Smoke and Fire (Surrender to Them 1)

“Yes sir.” I nodded, even though I was scared.

“Good. What do I need to punish you for this time?” The edge of his lips formed an almost sinister smile.

The punishment got worse each time I visited him. It started with spankings that lasted so long I was in tears, followed by another trip to the bedroom where he took what he wanted from me. Sometimes it was enjoyable. Sometimes he made me cry while he was inside me. He would twist my nipples, push his hand against my throat, and kiss me until he drew blood when his teeth tore the flesh inside my mouth. He seemed to like it more when I cried.

I was afraid, but my body craved the moments before he truly started to hurt me. The punishments started to get more severe when he introduced me to his leather belt. He would whip me with it until I had welts which lasted for days—still I went back for more. My tolerance seem to build up to the pain, and I found myself enjoying things that would have scared me the first time I met him.

“I’ve got a surprise for you today.” He motioned with his finger. “I built a playroom so that we can have even more fun.”

“A playroom?” I raised my eyebrows.

“Yes, today is our six month anniversary.” He smiled and took my hand when I approached him.

The playroom, as he called it, was the noose being pulled tight around my neck. Torment wasn’t even the beginning of the agony I experienced inside those basement walls. The walls were covered in implements of my demise and each one of them punished my flesh relentlessly. When I screamed that I couldn’t take any more, he strapped me down and kept going. He used me for his pleasure, fucking every hole that I had. I didn’t even know who I was at that point. When my torment was over, he always made me cum. Sometimes it was just with his cock and sometimes it was with one of the various toys he kept on hand for that very purpose. He owned me. I obeyed his every command because I wanted more—even if that meant he locked me in a cage until he was ready to use me again. Every time he punished me, he took pictures, forever capturing my agony on film.

My parents had no idea what I was doing on the weekends or what kind of marks I was hiding underneath my clothes. One day, I looked at myself in the mirror before I climbed into the shower and I didn’t recognize the face staring back at me. My body wasn’t just marked with welts and red lines. I actually had a few scars where the whip had torn into my flesh.

The noose was strangling me. I had to escape. I tried to break it off with Adam the next time I saw him, but he coaxed me to stay. That night, he punished me worse than he had ever punished me before—and for the first time, he threatened me. He told me that if I tried to leave him, he would find me. He whispered things into my ear—things he would do to me—and it filled me with so much terror that I couldn’t breathe.

The next day, I packed everything I could fit into a suitcase and left Glendale. I didn’t tell my parents where I was going. I didn’t even say goodbye. I left them a letter full of lies about needing to find my place in the world. I stopped at Adam’s house, knowing that he would be at work, and broke in. I stole the photographs he took of me, if you can even call it stealing. Once I had them, I took a bus to Chicago and tried to forget the past I left behind. I waited tables and ate the food people didn’t finish just to save money. When I couldn’t do that, I just starved. I got an apartment once I had some money saved up. After that, I saved up enough money to legally change my name. The cravings and desires I left behind never went away completely, but I bottled them up. Deep down, I knew they wouldn’t stay bottled up forever, because the scars Adam left on my flesh were a constant reminder anytime I looked in the mirror. I could still see them, even if the years that followed helped them blend in with the rest of my skin.

I’ll never let myself be that vulnerable again.

Twelve

Kayla

After Trent and Chase left for their shift, I went back to bed and slept like I hadn’t touched a pillow in years. My body was ravaged and exhausted after t

he time we spent together. I slept most of the day and woke up famished. I laughed when I had to actually use the kitchen to make food and I imagined they would both disapprove, but there wasn’t much else to eat. I had planned to spend the day searching for new apartments after taking time off work, but that was no longer an immediate necessity. I wasn’t sure how I felt about moving in with the two sexy firefighters, but I wasn’t eager to go. Twenty-four hours was a long time without them. I didn’t realize that entirely until I sat down on the couch and noticed how empty the apartment was.

Last night was so fucking amazing. Every time I close my eyes, I picture those two sexy bodies pressed against me.

I wondered how differently things would have turned out if I accepted Trent’s offer for a date. There was a chance he would have still spanked me once he found out how the fire really started, but I wasn’t entirely sure since Chase was the one that originally suggested that I should be punished. Neither one of them seemed to have any problem putting me over their knee, but Trent might not have embraced the idea so quickly if it wasn’t for Chase. The entire situation came together in a way that I didn’t expect, but I was certainly happy it had. It felt good to explore those fantasies with men who didn’t want to hurt me—any more than I wanted, at least. The sting was good, and it turned me on so much that I could have easily lost myself if they weren’t there to pull me back to reality.

At least they don’t know how far things have gone before. I’ll probably have to open up when the time is right, but we can have a little fun until then.

I wasn’t sure I would ever be brave enough to trust someone after Adam. I certainly didn’t expect to put myself across someone’s knee so willingly again. The years hadn’t pulled the desire away. It had always lingered beneath the surface, waiting to be reawakened. I had a better understanding of what I liked and what was too much. A spanking certainly wouldn’t break me. I would even like to taste the leather again with someone I could trust, as long as they didn’t take it too far. Those were things I would explore when the time was right. I wasn’t even sure I would be spanked without asking for it. That was okay too. I enjoyed the rest of what we did even more than I enjoyed the spanking.

I never realized I could enjoy sex that much. I guess I always needed someone that cared about me more than they cared about themselves. Now I have two of them—as long as I don’t screw this up.

I cleaned up the apartment and managed to avoid starting a fire in the kitchen when I used it for the second time to make dinner. They wouldn’t be home until the next morning, so I set an early alarm and climbed into bed. It was lonely without them. The first night I spent in Trent’s bed was comfortable, but after sharing it with them the previous night, I needed to be in the middle of my two sexy firefighters. I fell asleep thinking of them, wanting to be in their arms again. When the alarm went off, I sat up with a smile on my face. I threw back the covers and ran to the bathroom for a quick shower before getting dressed for the day. I barely got my clothes on when I heard them coming in. They were a little earlier than I expected, so I slid on one shoe and danced down the hallway as I tried to put the other one on.

“You’re early! I didn’t even get a chance to make coffee!” I finally got my shoe on as I saw them walk in carrying boxes.

“You’ve got a few minutes. We have a few more boxes to get.” Trent waved to me and turned towards the door.

“Where are those from?” I walked closer as Chase put his box down.

“We decided to go ahead and empty your apartment. The report went out—well, technically yesterday now, so they’ll let people start moving back to your floor. It didn’t seem like a good idea to leave your stuff in there with nothing to keep people out but yellow tape.” Chase nodded to me and followed Trent out the door.

They—got my stuff? Oh no, they got my stuff!

There was a secret in my apartment—one that I hadn’t really thought about in years. When I got settled into my new place, I put all of the pictures I took from Adam’s house in a box. They went into the top of my closet where I intended them to remain until I had the courage to destroy them. In a way, they became a reminder of what I endured. I looked at them a few times when I first arrived in Chicago, but once I started to rebuild my life, they became lost in my memories. Once Trent and Chase were done bringing my boxes into the apartment I tried to read their faces. They couldn’t hide their expressions. I knew they had seen the photographs. Chase opened one of the boxes, pulled out the box, and dropped it on the counter. There was no way to hide from my past any longer.

“I promise we didn’t mean to snoop.” Trent exhaled sharply and shook his head. “We had the best of intentions.”

“What the hell is that?” Chase motioned to the box. “Some of those pictures are downright horrible.”