We’d spent the rest of the weekend like that with nothing outside of the other and intervals only to order food interrupting our time. It’d been bliss. So fucking simple and easy when it was just us.
“I’m going to just focus on us,” I tell him. I wipe at my tears and I wince knowing I’m probably smearing my mascara on my face. I probably don’t look my best, but given the circumstances who cares? And anyways, it doesn’t matter if I am, not with the way Law is looking at me. He’s staring at me so intently that I feel like the only woman on Earth. Like I’m the only woman that he’s ever going to look at for the rest of his life.
“A-all my limits are the same as when we were together.” It doesn’t matter that we’ve only been apart for a week. It hurts to say that. When we were together. That bright and golden spot in my life when I was his. Funny how life works. I’m his wife now, but things aren’t the same.
I can pretend. I can focus on what we had to make this work. I can even lie to myself that I’m pretending when I do it.
“There’s no one else but us,” I tell him.
He nods. “That’s right, princess.” His fingers gentle on me before he lets me go. “You have to do this. No other way out of it.”
There’s another way. There has to be. Maybe there’s even a dozen or a hundred if I think hard enough. I’m Law’s wife now. He could find a way if I asked him to.
I don’t, though. He’s right. I want this and if I let him take away the decision of how I get it then it’s not my fault that I still want the man that broke my heart, is it? I can still hold my head up even though I married the man that took me on for a deed, can’t I? It’s a small thing, but pride is one of the few things I have ever owned.
No matter what my mother did to strip me of it. No matter how far I fell or how hard I landed from the world taking my legs out from under me. Even when my heart was broken by trusting the wrong person again and again as I looked for love in all the worst places.
I never lost my pride. I’m not of the mind to give it up now, so I give him a tight smile before I raise myself up on my toes and place my hands on his chest to give me balance. “Give me a head start. I won’t make it easy on you.”
“Didn’t expect you would, princess.”
I flip him off. I’m going into full brat mode. I intend to enjoy myself if I’m going to put on a sick little show for Zeus and who knows who else. Law’s eyes narrow and he catches my arm when I move to run from him.
“You have sixty seconds,” he growls in my ear. I shiver when his lips move over the shell of my ear. His fingers dig into my skin and I love it. I know he’s going to spank me for what I just did. That he’s doing to punish me for the attitude I’ve been throwing his way all night. Good. I shiver in anticipation. I’m a ball of nerves and anxiety. I need him to bring me back to reality, even if it’s just for a moment. Even if I have to swallow the poison of Zeus’ control to get it, I'm going to find the peace that comes with complete surrender to my Dom.
My Daddy. Even if this is Zeus’ world, he can’t touch me when I hit subspace. I lick my lips when Law keeps speaking.
“And then I’m going to come for you, little girl.”
He lets me go so suddenly that I stumble but I catch myself against the wall. Law crosses his arms when I don’t move and he starts to count.
“One…two…”
Hearing those numbers forces me into action and I take off at a sprint, or as much of a spring as I can manage in the high heels I’m wearing. I swear, skid to a stop and yank them off my feet, hobbling and hopping as I try to keep going even with the straps getting in the fucking way. When I’m finally free of the heels I run as fast as I can because I can hear Law’s voice and he’s almost to twenty now. “Eighteen…Nineteen…”
“Fuck!” I cry out and almost slip as I round a corner. I still don’t know my way around the club halls that well. I know some places, but in my week here I’ve been in a daze and other than going to meals and my room, it’s not like I really explored. I’m at a loss where I’m going and I take halls at random. How big is this fucking place? I know the club is much bigger than it appears from the outside as Zeus purchased the buildings on either side of them despite keeping their public facades the same. Walls have been knocked down, new levels and rooms expanded and hallways made. It’s a fucking maze.
And I’m fucking trying to navigate it with Law on my ass while I practically trip over my wedding dress. The fucking dress flutters and flows behind me as I run and I hate it. I want to rip it off to move easier but there’s no time. I have to keep moving. How the fuck am I going to prove this with Law to Zeus? I don’t see anyone at all. He said we had to consummate it, but how the fuck is he going to know? It’s not like he’s going to watch?
Jesus. I hope he’s not, that’s a whole other level of fucked up and my chest burns when I run faster, like I can outrun the idea that just maybe that’s exactly what’s going to happen. I slow down and nearly roll my ankle when I see light up ahead. Okay, that’s good. Light is good. That must mean I’m close to the Great Room, which would give me my bearings at least.
I cross the threshold a second later and see I’m right. I’m on the mezzanine again and there’s the Great Room in front of me. My heart leaps into my throat when I see there’s still people here. Not as many as before. Maybe a quarter of them, but still people.
Oh my god. What the fuck?
I stop at the stairs and swallow, because I don’t know what to do. I look around and don’t see anywhere to duck into that’s hidden. There are the other hallways, but they’re a good sprint around the room. If I just…cut through the room it would save me so much time in getting to the other side the mezzanine, which is fucking important because now that I know where I am, I know where my room is and it’s on the other side of the building.
That means I have to go straight. Maybe if we go to my room, it’ll be one of those things where my word is good enough…though the second I think the thought I know it won’t work. Still, it’s worth a try and I don’t have any better ideas so I run down the stairs. I also nearly snap my fucking neck trying to sprint but I catch myself at the last second with a loud ‘Oof!’ Heads turn my way but I don’t look at them. I told Law I was going to focus on us and I don’t intend to break my promise now. I run on as the remaining guests watch me and when I hear murmurs of voices rise, I know that Law is there too. I look over my shoulder and there he is.
He’s beautiful and wild as he appears on the stairs. His shirt is loose, open now and the tie he draped around his neck is still there. My eyes go to the tie. He’s going to use that on me when he catches me. He descends the stairs with more grace than me and I’m barely able to look away from him as I try to keep going. I’m not as fit as him and while I do all right at cardio, running at a full on sprint isn’t in my wheelhouse. It is in Law’s, though. He’s not even breathing hard as he eats up the distance between us. I barely reach the foot of the stairs when his arms go around my waist and yank me back against him.
“And where do you think you’re going, fucking slut?” His words are a growl against my neck. It makes me want to cave instantly, but I don’t. “You belong to me, wife.”
In a mirror of that sun drenched Saturday morning, he lifts me off my feet and yanks me back. I kick my feet and shriek, squirming to get away just like I did then, but there is something different about now versus then. On that morning in Law’s penthouse he held me like I was his dying breath. Like there was nothing in the world that could take me from him. Now, his hold feels different. There's a give and if I lean into it just so, I feel like I can break his hold, even though it doesn’t look that way to anyone watching us.
Law’s body is warm and hard against me. I can feel the solid muscle of him against my back. It’s all I’ve wanted this past week and I almost forget I had planned to get away from him. That I told him I wasn’t going to make it easy for him. Right on cue, I hear him chuckle.
“All the fight’s gone from you now, isn’t it Kitten?” He turns me to face the room and grabs my chin, forcing my head up so that I have to stare at them. “I thought you were going to make this hard on me. Empty words, weren’t they?”
