Liam watches, silent and cold. His sharp gaze follows Mike's movements, as if he were evaluating the entire performance. So far he was getting rather high marks for showing just how afraid he was, and how eager he was to obey. He'd learned well that disobedience could lead to bad places. The sort of place he was already headed, and not making it worse.

Or so Liam thought.

An eyebrow lifted as Mike started to speak. "How long?" He asked, cruel and mocking. He crossed the remaining distance in just a few strides, seizing Mike by the hair. "You should already know the answer to that: as long as it takes for you to learn your lesson. As long as it takes for me to be satisfied. I would have thought by now that you'd learned to not ask me such things."