Chapter Fourteen-Blindness

I wake up in a sour mood the next morning for many reasons. One of them being that Ana's still giving me the cold shoulder. So I just let her wallow in whatever problem she has and continue packing up and loading the car.

I've been driving for a little over three hours when Ana finally decides to speak to me.

"I don't think I want to do the friends with benefits thing anymore," she murmurs softly.

I scowl. She would want to drop this bomb on me when I want to give her my full attention but can't.

I take a fleeting glance at her.

"Why?" I demand.

"Because I don't. I've changed my mind."

"Why?" I demand again, my voice more harsh. I grip the steering wheel in frustration and anger.

"It wasn't part of the deal, Christian. You never said I had to have sex with you in order to make this thing between us believable."

"Damn it, Ana!" I yell suddenly, making her jump. "Why do you always have to make things so fucking difficult? Every single time I try to keep things simple and agreeable you have to go and fuck it all up!"

"That's what I'm trying to avoid, Christian! Adding sex to the equation only makes things more difficult, hell it's already more difficult! When I agreed to do this I was expecting it to be straightforward and simple. I never thought I would fa—"

She stops suddenly. I look at her. Her mouth is pinched in a stubborn line.

"You never thought you would what?" I ask.

"Nothing. Nevermind."

"For the love of God, Ana, can you ever just answer one of my fucking questions? Why are you being so complicated?"

"I am not being complicated."

"You are too, but if you don't think so prove me wrong. Answer my question. You never thought you would what?"

"I'm done talking to you." She looks out her window.

I try to glower at her. "You don't get to decide when the conversation is over, I do, and I'm not done talking to you."

"Well you can continue the conversation but you'd just be talking to yourself," she mutters, stubbornly keeping her gaze on the landscape.

I grit my teeth so tightly I'm afraid I'll crack my teeth. I try to take a deep breath to calm myself down but it doesn't work. My anger, frustration and hurt continue to simmer deep in the pit of my stomach. I grip the steering wheel so hard I'm sure my fingers will leave an imprint.

"God, I wish I never married you. You cause more problems than you help solve," I bite out in anger.

I hear her small gasp. "Well how about we just cut this whole bullshit deal short and get a divorce before I can create any more problems in your fucking perfect life, you fucking asshole!" I hear her choke on the last word. I look over and see tears brimming in her eyes. The anger immediately rushes out of me when I realize what I've said and that I hurt her feelings.

I sag into my seat, feeling like a real dick. "Ana, I'm—"

"Save it, Christian. I don't want to hear anything else you have to say. I don't want to see your annoying face, and when we get back to the house we're unfortunately bound to I'll be sure to stay out of your way so I don't ruin your life any further." With that she puts her earphones in and turns up her music loud to block out anything else I could say.

I bang my head against the head rest and run my hands through my hair. What a great fucking start to our marriage after the honeymoon.

When we pull up into the driveway of the house that has been gifted to us, I look to see if Ana perks up at the sight of it. I'm disappointed when she does nothing else but sigh, almost forlornly, and stare at the dashboard.

I pinch my lips together, wishing that things were different between us. The day before we left the cabin I never expected to be coming back home to this giant house with my distant, unhappy wife. I don't even know what I'm supposed to say or do. Obviously sex is off the table, so does that mean she's not going to sleep in the same bed as me? Looking at her impassive face I think I have my answer.

Parking my car in front of the three-car garage, I turn off the engine but don't move to get out. I turn my head to say something to Ana, but right as I open my mouth she opens her door and slides out, slamming it shut behind her. I watch as she walks to the double front doors, puts in the key I gave her when I told her about us now owning this house, and steps inside, leaving me to carry in our luggage.

I sag in my seat. I guess it's safe to say I really fucked this up between us. I huff out a long breath, get out of the car and retrieve our luggage from the trunk. When I walk into the foyer I place our suitcases by the door, and as I look around I'm almost expecting my grandparents to come rushing towards me. It's so weird thinking of this house that my grandparents have lived in for fifteen years now being my home. But I'll always cherish it and be thankful just because the best people in the world lived here.

I hear clatter coming from the back of the house. The noises are coming from the kitchen, and when I get close to see what it is, I see Ana rummaging through cabinets.

The best thing about living here is that I already know where everything is since I came here a lot when I was younger.

"What are you looking for?" I ask her, walking further into the kitchen.

"Not you," she mumbles, pulling a wine glass from the cabinet.

I clench my jaw. Her attitude and indifference is beginning to really piss me off. "Obviously I know that," I grit out.

She keeps her gaze far away from me as she goes to the wine fridge and pulls out a bottle.

"I thought I told you not to talk to me anymore." She looks up at me, her eyes narrowed but I see the lingering hurt clear in her eyes.

"You're my wife, I can talk to you if I want." I step further into the kitchen, taking steps closer toward her. I just want her to talk to me so we can get past whatever this thing is going on between us.

"I don't want to be your wife. I honestly rather not live with you either. I think I'm going back to my dad's," she says, and begins pouring wine into the glass.

"You're not twenty-one," I remind her.

She shoots me a deadly look. "I never said I was. Now if you don't mind I'll be going to the guestroom. I'll expect you to respect my wishes and stay away."

"Like hell if that's happening, Ana! I'm getting real tired of you ignoring me and giving me the cold shoulder. I'm sorry about what I said, I didn't mean it, but if you have something to say just fucking say it!" I yell at her.

She tried to move towards the exit that leads to the back stairway, but I blocked her path. Now we're glowering at each other, our panting breaths mixing together. I feel my heart beating against my ribs.

"Why can't you just leave me alone, Christian! Why do you have to be so fucking obnoxious day in and day out? I told you I don't want to talk to you, why is that so hard to understand?" she hisses.

I grip her wrists in my hands as she begins to beat against my chest. She tries to shake herself out of my hold but I only grip her tighter and give her a slight shake.

"Because I can't! I don't know how to leave you alone, Ana. You haven't realized that yet?"

She looks up at me, trying to keep the ill-placed contempt in her eyes. "Try harder." She glares at me and then snatches her arms away from me and rushes past me up the stairs.

"My parents are expecting us at their house in two hours!" I call out to her bitterly, knowing it's going to be one hell of a time trying to get her to talk to me. We can't go to my parent's house acting so closed off from one another. They'll realize something is going on and I wouldn't be able to explain what's going on even if I wanted to.

I groan as I run my hands through my hair and over my face as I sag against the wall. What am I going to do with that woman? She has the power to piss me off and turn me on at the same time. She seems to have total control over me, but I have absolutely no control over her, or myself obviously.

We have half an hour before we need to be at my parents and it's going to take just about that time to get there, and we still haven't left yet. Ana's locked the door to the guestroom, and I've been trying to coax her to come out for the past fifteen minutes but she dutifully ignores me.

"Ana, please," I plead as I rest my head against the door and restlessly drum my fingers over the smooth wood. "My mother's going to be upset if we don't show, she said she had a whole thing planned for us. If you don't want to go for me at least go for her."

I wait and listen for what feel s like ages. I can hear her moving around but she still doesn't answer me. I'm about to beg her again, but the door suddenly opens and she steps out in a yellow strapless sundress with wedge sandals and her loose hair falling around her shoulders in soft waves.

I stare at her dumbfounded for a moment. Every time I see her I can't help but feel she gets more and more beautiful.

Her voice pulls my eyes away from her gorgeous body and to her light blue eyes. "I'll be waiting in the car," she says, walking past me without another word or look.

I rush after her, thankful that she's agreeing to go. My mom would have been extremely disappointed if neither of us showed. But then again I would've been disappointed too. Being around our family will mean Ana will have to act civil towards me, and even though I know she'll be acting, it's good enough for me at the moment.

When we get outside and to the car I try to open her door but she just pushes me out of the way and smoothly slides in, still avoiding my eyes. I stand and look at her for a minute through the window. I don't really understand why she's so mad at me. I apologized for my harsh words. I don't know what else to apologize for.

I get in the car and moments later I'm pulling out of the driveway. The entire drive to my parents was in silence, awkward silence, and Ana avoided looking at me every chance she had. When we pull into my parents' driveway, I turn off the engine and once again attempt to talk to her. I catch her hand right before I see her reach for the door.

"Ana, wait."

"What?" she says, her gaze on my parents' house.

"You're not going to tell them about us, will you?"

Her eyes snap to mine. "Tell them what?" she says defensively. "There's nothing to tell."

I frown at her. "I meant you're not going to tell them about our . . . arrangement?"

She turns away from me again. "No. I don't want to waste my breath talking about anything that has to do with you."

She pulls against my hand and I let go throwing my hand in the air. I glare at her as she gets out of the car. She's going to be rudely awakened when people are going to continually ask her how the honeymoon was. So it'll be hard for her not to talk about me. I mean this night is for us anyway.

I sigh and get out of the car, meeting Ana at the door just as my mother opens the door in greeting.

She beams at us when she sees us. I glance at Ana and see her smiling back. Oh, so she'll be receptive to my mother but not me. I feel myself begin to slowly simmer in anger and irritation once again.

"Oh, look at you two. Ana, dear, you have a beautiful glow." She winks at Ana, and she blushes. I smirk. "What are you two doing out here? Come in, everyone's waiting for you!"

My mother urges Ana in and then turns to me. "Christian." She places her hand on the side of my face and kisses my cheek. "I hope you had a wonderful honeymoon, darling."

I force a smile. It was wonderful for a while. "Hello, Mother. Yes, I had a wonderful time," I partially lie.

She smiles and guides me inside. When we get to the family room I see everyone all over Ana congratulating her and asking about the honeymoon. Elliot's the first one to spot me.

"Bro!" he says coming over to me. "You look . . . pissed," he comments when he gets closer to me. "Why are you frowning?"

I didn't realize I was. "I'm not pissed," I say. My eyes move from him to Ana. I clench my fists when I see some guy wrap her in a bear hug.

"You sure as hell look like it," Elliot mutters. "Ana's looking a little off, too. Did something happen?" he asks.

"No, Elliot, nothing happened."

My eyes trail back to Ana and I glare at the fucker who has his paws all over her. I watch with severe displeasure as he whispers something into her ear and she leans her head back and laughs. I flex my jaw, and I'm about to go over and break up the happy couple when my Grandpa Grey lays his hand on my shoulder.

"It's nice to see you, Christian. Mind if I have a word?"

I immediately know what he wants to talk about and I'm eager to get the discussion over with.

"Yeah sure," I agree, but then backtrack when I hear Ana's laughter again. "Uh, can you wait just a moment," I tell him as I turn away and stomp towards Ana.

I glare at the fucker with his arm around her shoulder. Ana glares at me when I stand in front of her, but I don't give a shit. I'm staring at the punk who has his hands all over my wife.

"Ana," I say through clenched teeth, "may I have a word with you, please?"

I don't give her a chance to deny me. Grabbing her hand, I pull her away from the crowd and drag her to my room upstairs so I know we'll have privacy.

"Jesus, Christian, what's your problem? Let go of me," she hisses as I pull her up the second flight of stairs.

I ignore her as I push her into my room and close the door behind us. I stand in front of it so she can't leave.

Crossing my arms in front of my chest I bite out, "You know even though this thing between us is complicated, you're still my fucking wife!"

She puts her hands on her hips and glowers at me. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"It means I don't appreciate you flirting with other men, especially in front of me! Are you deliberately trying to piss me off?"

"Excuse me? Who the hell do you think you are? For your information I wasn't flirting with José, unlike you he knows how to actually have a nice conversation with a woman without making her feel like shit!" She's glaring at me and I know if she could she would kill me. Her nostrils are flared, her fists clenched at her sides and her chest heaving with angry panting breaths.

I know my stance isn't too far off from hers. "I have never talked to you like you were shit, Anastasia. You're just making up bullshit so you can stay angry at me for whatever reason. Do you know how fucking irritating is you acting like an angel with everyone else but when it comes to me I'm no better than shit on your shoe. Tell me what the hell I did to make you so angry with me! I'm tired of playing this guessing game with you, just fucking tell me!"

I have her arms in my grip now, and I'm squeezing her hard. I look into her eyes and I see the fire blazing underneath them, her irritation more than apparent. She blinks, and for a moment I swear I notice something else in her gaze, but then it fades away into aggravation again.

"I don't have to tell you anything," she hisses.

"You're not going anywhere until you do. And that's a promise."

She turns her head away from me stubbornly and clamps her mouth shut. It pisses me off so I shake her, making her teeth clatter.

"Fucking answer me Ana!" I scream at her.

"Let go of me!" she yells back and starts crying.

I instantly let go of her like I've been burned, then my door suddenly bursts open

"What the hell is going on in here?"

I'm a firm believer in rewarding good behavior, so bonus!

Thanks for all the encouraging reviews, follows and favorites. You guys are what keep this story going ;)

SS&G xoxo

I think someone asked if Christian has touch issues and the answer is no. I wrote this in mind with him being adopted he just didn't have a traumatic childhood. That would just make this more complicated than what it is.

I'll most likely update again tomorrow