Caught in the Devil's Sheets (36 page)

Odin takes a stand behind me, and I grip the bed post in both hands and take a deep breath. There is a loud crack and the bite of the whip tears into my skin causing me to scream though I try to choke it back.
Mother fuck!
It hurts so badly! I brace myself.

Crack! I choke back tears, gritting my teeth together and failing to suppress another scream. I try to keep my goal in mind, my goal to show him the difference between a vicious sociopath, and someone with a pain fetish.

Crack!
God help me!
I don’t know how many times my body can stand this. My nails dig into the bedpost, and I wail out loud, tears falling from my face, and I can feel blood trickle down my back. Crack! I fall to my knees on the floor. I quickly glance up at Odin, whose stare turns from dark to concerned. I throw myself forward, bowing down and exposing my back to him.

“Again!” I choke out between tears, hoping to God that seeing me this way is affecting him. The whip cracks down once more and I roll onto my side, crying and holding myself. My back feels like I’ve been set on fire and I’m dying for someone to drench me in cool water. I shut my eyes tight, careful not to look at him as I wallow in pain.

“More!” Some sick, over determined part of me insists. I hear a clatter on the floor and open my eyes to see the whip lying on the ground. My vision is blurred by tears, but I see Odin fall to his knees beside me. I try desperately to suck in my emotions and not show my pain. Odin looks torn between emotions. He takes my hand and places it on the bulge in his jeans. He’s hard, very hard.

“Keep going then!” I scream at him, feeling distraught that my tears are turning him on. I want to cry, tears of sorrow, not of pain. But Odin takes my chin in his hand, and pulls my face up to meet his gaze once more.

“I don’t want to,” he says, his eyes looking pained and sincere.

He pulls my face forward, and leans in to kiss me. He kneels up, taking me with him. I can feel his erection pressing against me through our jeans. He’s definitely turned on, but there was a point where he wanted to stop! That’s all I needed to prove, to him and to myself. I kiss him over and over, lacing my lips together with his. His hands wrestle through my hair and I wrap my arms around him, and his leather vest, pulling him into me. He unzips my jeans, pushing them down to my knees on the floor and slips a finger into my sex. I moan. My back still burns, but his finger takes my mind off the pain. His middle finger circles around my clit then slips back inside me. I pull his face into mine, grinding my teeth on his and fisting my hands through his choppy blond hair. My body trembles as he massages me and my muscles tighten.

I reach my hands between us and free him from his jeans. Odin kisses my neck, sucking hard on my collarbone and I take his solid cock into my hand. He pulls away from me, standing up and reaching a hand down to me. As I’m lifted off the floor, my pants fall down to my ankles. I step out of them and follow Odin back to the steel table in the middle of his room. He hoists me onto it, setting my ass down on the cold hard surface. I part my legs, and his hips move between them. Odin enters me, filling me up and completing me. I hadn’t noticed how empty I felt until he was inside me. Odin is gentle and moves slowly in and out of me, holding my neck in one hand and my hip in the other, careful not to touch my back. He kisses my neck, trailing his lips down to my shoulder, and the feeling is heavenly. Odin is the only thing in my life that makes me feel this good. All the years I wasted on Jaime seem trivial. Every emotion I ever wasted on anyone other than him seems inconsequential. It doesn’t matter if my dad doesn’t love me, or if my mom is too wrapped up in religion to give a shit, or if Billy doesn’t want me anymore, or how Jaime feels about me right now either. All that matters, all I care about, and all I can see right now is Odin.

He brings me to mental places I never knew about. And now that I can see him for who he really is, I only want him to take me further. I don’t ever want to let him go, and I wrap myself around him, laying my head on his shoulder and closing my eyes. His thumb trails down my torso, and makes its way between us, pressing soft circles into me there. My grip on the nape of his neck tightens and my legs squeeze him tighter. He bucks into me hard and my breath hitches. He takes his aggression out on me sweetly, kissing my neck while he hurls himself into me. My lips press against his neck and my body falls apart around him, as he holds me close. I feel him lose himself, and the warmth of him fills me.

“Thank you,” he whispers in my ear seconds later.

I hold him tighter, thinking I have so much more to be thankful for then he does. The sting of my back sets in and, uncomfortably I move back on the table to look up at him.

“Do you believe me now?”

Odin looks unsure, a strange emotion for him.

“I don’t know what to believe, Lila. I can’t look at your back and tell myself there is nothing wrong with me. I can’t forgive myself for not doing something to stop the evils that unfolded right in front of my eyes. But knowing you don’t see me, the way I see myself, is a miracle. I don’t ever want to let you go.”

I don’t know what to say. All I can do is kiss him and tell him how great I think he is.

“I need to do something about your back.” He’s right, but the idea of anything touching my back right now sounds terrible.

“I’ll be fine.”

“No, I did this to you. I can make it better.” Odin turns to leave the room, zipping his jeans back up and leaving me naked on the steel table.

I make my way into the bathroom and squint as I flick the lights on. After my eyes adjust, I hesitantly examine my back in the full length mirror on the back of the bathroom door.
Fuck Me!
It looks as brutal as it feels. I’m still bleeding from the dark red lashes across my back. Two of them overlap, forming an X that is white and blistered already. That’s where it hurts the most. Even moving my arms around, and leaning over hurts when it stretches the skin. After a few good minutes of gazing in horror at myself in the mirror I hear Odin come back into his bedroom and turn the light on. I close the bathroom door behind me. Odin has a large thick blanket that he replaces his comforter with. In his hand is a bottle of water, and a zip lock bag with some pills, cream, and a syringe. He sets it down on the night stand before redressing the bed. Then he walks to his closet and pulls out a zip-up sweater and holds it out to me backwards. I slide my arms in the wrong holes, so the zipper remains unfastened at my back.

Odin hands me the water and the pills, and I don’t even hesitate to swallow them.

“I don’t need whatever that is,” I say gesturing toward the syringe full of clear liquid in the baggie.

“Lila, it’s just lidocaine. It will help. Just trust me.”

“I do trust you, but I have a big thing against needles. I will be fine. Trust me.” I use his words against him. I can tell he doesn’t like it, but he doesn’t argue either.

“Lie down.”

He helps me onto the bed, where I lay on my belly and rest my head on the pillows, looking away from him. He goes into the bathroom and returns with a squirt bottle full of cold water. He mists down my back, which doesn’t hurt. But I wince as he proceeds to try and gently towel it down. Then he rubs cream on my lashes, and I try not to whimper as he does.

“I’m sorry.”

I’m unable to respond. But his sorry means a lot to me. Reason has begun to gain her ground back and she scowls at me.
I’ve heard that before!
She hisses angrily at me.

Odin makes his way around the bed and crawls in. He takes my hand in his and before I know it, the need for sleep outweighs my pain and I drift into a peaceful dream.

It’s very early when Odin wakes me, kissing his soft lips over my bare shoulder. The first thing I’m conscious enough to notice is that my back burns. I open my eyes and my vision is blurry as I gaze out his large open window over a horizon that is a glowing light purple. I stir to let him know that I am awake, though I’d rather be sleeping.

“Morning,” he croons into my ear.

I mumble incoherent words.

“Sorry to wake you. I have to go to work.”

Right, work. I was so caught up in the moment last night I forgot it was only Tuesday. I have no idea how he plans to function. There’s no way we’ve been asleep for more than a few hours. Slowly, I roll onto my side, and sit up, wincing at the biting pain on my backside. I wipe the sleep from my eyes, and look up at him. He’s already dressed and looks ready for his day. I on the other hand, feel like I’ve been hit by a bus, and numerous hours of sleep wouldn’t be enough to face the day.

Odin holds out his hand and there are two more pills like the ones I swallowed before bed. My water bottle from last night is still sitting on the night stand next to me. I can hear Nickelback playing on the clock radio very faintly. I squint, focusing on the pills that I pick out of Odin’s palm and swallow.

“I’ll take you home,” he says, watching as I sip from the water bottle.

I look at him strangely. My car is here.

“Damien is going to swing by and pick me up from your house at eight,” he says, as if he has just read my mind.

“Can you bring my bag up for me please?”

“As you wish.” Odin takes my hand, kissing it gently. He can be so charming. My big bad wolf!

I slowly limp my way over to the bathroom. I don’t know what he’s given me, but it makes me weak and I feel drunk. No wonder he wants to give me a ride home. I’m looking at myself in the mirror, still naked when Odin slowly opens the door behind me. He stands behind me, gazing at my back, then looking at my eyes in the mirror. He’s quiet and I can’t even think of something funny or witty to break the silence. We are at an impasse, gazing into each other’s reflection. I can’t gauge what he is thinking and I’m sure that he feels the same.

He sets my bag down, finally breaking our concentration. Then he slides out of the bathroom door, leaving me alone again. My heart sinks. I should assure him that what I said was okay last night is still okay, though my back is assuring me otherwise. I take a knee, fumbling through my bag. I don’t want to put anything on. I decide on the dress I was wearing when I came. It’s the lightest and loosest fitting thing I have. I wince, fighting the urge to cry as the material grazes over my skin.
This is wrong!
Reason is furious with me.

I try to fluff out my curls in the mirror, and even add a touch of red lipstick to my lips. I decide to leave the rest of the bag behind. Hopefully when Odin finds it, he’ll know that I still have every intention of coming back, even if I’m unable to find the right words to assure him this morning.

I make my way downstairs and my knees feel wobbly beneath me. Odin is making smoothies in his kitchen and I can see there is one already in a plastic to-go cup for me on the breakfast bar. He seems surprised to see me so well dressed and smiles.

“You all ready?” he asks, holding the cup out to me.

I hold out my keys to him, and he opens the front door for me. Once outside he opens the passenger door of my Mustang. I try not to show my discomfort as I take a seat, careful not to lean back.

Odin takes his place behind the wheel and turns the key in the ignition. The CD he made for me is playing in my stereo. Odin puts his hand on my thigh, and looks me in the eyes before pulling out of the driveway.

“Are you okay, baby?” he whispers through heartfelt eyes.

Hearing him call me “baby” makes everything seem just fine. I smile, still not able to get a handle on words, and I nod. He leans across the center console and kisses me. Then he uses his thumb to wipe the lipstick off his lips.

When we make it to my house, Odin’s charming persona proceeds to help me through the door and lay me comfortably in my own bed. He kneels on the side of the bed, looming over me.

“I want to come back tonight and take care of you.” He brushes my hair back from my face.

“That sounds nice.”

“I’m going to have to clean your back up and put a bandage on it for a day or two.”

“That, on the other hand, sounds terrible.” Glad to know I haven’t lost my sense of humor.

“I know, baby. I’m sorry. Last night was, kind of an eye-opener for me. I should have never done this to you. It’s way too soon.”

Too soon?
Is there some rule I haven’t heard of that states whipping your girlfriend to the point of possible scarring is acceptable later in a relationship? I am again, at a total loss for words.

“I have to go. Call me if you need anything.” He stresses the word anything.

Right now I just want to sleep. I nod my head, my eyes already closed.

Odin kisses my forehead and I hear him leave. There are way too many things on my mind to even begin to try and unravel them all. The only thing I choose to dwell on is Odin calling me “baby.”

Devil’s Cut

Damien picks up Odin out front of Lila’s house right on time, no questions asked. Odin is in no mood for talking. He can’t stop thinking about the completely twisted cluster fuck of feelings that are still invading his mind in regards to last night. No amount of work today will distract him from the images of Lila, bravely taking the whip for him. At first it turned him on, the way her skin flinched and her knuckles tightened around the bedpost. The more pain she showed, the sexier she was. She thought she could tame the beast in side of him that is hungry for pain, the same beast that controlled his father.

She fell to her knees, her perfect body taking a bow before him. Her red hair fell in a mess at his feet, and he looked over her bare, bleeding back.

“Again!” she cried, awakening the beast in him.

The last lash was by far the hardest, as it was powered by a hand even Odin couldn’t control. The hand of the beast within. In that moment Odin wanted to whip her again, immediately harder, and make her scream. But then she fell onto her side, and the look of her face, hurt and scared, just like Katelyn. Lila had no idea what she was going up against. Odin couldn’t break her even further by letting her know she’d lost. Part of him was so hot and wanted more. But only a monster would have hit a girl, balled up on the floor crying.