Chapter 36 Chapter 36

Chapter 36 Chapter 36
~BRIENNE VONBERG~

Allister's name flashed across the screen and panic surged through me violently. I looked back at the feed. One hand still stroked his length while the other held his phone to his ear. His eyes remained fixed on the camera.

There was no coincidence about it. He knew I was watching him!

I stared through two full rings before I finally answered. “Hello.”

Silence greeted me for some seconds. Then his voice slid through the phone low and calm, enough to completely destroy my nervous system.

“What are you wearing?”

My grip tightened instinctively. Not a hello. Not even a demand to explain why I'd assaulted his maid earlier.

Just that.

I removed my hand completely from in-between my thighs and drew my robe lower on reflex despite that he couldn't actually see me at the moment.

“And how exactly is that your business?” I snapped, forcing steel into my voice, trying desperately to sound normal. “Is that what you called me for?"

"Answer the question." I frowned at how demanding his voice was, my mind still reeling from the fact that, only seconds earlier, I'd had my fingers buried inside me, pleasuring myself while watching the footage of him.

"It's night. I'm in bed, trying to sleep." I replied, my voice lacking the steadiness I'd been aiming for.

A quiet sigh left him. "Are you?"

My heartbeat stumbled. “What do you mean?”

"I can tell that you're nervous. Doing something you shouldn't, Brienne?"

My gaze betrayed me, drifting back to the screen. He still had one hand wrapped around his cock. Still stroking slowly. My thighs clenched painfully at the scene.

"Don't lie to me,.. " His voice lowered. "What were you doing before you answered?"

"You're insane. You called me just to ask that?" I asked, forcing indifference into my voice.

“Yes." He replied. "You were about to finish without me."

The words hit like a physical thing. My breath caught so sharply it almost hurt.

“I couldn’t allow that.”

"I hate you."

“And yet,” he murmured smoothly, “you answered the phone.”

Fuck him.

The silence stretched too long because his voice dropped lower after that, roughening around the edges in a way that instantly made my pulse race harder.

“If you have anything on, I'll suggest you take it off.”

“Absolutely not.”

“You already had your hand under there thirty seconds ago.”

Humiliation burned straight through me because he sounded so certain saying it. How was he always one step ahead of me? How did he see through me so effortlessly?

My fingers curled tighter around the edge of my robe.

'Don't, Brienne.' Every rational thought I had screamed at me to ignore him, to hang up, to prove he wasn't controlling me.

Then, to my horror, my last thread of control slipped.

"I hate you," I said again, though my trembling hands had already stripped the robe from my body.

"I know. It makes our little game all the more satisfying."

He let the silence settle between us, as though waiting for my heartbeat to catch up. Then he spoke again.

“Put your hand back where it was.”

Something hot twisted violently low in my stomach.

“Allister—”

“You were already touching yourself.” His voice sounded darker now. “Don’t get shy with me suddenly.”

My hand slid back between my thighs before my pride could stop it. The sound that escaped me was soft. Mortifyingly soft.

“There she is,” he murmured quietly, almost to himself.

My eyes closed briefly. This man was going to ruin me. And the worst part was that some horrifying part of me already wanted him to.

My eyes stayed locked on the screen while my fingers moved slowly between my thighs, matching the lazy rhythm of his hand wrapped around himself. The sight of him like this — completely composed while I came apart piece by piece — did something violent to my thoughts. It made me feel exposed in ways nudity never could, like he was standing inside my head instead of several miles away inside his own room.

“What are you thinking about?” he asked quietly.

“Nothing.”

“Brienne.”

My breath shook slightly as my fingers pushed deeper, slick sounds filling the silence around me while humiliation and pleasure tangled painfully together inside my chest. “I’m not thinking about anything,” I lied weakly, because saying the truth out loud somehow felt far more intimate than what I was actually doing.

“You always hesitate before you lie to me.” His tone remained calm, controlled, and somehow that made it worse. “Try again.”

I swallowed hard.

The heat building low in my stomach was becoming unbearable now, spreading through my body in slow waves while I watched the muscles in his abdomen tighten each time his fist stroked over himself. Gosh, he looked good in the act. Too good. Like temptation had been built into human form purely to test people’s self-control.

“The counter,” I admitted finally, voice barely above a whisper.

A pause followed.

Then, “What about it?”

The memory slammed into me immediately. My back pressed against cold marble while his mouth worked between my breasts slowly enough to make me lose my mind. The sound of the cuffs every time I pulled against them. The way he’d watched my face while dragging pleasure out of me like he enjoyed seeing how long I could hold onto my pride before it shattered completely.

“Your mouth,” I said shakily. “The way you—you wouldn’t stop.”