AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I turn away, pacing over to the opposite railing. Any second, I’m sure, my legs could fall out from beneath me, just turn to smoke and leave me small and defenseless on the floor.
“What is this then?” I hiss, facing the garden, the sky, anywhere but him.
If I face him, I might find myself believing what he’s saying, and that’s craziness, just plain insanity.
“I don’t know,” he says, voice rumbling. “I can’t explain it. It’s just the way I feel—”
“No,” I snap, spinning on him despite my need not to lock eyes with him, despite knowing that staring into those shivering azures could make me weak and gullible. “I mean, why are you saying these things? What twisted game is this? Did Vito put you up to this? Did he want you to mind-fuck me before you killed me? Is that it? Because it makes no sense, Ryland. I’ve never…”
He drifts over to me, his lips twisted into something like a frown. But there’s more to it than simple sadness. It’s more like he’s disappointed in me, and I find myself wanting to rage and scream and tell him I can be better. I can be worthy of his attention.
He stops just shy of me, staring down at me with that all-consuming gaze of his, the gaze that makes me feel as though I’m the only woman alive.
“This is not a trick,” he growls. “You belong to me. You always will. Your virginity is mine. Your tits are mine, now and when they start milking. Your ass is mine. Your thighs, your mind… everything belongs to me. You need to accept that.”
I blink back wavering tears, trying to tell myself that this isn’t a lie, that this isn’t the same as when Dad walked out.
“How can I accept this?” I rage. “I started without enough money for a bottle of freaking lemonade. And then I found a man in a dumpster. And then a mafia boss threatened me… and now I’m here, in this castle, in this impossible place. With you, with a man I…”
“With a man, you what?” he growls. “Say it, Rosie.”
“I feel the same,” I snap. “Okay? The second I saw you – heck, the second I heard you through the door – I felt exactly how you’re describing.”
“So what’s the problem?” he asks.
“If I let myself believe it, I’m just setting myself up for heartbreak,” I snap. “Can’t you see that? This thing between us, this impossible thing, it’s… well, it’s impossible, Ryland. It doesn’t make sense. Surely you can understand that.”
“It’s not impossible,” he growls. “It happened to us. That proves it’s not impossible.”
“Are you saying its fate?” I say sharply.
He moves closer, his eyes biting into me, pinning me in place.
“I don’t like your tone, Rosie,” he growls.
“That’s not an answer,” I retort, clenching my fists and glaring up at him.
The corner of his lips twitch, his eyes flickering with something like admiration.
“Maybe it is fate,” he says. “I never believed in it before we met, but, fine, it could be that. I don’t give a damn what it’s called. All I care about is that we both feel the same.”
I bring my hands up toward his face. They tremble and a voice screams inside of me that he’s going to laugh at me, but I can’t stop myself.
I grab his face in my hands and I stare firmly at him.
“Tell me this isn’t a trick,” I say.
“I swear on the lives of our future children,” he snarls, “that this is as real for me as it is for you.”
I let him go and step away, returning to the balcony railing. Chopper stirs and moans, padding over to me, sitting at my feet, and staring up at me with his small kind eyes.
“What, that’s not good enough for you?” Ryland snarls.
When I don’t respond, he walks over to me, leaning on the balcony railing beside me and running his fingers up my neck, onto my face, cradling my cheek in his rough hand.
And yet even if it’s rough and powerful, I feel tenderness beneath it all that beckons to me, that tells me to sink into this moment and stop questioning it.
“What happened, Rosie?” he says.
“What do you mean?” I murmur.
“Why won’t you believe me when I tell you this isn’t a trick? Something happened. And, as the man who owns you, I deserve to know what.”
He adds irony to the words owns you, smirking, but I can tell he means it at the same time. It’s a confusing mixture of emotion and meaning that I shouldn’t be able to decipher after only knowing him for a day.
But I can.
Because we belong together.
Forever.
I sigh. “I never talk about this.”
“If you can’t talk to me,” he says, “who can you talk to?”
He takes my hand and leads me back to the couch, Chopper padding at our feet. I can’t help but giggle as Ryland drops down and pulls me into his lap, even if part of me still thinks this is all some twisted game, even if part of me is still living in a world of stabbing fear.
