AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Three.
Sense slowly returns and I know I'm going to have to face her soon. I can't stare at this damn wall forever.
But when I pivot away from the wall and back to her, all I see is a streak of white as she rushes past me, out the door, and down the stairs. The sound of her sobs follows close behind.
Well, if this isn't a good start to a betrothal, I don't know what is.
Chapter 11
Clarissa
Oh,mygod.Oh,my god.Oh, my god.
What the fuck just happened? Whatthe fuckis happening?
I run into my office and slam the door behind me, leaning against it, head shaking.
Did Matthias Baxter almost kiss me? Did that actually happen, or am I still so affected by what happened with Patrick that I've literally lost my mind?
The memory of Patrick's face as I'd turned him down when he tried to reach around to lift my skirt, burns scars into my blood. Disgust filled me as his face slipped into an ugly mask. What humanity there had been in his eyes fled and left something inhuman behind.
When he lifted his hand the first time, even then I didn't expect him to strike me, hadn't wanted to believe that he would. That he could.
But he did.
Once.
Twice.
Three skull-aching times.
Each time, a hiss leaving his lips as he said unrepeatable things about what he expected from me as his fiancée, as his future wife. Things I'd never been exposed to in my sheltered life.
And who knows what else he would've done if Matthias hadn't shown up?
God,Matthias.
What was he even doing there? Why did he say that thing about being his fiancée to Patrick? And why the hell did he almost kiss me?
Did I...wanthim to kiss me? No.No!I refuse to believe that, but the fact is that I didn't pull away. I couldn't.
There's a soft knock on the door and fear floods me, my breath stilling in my lungs. It can't be Patrick. Even in my haze, I saw what he looked like when Matthias dragged him out of the room. He wasn't in any condition to be knocking on my door.
Another knock.
"Clarissa, it's me. It's Matthias."
The realization doesn't bring me any more comfort.
I'm not sure I'm any more ready to face him.
"Clarissa. Open the door." This time, the knock is harder. More insistent. "I just want to check that you're okay."
I take a step away from the door, a mistake when I hear the wooden floor creak under my feet.
"Clarissa. Open the fucking door." There's a pause. "Please."
My chest lurches. The way he said"please"sounds like nothing I've ever heard come out of his mouth in the twenty something years I've known him. That's been happening a lot lately. Being surprised by Matthias. and not in a negative way. Has he changed? Or have I? That's a scab I definitely don't want to be picking at.
