Total pages in book: 57
Estimated words: 55099 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 55099 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 275(@200wpm)___ 220(@250wpm)___ 184(@300wpm)
“I’ve taken care of all the kitty accessories too,” she added. “He has a litter box, some toys, food…oh, and I got a carrier.”
“You’re goddamn amazin’, sweetheart.” Ash leaned over and kissed Penelope’s cheek. “Thank you.” He returned his attention to Paws and smiled. “And you’re not allowed to leave me. That’s not how this works. No, you gotta love me forever.”
Yikes.
Someone should text Nathan…
It took Ash a while to refocus, but when we were almost done eating, he managed to set Paws down on the floor.
Paws was keeping his name, Ash had announced, but his kids might pick a middle name.
I was very okay with that.
As I munched on just one more eggroll, Ash pulled out a tiny notepad from one of the side pockets in his pants, followed by a short pencil I hadn’t even seen he’d kept behind his ear.
“Before we begin,” he said, grabbing a fried shrimp, “is Penelope joining as your Owner, girlfriend, or both?”
Ummm…
I glanced at Penelope.
She smirked a little. “I’m a protective observer trying to get to know her girl better. I’m here to gather information.”
Oof, I really liked that answer. Every now and then, she served me with a reminder that she was a Predator, and I couldn’t wait to play with that side of her.
“Copy that,” Ash replied. “So, since the last time we spoke, they’ve announced the names on the four stations at the event. Serve Your Owner, Suffer for Your Owner, Treat Your Owner, and Pose for Your Owner.” He’d written them down on his pad, and he circled the second one. “We haven’t discussed pain. Frankly, I thought it was gonna be straight-up servitude, but given that Reese and Pen are two of the organizers, I shoulda seen the sadism comin’.”
Penelope grinned wickedly.
Hot.
Ash turned to her. “I don’t suppose you’ll give us more than that? From previous years’ experience, you’d’ve sent out additional information for the Tops by now.”
She straightened in her seat and cleared her throat. “Not this time. The focus is on how well you know your partner—and with that in mind, with less info, it’s safe to assume the pain play won’t be advanced.”
“Fair enough.” Ash nodded with a dip of his chin and shifted his gaze to me. “You’ve already told me you have no issues safewording, so we’ll—”
“With the exception that she gets apologetic,” Penelope stated.
Nuh-uh!
Ash furrowed his brow. “Why would you get apologetic—and was this at the event last week? I heard Colt mention you safeworded but everythin’ worked out. I forgot to ask you about it.”
“It wasn’t a big deal,” I insisted. “I can understand why I’d come off as apologetic because I kept saying I was sorry, but I was more bummed out for cutting the scene short. I was having fun—I didn’t want it to be over. So it wasn’t like I felt bad for messing up or anything like that. And I didn’t hesitate to call red either. I felt the rope tighten around me when I slipped down the wall, and the moment I started panicking, I safeworded.”
“Rope…” Ash bobbed his head and scratched his eyebrow. “You were with Nathan?”
Shit. I nodded once.
So did he, and he cleared his throat and doodled another circle on his notepad. “I can deal with you slinging out you’re sorry like a Canadian, as long as you don’t hesitate for a second to safeword at any time. Standard color-system for safewords applies at events, and if you’re unable to speak, you will either have a safeword ball that you squeeze, or I’ll be close enough that you can pinch me. I don’t care how many times you do it, if you pinch, I’ll treat it as red.”
That worked great for me. “I solemnly swear to safeword without a moment’s hesitation,” I promised. “Also, I’m a little curious about where you draw the line before it’s advanced pain play. Like, harder beatings…?” I grinned.
Penelope chuckled. “It’s more about being able to anticipate it. Primal play, for instance, is advanced play because it’s driven by fear. When a Predator hunts you down, you don’t always see the next strike coming. What we’re saying about the level of pain for the Game is that you won’t be blindsided. If the pain becomes too much, you’ll be able to call yellow or red without shock running through your system.”
Ah, made sense. It was reassuring too. “Okay, got it. Plenty of room to react. But just so we’re clear, I love both fear-laden pain and receiving it for the sake of releasing pressure within me, so I doubt it’s an area I’ll safeword. I can take a lot of it too.”
“Shit goes wrong all the time, hon—that’s all,” Ash explained patiently. “No matter how high your tolerance is, dozens of factors can cause somethin’ to go sideways. So I need you to keep that in mind.”