Page 71 of Oblivion

Some of my bravado fades, but I slowly turn until my back is to him, my bare butt on show in the tiny black panties. When he doesn’t say anything, I look over my shoulder and find him staring at me hungrily.

“Your ass is perfect.”

“Thanks,” I whisper.

“Did your…ex,” he hisses the word with a visible sneer. “Ever get his cock in that tight little ass of yours?”

He’s talking about anal. Oh fuck. I shake my head. “No.”

“He really was a fucking idiot,” Evan says quietly.

“I don’t think I want…” I start, trailing off when words fail me.

“Some people like it, others don’t.”

Parting my lips, I start to offer him…that…in exchange for not destroying the guy from last night, but his scowl stops me. How did he know what I was going to say?

“Finish getting dressed. Hunter made omelets.”

Nodding, I scurry back into the closet and start to look through the rail, my hand shaking slightly as I skip over the outfits Evan bought me in Washington, DC and instead find a dress that I know I didn’t buy. It’s not something I’d have chosen for myself, but oddly it’s exactly my style.

The cream distressed lace babydoll-style dress is somehow both cute and edgy. The thin black belt at the waist that ties in a bow beneath my breasts is adorable, and I pull it from the hanger and slip it on over my underwear. It fits like a glove, hugging my curves with the hem ending mid-thigh, short enough to show off my legs, but not so short that it’s too dressy to wear to school.

Beside it on the rail is an oversized cashmere cardigan that I pull on over the dress. On the floor beneath it are Gucci sneakers that will make the whole look casual enough to wear to school. Looking at myself in the full-length mirror, I sigh. Evan picked this whole outfit for me. He probably had some help from the personal shoppers the girls all use now, but he still told them what my style was and then selected this for me. I have no doubt that I’m wearing his name a dozen times over, but he still went to the effort of picking things to put his name on.

More guilt settles onto the lump already sitting heavily in my stomach. I wanted to see what would happen when he lost his shit last night, but now I feel awful, and I have no idea how to make things right.

I can’t stop him from destroying a stranger’s life, and I can’t rewind time and warn myself that pushing someone like him isn’t a great idea. Exiting the closet, I go back into the bathroom and grab my hair dryer and styling stuff. This outfit is too cute just to throw my wet hair up in a bun, so I grab a brush and start to detangle the wet strands.

Once my hair is dry, I turn on my hot iron, pushing back the sleeves of my cardigan so the wool doesn’t make my hair static. That’s when I see it. A fine chain with a tiny padlock charm secured around my wrist.

Instead of being shocked or angry like I was when I found the first one around my ankle, this bracelet allows some of the gnawing guilt inside of me to melt. I wasn’t wearing this when Ifell asleep last night, so at some point, he put this on me while I slept. He might have been angry at me and the guy who touched me, but by attaching this to my wrist, he’s shown me that he still wants to own all of me, even when I’ve deliberately tried to piss him off.

Smiling softly, I finish getting ready, then follow him downstairs into the kitchen where our friends are all waiting.

“Morning,” Starling says, looking at me with the same concerned expression in her eyes that she did last night when we came back from the party.

“Hey,” I say warily.

“How are you feeling this morning?” Bunny asks.

“Better, thanks.”

“Breakfast is ready,” Hunter announces, sliding fluffy omelets onto plates and pushing them across the counter to us.

I don’t argue when Evan pulls me down onto his lap instead of letting me take the empty seat beside him, and we eat in fairly comfortable silence. Once we’re both finished, he encourages me to stand up. “Go get your stuff, and I’ll help clean up before we go to class,” he says, ushering me away.

Starling follows me up the stairs, dragging me to a stop on the landing. “What the hell happened last night?” she whisper yells.

Closing my eyes, I exhale shakily. “Evan told me if I let anyone touch me that he’d ruin them. He told me he’d destroy their life and the lives of their entire family.”

“Holy shit,” she breathes.

“When those guys came round us last night, I thought I’d push him a little, to see how crazy he’d get. But when that guy put his hand on my stomach, he went cold, like he was planning his murder. I fucked up, Starling. I thought I was toying with Evan, playing with him, but it backfired, and now he’s going toruin that boy’s life, and it’s all my fault,” I whimper, covering my mouth with a shaky hand.

“Oh my god. And you think he’s serious? You think he’ll go through with it?” Before I can answer, she speaks again. “Of course, he’ll go through with it. He’s certifiable. They all are. What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know. I told him I’d marry him. That I’d sign a prenup like Bunny did, that I’d tie myself to him if he just let the guy go. I told him to punish me, not some stranger, but he said no. He said he’d marry me, but not to save someone who touched something that belonged to him.”

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