Without wasting another moment, Darrenbrought the belt down hard on my skin, and I yelped as the heat ofthe lash spread over my back. He waited only a second, but hedidn’t have to wait long before I started the count.
“One,” I groaned.
The belt came down again, striking lower asit cut through my flesh leaving behind a mark that would ache fordays.
“Two.”
As soon as we got to ten, I thought we weredone, but Darren just switched the end of the belt with the buckleand started pelting me with that end. The agony was even worse thanbefore, and it didn’t take long for my yelps to turn to screams. Ihad suffered ten more of those. But we still weren’t done.
Darren then pulled me to the ground on allfours and ripped the rest of my dress completely off and forced mylegs apart. Tearing away my thong, he drilled himself into me andas his body rocked into mine, it caused more pain to flare up in myback while his hands held my hips in a vise grip.
When he was finally finished with me, I wasso weak I didn’t even have the strength to cover myself up. I justlaid there facedown with my arms limp at my side. My back burnedand throbbed, yet I continued to lay there, my eyes barely able toremain open while tears stained my face. I wondered for a briefmoment if he would just leave me down here.
“I’m sorry,” I barely whispered. I didn’tknow why I said it because I wasn’t sorry. Maybe the only thing Ifelt sorry for was myself, but for some reason, I thought it wassomething he wanted to hear.
“I bet you are,” Darren said standing overme as he righted himself.
He then walked over to the bathroom andbrought back a warm washcloth. After cleaning me up, he gentlythrew me over his shoulder and took me back upstairs to his room.Tossing my dress into the trash, he laid my naked body on mystomach in his bed and pulled the covers over my shoulders.Climbing in behind me, he miraculously let me be on my side of thebed, but he kept himself turned toward me for the entire night.
“Who do you belong to, princess?” he askedbefore turning out the light.
“You,” I whispered and then gave myself tothe darkness.
ChapterTwenty-Six
Routine
The following weekslugged on as I spent most of my time lying down on my stomach orsitting up perfectly straight. The pain in my back was so terribleit affected my energy, mystrength, and my ability to walk. Darren’s sympathy was completelyabsent as he blamed me since I was the catalystforit all. He didn’t even offer meany painkillers thistime.
As often as hecould, Darren refused to let me out of his sight. He worried Imight regress after his punishment, and he wanted to ensure itseffectiveness. And I suppose it was effective because I didn’t saya word to him unless he had spoken to me first.
Darren had theusual amount of business to take care of, but worked from home asoften as he could. When he was home, I spent my time watchingmovies in the theater or reading while he took care of business. Hewas planning some kind of acquisition based on the phone calls Ioverheard in my presence. He would usually lay my head down in hislap while he stroked my hair and read his documents. That was whenI would eventually fall asleep, and he didn’t seem to mind,probably because I was quiet for once.
Many timesthroughout the day, he would tend to my tattoos and examine themwith sparkling eyes as he admired the handiwork. He would reapplyointment over my skin on a daily basis, and Godhelpme if I ruined the tattooin any way, Darren hadsaid to me. I heeded his warning like my life depended on it, andit probably did.
Sunday night couldnot have come quick enough as I longed to finally be away from himand his overbearing presence. I needed a break from him,badly.
After dinner,Darren gave me a large blanket and told me he’d meet me out on thebeach for the sunset in tenminutes. Laying the blanket down by the shore, I sat down andwatched the sky as the sun painted it with golds,pinks, and brightoranges; it was nice to finally have a singular moment to myself.Twenty minutes later, though, Darren still had not come down tomeet me, and I was beginning to wonder where hewas.
By the timenothing but a sliver was left in thesunset, I was startingto get cold as the ocean breeze began to pick up. I lookedback around me and wonderedif I should go and look for him. I pulled the ends of the blanketaround my shoulders, huddled into it, and continued to wait. Two minutes later, the littlehairs on the back of my neck stood up as I felt a hand on myshoulder and flinched up to find Darren standing behindme.
“You missed it,” I said lightly.
“I know. I’m sorry. I got held up,” he saidsincerely.
I stood up andkept the blanket over my shoulders as Darren took my hand and ledme back to the house. Looking down at the hand that held mine, Inoticed his knuckles were slightly bloodied and bruised, and Ibrought them up to my face to get a closerlook.
“Darren, what did you do?” I asked softly, looking up at him.But the glare on his face made me immediately regret it, and Iturned my eyes back to the ground. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean toquestion you.”
“Good girl,” he said darkly and continued up to thehouse.
When we got to thepatio, I shook the blanket of the sand it had accumulated andhanded it over to Darren as he held out his hand for it. He justtossed it
