Iris

I struggled to keep back tears as the pain paddle repeatedly hit me. Usually, he made subs count when he punished us but today, he made Mia count while I took the hits.

I knew she liked him a lot so I didn't want her to get hit by him. If she could make him happy, there didn't need to be a reason for her to hate him. After all the ways he helped me, that was important to me.

He was usually more vocal during punishments but he was unusually quiet. Minutes before, he was talkative with Mia but he didn't say a word as he spanked me. I thought it was because of our kiss before but it was more likely that he liked Mia. I mean, there was no need not to. She was drop-dead gorgeous and she seemed nice.

I screamed out as one hit hurt more than any of them and I bit my lip to stop from crying. Cain surprisingly stopped his movements and crouched down to my level. "Use your safe word," he whispered.

"I'm okay, Master," I said in a strained voice. He seemed disappointed at my answer but I made myself seem okay.

My skin color said otherwise but I didn't want him to worry. I hated the fact that my changing skin tones made me so easy to read but I couldn't control it. After I got married, my husband became possessive and decided to strip me of my ability to remain one color.

It's been annoying ever since but I had learned to live with it. Cain himself had encouraged me to love it. I hardly loved any parts of myself but he made me hate them a little less with each parting day.

I still wasn't fully comfortable, which made this entire punishment all the more emotional. The pain was a close second to the embarrassment.

The sting of the hits because decreasingly painful and I wondered why he had softened the blows. Did anyone else notice?

"Thirty," Mia counted.

I sat on my heels and wiped away my tears. Cain hated us crying and I usually didn't but today, I couldn't control it. I grabbed my clothes from the floor and seeing as Cain made no move to say anything, I walked to my room.

I quickly closed the door behind me and winced as I walked to the tall mirror in the room. I looked at the bruised spots on my ass and took a shaky breath. My skin wasn't usually this sensitive but then again I hardly ever did anything to receive a punishment.

I took a few deep breaths in the mirror and let myself return to my normal skin tone and I looked at myself in the mirror. Before, I would've avoided looking at my body because of my ex-husband's harsh comments, but now I was doing a bit better.

Granted I was still insecure that I didn't look like everyone else, I had some worthy attributes that Cain made me appreciate. My boobs were a decent size...I guess. There was nothing special about them but they weren't bad...so yay for me.

A knock at my door interrupted me "praising" my body and I walked to the door. I opened it slightly to see Cain holding a small jar of the cream he usually put on us after punishments and I held my hand out.

"I can do it, Master," I said.

"I got it. Open the door."

I opened the door as he asked and I closed it behind him. He walked silently towards my bed and gestured for me to lay down. I crawled onto the high bed and I cringed when the bed creaked slightly.

That's embarrassing. It was just the Master but I would've been nervous in front of anyone. I wasn't the biggest girl in the world but I had a little thickness to me that was hard to forget every time I made the damn bed cry.

I laid my head on my arms and faced the door, most importantly, away from Cain. I didn't like eye contact as is so I was glad to have something else to look at.

"Why did you take the punishment?" He as he rubbed the cool cream onto my backside. I sucked in a breath at the painful stinging but I took a deep breath and ignored it.

"Because she didn't deserve it," I said.

"Her watching a session without permission isn't grounds for punishment?" He questioned as he gently massaged me.

"I don't know," I whispered.

"You do know," he said. "You're just not telling me the truth, Iris. I thought we were a bit closer than that."

"I think you like her, Master. I didn't want you hitting someone you liked," I finally answered. His movements stopped and I waited in anticipation for him to continue.

"It's ironic, the fact that I ended up doing exactly what you tried to prevent," he muttered as he continued moving.

"I don't understand what you mean, Master."

"Never mind," he said as he removed his hands. He lifted my blankets over my shoulders and rubbed the top of my head. "Get some sleep. Goodnight."

Mia

Cain came back into the living room and crooked his finger for me to come to him. My nerves started up again as I got up and followed him but I fought through it until we were back in the office from a few days ago.

He sat down behind his desk and I sat in the chair in front of him. He leaned back against his chair as he looked out of the window and absentmindedly moved the rings on his fingers. I stayed just as quiet as he did and when he turned to me I took a deep breath.

"You should leave, Mia," he said.

"Master-"

"No," he said. "Just talk to me as me."

"Cain, why are you trying to make me leave?"

"Because you're not here for the right reasons, Mia," he said. "It's not hard to see that you don't care for anything I do here."

"What's a better reason than being here for you, Cain? I want you. I came here to apologize and to tell you that I called off the engagement with Jackson," I said.

"And?"

"What do you mean 'and'?" I asked in confusion.

"I've wanted you for over three years, Mia. I was patient and waited for you, and you started dating someone else. I still waited and you got engaged. Suddenly you leave him and you expect me to just be here?"

My heart dropped at his words and I sat stunned in the seat. "Isn't that what you wanted? You begged me to leave him!"

"And you said no! Multiple times," he argued. "It took me getting into an accident for you to come to me. Do you know what I was thinking about when I crashed? You hating me. You hating me because you listened to your fucking boyfriend's lies before speaking to me."

"I was angry," I said. "I'm so sorry for that call, Cain. I just saw him all bruised and my mind went blank."

"It went blank, why?"

"Because..."

"Because you love him," he said. "That was three days ago and now you're here claiming you want me. You can't stop loving someone in that short of a time."

"What if I can?" I retorted.

"Then I don't want you," he said lowly. "I've loved you for a long time, Mia. But you'd be lying to me and yourself if you sit here and tell me that you have feelings for me only."

"Cain, I love you," I said desperately.

"And I love you too, but it's not enough," he said. "If I were to move on with you I'd know that a part of you belongs to Jackson. You're confused, Mia. That's not what I want."

"That never mattered to you before, so why now?" I asked. "You never cared about my feelings for him before. Why does it matter now if I still love him?"

"Honestly?" He asked.

"Yes."

"I've realized that you're not the only spectacular woman in my world," he whispered.

"What does that mean?"

"It means that I used to see you as my everything. My day didn't start until I saw you, Mia. I thought about you all the time. But after you told me you were going to marry Jackson, I turned away from you. When I did, I saw someone else that made my heart stop."

My eyes watered and my heart dropped to the pit of my stomach. I was always used to Cain being about me. I never believed he could like someone else. All the other girls he saw throughout the years were fleeting.

I thought I was special.

"So you don't love me anymore?" I asked.

"No, I do. I really do. But just like you, I'm confused too. We shouldn't move any further until we both figure out our feelings."

"What if I decide that I want to be with you and you want to be with someone else?" I questioned as I wiped away my tears.

"Then, I guess for once, you'll have to be the one that chases me."

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Author's Note
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I just want to hear y'all thoughts✨