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She sed "Ten years ago I got caught in a gang war"

"Me how his thumb traced small circles on the back of her hand Slowly hercontrol bother you?"

"No It all happened in the past, and I deal with it okay That’s why I didn’t put anything down on the questionnaire as a probleusted noise in the back of his throat "Don’t lie to me, Darlin’ Look at me now"

She tried not to flinch froaze I don’t want to talk about this; I just want you to holddominated cause problems?" And as if she couldn’t understand the question, he nodded toward the stocks

Okay, so ht about it" And I never want to

Even as he kept her gaze trapped, he stroked her cheek gently, and as alhen hein her melted His eyes softened, and he murmured, "Little sub" He kissed her forehead "Think about what you felt in the stocks…and tell me about the last time you froze"

She said lightly, "Well, seeers took her chin in an all-too-effective control "I want to hear about the last ti would evade his insistence on answers "I dated a guy for a while He’d pull h, and I liked it A lot But he called me names once…" Her hands turned clahtened on her face "Stay with h her fear like a knife "Tell me the words he used"

"Slut" The word reverberated in her skull, and her pulse filled her ears like breaking waves in a stor nausea back "Whore Cunt Stuff like that"

"Ah, there we go It’s all tied to the words" He was silent a , Darlin’ We’re going to sit a piece while you take a bit of rest" His hand slid to her nape and pressed her head against his shoulder As the noise in her brain diminished, she could hear the slow beat of his heart, and each thud so off and on… Coaxing the rough-voiced doive a construction job to a teen with a bad rep So a poker night the folloeek The techno ed to classical--Rach Sometimes he’d drop a kiss on top of her head as if to let her know he hadn’t forgotten her And she felt ht then, than in just about forever

Eventually he sat her up, laughter in his voice "You falling asleep there, sugar?"

She shook her head and remembered to answer "No, Sir" A second’s pause and she risked looking up "Thank you"

"You’re very welcome, but we’re not quite finished, Darlin’"

Oh dear

"First, and I mean for you to remember this: verbal humiliation is a hard limit for you You tell any dom that before you start a scene Do you understand me?"

A hard limit h Noant to use a few of those words and see how you react" As he waited for her nod, he took her hand

To brace herself, she gripped his wrist "Okay"

"Slut," he said softly, his eyes watching her closely

She winced, then took a breath

"Dirty slut"