Chapter 33

"I know that! I know you have! Believe me, I know it better than anyone because you won't shut the fuck up about your legacy! I'm not telling you not to do WrestleMania, I'm ASKING you to retire AFTER this is over! After this story is done, because it is finished at Mania, according to what you told me! Be done with wrestling after WrestleMania and stay home with your WIFE and KIDS! We miss you!" I FUCKING MISS YOU! You don't even want anything to do with me! All you do is make googly eyes at Shelly and flirt with her all the time and you don't pay me the slightest bit of attention! That's all I want! I WANT MY HUSBAND! "And the fact you have to cut your fucking hair I am NOT okay with it! And I know you don't fucking care either! You don't care what I think or how I feel! I TOLD YOU NOT TO MOVE US OUT OF DALLAS! I TOLD YOU I WAS HAPPY IN DALLAS AND YOU INSISTED ON US COMING TO ORLANDO! I KNEW YOU WOULDN'T BE HAPPY HERE AND YOU'RE PROVING IT BY THROWING THAT SHIT IN MY FACE! FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU AND YOUR GODDAMN LEGACY!" Marlize was breathing heavily, tears streaming down her face, and couldn't believe what was happening, how her marriage was falling apart at the seams. "Is your legacy going to be worth you being wheelchair bound for the rest of your goddamn life, Mark?! IS IT WORTH YOUR HEALTH AND LIFE?!"

He snorted at her, trying not to rise at all the hatred she spewed at him, as he made his way over to the dresser where a bottle of his current favorite bourbon sat. Granted, Mark was having a few more than usual lately, but it also felt like every time he stepped into this bedroom, she was waiting there to rip him apart and nag him to death. He had tried to explain to her that the 'story' did indeed 'end' at WrestleMania, but at the same time, it didn't, not with a story like this. Some stories just didn't end the way they were supposed to, and the buildup in this one, the major players involved, ALL the legacies involved, because it wasn't even just his at this point, there would be some spill over. Even then, Mark would take time off and go back; he always went back and couldn't help it.

It was a giant part of who he was.

"You fucking have to throw moving here in my face every goddamn time, Marlize!" He angrily downed the shot before tossing back another. "If you WANT my fucking attention so bad," Mark had no idea what possessed him to do it, but he was suddenly transported back into time, where she had been swift and brutal with her insults and he had been a different man. That man resurfaced now, even for a moment. He was in her face, his hands on her upper arms, jerking her into him. "You just have to beg, darlin'." Now she was on the bed, pinned beneath his huge body with a thigh between her legs and his face against her neck.

Marlize couldn't remember the last time her husband did something like this, pinned her down on the bed, and she could feel his hot breath against her neck, right on her pulse point. Her pulse was racing along with her heart and his still, long black hair fanned over her throat and breasts. Her very large breasts, due to two pregnancies with twins. Mark hadn't touched her in so long, she was relishing his body on top of hers, and she trembled beneath him, not out of fear, but the desire and need for him was spilling out.

Mark, please fuck me. Please fuck me until we can't see straight! Those were the words that should've come out of her mouth, but the way he said them rubbed her the wrong way. This all felt wrong because of how angry he was, and she could feel it seeping into her, fresh tears sliding down her cheeks. "I'm not a fucking dog, Mark." Her pride would not allow her to beg him for sex, and she turned her head away from him, squirming her wrists that were locked in a vise grip. "I'm done yelling at you, do whatever you want. I don't care anymore." Cripple yourself and you'll have nobody to blame when you can't even run around with Mason and Davan as they get older, you fucking idiot!

"So, are you or aren't you a dog?" He demanded, ignoring the look of confusion that spread across her beautiful, tear-streaked face.

The rational part of him was screaming at him to begin backtracking, to apologize to his Goddess, because that's what his wife was, a voluptuous goddess, but the part of him, the dark part that she had provoked, wasn't having it. Mark could remember a time before she had BEGGED him to hurt her, make her feel pain, and then, as soon as he had used that word, 'beg', she had given him the cold shoulder. Marlize had eventually explained it, but in the heat of the moment, the woman had made no sense, and the Lord of Darkness, as he called himself back then, had not approved of her flip-flopping ways. It was that mindset he was in now.

"Well, dog or not?" He shorthanded the sentence, bending his head down in order to lick up a tear that ran down her face. "Because you're acting like a bitch!" Any moment now, she was going to lose her mind and he knew it, his ocean goddess. Maybe he shouldn't have mixed those painkillers with the bourbon. "So, I thought," Mark felt her tensing, gearing up for a struggle, and made sure that thigh prevented her from injuring his favorite body part. "Maybe you'd like it if I fucked you like one, hmm?" Gliding a hand down to her hip, kneading it before snaking the same hand down to her covered sex, he began to rub and massage her through the material of what she had on. "Would you like that, darlin'? Pet? Being fucked into submission?"

"Not like you have in the past four years, so why the fuck would you and your pencil dick start now?!" Marlize immediately regretted those words as soon as they flew out of her mouth, the acid in her tone unmistakable, and she slowly turned her head to lock eyes with him, her lips pursed together. "Or better yet, why don't you ask Shelly to BEG you to fuck her since you're more interested in her than your goddamn wife these days!"

She was digging a huge hole, a grave, right now and didn't care, letting all of her frustration, all of her pain, all of her anguish, all of her heartache. It was all pouring out in one shot and Marlize started fighting him, trying to break his vise grip on her wrists. If he wasn't careful, he could break her wrists with how tight his grip was and she tried to stop the tears from flowing, but it wasn't happening.

"Get off of me! You don't want me, so why bother pretending otherwise, asshole?!"

Mark outright laughed at her, right in her tear-stained face. "Here I am, WIFE," However, he did let go of her wrists because right now was not a good time to catch an assault charge, or even an accusation. "Trying to beg YOU for a fuck and you instantly send me to another woman." Mark shook his head, the pain those words, that confession of hers, had given him buried beneath everything else right now. "Want me to tell you why it's hard wanting you, hmm?" He had KNOWN how capable Marlize was of striking out in anger, and how accurate she was with those darts comprised entirely of words. He had married a complete shrew. No wonder he couldn't bring himself to say those three little words to her; he knew she'd shred him. "Because you DON'T WANT TO BE WANTED!" She wanted to wallow in her misery! "You can either shut the fuck up and let your HUSBAND take care of that problem or you can fucking be miserable." He buried his face right back in her neck, his breath coming out hot against her skin.

Why – why the fuck did she do this to them?!

What did that mean? What did he mean by that? Of course, she wanted to be wanted! By him! By her husband! Mark paid attention to the kids, to the nanny, to everyone in his life EXCEPT her! He had never–EVER told Marlize he loved her either. She had said it a few times to him, but other than that, those words were never said between them. Marlize was starting to realize that Mark lusted for her, but he didn't love her and he never would. There was no way, not after four years of marriage and another pregnancy that he went through with her completely. It didn't matter. It was his way or the highway, and nothing would ever change that.

"Fine, do it then." Marlize challenged in a monotone voice, feeling him hastily undress her, and she went along with it, letting him take complete control of her.

For the next hour, she just laid there, not moaning or anything, closing her eyes while Mark fucked her hard, the anger pouring out of him, and since he'd gotten a vasectomy, behind her back, there was zero chance of getting pregnant.

"Satisfied, peach?" She sneered once he finished, feeling his cock leave her body and she immediately scooted away from him, slipping her robe on, tying it around her waist.

He had LITERALLY PAID ATTENTION TO HER, and she had thrown it in his face! Mark was dazed, asking her to repeat herself, and then he really heard it. Heard that monotone, heard her calling him 'peach' and something hardened in him. He kissed her as a thank you, a brutal kiss full of the love he had shown her over the years, because that WAS his love language, actions, not words. It was also full of hatred because he had KNOWN when he married her, Marlize was marrying him because he MADE her.

Marlize had made that clear repeatedly.

He had BLACKMAILED her into it. Damn right, because she would have run off with those babies of his, those twins, Maren and Aven, and then Mark wouldn't have his second set. He loved them, kind of pissed at her for informing him she would NOT be taking birth control, even though she had known she was a twin magnet, but one couldn't cry over spilt milk.

"Never," Mark hissed against her lips, feeling how tense her body was, and he felt dirty, disgusting. "I'm never fuckin' satisfied, not with YOU!" He pushed away from her, needing a shower.

The moment he was in the bathroom, Marlize stepped outside in the night and closed her eyes, the ocean breeze flowing over her. She didn't stop, opening the big wooden gate up and running down the beach before dropping to her knees, burying her face in her hands to cry her heart out. Why couldn't Mark understand she was scared for him? She was worried for his health and well-being, wanting him to be around for a long time to come. They had four children together, and she wanted him around to watch all four of them grow up.

To get married.

To have their own babies.

Marlize wanted to grow old with him and be in a wheelchair WITH HIM instead of him being in one before her because of the career he chose. Granted, the WWE gave them everything they had, the beautiful homes both here and in Dallas, along with their luxurious lifestyle, which was modest all things considered. Being fucked so coldly and hard from her husband…it shattered Marlize in a way she'd never been before and she tightened the robe around her, hating herself for allowing him to take her so callously. That was the first time in four years they had any kind of sexual contact and it was the worst she'd ever experienced in her life, almost as if she was being raped all over again like Bradley used to do to her.

What do I do now? How much longer can I deal with this before I completely break? Is that what you want, Mark? Do you want to break me down until I'm nothing because that's what you're doing! YOU'RE FUCKING BREAKING ME!

He saw the exact same thing; Marlize was BREAKING him. He had been doing this a LONG time before her, and he had been fine back then, so he'd be fine now. He could set himself up for retirement and never have to step foot in a ring again. She worried incessantly, and he had noticed since she had had their second set of twins that she had gotten only more fussy, more worried about HIM.

He was there for his children.

Marlize told him when a parent-teacher conference was and he was THERE, tired, but THERE, and then probably gone again, though he hadn't missed anything. He talked to those kids all the time, caught up on a week's worth of things all in one night, and spent almost all his free time with them. When he TRIED giving her attention, it wasn't what she wanted, and Mark was TIRED of trying. She had shut him off after the birth of their last children, and he had figured it was post-partum. Now he knew Marlize had basically just fucked him and gotten pregnant to ensure her safety…when he had come to collect what she definitely owed him…he suddenly felt sick as the harsh realization crashed over him.