Page 307 of Ashes of Sin and Stardust

“Sure you can. They’re the same thing... they mean you care. You’re indifferent about Woodrow because you never loved him. You said so yourself.”

She pulled the blanket up over her head.Pretty sure that is a clear sign of dismissal.

“You let me know when you’re ready to talk about this. Goodnight, little bug. Sleep well.”

She didn’t answer. I left her to reconcile her thoughts.

I tried to busy myself with a book or answering emails, but I was tired too, and my mind was on her. I wished I could hold her and comfort her, but she had pushed me away. She needed to come to terms with a lot of things, and I doubted I was going to be able to help her through that process with my halfway useless words and inept attempts at comforting her. So instead, I climbed into bed, and scrolled through TikTok and watched some of her old videos until I was tired enough to go to sleep.

I woke up a few hours later to the sensation of the mattress shifting. Keeping my eyes closed, I felt Alice sneak under my blanket and snuggle up against me.

“Sir? Are you awake?”

I didn’t move and didn’t answer.

I could feel the dampness of her tears on her face, the sensation of the chastity belt she’d put on, and something else odd... she was wearing the leather cuffs on her wrists. Poor thing was desperate for my possession.

My heart squeezed painfully as I felt her push herself up tighter against me, releasing a deep, satisfied sigh. More tears dripped down my chest as she attempted to control her crying.

“I hate you,” she whispered as softly as she could. “You’re wrong, and I hate you.”

I resisted the smile. She was desperately trying to convince herself she didn’t love me. It wasn’t working.

“I hate you so much. You’re so mean to me. You get off on being mean to me. You love watching me cry. You love to hurt me. And I love–” she choked, and froze, then spoke again. “I hate you for it.”

I took a deep breath and wrapped my arms around her, rolling onto my side and burying my face in her neck. I let a low, satisfied moan escape my mouth as I felt her perfect ass press into my hips.

She’d claimed I spoke in my sleep, right? “My girl.”

I let my lips rest against her neck, and felt her shuddering and crying slowly fade, her pulse slowing and her breathing changing to a slow, relaxed pace. Finally, I felt the tension fade out of her body as she drifted off to sleep.

When I woke up the next morning, she’d snuck out of my bed, and back into her own.

She was bratty as hellthe next day. Rolling her eyes like crazy, adding way too much sugar to her coffee while she looked me in the eye with her brat face, saying “whatever” as often as possible... she wore a short skirt and kept dropping shit and picking it up right in front of me, showing me her ass and my belt underneath.

I chose to ignore her. I knew this was about her struggling to come to terms with her fears and her emotions. But the irritation was building.

“Have you written in your journal today?”

“Yeah.”

“Yeah? Why don’t you try that again?”

“Yeah.”

“Go get it. You have lines to write.”

An eye roll. “’Kay.”

Don’t cave to her. She is being a snot, and you’re going to discipline her and correct her behavior, and then encourage her to ask for what she wants.

“You’re going to copy out your first rule fifty times since you can’t seem to remember it.”

She scoffed as she settled down at the table. I swallowed a comment about a better use for her mouth than scoffing and took a deep breath.“Over here, please,” I said, motioning to the ottoman. I was reading in my favorite armchair and wanted her close to me.

“Whatever.”

“Whatever,Sir,” I corrected, starting to get irritated.

---