Beyond Eden (31 page)

Paul smiled, his blue eyes molten, making her shiver in anticipation. “Use me and abuse me, Evie Girl, for you I’ll behave.”

“Shut up,” Danny said as he reached over and grabbed one of Paul’s wrists. “You’re not allowed to talk anymore. Your mouth has already done enough damage. I’m seriously pissed off at you now. That was really stupid on an edge game. I have no idea how you got a law degree.”

“I thought you weren’t going to restrain him?” Eve asked when she saw Danny put a lock on one of his cuffs.

“Not in a way that’s helpful to him.” Danny brought Paul’s right arm up and locked the cuff on his wrist to a large silver ring on the side of his dog collar. He grabbed Paul’s left wrist next, attaching it to the matching ring on the other side of his collar with another lock and then pocketed the keys to his restraints the same as he’d done with Eve’s. “You try staying on your feet when you got no leverage.”

Eve gasped as she studied Paul standing there, showing off enormous, muscular arms that were beautiful when on display like that. He laced his fingers together behind his head, looking completely content with being restrained in such a barbaric way. She half wanted to get her camera, because Paul really was gorgeous with his wrists chained to his dog collar. Artistically, it was a beautiful sight. She would have never thought it, but he made being a slave look really good. Yet even such artistic beauty faded into the background when she realized how hard it would be to stay on his feet when he didn’t have his arms to balance him.

“You’re really going to try to knock him off his feet,” Eve whispered in horror. “This isn’t a game to you anymore.”

“I’m the Master,” Danny said darkly as he pulled the whip from behind his neck slowly, making it look strangely alive. “I always win.”

“Not always,” Paul said as he arched an eyebrow at Eve. “So don’t freak out or panic, just know that I wouldn’t promise you something unless I knew I could do it.”

“I told you to shut up,” Danny growled at him. “That goes for both of you. Since you two are intent on playing as a team, we’ll make it all for one. The next word out of either of you will mean you’re both getting gagged. Paul bites his tongue to keep quiet. I don’t know what you’re going to do, Evie, but you better figure it out, because it’ll be real hard for Paul to safe word if your smart mouth gets something harsher than my cock shoved down his throat.”

Eve gasped in horror, jerking at her arms that were tied to the headboard and realized with sinking dread that they were both powerless to Danny. She couldn’t even speak for Paul. If she did, they’d really be at Danny’s mercy. He could hurt Paul as badly as he wanted without even the comfort of a safe word. She felt tears sting her eyes and looked helplessly to Paul, knowing he would see she was panicked. The two of them had spent their entire childhood in love, they could communicate for hours without talking. Just because it had been ten years since they’d done it didn’t mean they had forgotten how. Her eyes widened in a silent plea. Forget her game, she wanted him to safe word now.

Paul stared back at her unwaveringly. His face was relaxed and confident, his angelic eyes clouded with desire in a way that told her he was very intent on making sure they had a happy ending.

He glanced sideways when Danny stepped away from him and then stared intently at Eve once more as he mouthed,
I promise
.

Eve swallowed hard past the urge to cry and nodded in acceptance. Somehow, she was going to have to watch this and keep quiet. Danny must have sensed they were communicating without talking because he lashed out, a deafening crack sounding the air as Paul sucked in a surprised gasp and lurched forward from the strike. That was terrifying and had Eve locking her jaw against screaming at Danny to stop. Paul was huge, if a single lash had forced him forward, it had to have been agonizing. His eyes widened in genuine shock and he turned sideways to look back at Danny.

“Did you think I was going to wait to make you bleed?” Danny asked in a low, evil voice that told Eve he really was the devil. “That’s what you real masochists like, right? Just jumping right into hell rather than building up to it.”

Paul raised his eyebrows as he straightened back around and then widened his stance. Eve found herself gaping at him, because the look he had on his face was like a child who had just found out Christmas had come early. Danny’s viciousness had surprised him, but rather than the bubbling terror Eve felt building inside her, Paul looked thrilled. Excitement and delight pulsed off him so potently Eve almost found herself being happy for him.

When the second violent crack broke the silence in the room, Paul’s right shoulder twitched in reaction and his eyes rolled back in pleasure. He was suddenly like a brick wall, making it obvious he had lost his footing the first time because he had been surprised, but now he was unmovable. He appeared almost superhuman when another crack rent the air and this time his left shoulder twitched from the cutting impact.

Danny lashed out again, his arm muscles straining from the effort of flipping the whip forward and all he got for the effort was a low, raspy gasp of pleasure from Paul when the biting lash actually forced him to lean forward. A lesser man might have lost his footing with his arms tied behind his head, but Paul just righted himself effortlessly as he lifted his left shoulder invitingly as if urging Danny to hit him there next. Taking the silent suggestion, Danny sent the whip lashing out against his left shoulder. Paul moaned before his jaw locked in a way that told Eve he had bitten his tongue rather than beg for more.

Danny shook his head as he stared at him with dark, menacing eyes. “Even you have to get tired eventually. If I have to get you high on endorphins to do it, then fine.”

Eve felt her body jerk in shock when Danny lashed out once more, using every bit of his strength to send the whip crashing against Paul’s back. He was a devil with a vendetta, his eyes pulsing in fury, his arm straining with every furious lash against Paul’s back. In the dim lighting of the room, the whip really did look alive in his hands, striking out like a black viper that was unforgiving and wholly evil. There was a dark magnificence to the way Danny moved. He was an artist with the whip and it was obvious he hadn’t been lying when he said he had spent hundreds of hours practicing. His body wasn’t the solid wall of muscle Paul’s was but there was no question that Danny was beautifully fit. Eve often wondered how he had gotten those cut arms and ripped abs when he never exercised, but now she realized he did exercise. He got gorgeous being the devil and learning to master an instrument of pain.

There wasn’t one lash that wasn’t sent at Paul with anything less than sheer determination to knock him off his feet, but he never lost his footing. No matter how far forward the impact forced his upper body, his feet remained where they were planted. Eve found herself getting breathless as she watched, her eyes running hungrily over Paul, with those beautiful arms tied behind his head, putting them nicely on display. The broad expanse of his chest started heaving after a while, but it was only because he had become winded with profound pleasure. The sweat made his body glisten under

the dim lighting in Danny’s room. His tan skin was so beautiful when it shined like that and she was wet and aching to feel his slick, hard body moving over her. She could see the long, thick outline of his hard cock through his leather pants and her mouth watered for it. It took a special breed of man to get a hard-on from pain and Eve wanted one.

Time ceased to matter to her, she was sucked into the game as easily as Danny and Paul had been. She got more desperate the longer she watched the dark, surreal beauty of a devil punishing an angel and both of them getting hard and turned-on by it. Forget her camera, she didn’t want to watch this through a lens. She didn’t even want to blink for a moment. Even the terrible things, like the specks of blood decorating Paul’s sides and splattered onto Danny’s chest, only added to the beauty of it. She tried to memorize the image of Paul’s face etched in ecstasy as a deadly viper lashed out at him because that was an image that needed to be painted.

Even when Paul started wavering under the onslaught she was hypnotized by the way his breathing grew more labored as the powerful lashes started forcing him to put one foot forward to stay on his feet. Danny was breaking down the unmovable wall of Paul, but Eve could tell he was suffering for it. He was breathing heavily too. His dark, olive skin was glimmering with sweat far more so than Paul’s was. It ran down from his temples, leaving his hair slicked back with it when he ran a hand through the dark strands distractedly. The muscles of his arm were flexing more violently, making it obvious he was getting tired. Paul was wavering, but Danny was the one working and Eve realized Paul may have very likely been right—Danny’s arm was going to tire out before Paul fell to his knees.

Eve stared at the clock in the corner, seeing that Danny had been lashing at Paul for nearly an hour. She turned back to stare at Danny over Paul’s shoulders with wide eyes as she found a sliver of clarity to pull her out of the dream, his words ringing in her mind that Paul would let him beat him to death and get off on it until his last breath.

Danny actually stumbled forward when he met her eyes, the whip catching Paul’s shoulder, tearing skin before Eve’s eyes. Danny growled, dropping the whip as he strode over to Paul and fisted his hand in his hair, jerking his head back, which had to be painful when his arms were tied like they were and his shoulder was bleeding right in the crease where it was bent at the awkward angle.

“Safe word,” Danny growled furiously. “Do it!”

“Bite me,” Paul said, his voice heavy with desire and lazy exhaustion most people only got after really good sex. “You’re the sadist I never knew I loved. I would have topped from the bottom every time if I knew I got this.”

“You’re not going to quit, are you?” Danny whispered in disbelief. “You’re going to stand there until you bleed to death.”

“I promised Evie.”

“Fucking freak,” Danny said, his voice cracking in anguish as he tightened his hold on Paul’s hair. “Open your eyes and look at me.”

Paul’s eyes blinked open and Eve watched the shadow of horror wash over Danny’s features as he stared into Paul’s eyes. His dark eyes shimmered in the dim light of his bedroom and Eve watched tears roll down his cheek when he closed his eyes in agony.

“You win,” he whispered as he wiped at his cheeks hastily and then stuck his hand into his pocket. “Are you happy?”

“Ecstatic,” Paul said as Danny reached up and unlocked his right arm. It fell to Paul’s side heavily the moment it was free and he turned to look at Danny as he worked on his other arm. “Really, I love you, Danny Boy. This was the best edge game ever and now you have to give Evie her happy ending.”

“Unbelievable, I’ve got to beat the shit out of you to get you to love me.” Danny shook his head as he unlocked Paul’s other cuff. “Come here.” He stepped forward and wrapped one long arm around Paul’s chest. “I need you to get on your knees. Rest your forehead against the bed until I can get the medical kit.”

Eve watched both Paul and Danny fall weakly to their knees. When Danny pushed Paul’s forehead against the bed Paul mumbled, “Please tell me I need stitches.”

“Lots of them,” Danny said in disgust. “Lucky you.”

“Wow,” Paul said in the same sated voice. “This is the best wedding present you could have come up with. I love you.”

“You mentioned that,” Danny said bitterly as he stood.

Eve screamed when she saw him and her whole body lurched forward, straining against the restraints on her arms. Danny’s entire chest was now covered in Paul’s blood.

Danny winced at the sound of it and he stopped for a moment to squeeze his eyes shut in anguish. “Please don’t choose now to freak out,” he whispered pleadingly. “I need you to help me.”

“Help you what?” Eve panted as Danny crawled onto the bed, reaching into his pocket as he did so. “Take him to the hospital? What are we going to tell them? That it’s okay, he made a promise he would stay on his feet?”

“We don’t need to take him to the hospital,” Danny said in a soft voice as he reached up and unlocked the cuffs holding Eve’s arms together. “I know how to do stitches. I can patch him up now and he’ll go to the doctor tomorrow.”

“What is he going to tell the doctor tomorrow?” Eve asked in a panic as her own arms fell down heavily, aching from the strain on them. “I can’t think of a single excuse that won’t land you in jail.”

“He won’t go to jail,” Paul said from his spot kneeling at the foot of the bed. “Jason will just admire his handiwork. Really, Danny Boy, he’s going to be impressed, I can tell. He’ll be calling you for a date when he finds out you’re this frisky.”

“We have a doctor who’s BDSM friendly,” Danny said as a blush stained his cheeks.

“Yeah, really friendly,” Paul said with a laugh. “I’m going to hear it again about you retiring.”

“Shut up,” Danny said as he rolled off the bed and looked down at himself in revulsion. “Evie, can you go into my bathroom? I have a large medical kit in the cabinet. Grab that, some towels and alcohol.”

“Oh, I love alcohol,” Paul whispered breathlessly.

Eve paused, sitting on the edge of the bed to look up at Danny with wide eyes.

Danny winced, shooting her an embarrassed look. “This is sort of the bonus round of the game for Paul Guy.”

“I guess I don’t need to ask where you learned how to do stitches,” Eve said as she shook her head and walked toward his bathroom, making a deliberate attempt not to look at Paul’s back. “Why can’t I fall in love with normal men?” she mumbled to herself as she found the medical kit Danny was talking about, one far larger than a normal person would have. She grabbed the alcohol and several towels and walked back out into the bedroom to find Danny leaning over Paul, running fingers through his hair that was wet with sweat. He was whispering in his ear lovingly and only glanced up when Eve stopped in front of them. “Your supplies, Doctor.”

“Lay out the towel,” Danny said as he went back to stroking Paul’s hair. “I don’t want to let him go. He’s buzzing on endorphins.”