Total pages in book: 91
Estimated words: 86322 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 86322 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 432(@200wpm)___ 345(@250wpm)___ 288(@300wpm)
“I don’t…I don’t believe you.” She shook her head, tears pooling in her eyes, looking at me like she didn’t know who I was. “I think you’re just too damn scared to admit it.”
“Enough,” I barked, slashing my hand through the air. I prowled forward, crowding her in my shadow. I needed to regain ground from where she backed me against the wall—to escape the cage she tried to pin me in. “My friend needs a demonstration, and I’m not breaking any rules of our agreement. So, I’m done with this.”
She stepped back, her head still shaking, sending tears cascading down her cheeks. “No,” she breathed.
“No, what?” I asked, the words sharp but barely eking past the choking tension clutching my throat.
“No.” She blinked quickly, swallowing hard, trying and failing to regain her composure. “You can’t do this.”
Telling me what I can and can’t do.
Using tears to get what she wants.
Me giving over control because I’m a good husband.
Just. Like. Daria.
Not this time.
“This right here is why I don’t do love,” I sneered, gesturing between us. “It makes women think that if they can somehow make me care about them, then they can control me and take advantage.”
She stepped forward, arms reaching. “That’s not wh—”
I stepped back and hit the wall—cornered all over again, scrambling for a way out, lunging for the first idea promising release.
“Prove it,” I grunted, leaning into her space. The more she stared at me with those wide eyes, wet with tears and full of false hopes of a happily ever after I knew didn’t exist, the more my options faded. The more I wanted to give in, the more I wanted to pull away, the more my panic grew. I needed this to end. I needed it to. So, like any cornered animal, I went for the throat. I softened my tone to the arrogant seduction that got me any woman I wanted. “By all means, stay and watch. Maybe you’ll like it.”
The color drained from her face, and she held my hard stare with a frantic one of her own. “Red,” she whispered.
I jerked back, her safe word striking a chord deep in the hollow cavern carved out by Daria. It blared, urging me to listen.
But I was too far gone. Too trapped.
“This isn’t a scene, Aspen,” I hissed, my words like ice.
“Lucian. Please,” she begged, more silvery tracks slipping free.
“Your tears may work on Daddy, princess, but not me.”
“Fuck you.” The words were hard, but small.
“I’d love to,” I purred, my lips quirking into a painful smile. “Once I’m done in there.”
“No. No.” She swiped away her tears, revealing eyes as hard as yellow garnet. “If you do this, then our agreement is off. We will be done.”
Being right wasn’t what it was always cracked up to be. It didn’t always hold the victory, and more often than not, it left you alone and empty.
Part of me had hoped she’d prove me wrong—a part I hadn’t known existed until she slid into the role I’d protected myself from—the role Daria created all those years ago.
“If you try to leave me with nothing, I will ruin you. I will tell everyone that you’re an abuser—that your father was an abuser. I have proof.”
Aspen’s words aligned too close to Daria’s, ringing in my head as if they were used to toll a bell. They vibrated through my bones and coiled around my muscles, pulling them into action.
The past and present blurred together as I leaned in and lowered my voice, darkness coating my words. “If you end this, then I will take your precious company from you. All of it.”
She huffed a brittle laugh, fixing me with a glare that was hollow but still unyielding—like she’d already lost and refused to admit it.. “Fine.”
One simple word, and then she was gone.
All her fight, gone.
I blinked, and she’d turned away.
I blinked again, and it was as if she hadn’t been there at all.
Except for the spicy vanilla scent, still lingering like a ghost.
Except for the single word, still ringing with finality.
Fine.
Fine, what?
Fine, she doesn’t care about the spanking?
Fine, we were over, and I could take her company?
Both sat uncomfortably, bulky in my mind. Both refused to settle correctly in my chest. Both…hurt.
“Fuck,” I breathed.
Focusing on my promise to Rose, I swiped a hand over my face and headed back to the room.
The soft music, the quiet hum of conversation, and the clinking glasses blended together, sounding more like a deafening cacophony of percussion instruments. All while a shrieking siren pierced the noisy fog, growing louder with each step closer to the stage.
I looked up, trying to focus on my goal—helping my friends, but found Emily’s seductive gaze with a temptress’s smile staring back. My breaths seized, and my steps faltered, as if each inch closer chained more weight to my feet.