Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 81518 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81518 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
I snorted in amusement and dug out some toppings for sandwiches too. “I think we have a responsibility to help out.”
“Even when they don’t want help?”
“Especially then.” I gathered the fixings on the counter and found a loaf in the breadbox. “You know that the alternative is banning him. We can’t have a masochist running around requesting unsafe play with our other members.”
He nodded with a dip of his chin and sat down at the table.
I side-eyed him briefly before focusing on the food. I grabbed a knife from the magnetic strip on the wall and put the loaf on the cutting board. “Give me your take.”
He drummed his fingertips against the tabletop. “I’m just playing devil’s advocate. Getting him out here was the plan all along. And going around specifically asking Sadists to beat him without knowing the reason makes it abundantly clear that there is a reason—a wrong one.” He shrugged slightly. “Impossible not to interpret that as a cry for help.”
I agreed with him. I was sure Shay wouldn’t; he’d probably find a perfectly reasonable explanation, such as…asking the question to Sadists as a way to find the type who played unsafely. But without honesty and open communication, all play was unsafe. And we were no damn mind readers. If he wanted a beating—if he wanted to suffer a punishment—he just had to lie. It would require a few discussions and a mediocre poker face to get what he wanted. He could tell a Sadist he really liked a certain type of pain, when in reality, it was the pain that seared through him as the harshest penalty. Once the tears were streaming, it wasn’t always easy to tell one suffering apart from another, particularly if there was no sex or pleasure involved.
As I started slicing cucumber and tomatoes, I heard the shower running upstairs.
I hoped he didn’t mind showering cold because it took a while for the water to heat up out here.
“We have any olives left?” River asked.
“Sure.” I tossed the turkey and vegetables on the bread slices, then fetched his olives in the fridge.
The finishing touch was cream cheese, and by the time the sandwiches were done, the door to the bathroom opened upstairs.
I had a feeling Shay wouldn’t eat his sandwich, but I’d make him try it. A cup of fucking noodles… It wasn’t dinner! Not even when you ate two!
“This single bed up here,” I heard Shay say. “It’s for your playthings, isn’t it?”
After leaving River with his plate and a beer, I walked over to the stairs and peered up at Shay. “We prefer to call them humans outside of degradation scenes, but yeah. Why?”
He looked all rumpled and sweet. His hair was damp and pointed in every direction, and the T-shirt I’d lent him was a size or two too large. As were the boxer shorts.
“Well, I’m not your play-anything,” he responded and disappeared from my view. “I’ll just park my ass in your sweet California king.”
I raised my brows and glanced over at River, who was smirking with his mouth full of food.
“So, I guess I’ll use the rectal thermometer to check your temperature, then?” I hollered up the stairs.
Shay laughed. “I fucking dare you.”
He dared me.
“He dared me, Riv,” I said.
“I heard.” He took another bite of his sandwich. “I’ll bring it when I’m done here. You go up and make sure he eats. Maybe let the painkillers kick in.”
Four
Shay Acton
Oh God, yes. I shivered incessantly as I crawled under the thick duvet and got settled right in the middle of River and Reese’s bed. My stomach felt better, but my headache had become much worse. The water had refused to warm up, so I’d showered quickly and was now paying the price. Every time I tensed up from the cold, and every time my teeth chattered, the pain in my head exploded.
I couldn’t even begin to process how I’d ended up here tonight. The pain was that severe.
Sweet Jesus. This bed was the best part of the Tenley twins. I sank into the mattress, and the heavy duvet weighed down on me perfectly, almost cocooning me. Even the pillow I’d stolen was fantastic. Downy and dense, like the best hotel pillow.
If I asked, would they agree to turn off the AC?
I couldn’t for the life of me think there would be any repercussions to asking someone from Virginia to turn off the AC in August.
At the sound of someone coming up the stairs, I braced myself to defend my position. They couldn’t make me sleep in the bed without the perfect pillows and thick duvet. I wanted to stay right here. I was even ready to ask them to act as human radiators and sleep close to me.
It was Reese. He got something from the bathroom before he walked over here and set a tray on the nightstand.