DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc. are the intellectual property to the respective author. The original characters and plot are the property of Stephenie Meyer. No copyright infringement is intended.
Chapter Thirty-Four
~Chutzpah~
There wasn't an ounce of hesitation in me, more of a reflex as I dug into my pocket and pulled out my phone. Emmett was staring up at a flat screen TV that hung above my head, fully enthralled in some sports game. There were about six beers and a shot or two in his two hundred and forty pound frame, and he wasn't paying attention to anything I was doing.
Even though I wanted more than anything to speak with Bella, I secretly prayed that it wasn't her. If she broke down and had to call me first, it only meant that something was wrong.
Looking down at the screen, it flashed brightly with a picture of my girl, and my muscles tightened.
Fuck, I couldn't handle anymore problems. Life wasn't perfect—by far—but it was heading that way. In a few more days, I would be stitches free and my solitary confinement would be over. My sanity was barely holding on...
Well, fuck it.
Whatever the problem was, I needed to stop being a pussy and deal with it like a man.
"Bella," I answered, skipping all of the bullshit formalities.
"Where are you?" she asked, just as urgently.
"I'm at a bar with Emmett and Angela."
It never occurred to me to lie to her.
"So, my sister is with you then? That's good," she said, relieved. "How is she?"
"She's okay...I think..." I paused and nodded over at Emmett, silently gesturing him to go check up on her.
He responded by downing the last bit of beer and wiping off his mouth off with the back of his hand. The big guy rose from his seat and proceeded to push his way through the massive crowd.
"...she called me about an hour or so ago," I continued, redirecting my attention back to Bella. "She was upset because Aro broke up with her."
"Yeah, I heard," she sighed heavily. "Listen, Edward, I know we agreed not to see each other until you were healed, but I really need to talk to you—tonight, if possible. Where are you?"
"I'm at some sports bar," I replied.
It was funny that I'd been there for nearly two hours and still had no fucking clue what the name of the bar was.
"Where's it at?" she asked, and I could faintly hear the engine to her car roaring to life.
"It's right off the Kennedy Expressway and Addison Street. Why? Are you coming here?" I asked loudly, pressing my finger to my ear to block out all the background noise.
"Do you trust Emmett to make sure that he gets Ang home safely—no, forget I said that. I know he's a trustworthy guy. What I meant to say is, do you think he would mind taking her back to your guys' apartment and watching her for the night?" she asked.
"It shouldn't be a problem. What's going on, Bella? Is Angela in danger?"
"No, she's not...exactly. She's just...Angela doesn't handle stress very well. She just needs time to digest things and she's fine, but right now, she's in a very fragile state. I need someone to keep an eye on her for me. I would ask you to do it, since she trusts you in all, but I really need to see you tonight. It's important."
To hear her say that she needed me felt so fucking good. It slightly distracted me for a moment, but I quickly pushed my gloating aside and refocused my attention on the matter at hand.
"Did she call you?" I asked somewhat offhandedly, but hoping beyond hope that Angela may have reached out to her sister.
"No," she laughed bitterly. "She's is still upset with me, and I'm sure she blames me for this whole Aro mess."
"She doesn't blame you, Bella," I said. "She blames that asshole and the sub he dumped her for."
"She knows that there's another sub?" Bella voice lowered to a whisper, and if my ear wasn't pressed hard against my phone, I may have missed her question.
I scoffed. "Yeah, the prick was at least decent enough to tell her that much."
"Did he tell her who the sub was?"
"No, he didn't, but I'm pretty sure she knows, though. I kind of got that impression from her before she went outside to smoke."
There was a long stretch of silence on the other end of the phone and that worried me. At first, I figured I lost the call, but her soft breathing told me that she was still there.
"Bella?"
"Angela's smart." Her tone had a somber edge to it. "Of course, she would figure it out. Look, I'm going to come pick you up. Did you guys drive together?"
The ruckus in the bar was increasing in volume and I found myself shouting into the phone. "Yeah, we drove in my car."
"Leave your keys with Emmett and tell him to take Angela to your guys' house. Tell him that she needs to be watched and make sure she doesn't drink, okay?"
I cringed, ducking my shoulders in and stared guiltily at the empty beer bottles and shot glasses.
"Um, there might be a slight problem with that non-drinking rule."
"Wha—please tell me you guys didn't just give my nineteen year old sister alcohol, Edward."
"I'm sorry, Bella. I wanted to go to Denny's or some shit, but Emmett was nagging the fuck out of me. I figured if I stayed sober and kept an eye on them, that they wouldn't get into too much trouble."
She groaned with frustration. "How much has she had to drink?"
"A lot," I admitted.
"Perfect. Well, she's officially cut off, alright?"
"You got it. She's done. No more for her."
"Good. Look, I'm getting on the expressway now and I'll be there in about ten minutes. Be outside," she ordered.
"Okay," I said, looking up and noticing that Emmett and Angela were making their way back to the table. "I'll see you soon."
"Edward?" Bella asked.
"Yeah?"
There was a long pause again, a bit of static, and I pulled the phone from my ear to make sure that the call didn't get dropped. But she was still there...silently keeping my attention.
"Bella?"
"Never mind," she said quickly. "I'll see you in a bit."
Then she hung up.
"We ready for another round?" Emmett boomed, slapping me hard on my back.
Angela eyed me wearily, reading the tension between my brows. Even I could feel the crinkles in my forehead.
"Bella's on her way," I blurted out, my phone's screen still brightly lit in my hand.
Angela glared at me. "You fucking called her?"
"No, I didn't fucking call her, Ang," I replied back just as harshly. But I didn't want to fight with her—not tonight—so I tried for a gentler approach. "She called me."
Emmett glanced back and forth at Angela and me, and I could tell he was becoming uncomfortable with the direction the conversation was going.
"Shots," he said, waving the waitress over. "We need some more fucking shots over here."
The idea of him driving my car while carrying precious cargo was fucking terrifying and I wasn't going to allow it.
Besides, I promised Bella that Angela wasn't going to drink, and unfortunately for Emmett, that included him as well.
"No more shots, Em," I said, yanking his arm down. I opened up my wallet and pulled out a hundred, shoving it into his hand. "Get a cab and take Angela back to our place."
"What, why? I thought you were our DD, man," he said with a slight slur and I knew that he was only going to get worse.
"I'm not going home with him, Edward," Angela spat, crossing her arms over her chest with indignation.
"Yes, you are," I said, slamming another hundred down on the table and rising from my chair.
"Why can't I just go home?" she asked.
"Because your sister doesn't want you to be left alone tonight," I said.
The look of betrayal flashed across her face and her next words were low...gruff. "Oh, and I suppose we're all expected to fall in line with whatever Bella says, huh? Ugh, give me a fucking break. We're not all her little bitch submissives, who go around kissing her ass and taking her lickings. You may be bound to her, Edward, but I'm not."
"Angela," I groaned, rubbing the creases in my forehead. "I don't have fucking time for this. Will you please just go with Emmett? For me?"
"No, I will not go with him, Edward! I don't need a fucking babysitter!" she shouted, nearly drowning out the background chattering of the patrons.
Emmett took a tentative step towards Angela, reaching out to comfort her, but she was too enraged. She backed away from the table and her body went rigid. The feral animal in her was unleashed now, and slow movements and gentle tones was our best bet.
"Just relax, okay," I said, placing my hand on her shoulder, but she scowled at me, seeing my gesture as an insult...or a trap.
"Don't fucking patronize me, Edward, alright? I can see what you're doing. I'm not stupid."
Everything was going to shit and I was fucking tired of it. When I signed up to be Bella's sub, I sure as hell didnt expect that her sister was going to be a part of that arrangement.
My overall stress was reaching its breaking point and the thought of adding Angela's drama to it was the final straw.
Needless to say, I was fucking done.
"Jesus Christ, Ang! Fine, I don't give a shit where you go. I care about you, okay? I don't want to see you get hurt, but it's pretty fucking clear that you're bound and determined to go down this self-destructive path. So, do what you want. I fucking give up." I turned to Emmett, who was sobering up pretty quickly. "How are you? Are you good enough to drive or do you still need a cab?"
"I can drive," he replied.
"Here," I said, pulling out my car keys and giving them to him. "Be gentle with my baby. She's not a toy."
My phone vibrated in my pocket, almost as if on cue.
Bella's was here.
"I'll see you back home," I addressed to Emmett as I passed by Angela.
She gripped my arm tightly, stopping me mid-step. "So, that's it then? You just give up on me like Bella did?"
"See, Ang, that's exactly my point. Your sister has never given up on you, but you have," I said.
"I haven't given up, okay? I'm really trying. God, it's not like I'm going to go off the deep end and cut myself again. Why does she insist on treating me like some broken person? I'm strong, Edward," she cried, releasing me as her shoulders slumped. "I'm strong."
My eyes widened as the weight of her words dawned on me. Bella's earlier statements suddenly clicked and I realized that the only person that Angela was in danger of was herself.
All my anger washed away in an instant and I pulled her to me. Wrapping her up in my arms and hugged her tightly as she cried into my shoulder.
"Will you please just go with Em, Ang? I'll be there soon. I promise." I pleaded.
She sniffed and nodded, gripping the back of my shirt like her life depended on it.
The vibration of my phone reminded me that Bella was outside waiting. It was at the worst possible time, and I felt like such an asshole—especially since the poor girl was crying her heart out to me—but I couldn't stay...
"I gotta go," I whispered, but she only hugged me tighter, refusing to release me from her death-grip.
I looked up at Emmett for help and he jumped into action. Slowly but surely, he pulled her away from me. Her face was soaked and I looked down at my shirt, observing the puddle that she left behind.
"Don't leave her alone tonight, okay? Promise me," I instructed.
He nodded firmly. "I promise, dude."
"I'll be home in a few hours," I assured him. "I appreciate this."
He smiled, waving me off. "Nah, don't worry about it. This makes up for Saturday. We're even now."
"Right," I said, feeling another vibration of my phone, only this time, it went straight to my bones. I grimaced. "I gotta go."
"Then go," he said, wrapping his massive arm around Angela. "I got this."
It was hard to leave Angela like that, but I knew she was in good hands. Even though my friends, Emmett and Jasper, gave me shit and made me mad at times, they were there for me when it truly counted.
As I made my way through the bar, I was overcome with nervousness and it was such an odd feeling. The thought of seeing my Mistress caused my stomach to do all sorts of twists and flips. It'd been three days, two hours, and fourteen minutes since the last time I saw her...
My feet couldn't move fast enough.
The cold Chicago air hit me the moment I stepped outside, and I was grateful to see Bella's car pulled up by the door waiting for me. The dark tinted windows on her Audi made seeing her impossible, but when I opened the door; her scent hit me like a wrecking ball. It was intoxicating and I felt dizzy from the sudden exposure.
My will was already broken and there was no turning back. Slipping into the car seat and closing the door behind me, I noticed that Bella was staring at me with these wide brown eyes.
She looked, somewhat, unsure of me.
I guess it was a lot to for her take in all at once. For some unexplained reason, I was hyperventilating.
But, man, was she beautiful. It felt like years instead of days since the last time I've seen her.
"Hi." I managed to croak out.
"Edward," she said with a soft sigh, placing her hand on my thigh.
The smell of her may have been overwhelming, and the sight of her possibly had taken my breath away, but to have her touch me...it was insufferable.
The fuse was lit and it was like a bomb had exploded under my seat, propelling me forward. I grabbed her by the sides of her face and pulled her over the center console, bringing her mouth to mine.
The softness of her lips and the warmth of her breath were like no other. For three fucking days, I deprived myself of this little piece of heaven on earth. It seemed like such a crazy notion now.
The sweet taste of Bella invaded my senses, signaling that I was finally home.
It was pretty fucking clear to me my plan to stay away from her was useless torture, and any plans to separate myself from her in the future would be futile.
"Edward," Bella mumbled against my lips, "we can't stay here. We have to go."
"No," I said, deepening the kiss and coaxing her tongue with mine.
She relented at first, slumping into me and entwining her fingers in my hair. My hands roamed her body freely, feeling the softness of her breasts and the curvaceousness of her hips. The heat between us grew and emanated, causing me to ponder the possibilities. It didn't take much for my mind to plot and seek out all of the places on my girl, the parts of her that my hands were dying to touch.
Then the tension began to build in my groin, and I was reminded of my ever constant dilemma. The reasons for my exile came flooding back…
Fucccccck me.
Begrudgingly, I pulled away from the kiss and leaned my forehead against hers, panting heavily. "Fuck, man. Why can't I control myself around you?"
"This is why I didnt want to call you, Edward, but I needed to see you..." she paused and I kissed her lips chastely, hoping to persuade the rest of that sentence out of her. After a few seconds of coaxing, she finally relented. "I really missed you."
"I was nothing without you."
She kind of laughed at my statement, blowing it off as a romantic gesture of sorts, but I doubt she really understood the truth behind my words.
"You wanna go somewhere?" she asked, leaning away from me.
"Sure. Where do you wanna go?"
"Does it matter?" she asked, smirking at me.
"Not really," I replied, placing my hand over hers as she shifted the car into first gear.
She removed her hand out from under mine so she could to steer, and as we started moving forward, I saw Emmett and Angela exiting the bar. She's wasn't in the shape I'd left her in, and as minute as the difference was, it still managed to make me feel better about ditching her...but only slightly.
~~88~~88~~88~~88~~
We drove around Chicago with really no destination in mind. Going back to the house wasn't an option. It was too comfortable there, and at one point I suggested that we go to her dungeon, but we both came to a fast consensus. That place was more of a tease to us than a haven we so desperately sought.
Eventually we decided to park in some abandoned lot. It was heavily guarded by night-time security, and we figured that their constant presence would keep us in line. It was our safest bet to avoid injury to my groin area, and at this point we needed all the help we could get.
I wasn't going to lie, trying to keep my hands off my Mistress was hard, but when the subject of Angela finally came up, my sexual frustration seemed less important...pretty shocking, even to me.
Bella admitted to me that her sister had been in and out of therapy since she was twelve. After their parents died, Angela took their loss pretty hard and began to withdraw. The four-point-oh average soon dropped to a staggering two-point-oh, and then the once social butterfly cut off all communication with her friends. She locked herself in her room, refused to eat, and barely spoke two words to Bella for weeks at a time.
It only got worse as time went on.
After months of despair, Bella threw whatever money she had into Angela's therapy. It helped—at first—but eventually Angela got restless and started to skip her sessions.
The self-destructive behavior intensified and manifested into the act of cutting herself.
Bella said she had noticed that her razor blades had started to go missing, but she didn't link it to Angela until she found several knives hidden underneath her bed. It was the first of many signs that alerted Bella that her little sister was far more troubled than she initially realized.
She tried to keep a close eye on Angela as often as she could; but with her being the only one working to support them, and the constant energy it took to watch her, it seemed less and less likely. In desperate times, the little hope she had to keep their family afloat was achieved by enlisting Master Aro to help pay some of the mounting bills.
It was around this time when Bella became Aro's submissive, and she admitted that those days were dark. But the pain he provided served as a welcomed distraction.
In a way, I knew exactly what she meant.
Things eventually got worse from there, and in the fall of 2008, they took on a drastic and nearly deadly turn.
Bella had witnessed, for the first time, how vicious her sister's nasty habit really was.
"The blood was everywhere, Edward," she said, shivering slightly as she relived the memory. "And I've seen blood many times before at Aro's club. Blood play wasn't something I was into, but I've watched people do it. This was different, though. It was my sister and she was lying there, lifelessly, in a pool of—I just panicked. God, I can't even tell you how many times I slipped on the fucking tile."
"Was she trying to kill herself?" I asked, thinking back to all the times I've talked with Angela and not knowing this dark past of hers.
Come to think of it, I didnt even notice the deep cuts on her wrists...did she always wear long sleeves?
"I'm not sure. She never told me, really. She likes to joke about it and say she just misjudged the sharpness of the blade," she shook her head disgustedly. "It's bullshit, you know. All of it. She wanted to die."
"I'm sorry," I said, caressing the side of her cheek.
"It's not your fault." She leaned away from me and sighed. "Anyways, after she was released from the hospital, she promised me that she would get better. She started to go to therapy four times a week. She excelled at home school, and even took a job at the dungeon. It's been over two years since then, and I thought that things were good. That, perhaps, she finally healed. So, when I found out that she was Aro's submissive, I just lost it. I knew that he was going to reopen that door—and it angered me to know that she sought him out."
"You think she's going to spiral out of control?" But even as I asked the question, a flash of Angela's distraught face came to mind, and I knew the answer.
"I hope not," she said, running her hand through my hair. "I hope she doesn't fall back. It just scares me because of the irreparable damage that Aro can cause to someone like her. I mean, I saw it in her eyes, Edward. Last week when we fought, I knew that she loved him. I knew, without a doubt, that he was going to crush her. So, when I heard that he decollared—"
"Wait, hold on. How did you know that she had been decollared? You told me that she didn't call you?"
"Aro came to see me," she said, voice flat and distant.
It sidelined me, crushing me from the inside out as I imagined the worst possible scenario. Aro, coming to see my girl, touching her...
But why would he come to see her? He breaks up with Angela and the first person he tells was the sister? The same sister who objected to Aro collaring Angela in the first fucking place?
Then like a ton of bricks, it hit me.
Everything just started to make sense. The way Angela acted when she figured out the identity of the sub and the precise timing of Bella's call—and her reaction to the news when she realized that Angela knew…
Well, it didn't take a real genius to figure out that my Mistress was the centerpiece to all of this.
"You're the sub he's in love with, aren't you?" I asked in an accusatory tone.
She nodded marginally, glancing away from my heated gaze. "Do you remember the morning after the club and how I went to see Aro?"
I nodded slowly. "The the day you cracked my whip?"
She laughed slightly, getting my reference. "Yeah, well, when I went over there to talk to him about Angela, he admitted that he still had strong feelings for me."
I gritted my teeth and my hands balled into tight fists as she told me this. It was my jealously and possessiveness that came out in full strength, causing me to see nothing but red. As much as I wouldn't say it out loud, I still felt it...
Bella was mine.
"He's out of his fucking mind if he thinks for one minute that I would—"
"I know," she said, interrupting my all consuming rage by placing her hand on my flushed cheek. "I told him that I was happy as a Domme and I had no interest in going back to him."
This calmed me, but only marginally. It still infuriated me to think of him dominating her...kissing her...touching her...fucking having sex with her.
Blocking out that mental image, I focused on Bella's lips as they moved once again. "He wasn't too pleased with my answer and he was upset, but I figured that he would drop it. Move on. I never expected that Aro would decollar her in hopes to collar me."
The white-hot fury erupted in me again. "So, what did that fucker do, Bella? Did he show up at your God damned house offering you his collar?"
In all honesty, I really was trying to control my temper.
"No," she said calmly. "He showed up at the Dungeon, offering me a deal."
"A deal? What kind of deal?"
"He said that if I came back as his submissive that I could keep my status as a Domme and that he would wash away all of my debt. The dungeon would be transferred into my name. It would be mine."
"And if you said no?"
"Well, if I refused, he was going rip me of my title and take back his loan. He told me that I would lose everything: My house. My car. My job. I would have to start from scratch."
"What did you tell him?" I asked through clenched teeth.
I was on the verge of crushing everything in sight...the one thing that I wished to pulverize, above all else, was in his sky-rise, plotting to take away my very reason for living.
"I told him that I would think about it," she admitted.
That was it.
I was done.
The rage inside of me blazed and roared, consuming me in its flames.
"Are you fucking—you're actually considering it?" I asked, my voice raising an octave.
"No, of course not, Edward," she said, reaching over and placing her hands on the side of my face, keeping her eyes trained on mine. "I told that bastard that I didn't make deals, but I needed to buy some time to come up with a plan. If he revokes my contract, I'll have nothing here and I'll be forced to take the job in Seattle—away from you. But if I take him up on his offer, keeping my dungeon and status as a Domme, I can stay in Chicago, but I'll be his…and only his. No matter what I choose, I end up losing you."
It wasn't her fault. She didnt ask for this. It was just another thing in our life that threatened to tear us apart and I shouldn't be blaming her. I needed to be protecting her and coming up with a plan...
I smiled as the solution formulated in my mind.
It was just so simple.
"I'll move with you to Seattle," I said.
She shook her head. "No, I can't let you do that, Edward. You have a life here."
"Not without you I don't."
"I know you may think that, but I can't let you move thousands of miles away from your friends and family."
"I'll call 'em. Write 'em letters. I don't give a shit. Besides, I already planned on moving to Arizona after I graduated, and you were all for that. How's this any different?"
"Maybe...after you graduate," she said, pondering that option.
But that wasn't good enough.
"No, I won't do that, Bella. I've just spent three days without you and that seemed like a fucking eternity. I can't do a whole year."
She smiled weakly, grabbing my hand and squeezing it. "I know."
"Look, why do you even have to leave? Stay here in Chicago with me and forget about the dungeon. You can still teach at the boys' school, right?"
"I wish it was that simple, but it wouldn't be enough money...and to be frank, my heart couldn't take the reminders. Being a Domme is in my blood. If he rips that away from me, who am I then?"
"You're Isabella Swan," I said earnestly, brushing an idle strand from her face. "You're my Mistress. You're the woman I love..." Then something happened to me as I looked into her deep brown eyes. The one thing I'd never thought would happen was finally becoming a reality, and it seemed so obvious. Of course it would end this way. I was a fool if I thought otherwise. "You're the woman that I am going to marry."
Her eyes widened slightly and she let out a defeated sigh. "You don't want to marry me."
"Yes, I do," I said, putting as much of my heart and intensity as possible.
"Edward, emotions are running high right now, okay? You're just scared of losing this," she gestured between us. "If you knew what you were getting yourself into, you wouldn't want to be legally bonded to me. You would want to run far away from me."
"Bella," I said, rolling my eyes, "after all we've been through, I doubt anything you throw at me at this point would make me run. I'm too far gone for all that. What I need now is to make you mine."
"But I am yours, Edward," she said, taking my hand and placing it over her heart, "…every bit."
"Yeah, but I want to collar you in the only way I can."
My mind was already conjuring up ideas for a romantic proposal. Maybe my mom would let me give Bella my Great Grandma Whitlock's engagement ring...
"Edward." She grimaced, looking unsure. "I can't let you do that."
It was a control issue with her and I was asking her to give some of that up to me.
"Do you love me?"
"You know the answer to that," she said, dismissing the question.
"Do you?"
"Of course, I do, Edward. That's why this us so hard for me. It's why I didn't take Aro's offer. It's...it's why I am here with you, discussing the disintegration of who I am."
I cocked my eyebrow at her skeptically, sensing that she wasn't being completely truthful. "I am the only reason for not taking Aro's deal?"
"Yes, you are, Edward," she said like that point was obvious. "You're the only reason that matters."
"So, if it wasn't for me...you would take the deal?"
She shrugged her shoulders defeatedly.
"You would really sell your soul to that man?" I asked… It seemed so inconceivable to me.
"Now, how can I sell something that I've already given to you, huh?"
"Marry me then," I said, grabbing and pulling her to me, ghosting my lips over hers. "Please."
"What would that solve, Edward, huh?" she asked, depleted, as she leaned away from me. "We would still be in this shitty situation, but instead of you having an out, you would be legally obligated to stay."
There was nothing I wanted more than this woman. She was gorgeous, smart, compelling, and sexy as fuck. The very thought of her evoked a painful desire in me—one that I had no power to control.
What I wouldn't fucking give to make her be mine...officially.
"I'm not looking for an out, Bella," I said, unconsciously gravitating towards her and kissing her lips softly. "I'm just looking for a way in, and to be perfectly honest, you're not making it easy."
She grabbed me by the collar of my shirt, pulling me over the center console and thrusting her chest into mine. The passion in her kiss was not unlike other kisses before, but it was new in a way. It fogged my mind and managed to make me forget the little things...things like marriage.
Which, I am sure was her plan.
My hands were halfway up her shirt when there was a loud tapping on the driver's side window.
We both peered up and saw a disgruntled security guard waving his stick at us.
"Move it along," he barked through the glass.
"We're going," Bella told him as she sat up straight and gently pushed me over to my side of the car.
Fixing my shirt, I buckled my seatbelt and ran my hands through my hair.
"Thank God he came when he did." I laughed, shifting and adjusting myself. "Once I get started, I can't seem to stop."
"Just as well, I need to get you home and relieve Emmett of his babysitting duties," Bella said as she pulled out of the parking lot.
"Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. I promised Angela that I wouldn't be long. Just..." I paused, thinking of how many days until my stitches were removed and I couldn't bear the thought of not seeing her. I sighed heavily, "Bella, can you promise me something?"
She glanced over at me. "What's that?"
"Promise me that we'll never go more than a day without seeing each other."
"After Friday, you mean?"
"No, I mean, after tonight."
She shot me a look filled with trepidation.
"You see, I tried the whole separation thing and that didn't work out too well for me," I explained.
"You're willing to risk busting your stitches open?" She smirked, obviously teasing me.
"When the alternative is far more painful? Yeah, it's a non-issue."
"Okay, then, I promise…under one condition."
She was hitting me with a counteroffer? I can't say that I was all that surprised.
Control.
My Mistress had to have it.
"What's the condition?" I asked.
"You stop asking me to marry you," she said.
It was like a trap door in the floor opened, dropping me down into the pits of hell, where I spent eternity being consumed with pain and misery.
That's how I felt at that moment.
How can I promise her something like that?
Marriage an hour ago seemed unlikely to me, but now, it was envisioned.
I saw it and I wanted it.
No, I refused to give in to her like that.
Perhaps, another counteroffer?
"How about I stop asking you to marry me until we're both ready, does that sound like a deal?"
"Edward, you realize how crazy this sounds, right? You're only twenty-one years old. You're still so young."
"I am well aware of how unhinged I must sound, but I don't care. I want you. That will never change. So, we either have a deal or we don't. You make the call."
She laughed, shaking her head. "Alright, fine. You have yourself a deal. Just don't go holding your breath in hopes that day will be coming anytime soon, my pet."
If I had to wait a hundred years, I would never stop wanting to marry her. Like I told her many times before, I can be very persistent.
When was the last time I gave in and threw in the towel?
Through all of the uncertainty, the unrelenting ex-submissive, the wooden horse, Mr. Harrison, and her unshakable denial, I still came out the victor. It didn't matter how long it took, I was bound and determined to make her crack again, because in the end, I was willing to wait.
Defiant as always, I took a big gasp of air and held my breath.
A/N: Thanks to my pre-readers, Brina and Tina! The dynamic duo! You ladies rock!