She pushed him away, going to the shower, and was aware of him following her, his eyes curious on her changing expressions. "I'm feeling too much right now," she told him, stripping her clothes. "So much I feel like I'm going to explode without figuring a thing out."
He tilted his head to a side. "What are you feeling?"
She locked their eyes in the mirror's reflection, provoking him. "Imagine that I'm leaving you." She saw his body stiffen. "Imagine that this is the last time you'll touch me." His eyes blazed. "Imagine that you can't do anything to stop it. Think of that, and how pissed you'd be. Would you even be angry?"
"I don't know if it'll be anger," he stated softly. "But if that ever happened, there would be absolute annihilation."
She shivered, her hands gripping the counter. She needed something, something to calm the tornado inside her, she didn't know what, and she looked at him, begging him to understand and give it to her.
He came to stand behind her, his eyes steady on hers. "Trust me still?"
With everything she was feeling, everything that had unraveled over the last few hours, she looked at him. Stupid fucking heart, still trusted him.
Taking her silence for the answer it was, he took a step closer, coming to loom over her. "Trust me still?"
The question, asked again, only told her that he wanted her answer verbalized.
"Yes," she told him. She did. Despite everything, she did.
A soft kiss pressed to her head. "Good girl."
Before she could say another word, she was bent over the counter, her breasts pushed against the sink, her ass out as he held her down with one hand on the back of her neck.
His other hand rubbed her ass cheek softly, the callouses on his hand stroking against soft skin, before he smacked it.
She yelped, her heart pounding as she looked straight into the mirror, her eyes locking with his.
"You will release everything inside you, flamma," he commanded her, his voice low. "Every time my hand comes down, you will release whatever you're holding onto, and you will give it to me. Understand?"
Her chin began to quiver. "Yes."
Eyes locked with hers, his palm came down on her other cheek, harder than the first. She exhaled deeply and closed her eyes, imagining herself letting go. She could let go. She could be free. She knew it because she'd had it, and she could have it again. The past didn't have any control over her anymore.
His hand came down again, and a cry left her unbidden. "I hate you for keeping the truth from me."
He rubbed her rump, before smacking her, right above her thigh. That stung, but it felt so good. "I don't think my brother will want me after he gets to know me. There's… no way."
As the words left her, she began to cry.
He didn't say anything, letting her put it all out. When she quietened a bit, he spanked her again, stirring another well inside her.
"I don't want to go back into Xander's life and destroy him."
And so it went.
Over and over, until every single secret and every single thought she held onto was out, the weight of the burden blank from her mind, her sobbing as she broke down. After countless spanks, until her ass was on fire and her mind at rest, she felt him pick her up gently and carry her to the bedroom, holding her close as she cried into his neck, letting out everything, releasing everything, letting go of everything that was holding her down, at least for a while.
Crying, in his arms, she passed out.
***
She stirred awake to see him sitting with his laptop on the desk, looking at the screen in the darkness of the room, his face lit up by the glow from the monitor.
Turning, she wrapped the sheet around herself and padded over to him.
"Come here," he spoke, opening his arms and letting her sit on his lap, caging her in as he turned her back to the screen, and kept working through some numbers.
She blinked, not understanding what she was looking at, but she let him work through it, semi-napping on him.
"Remember when I told you about my friend who ran away?" she asked him, feeling him still beneath her at the question.
"Yes," he waited for her to continue.
She stared at the screen, remembering mindlessly. "The man she escaped from, he kept me with him for a few years. He… he was the first."
He was still, utterly still, but remained silent.
"He called me tonight."
His hands were turning her around on his lap before she could blink, his devilish mismatched eyes intense on her. "Who?"
She shook her head. "I don't know his name. But he said… he threatened to kill you, to kill my brother. He… said he wanted to keep me again." Her voice trembled on the last words, and his grip on her jaw tightened.