him with Sasha, she realized she respected him as a Dom, too.

“Feel better?” he asked Sasha after she’d settled.

“Yes, sir.”

“Don’t lock your knees.” He looked to Julie. “Good to see you again, Julie.”

“Likewise.”

His lips tightened into a thin line and his accent was clipped. “Address me properly, sub.”

She stared at him in shock. At the moment he didn’t look at all like the easygoing journalist who’d entertained her at dinner weeks ago. Instead he looked hard and unyielding.

“My bracelet’s white,” she said.

His eyes were cold. “Let me assure you of two things. One, my eyesight is perfect; therefore, I know exactly what color your bracelet is. And two, you don’t want me to ask you to do something twice.”

She believed him, adding “scary” to the list of adjectives to describe him. “Good to see you again, too, sir.”

He nodded and went to stand beside Dena.

A hush descended on the room as Peter and Jeff entered. Peter’s shirt was off and Jeff kept a hand on his upper arm as though he feared the other man would flee. Julie’s stomach dropped to her knees when the pair reached Daniel and he buckled Peter to the post with his back facing the crowd.

Daniel placed a hand on Peter’s shoulder and spoke quietly to the bound man. Peter nodded at whatever it was Daniel said and even from where she stood, Julie saw Peter’s body flinch. Jeff took a gag, buckled it around Peter’s head. Then Jeff moved to stand in front of him, facing the crowd, but his attention was on Peter.

It was as if the entire room held its breath when Daniel stepped forward, coiled whip in hand.

Sweat dripped down Julie’s shoulder blades and she tried to reconcile the whip-wielding man in front of her with the one who’d pressed a sweet kiss to her forehead less than thirty minutes earlier. She wanted to close her eyes, but found herself mesmerized as Daniel swung the whip over his head and brought it down across Peter’s back.

One.

Beside her, Sasha jumped and Julie didn’t have to look down to know she was giving her silent safe word.

The whistle of the whip once more broke the stillness, followed by the unmistakable slash of its tail meeting flesh.

Two.

By five, Sasha was mumbling under her breath. By ten, Daniel was breathing heavily. By fifteen, Julie would have given damn near anything to leave the room and she knew they were only half-done.

Daniel became another person in front of her. She didn’t doubt his claim at being an expert with the whip. In his hand, the implement became an extension of himself. He was more than an expert; he was an artist. But her stomach felt sour as she saw the welts appear on Peter’s back, because she realized Daniel’s canvas was flesh.

When the count became twenty, she started counting down. Ten more and she could leave. Nine. Eight.

She moved her gaze from Daniel to Peter and though she knew nothing about whips, she could tell the difference between Sasha’s back and Peter’s. Where Sasha’s had been a mess of crisscrossing lines, the marks on Peter were evenly placed and completely symmetrical.

Three.

Two.

One.

Had she been paying attention to Sasha the way she should have been, she would have anticipated her fall. As it was, Cole caught her seconds before she hit the floor.

“Easy, now,” he said, scooping her up as if she weighed nothing. “Dena, blanket please.”

“Is she okay?” Julie asked Cole, feeling rather weak herself.

“Master Greene,” Cole said, still holding Sasha. “Bring me two chairs.”

Seconds later, Julie was being helped into a chair by the Dom she recognized as Peter’s new mentor.

“Are you okay?” he asked, one hand on her shoulder.

“Yes, sir,” she said, the simple act of sitting down making her feel better.

Beside her, Cole sat holding Sasha in his lap, a blanket tucked around her legs. He looked slightly uncomfortable, but he held her all the same, and when she started to fidget, he murmured softly to her.

Julie risked a look at Daniel.

Peter had been released and the gag removed. He stood near the post, shoulders shaking, while Daniel dressed his back. In her mind, though, she still pictured him with the whip, his face hard as stone, and his arm moving back only to strike again.

Her stomach rolled once more.

“Master Greene,” Daniel said as he finished taking care of Peter’s wounds, and his voice was rough and deep. “Bring your mentee his shirt.”

Once Daniel had helped Peter into his shirt and talked to him face-to-face, he turned and walked across the room with long, quick strides. He breezed past Julie’s seat, and she wasn’t sure if she was hurt or relieved he didn’t look her way, but his face was focused only on the exit.

“Should I go to him, sir?” Dena asked Cole.

“No,” Cole said. “He has to handle it his own way. Let him be.”

“Red,” Sasha said, eyes blinking. “Red.”

“Shh, little one,” Cole said, rubbing her arms. “You’re safe. It’s okay.”

Sasha’s eyes flew open and she struggled to break free. “I’m fine. Let me go. Please, sir. Please.”

Cole gently unwrapped the blanket and helped her to her feet. “Are you sure?”

“Yes, thank you, sir.”

Julie felt cold taking in the scene around her. From Peter, hunched and hurting at the front of the room. Sasha, troubled and trembling while trying to be strong. Even Daniel, who’d left the room as though the demons of hell were following behind him. Nothing spoke of wholeness or completeness. All of it spoke of danger and darkness. And in that moment she decided once and for all that BDSM was not for her.

Daniel wasn’t surprised when Cole found him in his office hours later. The house was empty and quiet, all the group members having left, showing themselves out. Or maybe Cole had done it. Daniel wasn’t sure. He swirled the scotch in his glass. He wasn’t sure he cared.

“Knock. Knock,” Cole said, stepping inside the office.

“Go away.”

“No. It’s been three hours and that’s your limit. One hour to sulk, one to jog, one to think.”