On Your Knees, Prospect (Kings of Hell MC 3)

Jake’s gaze followed the tool as Vars stepped closer and simply ran it up the side of Jake’s body. “Will it hurt a lot?” he whispered, instinctively pulling away from the flogger even though he was ready for its licks.

Vars hummed softly, and then spun the tool in the air so that it made a sharp snapping sound, as if Jake were about to be whipped until he bled.

“We need to see how much you are willing to take. Gradually. I don’t want you passing out.”

Was Vars saying it could hurt so much he’d pass out? Jake watched every sway of leather tails in the air, actually wishing that they would strike him already, because the anticipation was killing him. He nodded slowly, in disbelief that he was agreeing to being hit out of his own free will.

Vars stepped back, once more brushing the dozens of thin straps over Jake’s naked skin. Without the hair, he felt oddly vulnerable. One might think it wouldn’t matter, but it was as if Vars had purposefully removed that last barrier, that tiny bit of cushioning between skin and Vars’s tools, leaving Jake vulnerable to an extent he’d never been before.

With his throat tight as if he were about to cry, Jake followed Vars’s movements, physically unable to keep his body from shivering. And yet, his cock was hard as a rock.

Without warning, Vars made a little swing with the flogger and slapped the tails against Jake’s chest. It had been fairly gentle and stung only a bit, but the second stroke, delivered to Jake’s other pec, had more bite.

He gasped, but it wasn’t that bad at all. He could take it. The rush of adrenaline it produced seemed to have more to do with the fact that he was laid bare for the strokes than with the pain itself. Jake was used to taking a hit, whether in training with Gray, or when dealing with a particularly rowdy hangarou—

The next smack made him forget about the outside world, and he bit his lips after a hiss escaped them. When he glanced down, tiny red marks bloomed on his skin and made him focus on the here and now only.

Here and now, he was being flogged for Vars’s pleasure, not even because he’d done anything wrong, but simply because the man Jake chose liked to see him this way—twisting in discomfort yet aroused.

“Will you be a good boy, Jake? You’re taking it well so far, but how much can you endure?” Vars asked in a raspy, warm voice as he once more swung the flogger in the air, making that loud hissing sound that only heightened the sense of anticipation.

The next stroke sent the tails across Jake’s chest, and it was like being repeatedly prickled with too many needles to count. But despite the pain, Jake recognized that Vars was being careful, just testing the waters and using neither the full strength of his arm nor the full capacity of the implement. The ache focused on the outer layer of skin, leaving it flushed like a ripening fruit.

“I can take anything you wish, sir!” He couldn’t, and a pesky logical part of his brain told him that, but that part was quickly sinking into what was Jake’s instinct to follow all that he was told.

The next two smacks came to his thigh in quick succession and made him yelp, but he wouldn’t back out. Even with his body trembling, and the hits causing more pain, Jake kept his eyes on the determined look on Vars’s face, biting down on his lips to cry out as little as possible, but it was true that his shaved skin was more sensitive than usual.

“That’s good. Try to breathe evenly. You can be loud if you want,” Vars said, covering Jake’s torso with marks that Jake wished would stay there forever, marking him as Vars’s. He was elated. His cock was begging for release, but the only action it was getting was the movement of air licking it over and over. Jake wasn’t even sure if the pain he was feeling could be called that.

Sweat dripped down Jake’s temples, and he found it increasingly difficult to keep the weight off his arms as his legs softened under him from the repeated blows.

When the first cuff on his ankle opened, it was like waking up from a dream, and he followed Vars with his gaze, mesmerized as Vars rose and leaned against Jake to capture his lips in a kiss. This one wasn’t chaste. It was all tongue and teeth, and Jake’s brain must have completely shut down, because he didn’t even notice when his hands were freed. Slumping forward, his body all but useless after the overwhelming experience, he let Vars take him off the cross and onto the thin vinyl-covered mattress laid out in front of it.