The Deeper He Hurts Read Online Free PDF

arched a brow, his cool too calculated.
This
was his game. He’d push until he got the reaction he wanted, or at least some reaction. Most likely, it was how he manipulated Doms to get what he wanted.
    Ash puffed out a disgusted laugh and leaned in until his lips hovered over Sawyer’s ear. Sawyer didn’t back away, which only intrigued him. His strength and power was more alluring than any complacent submissive. They didn’t touch, not a single brush of skin or material, yet the impression of Sawyer’s form layered over Ash’s chest in a silent taunt.
    “I know you’d break before me.” He stated the truth with a firmness meant to entice. He nipped at Sawyer’s earlobe, striking sharp and fast before he pulled away.
    Sawyer’s surprised grunt ignited a quiet purr of satisfaction within him. The glare was another front, one that failed to camouflage the golden flash of want. Damn how he longed to play with that want, to test it, drive it, and see precisely how far he could go.
    Sawyer chuckled, a low rumble that matched the crook of his lips. That dimple cut into his cheek beneath the scruff of beard stubble, a pop of boyish charm that’d been erased by something dark. Something…sad.
    “Is that an offer?”
    “No.” He couldn’t follow through on his challenge no matter how badly he ached to do so. “I don’t play with employees.”
    “What if I quit?”
    “There are other guys to play with. I can refer you to someone.” He had to force the last sentence out.
    Sawyer gave another lazy glance around the room, his head barely turning before he focused back on Ash. His eyes had flattened out, the heat gone, along with the interest that’d been simmering there only a moment ago. “I’ll let you know.”
    He turned and strode from the room without a backward glance, his stride confident like his posture. Like the man. More than one guy watched him leave, interest and speculation in every expression.
    Ash clamped his jaw tight to hold back his objections, but it didn’t quell the possessive desire that boiled beneath his skin.
Fuck me
.
    He inhaled, the dungeon scents tripping old switches and controlled urges. His pulse slowly decreased with each long breath, his craving reined in until it nestled near his heart.
    He forced himself to turn back to the scene before him. He took in the tear-streaked cheeks, panting whines, tight grimace, and got nothing. No residual pleasure or urge to partake.
    The sub was an unknown to him. A stranger whose suffering didn’t touch him.
    Not as deeply as someone he knew.
    Someone he wanted.
    Sawyer Stevens was a known unknown. A mystery he longed to solve despite the reasons why he shouldn’t. His inner sadist gnawed at the danger signs and spit them back out.
    Two months—less than two months—and Sawyer would be long gone from here. It was doubtful he’d even look back when he left, let alone return. Was he really an employee, then, or just a temporary replacement?
    Did it matter?
    Not to that dark desire wedged near his heart.
    That nasty little kernel of wrong that set him apart from so many. That’d festered within him for as long as he could remember. That’d picked and nibbled and grown until he found a safe release. An out in a community that didn’t question, but didn’t always understand either.
    Hell,
he
didn’t get it, not all of it, and it was a part of him.
    A part his family could never know about. Not if he wanted their love and acceptance. His sharp scoff cut over his dry throat. There was so much of him his family didn’t know about. So many years of lies and façades, of presented images. Of hiding his truths behind what they wanted him to be.
    He couldn’t hurt them. Couldn’t let them down.
    Yet the longer he pretended the harder it was to breathe.

Chapter 5
    The water rushed by on a deceptive current, quick but calm with no hint of the dangers ahead. The gurgle of the small rapids in the middle of the river set a relaxing tone to the