Kitty

After a horror of an evening I sleep late, and oh, so well. Vicious’ scent suffuses the sheets. I bury my face in them and breathe him in, feeling safe and secure. Eventually I am hungry enough to get up, though it’s midday by the time I drag myself out of bed.

When I emerge from the bedroom, Vicious is sitting in an armchair swiping his finger lazily across a tablet. He nods to me.

“Morning, or should I say, afternoon?”

“Hi, sorry.”

“I’m not keeping you here to sleep, you know.”

“Sorry,” I mumble again. He could have woken me up if he wanted to. He let me sleep. We both have to know that.

“Get some breakfast,” he says. “I want to talk to you.”

“I don’t think I can eat if you’re going to talk,” I say, air-quoting the word, ‘talk’.

“If I was going to beat you, I’d just beat you,” he drawls. “I wouldn’t bother with euphemisms.”

That’s true. I perch on the edge of the couch and look at him.

“What’s up?”

“I just want you to know,” he says very sternly and seriously, “that I am going to keep you safe. No matter what.”

He’s an asshole, but he’s a protective one. “Thank you,” I mumble. “Last night was… that was fucked up. I’ve never seen anything like that before. I don’t want to see it again.”

“It was,” he agrees. “And I’ve taken steps to ensure it doesn’t happen again. That doesn’t mean others won’t try. Unfortunately, you’re linked to a number of people it is better not to be linked to, and now that others are dead, you remain notably alive. I can’t promise nobody else will come for you, but I can promise, if you do as you are told, and let me protect you, you will survive.”

“Thank you,” I repeat, fiddling with the piping on the edge of the couch. “I mean, I know I don’t deserve it. I don’t… I don’t know why you’re doing this for me, but I am glad you are.”

“Can a hero ever resist a damsel in distress?”

This man who kidnapped me, bound me, whipped me, spanked me… this man who intends to keep me. He’s calling himself a damn hero.

Before I laugh, I think. He has done all those things, that is true. But he’s also the man who saved my life, maybe more than once. The man who has persevered in saving me even though I threw his offers in his face every time. The man who plans to give me purpose now that my future plans lie wrecked.

Maybe he is a hero. Not to others, but to me.

He lets out a laugh. “I have never seen you look so confused. Go get some breakfast. Then get dressed. Wear something subdued. We’ll get your hair restyled today and…”

I let his words wash over me. This is my life now, an existence prescribed and ordered by Vicious. Will I ever have a choice again? Or will he overrun my will, turn me into his puppet? I suppose I’ll find out.

“Kitty.” He’s standing next to me, his hand beneath my chin, his eyes locked on mine. “This is going to be an adventure. I promise you that. Now I want something before you have your breakfast.”

“What’s that?”

“I want you on your knees, girl.”

When I fail to move immediately, he guides me off the edge of the couch and puts me on the floor. My bare knees and shins find the soft rug below.

“This is where you’ll go when we are at rest. This is where you belong.”

“At your feet?”

“Mhm.” He raises a brow. “Problem?”

“Vicious, this isn’t…”

“Isn’t what?”

“Normal. It’s not normal.”

“What is, Kitty?” He runs his fingertips through my hair and I feel little shivers running down my spine. They’re pleasant. His touch is tender. I yearned for this yesterday and did not receive it, now I welcome it. His voice is soft in tone, but rough in content. “I have much to offer you. You have less to offer me, but I ask for all of it. Your obedience. Your body. Perhaps, one day, even more.”

“More?”

His green eyes sear into mine, his hand sliding down to my neck, caressing that little spot behind my ear.

“So much more,” he murmurs, dipping down in a low, almost courtly bow to press a kiss to my lips. “Now, get up and get ready, little Kitty. You have a new life to live.”

The End.