32. Aaron
32
AARON
B arefoot and shirtless, I paced in my study. The smells of hearty soup filled the house, seeping under the door.
My stomach growled.
I’d rather starve to death than sit with her at dinner.
Sure, the contract stipulated that we had to suffer each other’s company every evening, but fuck the contract. It was over. I never should have entered it. I should have told Wolf and my grandfather to go fuck themselves.
I longed for the cool depths below me, a salve for the irrational death spiral I was in.
The marriage was done.
I was worse off than I was before signing the contract.
Coleman Mining was going to go bankrupt, dragging my fortune down with it. Van de Berg would have to eat the cost of the failing pension fund, and now Grayson Richmond, my fucking brother, was going to come calling for the tens of millions he’d already invested in trying to prop up Coleman Mining.
All because Daisy fucking Coleman was a virgin.
It was too bright in the study, even though it was evening outside. I craved the darkness.
Instead of giving in, I sat at my desk, trying not to think about the darkness below or Daisy upstairs, the innocent virgin, trying and failing not to think about how it would feel to fuck her, her body fighting then accepting then begging for my cock.
I could do it. I could go upstairs, pin her down, force her legs apart, ignore her screams, fulfill the terms of the contract.
It was a line I swore to myself I’d never cross.
I would never, ever have sex with a virgin or anyone more than two years younger than me.
They were too inexperienced, too scared. The wide-eyed apprehension in her eyes was too much. It was intoxicating. I knew if I even allowed myself a sip, I’d become addicted. It would be a downward spiral from there.
I pinched the bridge of my nose, picked up the phone, and almost called my brothers. But what would I say? “Give me a loan because I didn’t have the money to clean up this mess?”
Because Daisy was a virgin, I couldn’t even lie that we’d had sex because anyone who inspected her would see she’d never been touched by a man.
The thought nauseated me.
I buried my face in my hands.
I needed some relief.
The metal lever was cool in my hand…
The door to my study creaked open right as I began to pull.
“Aaron?” I heard Daisy say. “I wanted to know if you—”
“Get out!” I bellowed, picking up a marble bust and hurling it the crack at the door, making Daisy scream.
I stood there, breathing hard, listening to her footsteps run away.
I was so fucked.