Page 59 of Sweet Rule
“Good. She took everything from you when you were just a fucking kid. She has to live with it now.”
We’re silent for a second. I’ve told Law enough about my mother. Not everything, because bringing her up when I was with him, when I was so fucking happy, just feels like shit and I don’t want to do it, but he isn't wrong with what he’s saying.
“That doesn’t mean I like that I did it,” I tell him.
“You’ll get over that when you have time to process this shit. You’re too soft to see it now.”
I roll my eyes at him. “I am not soft.” He raises an eyebrow at me and holds my stare until I drop my chin and pout. “Okay, maybe I’m soft.”
“You’re my good girl,” he says and instantly I smile. I can’t help it. He chuckles and runs a thumb along my bottom lip. “See, there’s the proof of how soft you are. All you need is a little praise and you melt for me, don’t you?”
I glare and give his chest a smack. “You smug asshole.”
“Ahhh, there’s fire in her, though. I did like getting to meet the side of you that’s got teeth. She’s fun.”
“What do you mean?” I don’t get what he’s saying but he stretches out and brings me with him so that I’m laying down on the bed with him, my cheek on his chest. He runs his fingers through my hair slowly as he starts to talk.
“In the club you were sassy as fuck, baby.”
I grin and bury my face in his chest, because he’s right. “I was mad at you.”
“I know. I could tell from the looks you were giving me.” He lets out a low whistle. “You’ve never looked at me like that.”
“Very, very mad. Pissed,” I tell him and press my palm to his chest. Law covers it with his hand and sighs.
“I know, princess.” He lifts my hand and brings it to his lips to brush a kiss over my knuckles. My throat goes tight when I see it’s the hand with the ring he put on me earlier. My wedding ring. “Need to get you another one,” he mutters.
“Another what?”
“Ring.”
I raise an eyebrow. “What do you mean another one? You just got me this one,” I tell him and wiggle my finger at him.
“That’s your engagement ring. You need a wedding ring.”
“I’m fine. This is plenty.”
He catches me by surprise when he rolls us over and presses me down into the bed. The soft linen sheets and comforter wrap around me. The blankets cocoon me into a soft, safe place and with Law above me, it really does feel safe.
“It’s not plenty,” he says. “This is why I said you needed the pain. Am I going to have to teach you another lesson?”
I try to press my legs shut but I can’t with Law’s body between my thighs. “Daddy, I-”
“You are worth everything to me. You mean everything to me. If I could, I’d fix it all for you. The shitty fucking parents and the crap you had to grow up with. I’d make sure you weren’t scared or worried, that you didn’t learn how to hide yourself to keep from being hurt. I’d find every fucking piece of shit that put their hands on what is mine and left you with less of yourself before you didn’t know what you were worth.”
My breath leaves me in a whoosh and I swallow hard. “How do you know what to say all the time?”
He smiles down at me and cards his fingers through my hair. “I’m your Daddy, princess. It’s my job to know what to say. I know what you need to hear, but it’s because it’s what I want to do. What I wish I could do for you, sweetheart. I want to make every single day easy and sweet for you.”
I lift my hands to touch his face and watch as he leans into my touch. He’s such a fierce man. One that I know is capable of things I can’t even think of. Things that I’ve only seen him do once, and then only barely because he didn’t want me to see. He can be cruel, but he’s mine. Law isn’t soft for anyone or anything but me and that’s a different kind of power that I never fully let myself linger over. I am too scared to think about what it means because of how easily I could lose him.
But that was all in my head. I should have known that Law wouldn’t leave. That he isn’t the type to betray me. That I mean more to him than I’m capable of letting myself admit.
“I gave you the pain before because you needed it to break down those walls you have up here,” he whispers to me and his fingers touch my temples lightly. “That pain mixed with it all was enough to push you right over the edge into what I needed you to see.”
“And what’s that?” I ask him, but I already know the answer to it because it’s the one thing I’ve wanted since I laid eyes on Law. The one thing that I wished and hoped for. Kept close to me like a prayer, but was too scared to say out loud.
“That I’m yours, princess.”
