But there would be no asking or pleading this time. I plopped onto the sofa, unbuttoned her jeans and yanked down the zipper, then bent her over my knee. I shoved the denim below her ass and brought my hand down with a loud whack. She cried out, but unlike with the ginger, her voice trilled with relief.

She needed this.

“You held onto that victim card like a trophy, not because you were helpless but because you thought you deserved it.” I let another vicious smack fly on her ass.

She squirmed, moaning, and her skin flushed a gorgeous pink. I was spanking raw skin, still fresh with welts, but it didn’t seem to bother her—not in the way it should. She was hot and bothered in a much different way. If I’d learned anything, it was that Alex was only punishable when denied what she wanted.

Me.

It had always been me.

My hand quaked with the need to lay into her harder, but I didn’t want to go too far—not after the recent punishment Jax and I had put her through. But God help me. I’d spank her every fucking day until she stopped beating herself up. Until she stopped ripping into her skin. Until she finally forgave herself.

19. Ricochet - Alex

19. RICOCHET - ALEX

“Lex.”

Something wasn’t right—not just that I’d heard Zach call my name, but too much pressure built in my head. I was naked, my arms and legs bound by rope though it wasn’t rough against my skin like I’d expect. The bindings hugged me, smooth as silk, pressing my ankles to the backs of my thighs, connecting to my wrists at my back.

Where the heck was I?

I parted my lips, but a feeble groan came out. The floor swayed underneath me.

No. I was the one moving, swinging upside down with my dark curls brushing the rough cement. A chair scraped behind me, and clothing rustled, drowned out by the soft thump of footsteps. I sensed the heat of his body before his clothes brushed my skin. Two sickeningly familiar palms kneaded my ass, fingers reaching close to the center of my traitorous cunt.

“Don’t you fucking touch her!”

Rafe. I lifted my head and found him bound in chains.

Oh my God.

Nikki lay on the ground beside his feet in a puddle of blood.

We were back in the tunnel, only this time Zach was our tormenter.

I sobbed at the sight of Rafe. He sported a busted lip, and his left eye was swollen shut, lost to the ugly plum, mustard, and blue skin that puffed around his lid. And Nikki…she was dead. There was no saving her. We were all here because of me.