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“You’re an ass!” She pulled out some clothing from a dresser and then stormed into the bathroom, slamming the door behind herself. “You could have at least acted like a half-decent human being tonight,” she called from the other side of the door.
“If you thought the Trials were going to be easy, then you were wrong. I didn’t make you come to The Oleander. I didn’t force you to agree to any of this,” I shouted back at the door, pissed that I wasn’t facing her head-on. “And I’m not going to fight with you through a fucking door!”
I walked over to a chair by the fireplace with scotch in hand and decided to ignore her for the rest of the night. We weren’t going to get anywhere while we were both heated, and although this went against everything I believed in for a Dominant-and-submissive relationship, I needed to let it be for tonight.
She eventually came out of the bathroom, wearing leggings and a tank top. The simplicity in her appearance reminded me of just how beautiful she was without all the special effects makeup and attire.
Not that I was going to tell her that right now.
“And for the record,” she stated in a much calmer tone, the trip to the bathroom giving us both the timeout we needed to stop the rage, “I never expected the Trials to be easy. But I did expect to have a partner in this. I expected to have someone to lean on and have support through it all. What happened tonight was just… abusive.”
Her accusation was like a slap to the face. I had never been accused of being abusive in my entire life. “Abusive? Are you kidding me? How was I abusive?”
“You forced me to get the tattoo.”
“The Order of the Silver Ghost forced it. The Trial forced it. Hell… our entire fucked-up situation forced it. I simply expected you to follow through with a commitment you made. If we agree to do something, then I damn well expect us to do it with perfection.”
She folded down the comforter on the bed and flopped on her side. “Yes, I know, Emmett. But your perfectionist self and your sick need to please the Elders and be thought of as the best is exhausting. Why the fuck do you care so much? Who cares if we didn’t perform like perfect little monkeys tonight? I sure as hell don’t.”
“I don’t like your language, and I definitely don’t like what you’re saying. And didn’t your mother teach you how to speak like a lady?”
My words seemed to slap her in the face just the same as her accusation of me being abusive did to me.
She was silent for several moments, and I took the time to drink my scotch and try to calm down. I didn’t like how out of control I was being, but the woman had the ability to fire me up.
“I thought you were different from the rest of them,” she said softly. “But you are just as much an asshole as everyone else in Darlington. Image is everything to you. You’re part of the sickness that plagues this place. What you aren’t willing to face is that you will never fit in here. Never. You are new money, while they are old. You try so hard, and they only laugh behind your back. The life you’re trying to live is fake. Everything is fake.”
“That’s rich coming from you. You are the queen of fake. I had hoped you were different too, Bellamy. But you are just a prissy Southern belle who gets mad when she doesn’t have men eating out of her hand and putting her on pedestals.”
Tears welled up in her eyes, but she blinked them back before she snapped. “You’re just the same loser you were in high school that worked so hard to have everyone like him. You didn’t belong then, and you sure as hell don’t belong now. It’s pathetic. You’ve never had a backbone, and right now, the only thing you’re showing the Elders is just how weak and needy you are. You want their approval so badly that it’s making you a coward.”
Unable to control my rage any longer, I threw the glass of scotch across the room. Shards of glass flew everywhere, with amber liquid dripping from the wall. “Then let’s call this off now,” I boomed. “I don’t need this shit.”
Her eyes widened, but she didn’t move from her place on the bed. “We can’t. We have to finish.”
“I don’t fucking need the money or the stress. And you don’t need the money either. So the fact that we’re torturing ourselves right now seems pointless. I’m done.” I began pacing the room, feeling like a caged tiger. “You’re right about one thing. I have been trying to please the Elders, because that is the fucking point of the Trials. But I’m done. I’ve maxed out. Let’s call it.”
