ALTHEA
Too fast. Everything is moving too fast. I barely know this man's name, and I've already allowed him to bury his tongue between my legs.
It wasn't unpleasant. In fact, it was actually pretty amazing. But this isn't what I want at all. And I don't mean him. I definitely want him. I mean this. This non-traditional...whatever it is. It's making me feel like a hoebag—like a piece of meat. But most of all, like his words about this not being just sex weren't sincere.
“Not like this, Gavin.” My eyes flutter up to meet his. I feel so weak and vulnerable naked on his bed.
“I don't think you understand how this works.” He sits on the side of the bed, speaking to me as if I'm a child. “I bought you. You belong to me now. You'll give me what I want.”
“And I don't think you understand that I'm a human being.” Tears assault my eyes as I curl further into myself. How can he be so cold? Is it really so black and white to him?
His stern expression breaks at the sight of my tears, and he looks away as if seeing them makes him uncomfortable. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you cry.”
At least he's capable of apologizing. Up until a few minutes ago, I didn't think he was the type to ever say sorry for anything. It's a reminder that there's still so much about him that I don't know—that he's a stranger. But it does give me hope that he might be a good person beneath it all.
“Surely you know that this is all very strange to me.” I try to sneak off the bed to get my clothes, but when he looks back at me, his gaze freezes me in place.
“I'm not sure how it can be so strange. You knew what you were signing up for.” He pulls himself up onto the bed, facing me in all his naked glory. It makes me feel trapped.
“I thought the website was a scam,” I confess, averting my eyes. I don't want to give him any ideas that he can advance on me again and I'll submit willingly. That's not the case. I want to have an actual conversation with him first. Get to know more about him.
“So did I, but it wasn't. And here we are.” His gaze sweeps across the room.
“I think I need to go home and think about things a bit more.” I force myself to crawl to the edge of the bed, but before I can climb off, Gavin reaches out and grabs my wrist to stop me.
“This is your home now,” he tells me firmly.
“What?” I furrow my brow. He can't be serious? We just fucking met.
“You had plenty of time to prepare for this. Don't act like you hadn't thought it all through.”
“I hadn't.” I shake my head, pulling away from him. “This is nothing like what I had expected it to be.”
“What did you think was going to happen when you signed your life away?” He gives me an annoyed look. If I had to associate one expression with him, it would be this. He seems easily ticked off, or like he doesn't tolerate things not going his way. That's going to have to change if this is going to work.
“I thought we would take things slow.” I hug myself, realizing how naive that sounds.
“Slow,” he parrots. “Like what, dating?”
“I don't know.” I throw my arms into the air in exasperation. “I just didn't expect you were going to show up out of the blue, abduct me, then make all these unreasonable demands.”
“Unreasonable demands?” He quirks his head back. “Perhaps you don't know what ownership means. Or perhaps you didn't read the contract all the way through. It's very important—”
“Oh, don't belittle me,” I snap. “I'm not some child that doesn't know to read before you sign.”
He closes his eyes and takes a deep breath. I can tell that I'm trying his patience, but I don't really give a shit. I'm at the end of mine.
“Perhaps it would be better if I let you know what I expect from you,” he says. I don't reply. I'm too upset to say anything that wouldn't come out with venom. “You will live here with me from now on. You will not work. You will be...dutiful.”
“Dutiful,” I parrot mockingly, “What's that supposed to mean? Shall I press your shirts and cook your meals, clean this stupidly big house and be at your beck and call?”
“That would be a nice start.”
My mouth falls open at the audacity of him. “You can hire someone for that.”
“I kinda did.” He presses his lips into a thin line.
Gavin is looking at me like I'm crazy, and I'm beginning to wonder if I am. He's right, after all. I did sign the contract, and I definitely read the entire thing beforehand. I dreamt about a life just like the one he's describing, happy little housewife. Except what I deluded myself into thinking was that I'd be perfectly content to give my subservience to a complete stranger, someone I have no emotional attachment to. I wanted to sell myself to an idea of love that's just impossible in this type of situation. Essentially, I fucked myself over.
I let out a long sigh, resigning myself to the fate I so stupidly cast upon myself. “Fine.”
“Fine?” He seems surprised by my sudden surrender.
“Fine,” I repeat. “You're right. You bought me. I'm yours now. This is what we both signed up for. I could renege on the contract, but it's honestly not what I want.” Is it not? Gavin is more than handsome, and he's promising me the life that I've always wanted. Not cleaning up after him, but being with a successful man who can take care of me. “But we're going to have to make some compromises.”
“Compromises?” He makes it sound like the word is foreign to him.
“First off, if you want a maid, hire one. That's not what I'm here for.” I cut him with an icy gaze.
Gavin smirks. “Did you really think I was going to make you do all those things you listed?”
“I don't know you at all,” I remind him, “so what else am I supposed to think?”
“Fair enough.” He nods. “I'm not asking you to be my housemaid, but I will expect you to do things for me from time to time.”
“As long as they're reasonable things, I won't object.”
“Any other requests?” He seems impatient to move the conversation along.
I think for a moment. “I want to keep my job.” That's something I never thought I'd hear myself say. But it's not because I actually want to work or enjoy what I'm doing so much as that I can't imagine being stuck in this big house alone all day. From what I can tell, he doesn't even own any pets.
“You don't need a job anymore.” Gavin furrows his brow.
“I enjoy making my own money,” I lie. “It gives me a sense of purpose.”
“Being mine is the only purpose you need,” he insists stubbornly.
“Compromise,” I bark out the word, showing him it's non-negotiable.
“We'll come back to that,” he grumbles. “Is there anything else?”
“One last thing. I need to return home tonight to tell my mother what's going on and gather my things.”
“Out of the question.” His voice booms.
I cower back as if I've been slapped. That was not the reaction I was expecting.
“Why not?” I challenge him.
“Because you won't come back.”
For the first time since we've been together, I see a crack in his confident facade. Is that...fear I sense? Would me disappearing and not returning actually hurt him? Or would he just be upset because he lost his new toy?
“What makes you think I wouldn't come back?” I search his expression for vulnerability, a sense that he might actually care.
“Common sense.” He turns from me. “As you said, from your point of view, I abducted you. You're probably just looking for an excuse to run away.”
“If you don't trust me, Gavin, then this isn't going to work.” I lean slightly to draw his attention back to me. “That's the most basic element necessary for any type of relationship to work.”
“You don't trust me, so why should I trust you?” He sounds like an indignant child.
“We have to learn to trust each other, and this is the first step...for both of us.”
There's only one way I know of to make him trust me. If I want him to let me go, I have to give him something that he desperately wants. I have to give him my body.