Page 33 of Sinful Palace

“And you’re not sorry.”

I shook my head and briefly gnawed at the inside of my cheek. “I just think we need to find some sort of way to get along,” I murmured.

He crossed his arms. “What makes you say that?”

I raised one hand and waved it around us. “Well, is this what you want forever? This back and forth between us?” I said. “All we do is fight and stay mad at each other. I know it’s because we can’t stand each other, but according to that contract you take so seriously, we’re stuck together anyway. Forever.”

“I’m aware of that,” he muttered.

“So is that what you want? Fifty years from now, when we’re old and gray, do you want us to be acting like this? Always struggling to be around each other?” I said. “Because I don’t. Being scared and angry all the time is exhausting.”

He lifted one brow. “It seems to me like there’s an easy solution to that problem. One we’ve already discussed many times.”

“What?”

“If you want us to get along, you need to follow the rules,” he said, eyes narrowing again. “If you do exactly what I tell you and keep me happy, you don’t have to worry about anything happening to you. Haven’t I made that clear a hundred fucking times?”

I let out an exasperated sigh. “Yes, you have. But that’s the problem. I don’t think I can do it. Not forever.”

“Why?”

I nervously licked my lips again. “I just don’t think I’m a naturally-subservient kind of girl.”

“Really?” Logan cocked his head to the side. “I thought you liked it.”

My cheeks warmed with a blush. “I… I like it sometimes. When we—”

“Fuck?” he interjected, eyes flickering with amusement at my embarrassed restraint.

I nodded, face aflame now. “Yes. I like it then,” I murmured. “But the rest of the time….” I trailed off again and bit my bottom lip. “I’m just not one of those girls who can roll over and act like a submissive slave twenty-four hours a day. I’ll never be like that. Never be like some sort of mindless robot. I can’t.”

“I see.”

I raised my palms. “I’ve tried. Really hard. You know that, right?”

Logan’s lips flattened into a thin line. “Yes, I’ll give you that one,” he said with a curt nod. “I do see you, Willow. I know you’ve been trying.”

I drew in a short, sharp breath. “I don’t want you to hurt me. I don’t want you to hurt my brother, or anyone else I love. So I do my best. But no matter how hard I try, I always seem to mess up.” I bit my lip again and shook my head. “I just can’t live under your rules all the time. It’ll drive me crazy.”

Logan’s brows furrowed. “Just keep trying, Willow. That’s enough.”

My eyes widened. “It is?”

He nodded. “I know we can’t live with this friction forever. At the same time, though, I need to be able to trust you. You haven’t exactly made that easy with the constant manipulation and escape attempts.”

I swallowed thickly. “I know.”

“If we can get to a certain point of trust in our relationship, things will change. You won’t be locked up all the time. You’ll be able to come and go as you please. See your friends and family. Have a phone and computer again.” He paused, frown deepening. “I just can’t trust you with any of that yet. I need to know you won’t try to leave me again.”

“So you just want me to do my best? I don’t have to be a perfect robot all the time?”

“That’s right.” He rubbed his chin, a faint smile curving his lips. “You’re fiercer than I gave you credit for at the beginning. I guess I have to accept that. But if you can follow the rules and try to be good, as much as you can, we’ll be able to build to that final level of trust. That’s what I want to happen.”

“Okay.” I nodded, insides warming as I realized I was finally getting somewhere with him. I didn’t even need to manipulate him with orgasms. I just needed to be brave enough to tell him the truth about how I felt in this pressure cooker of a relationship.

If you could even call it a relationship…

He reached out and trailed his fingers along the top of my head in the possessive way I simultaneously loved and hated. “So you’ll stop with all the bullshit?” he said. “You’ll do exactly what I tell you from now on?”

“Yes.” For now.

“Good.” He turned around and switched the shower on again. “Get in and clean yourself up,” he said, gesturing toward the pearly smears of cum on my chest and abdomen. “Then get dressed.”

“Are we going out for dinner instead of ordering in?” I asked, eyes widening. I hadn’t left our room in three days now, and I wasn’t sure I was ready. Not while all the drama surrounding my mother’s administration was still raging on and on.

Logan smiled thinly and shook his head. “No. I changed my mind about that,” he said, smile transforming into a playful smirk. “I’m taking you to your first Wonderland party.”

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