Chapter 3: I'm Still Going To Be A Brat

Harlow's POV

Someone banged on the front door. I leaped up from the couch, heart pounding. Sage had left earlier, and she always forgot her keys. I wiped my face with the back of my hand and walked over to the door.

“Do not tell me you forgot your keys again. You always do.”

I pulled open the door.

Kael stood there. His brows were furrowed in an angry stare. A thick black rope dangled from his hand, dragging against the floor.

“What are you doing here?” I backed into the apartment.

He stalked inside, shut the door, and locked it. The rope slid across the wood floor with every step he took toward me.

“You know why I am here.”

“No I do not.”

But I knew. I had run away from him when he told me not to.

“Do not lie to me, Harlow.”

I rocked back on my heels and pressed my pointer fingers together, trying to look small and shy. “I seriously do not know what you are talking about.”

He snapped his hand around the front of my throat and forced me to look up at him. His teeth were gritted together. His nostrils flared the way they only did when something went wrong at work.

“You ran away from me when I told you not to.”

“I did no such thing.”

He moved his hand higher, tilting my chin. “Do not fucking play with me.”

“Or what?”

Within a moment, Kael twirled me around, bent me over the couch, and began twisting the rope around my arms. I shoved my shoulder back against his chest. Moved my body back and forth. Threw my leg back to kick him in the shin.

The binds only became tighter.

“Let me out.”

“If you had followed my directions,” he said into my ear, “I was going to be easy on you.”

“Fuck you.”

Before I could finish, he shoved four fingers into my mouth. I gagged on them. Spit rolled down my chin. I glared back at him.

“Bratty girls like you do not get to talk back to their masters.”

Warmth exploded between my thighs.

“Do you understand?” he growled.

I nodded so I could answer with something bratty. He pulled his hand out of my mouth, then pulled me up by the binds and pushed me into the closest bedroom. My room. He slammed the door and shoved me down onto the bed.

“Why did you leave?”

“Because I only wanted you to take my virginity. And besides, I had another guy coming over tonight.”

He snatched my chin. “Stop being a brat. It is pissing me off.”

“Good. Maybe you will leave me alone.”

“Maybe I will shove my cock down your throat and give you your first punishment.”

“You will not.”

He shoved me off the bed and onto my knees in front of him. His jeans came undone. His cock sprang out. I stared up at him through wide eyes. Twenty four years and I had never done this before.

“Open your mouth and be a good girl.”

I pressed my lips together.

“Do not force me to do this. You will not like it.”

I stared up at him and kept my mouth shut.

He drew his tongue across the front of his teeth. A dark chuckle left his throat. “Oh, I am going to fucking ruin you.”

His forefinger and thumb pinched my nostrils shut. I could not breathe. Tears slowly filled my eyes. My cheeks grew hotter.

I was not going to give in. He would break before I did.

“Getting hard to breathe, is it not?”

I shook my head, but I was starting to see stars.

“Any second now,” he taunted, “you are going to give in to me.”

Heat coursed through my body. I finally opened my mouth wide to suck in air. The second I did, he was already inside me. Hitting the back of my throat. Making me gag.

I glared up at him through teary eyes. His hands were around the back of my head, holding me in place. With my arms tied behind my back, he had full control.

His gaze was dark. Eyes hooded. He shoved as much of himself into my mouth as he could. When I could not take any more, he stepped closer to force another inch.

“I am in control, Harlow. Not you.”

“Fuck you,” I gargled.

“We are going to train this bratty little mouth until you learn not to talk back.”

That would never happen.

In the middle of my gagging and spitting, his phone buzzed in his jeans pocket on the floor. He peered down at it, then back at me. He pinched my nose closed again.

“Pick it up and answer it.”

My eyes widened.

“Now.”

I reached down into his jeans and pulled out his phone. Pressed the green button. It was hard to see through my tears.

“Hey, Kael,” my father said through the speaker.

I stared at the phone in horror. Kael moved it closer to my mouth. If I made a sound, Dad would hear.

“Something happen at the office?” Kael asked.

“I wanted to talk to you about the finances for Q4. Are you busy?”

Kael shoved another inch inside me. “A bit, but I can talk.”

I held back a gag. Swallowed the spit in my mouth. Tears streamed down my face. The need to breathe grew stronger.

Kael did not care. Those cold dark eyes met my glossy gaze as he talked on the phone with my father. He laced one hand into my hair and moved my head back and forth on his cock until my throat was sore.

“We should move Evelyn’s position,” Dad said. “I was thinking under you.”

Jealousy swirled inside me. I found myself bobbing my head without him forcing me. I stared up at him through stinging eyes, desperate to make an impression.

“Fuck,” Kael murmured, quiet enough so Dad could not hear. “Good girl.”

“What do you think?” Dad said.

I sat on my knees, Kael’s cock buried down my throat. He tilted his head back, eyes rolling, and grasped my breast in his large rough hand.

“That is great,” he murmured, his cum shooting down my throat. “That is fucking great.”

“Good. We can talk more about it tomorrow.” Dad paused. “You sound busy.”

Kael cleared his throat and took the phone from me. “Talk tomorrow.”

He pressed End Call and pulled out of me. I fell forward onto the rug, shoulder first, and swallowed what I could of him. My chest rose and fell quickly. My mind was numb.

Then he picked me up and set me gently on the bed. He sat behind me and unraveled the rope. He took my hand and placed his lips on the red indents on my wrists.

What was that?

“For once in your life, listen to me and stay here.” He pulled on his jeans. “I will get you water.”

He left the room. I stared at the door with wide eyes. Surprised he was being so nice after I had been a brat. The intensity faded. I did not think I had it in me to be difficult anymore tonight.

But jealousy still reeled inside me at the thought of Evelyn getting closer to Kael. He might not know it, but he was mine. All mine.

---

Kael

I stood in the kitchen, running water into a glass. My hands were steady, but my mind was not.

She had swallowed every drop while her father talked about work. While Julian talked about moving Evelyn under me. And Harlow had looked jealous. Possessive. Like she wanted to mark me as hers.

I wanted her to.

I wanted her to be so obsessed with me that she could not think about anyone else. The same way I had been obsessed with her for years.

I walked back to the bedroom. She was sitting up now, wrapped in a blanket, her eyes still red but her chin lifted.

“Here.” I handed her the water.

She drank it slowly. Then she looked up at me. “Why are you being nice to me?”

“Because you are not just some random submissive. You are Harlow.”

“Your best friend’s daughter.”

“Yes.” I sat on the edge of the bed. “And also the woman I have wanted for longer than I care to admit.”

She stared at me. Her lips parted.

“I am not going to apologize for wanting you,” I said. “But I am sorry for how I handled it tonight. I should have been more careful. More gentle.”

“I did not want gentle.”

That made me pause. “What did you want?”

She set the glass down on the nightstand. “I wanted to feel something. To feel wanted. Desired. Like I was enough for someone.”

“You are enough.” I cupped her face in my hands. “You have always been enough.”

A tear slipped down her cheek. I wiped it away with my thumb.

“Stay,” I said. “Do not run again. Stay with me tonight.”

She nodded.

I pulled her into my arms and lay back on the bed. Her head rested on my chest. Her hand curled around my ribs.

“Kael?” she whispered.

“Yes.”

“I am still going to be a brat.”

I smiled into the darkness. “I would not have you any other way.”