shame fills me in response. The embarrassment nearly overrides the fear. But neither of them is more potent than the pleasure my body is being forced to succumb to. When he angles the gun in a particular way, he hits a spot inside me that sends my eyes to the back of my head and an unchecked moan to slip free. He growls in response, my back arching as he continues to hit that spot. My thong grows impossibly tight, biting into my flesh before it’s ripped away from my body, the sound getting lost in another cry. The tattered fabric is tossed aside, freeing his hand to grip my thigh in a bruising hold. My heart jumps when he leans down, but he only clamps his teeth on my inner thigh. I cry out from the sharp bite, but it quickly morphs into pleasure when he hits that spot again. His mouth sucks and his movements quicken until I feel the beginnings of an orgasm settle low in the pit of my stomach. “Please,” I beg, but I don’t know what for. He tears his mouth away just to clamp down again, lower this time, but still far away from my center. Too far away. “Tell me what you learned, Adeline,” he demands, looking up at me, his mouth wet from his biting. The sight makes my heart drop deep into my belly, right to where the gun is driving into me. “Not to bite your cheek?” I guess, my voice trembling. He answers by biting my thigh in a punishing grip. I cry out, the pain blinding. He loosens his jaw, allowing the pain to bleed into pleasure. A primal noise slips out as he pushes the gun deep. “Are you going to make me ask again?” I open my mouth, but no answer comes out. My silence allows for me to hear his warning loud and clear. He cocks the gun. “Okay, okay, fuck,” I relent on a terrified hush. “I-I learned not to let another man touch me.” Those words bring tears to my eyes. Because saying them out loud makes me feel well and truly trapped by this man. ““Who’s the only one allowed to touch you, Adeline?” I close my eyes, hating the lie that’s about to slip from my mouth just like the tears are from my eyes. “You,” I whisper, the bitter taste of the words clogging my throat. A battlefield rages in my body. The side that wants him to make me come, and the other side that wants him to turn the gun on himself and fire it. I glance down at him and note the way he’s staring up at me. And I have the terrifying realization that he doesn’t believe my lies.