As if he read my thinking, a quick flash of lightning scorched through my nipples and I gasped. Warmth surged between my legs. Pain and pleasure were starting to mingle in my thinking, and my body definitely didn't seem to mind it. I gave Luke a look from the corner of my eye, but he merely smiled serenely at me. This was his way of displaying care for my broken connection with my parents: I could either undergo punishment when I thought about speaking out but didn't, or I could simply speak up, tell them to go away, and be left in peace.

“It's not that simple,” I'd attempted to...