Page 17 of We're Not Strangers Anymore

“I’ll be good. I promise.” She says breathlessly.

“Ah ah, tell me you’ll be agood girl.I want to hear you say it.”

She’s shy. She talked dirty in her text messages to that Brenden douche but I doubt she’s everled a man on in person. Just thinking about it has my blood boiling. I press against her a little harder.

“I’ll be agood girl.”She says, trying to sound sarcastic, but I hear the shakiness in her voice at not knowing how I’ll react.

I pull away from her abruptly, standing back up and towering over her as she lay on the bed looking almost–disappointed.

Perfect. I have Rowan right where I want her. She’ll be begging for me to take her soon enough.

“Good. Glad we’re on the same page now,” I say, zipping my pants up. “But you still did something that was less than monogamous tonight, Mrs. Santoro.”

I sit at the edge of the bed glaring at her.

“Actions have consequences. Bend over my lap. Now.”

She does so without hesitation and I push her dress a little further up, exposing her bare ass. She buries her face into the mattress.

Slap.

“That’s for flirting with the waiter.” She jerks slightly underneath my hand.

Slap.

“That’s for the way you talked to me.”

Slap.

“And that’s for dating a guy namedBrenden.” I toss her off of me onto the bed and walk out of the room. Now she can think about her actions and in the meantime, I’m going to pay her little boyfriend a visit.

Rowan

I wake up and Grayson is gone. Last night felt– different, to say the least. The natural, human part of me is attracted to him. Any woman would be. He has to be about 6’4 and his tan body is covered in symbols and snakes, all impeccably designed. He resembles a dangerous man you’d warn yourself away from, except he’s wrapped in a perfectly tailored Armani suit. I can’t shake the memory of his light green eyes searing into me with darkness while he grinded between my legs, the tattoos on his hand while he covered my mouth. Everything he did was so hot but the sensible part of me keeps reminding me about how I ended up here and who he is. I’ve saved myself for marriage for so many years. For a husband that will love me, and Grayson toys with my body just to have one over on my father. He just knows that he wants my father to be miserable but my dad doesn't care about me, so I’m the only one facing the consequences ofhisactions. What Grayson doesn’t realize is that my father doesn’t give a shit about me. Not even a little bit. He never has. I mean, did he even think about the fact that Frank is very well off, yet I was stuck working two jobs in Detroit? For amafia boss, this guy is seriously fucking dense.

“Good morning missus boss lady!” Deirdra bursts in singing.

“What are you doing here?” I laugh, happy to see her.

“I told Grayson that I needed to alter a dress for you but it was just my excuse to steal you for a couple of hours.” She giggles. “We’re actually going to get coffee and get you out of this vampire dungeon.”

“Stop! I literally thought the same thing when I first saw this place. It’s like something out ofThe Addams Family.” I say to Deirdra as we laugh.

“See that’s why we need to get out. I'm in the mood to laugh.” She replies.

“Sounds good to me. I’m just going to throw on a shirt and some jeans and we can head out!” I tell her.

I’ve forgotten how good it feels to have a friend to laugh with. I had a best friend in highschool who sort of ruined my perspective on friendship. We used to stay up and laugh atWattpadstories until our stomach hurt, but she changed sophomore year. She got popular and I didn’t exactly fit in with her new friend group. It wouldn’t have been a big deal that we went our separate ways if it weren’t for the fact that she spilled the dirt about my home life to the whole school and made fun of me for it. I never trusted anyone again afterthat. I knew the only way to keep things personal was to keep them to myself.

Deirdra grabs our coffees from the barista at the counter and we make our way to a small wooden table outside of the coffee shop.

“So how are things going with you and Grayson so far?” She asks while removing the lid to her cappuccino. It’s summer, but early morning air is still brisk in Illinois.

I snort. “He’s a dick. Total control freak. He lost his mind last night because we went to dinner and I may have slightly flirted with our waiter.”

“Well youaremarried now. I’d be upset too.” She retorts. “But it is odd, Grayson has never been the jealous type.”

“It’s not even a real marriage!” I scoff, “I didn’t want to marry him and he’s only doing it to get back at my father who couldn’t care less in the first place.”

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