Takeover: A Step-Brother Romance (The Legacy Book 1) Page 20

  Sarah couldn’t see me behind her, but I saw everything. I’d watch it all. Every bite of the flogger. Every blossoming bruise. Every cry.

  And I’d make sure this was her last punishment.

  Max returned, and Sarah flinched with each of his lumbering, uneven steps. She squeezed the column.

  “Max, please…” Her whisper hadn’t broken yet. The shadow of pride lingered in her plea, like she bargained for her freedom. “Don’t hurt me. I’ll behave. I’ll go to my room. I won’t bother anyone—”

  The flogger whistled before it struck. Sarah’s words curled into a surprised, blistered scream. She slammed against the column, but the belt prevented her from escaping. She crumpled. Max gripped her hair and moved her back into place.

  “You aren’t to make a sound,” he said.

  My father snorted. “Make her scream. Let her realize no one will come to save her.”

  “No.” Max stared at the pink welts creeping over her back. He rubbed a hand over the tender area. “She gives me a headache.”

  Sarah would be silent if we forced her to scream, and she’d shriek if we demanded she remained quiet. She swore between gasped breaths, but the insults lessened as Max called to me.

  “Nick?” He waved a hand. “Your tie?”

  He was smarter than my father believed. He took Reed’s belt, my tie, and he bluffed him into thinking we got off on the charade. The designer tie was one of many, but at least it looked as good resting between Sarah’s lips as it did complimenting my suits.

  The dark silk knotted within the pale blonde of Sarah’s hair. She fought it, only until the tickle of the flogger brushed her side. Max praised her behavior.

  She wouldn’t be passive for long.

  He stood and surveyed his prey. Max wasn’t a subtle man. I understood his preferences even if I didn’t particularly share his methods. The flogger flicked over his hands.

  Sarah wasn’t prepared for his strike.

  The leather kissed her skin before biting. A jagged crisscross of welts rose from where he previously hit. Her cry muffled. Both Max and my father enjoyed it. Reed downed his whiskey without a sound.

  Another swipe.

  Sarah jerked, and Max wove his hand over her neck, brushing her fine blonde hair to admire the redness he created.

  A third hit.

  Sarah coughed over my tie. Whatever she said was lost within the struggle. It hadn’t been polite. I credited Max’s forethought in gagging her.

  The fourth hit startled her.

  The fifth pained her.

  And the six drove her to tears.

  She sunk against the column, gasping for air and fighting to stretch the aching skin flushing her back. Her fight earned her no mercy, no pity. The belt only tightened around her neck.

  The next strikes crippled her in a breathless agony. Quick flicks of Max’s wrist sliced her skin. The leather wrapped over her sides and tucked against her thighs. It nipped the sensitive welts already abused from my father’s assault.

  Max flogged her, but his attack was less severe than the beating with the pool cue.

  How the hell could my father hurt such a delicate creature?

  The whiskey soured, but its fire extinguished whatever foolish pride might have prevented any more of the spectacle.

  Sarah should have known the consequences.

  She shouldn’t have left her room.

  She shouldn’t have tested me, teased me, enthralled me with her touch.

  I should never have let her go.

  Her weeping drove my father to the edge of his seat. His hands wove over themselves, as though imagining touching her bruised skin. I trembled in a untested fury.

  Max knew what to do. Another strike conquered Sarah. She sunk to the floor when her knees no longer supported her. She didn’t bother hiding her breasts. Her legs twisted, but the pink promise between her thighs flashed to everyone.

  The temptation destroyed us all.

  Sarah couldn’t fight. She wouldn’t struggle. She’d offer before the flogger touched her again.

  I would have taken it. Not a man alive wouldn’t have launched, buried himself inside her, and marked her for his own.

  I wondered if she’d ever forgive us.

  I wondered more when I started to care.

  The flogger dropped. Max’s quick glance was enough of a warning.

  “She’s ready.” He seized the belt and released her from the column. “I’ll keep her in one piece.”

  My father surveyed her injuries once more. “She’s meant to be bred. Do whatever you wish, but seed her cunt when you’re done.”

  “Of course.”

  Sarah gripped the leather around her neck as we rose. Reed disappeared. I lingered, buttoning my jacket. She fumed in spitting hatred. Her teeth ground against the tie.

  Sarah imagined it was me.

  It was the first logical thought the girl had.

  And I’d let her hate me. I’d let her curse me. I’d let her blame me.

  What was about to happen would be far worse than enduring her temper.

  I left Sarah Atwood, naked and helpless, within the arms of my brother.

  And I could do nothing to protect her from his desire.

  They left me alone with Max.

  I sunk against the column. The belt around my neck constricted.

  I didn’t want to be flogged anymore. I hated my nudity. I ground my teeth into the tie. It tasted of salt. Tears. Humiliation.

  How dare they beat me?

  I expected it from Darius Bennett. Hell, I was surprised I still lived. The chase through the house only delayed his rage. I should have realized the hunt excited him.

  I had no idea it would thrill his second son as well.

  Max gifted me a sanctuary to recover from my asthma attack, and he anticipated my needs in the hospital. But that didn’t make him an ally, and I’d forever regret even considering that any Bennett might have helped me. My step-father controlled everyone and everything within the estate.

  No one would help me. No one would save me. They all would eventually hurt me.

  Including Nicholas.

  Foolishness bound me to the column, not the leather belt strapped around my neck. I was beaten because of my idiocy, arrogance, and naivety.

  It was my fault I now faced Maxwell Bennett.

  But I thanked my every fading fortune that I was not at Darius’s mercy.

  “Are you hurting, baby?” Max unraveled Nicholas’s tie. I debated staying quiet.

  I wasn’t that strong. “What do you think?”

  The flogger rose and fell before I prepared for it. The leather lashes stung against my heated skin. I yelped, crashing against the marble.

  “I think you should be more respectful,” he said.

  “Hard to respect a man wielding a weapon.”

  “I’ll use my hand if you prefer.”

  “You’re a monster.”

  Max circled me. He bent at the waist, tipping my chin with the flogger. The soft leather surprised me. It burned like fire against my back, but teased like a caress when he wished it. I tried to hide my breasts.

  “I asked if you were hurt.” His voice edged hard. Not the conquering cadence of Nicholas. A touch of violence and threat shadowed his words.

  Max wasn’t wearing a shirt, though the sleeves of tattoos and tribal thorns obscured most of his skin. The ink practically pulsed in the sheer strength of his form. Muscle upon muscle. Whatever he did wasn’t a workout, it was obsession, a compulsion to become bigger, stronger. I wasn’t ashamed that my gaze drifted over his body, away from the dark severity of his features and onto the remorseless strength pooling in the twitching of his pecs, the steady breathing rocking his abs, and lower.

  A thick V defined his hips, and his hardness held his trousers upon his waist.

  He favored one leg. Had my hands not been tied, I might have struck at his injury. But I behaved. Even with a bad leg, I wasn’t fast enough to escape from a man so f
iercely sculpted.

  “Sarah,” he said. “Tell me if you’re okay.”

  Like he deserved to know. “I’m still breathing.”

  “I’ll take it.”

  The flogger jerked away. I flinched with it.

  I wished he’d release the belt around my neck. Instead he made me crawl to him as he sat in one of the leather chairs.

  He tugged the leash, forcing me between his legs. He admired my nudity and all the shivers that rolled over me. The belt pinched before I considered popping him where it counted. I forced myself still, hoping he wouldn’t strangle me in some perverted kink I didn’t understand.

  “You haven’t thank me,” he said.

  “Why would I thank you?”

  “I just saved your life, baby.”

  I shivered. “You beat me.”

  “And had it been my father, you’d be raped with a broken pool cue, beaten, and left to bleed out in the garage.” He jiggled the belt and smirked. It didn’t soften his expression. I didn’t think anything would. “You’d be dead, sis. So you better thank me for saving your beautiful ass.”

  Christ, he was telling the truth.

  Darius would have murdered me.

  But what did Max expect in exchange for his kindness?

  “Thank you,” I whispered.

  “Good girl.”

  “Can you let me go now?”

  “Not a chance.”

  I kicked. The leash tugged, and I fell deeper into his lap. My bare breasts pushed against his legs.

  “I didn’t say to move,” he warned.

  “Max, please.”

  “Please, what?” He laughed. “You don’t get it, do you?”

  “Get what?”

  “That this?” He caressed the belt wrapped over my neck. “This is your life now.”

  “It doesn’t have to be,” I whispered. “You don’t have to do this. You could let me go.”

  “Did Nick let you go last night?”

  I didn’t look away in time. He saw my blush. Worse, he felt me tense. Max sensed every bit of betrayal and anger, confusion and blame I pitted on his brother.

  “I didn’t think so,” he said. “Nick does what’s expected of him. Always did. Always will.”

  “It doesn’t matter what he did. Forget him.”

  “Can you?”

  “Max, I’m asking you. Please. You don’t have to…to…”

  “Fuck you?” He studied my body. The flick of his eyes over my bare form was every bit as humiliating and degrading as he could make it. “Yes. I do.”

  “Why?”

  “Because my father expects it.” He jerked the belt. I resisted, but he tugged and toppled me on his chest. My palms rested against his muscle. His whisper added yet another tension around my neck. “And because I want to fuck you.”

  “You want to hurt me?”

  “You’ve been calling the Bennetts monsters ever since we met. Consider this your validation.”

  “You could be different.”

  “I’ll only say this once, baby.” Max drew me closer. “I’m not Nicholas.”

  “I never said you were.”

  “But that’s the problem, isn’t it?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Of course you don’t.”

  The heat from his body passed into me. I shouldn’t have gotten that close. I didn’t understand what was happening. His muscles flexed. The panic fogged my mind.

  He’d break me in two.

  “Do you get off on this?” I whispered. “Beating women?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “What’s not to like?” Max shifted me to the floor. He kicked at my knee and adjusted the belt, forcing me to sit with my legs open.

  He saw everything. I raced the twisting of my stomach to cover myself before the shame colored me pink.

  “You’re a beautiful woman,” Max said. “And you’re helpless. I enjoy that.”

  “Monster.”

  “You like it too, baby.”

  His words resonated deep within my belly. I didn’t cower as he loomed over me, not when he would have liked it, gotten off on it, and used it against me. I braved his dark gaze.

  I wish I hadn’t looked.

  “I don’t like this,” I said.

  “You’ve already submitted to me.”

  “You’re delusional.”

  “I’ll show you.”

  The flogger danced across his hand. I whimpered as it crossed over my chest, catching my nipple within the sting of the leather.

  “You like the fight,” he said. “You like resisting. Challenging us. Thinking you have a choice.”

  “I do have a choice.”

  “You don’t.” He silenced me with another slice of the flogger against my belly. “And the sooner you realize it, the safer you’ll be.”

  “I’d rather be in danger than become a toy for a Bennett.”

  “Then you’ll be both, and you’ll still lose.”

  The damn leather again. I yelped as he struck only to watch my body welt. I hid a lot of things, but the sting was as impossible to conceal as the streaks of pink spread in its wake. It wasn’t fair.

  “Are you afraid of me, baby?” He asked.

  Why lie?

  “Yes.”

  “Good.”

  I tensed as he stood, preparing for the inevitable strike of the flogger. It didn’t come. Instead, he grunted and rubbed his thigh.

  Even he couldn’t hide everything. I took a chance.

  “What happened to your leg?” The weapon didn’t crash down. He permitted my question, though his harsh sneer faded within a tense moment.

  “What do you think?”

  He kept his hair cropped short. Worked out. Inked most of his body. Held his head high.

  “Military accident.” I said. “You got hurt in the army.”

  “Reserves. And no. I never saw any action.” He tapped his leg. “Titanium rods. Shattered my femur, knee, tibia, and fibula, shredded everything, in a car crash. They should have taken the damn leg.”

  An anger shadowed his admission. I braced myself as the flogger rose again to punish me for my curiosity. The leather didn’t strike. He rolled it over my arms, my side. A shiver caught me.

  How did something painful still feel so soft?

  “You have no idea what’s happened, do you, baby? Not in this house. Not in our lives.”

  I swallowed. “So explain it to me.”

  He didn’t. The flogger rushed down, striking my back once more. I bent forward, unintentionally offering him just another bit of sensitive skin to claim, another moment to watch me groan.

  He didn’t hit as hard, and the sting washed away too quickly. I feared the warmth it left behind more than the bite.

  Another hit.

  I bit my lip, but the gasp still mewed too much. Max twisted the ends of the flogger and pushed. I flushed as my chest presented to him.

  The leather kissed my breasts. The sharp prickle morphed into something…different.

  My core clenched.

  What was happening to me?

  “I need your help,” Max said. The flogger snapped again, but the confusion shielded me from the pain. “And I’ll make you a deal to get it.”

  “…What?”

  The flogger cracked harder.

  “Don’t move. Don’t open your fucking mouth. You’re going to listen now, and you’re going to think long and hard about what’s best for you.”

  Another hit, this one grazing my belly. The fine trail of the leather dipped a little too low. A sharp peck struck between my legs. I collapsed onto the floor. Max didn’t care.

  The heat didn’t either.

  A rush of dizzying adrenaline protected my sensitive slit. I shuddered as it rolled over me. It hurt. It warmed.

  It tingled.

  “What can I offer you?” I swallowed. “You’re the one with the whip—”

  He hit. Harder. I cried out aga
inst the stinging crash of the leather. He hadn’t broken skin. Hadn’t bruised me. Hadn’t seriously harmed me. But the stings dug deep, like Max understood the raw ache his instrument caused. I shuddered against the next smack.

  “It’s a flogger, baby. Get used to it. You’ll be experiencing it a lot. Does that scare you?”

  Depended on who held the weapon. I didn’t answer.

  He tickled the leather through his fingers. “Listen, Sarah. Be smart about this. You are going to do everything I say.”

  “Why?”

  “Because if you submit to me, if you swear you won’t resist me…” The flogger pressed against my lips. He waited for me to kiss it. I obeyed only to keep him talking. “Then I can make it so that I am the only one who hurts you every again.”

  “I don’t….” My words faded. “Is that supposed to comfort me?”

  He bent down, his bad leg awkwardly supporting him. No matter how unsteady his step, the darkness of his expression, thickness of his jaw, and intensity of his presence revealed a man far stronger than just the physical strength bulking his muscles. I might have cowered in his stare, but I saw no cruelty. None of Darius’s blind hatred. Sadism, but no brutality.

  “If I hurt you, I can protect you.” Max whispered.

  “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “I’ll tell my father I’ll take complete control over your discipline, and he’ll agree.”

  He was lying. Had to be. “Yeah, and Nicholas said he would be the only man to fuck me. What makes you think you can convince Darius?”

  “Nicholas pushed his luck, and my father hates when people question him.” Max brushed my cheek. “But he would let me be the one to break you.”

  “Why?”

  “Because hurting people is all my father trusts me to do. I’m the second born. I scavenge for whatever piece of the company I’m allowed to claim. Nick has an image to maintain. I get what he doesn’t want dirtying his hands.”

  None of this made any sense. I picked my words with caution.

  “What if I say no?”

  “Then the next time you act out, my father will take pleasure in satisfying every last vendetta he has against your family.”

  “And how would you help me?”