“There are going toberulesfor you, kitten,” he continued, relaxing a bit now,“and they are not only for mybenefitbut for yours as well.”
“Yeah, well, you should know by now I don’t do wellwith rules.” I rolled my eyes, discovering I could finally talkagain.
“You might be surprised at how easily I can motivateyou to follow them,” hegrowled,grippingmy chin.
I glared at him again, imagining a stampede of bullswith spiked hooves trampling him.
“The rules are simple,” he started. “You will obeyevery order I give you. No arguments, no hesitations, no questions.Youare under my rule now, and whatever decision I make foryou is final. As I mentioned before, your submission to me isnon-negotiable. I'm a bit of a control freak, Jaden, but you'llcome to understand that soon enough.”
I scoffed at him. Control freak was probably a bitof an understatement.
“The second rule is you will always be ready for me.That means you will always look presentable. No moresweatpantsand messy hair. You will always lookyour absolute best no matter what. Hair, makeup, nails, clothes,the works. You will also be permitted to work out, as I expect youto keep up your trimmed physique, but nothing terribly extreme. Idon’t need you trying to turn yourself into one of those mutantfemale bodybuilders. I haven’t determined how I feel about thisyet, though,” he said trailing his finger over my abs.“Regardless, Iexpect absolute perfection andnothing less. You can also expect the same from me.”
There was no fucking way I was letting him soften mystomach. I had worked hard for those abs of steel, and I waskeeping them, damn it.
“Rule number three. Armed guards live in thesecurity wing of the estate and patrol the grounds. They are herefor my protection as well as yours. You are not to speak or evenlook at them unless absolutely necessary. The only man you willever need to speak to or look at will be me. I’m a jealous andpossessive man, Jaden. I don’t want others looking upon or stealingthe attention of what’s mine.” He smirked then and I let out anexasperated sigh, blowing the hair out my face.
Goddamn it; jealousy was the worst emotion a mancould possess. I hated dealing with it. It was so irrational andconstituted a lack of trust in me. I just didn’t have time for thatshit.
“Rule number four. You will never run or hide frommeunless I tell you to. Thatmeans no trying to escape and not a single attempt to bar yourselffrom me. If you ever do try to run, make no mistake, I will catchyou, and when I do, you will know nothing but pain and sufferingfor a very long time.”
Fuck him; I would get out of here eventually, nomatter how much he threatened me. Normally, I was very fast on myfeet, regardless of my short legs and stride. He was just lucky Iwas barefoot and unaware of my surroundings.
“The fifth rule entails your etiquette. You’re ayoung lady, and, thus, will be expected to act like one. You are toremain polite, wellmannered,andmaintain an excellent posture. No slouching and no swearing. Youwill pay me the proper respect I deserve at all times. You willcome when called and answer my direct questions accordingly. ThoughI thoroughly enjoy your feisty attitude, there is a time and aplace. You should watch the amount of sass you let fly off thatsilver tongue or yours unless you want to find yourself in troubleoften. But, for the most part, I suggest you just keep your mouthshut if you want to remain respectful.”
Ha! Feisty attitude? Did he not know me at all?
“As far as your attire, you can wear anything I haveprovided for you in the closet and dressers, but know that mytastes are very particular when it comes to what I like to see on awoman.”
That didn’t sound good. He probably had a bunch ofslutty dresses and miniskirts waiting for me in those drawers.Fucking pervert.
“You should also know I’m a firm believer inpunctuality. Godhelpyou if youare ever late for anything. If I give you a specific time to besomewhere, you'd better not be a second late, or you will learnvery quickly how important punctuality is to me.”
Well,now I wasdefinitely fucked…
“And for the last rule. Don’teverlie to me.I will know if you are, and it is not something you want me tocatch you doing. I expect nothing but complete honesty. You canalso expect the same from me as well. I will never lie to youeither. You will come to find I am always a man of my word,Jaden.”
Oh, I would be honest with him, all right. Brutallyfucking honest, but only for a short period of time. I had a damngood poker face, and it would serve me well against this dictatorfrom Hell.
“Should you ever break any of these rules, you willbe punished immediately and severely. Remember, yournewgoal in life is to please me. So long as youkeep me happy, Jaden, I will keep you happy, and you will neverwant for anything.”
“Except my freedom,” I dejected, furrowing my browsat him.
He sighed heavily. “I know it’s a lot,” he said,cupping my face in his hand. “And it may take some getting used to,but eventually, all of this will become second nature, and you willsoon find yourself enjoying your time here with me.”
Was this guy on drugs??? He really thought I waseventually going to enjoy myself? What kind of shit was this guyon? There was no fucking way any of this was happening. If hewanted a challenge, he was certainly going to get it, but he wouldfail at this one miserably. He just didn’t know it yet.
“But you already know I'm going to fight you on allof this,” I said turning my head and smirking. “You honestly cannotexpect that after all of the fighting I've already done, I'm goingto just roll over and play dead.”
“As a matter of fact … I’m counting on it,” he saiddarkly, smirking down at me. “And I am going to seriously enjoybreaking you.”
“Isn’t that what you said last time?” I asked,challenging him with a smirk on my lips.
“Last time you weren’t mine. Things have obviouslychanged … including my methods of persuasion,” he said with a darkpromise in his eyes. I remained unfazed.
“Well … good luck,” I said straight to his face. Alow chuckle vibrated from his throat.
“I don't think I'm the one who will need it. Youwillbe trained to my liking whether you want to or not.”His gaze bared down on me, threatening me with his blazing oceanblue eyes. “Now,” he continued. “Do you understand the rules?”
