Page 179 of To Catch a Sub

“Never,” he promised, kissing her shoulder.

Rolf pulled up his own stool, leaning in to examine her breast. Landon put one hand on her head, stroking her forehead and hair. Warm hands closed around her feet, and she looked down to see Andrei gripping one foot in each hand. “Your legs are shaking,” he said, his eyes as soft as his voice.

“I can’t seem to stop.” In fact, every inch of her body had started to tremble.

“You don’t have to stop,” Landon said, even as his palm on her belly eased some of the quivering in her abdominal muscles. “You’re allowed to scream and cry and shake. If you have to hold still, I’ll…we’ll…help you. Don’t hold it in, love.”

Colette didn’t stop pulling against the straps, because it felt oddly good to do that, but she did stop trying to still her trembling. Andrei stepped close enough to press her feet to his chest, his hands on her shins, while Landon kept one hand spread over her belly, the other on her head.

Rolf gently lifted a gold ring, and Colette’s eyes squeezed shut.

“Does that hurt?” Rolf asked.

“Yes. Not a lot, but it hurts.”

“You said he welded these closed too?”

“Yes.”

“Tell me,” Rolf demanded. “Exactly how he pierced you.”

“Don’t make her fucking relive it,” Landon snarled.

“I need to know.”

In halting sentences, Colette recounted what had happened. It surprised a little laugh out of her when, after describing kicking Tonsure, Landon and Andrei both said, “Good girl,” at almost the same time.

Landon glared at him. “Get your own girl.”

“I can’t. I’m too invested in your relationship to find one of my own.” Andrei sighed dramatically.

Colette knew they were playing it up for her benefit, and she appreciated it. She was still smiling when she took up the narrative again. Rolf visibly winced when she described Tonsure using his fingers to pull on her nipple.

When she was done, Rolf looked at Andrei. “Go see if we have antibiotics in the medical supplies.”

“Antibiotics?” Landon asked.

“Our skin is the greatest protection we have from bacteria. Piercing breaks through that protection. He wasn’t wearing gloves. Didn’t clean her nipples themselves.” Rolf shook his head. “Colette, you’ll need to take a precautionary course of antibiotics.”

Andrei jogged back, a blue and white box in hand. “We have some.”

“Good.”

Landon accepted the box, reading the instructions on the back.

“Now to the other problem,” Rolf said.

They all looked at him, Colette releasing the strap to instead grab Landon’s hand.

“I can’t find the seam in the metal where it was welded closed.”

“Are you sure it was welded?” Andrei asked. “Maybe there’s a hex screw, like an eternity collar.”

“Yes,” Colette said. “It was definitely welded.”

“Did he turn the ring at all, once it was in?”

Colette swallowed. “Yes. They both…played with them. Damien first, but when he was done Tonsure kept moving them. Every time he did, he had to wipe away the blood.”