Chapter Twenty-Nine
R aven
About thirty minutes later, we pulled up to a fancy gate that had lights on either side of the poles with a box for a code to be put in. Fancy. Slade put the code in and the gate swiveled open. After getting back on the bike, I wrapped my arms around his middle as we rode through on the gravel road.
We pulled up to a beautiful, large, white and brown barndominium. It had grand windows, rock lined flower beds with little solar lights in each one, a wrap-around porch, and more space than anyone could ever imagine.
He turned off the bike, waited for me to get off and then put the kickstand down. I continued to stand there, as if I didn’t know what I was doing and just stared in awe of the beautiful masterpiece in front of me.
“What is this place?”
He got off the bike and tucked his keys in his back pocket. “It’s something I bought a while back.”
My eyebrows rose, “This is yours?” I walked away from him to the porch. Wrap around porches were always my favorite. There was something so serene about being on one with a porch swing or two rocking chairs.
“It’s ours.” His words were so quiet that it made me second guess what he had said. I turned around and met his gaze.
“What?”
“I bought this...for us.”
He had to be joking. There was no way he did this. Especially in the state our relationship has been in the last several years.
"That’s not possible. We haven’t been together in years. You’ve hated me.”
“Yes.”
What was with his cryptic bullshit? “Then why would you buy us a house?”
He shrugged, “I guess I thought maybe one day we would work it out, and if not...I could at least provide Julianna with a stable home life.”
My mind kept drifting off to the same dark place. If we didn’t work out, it sounded like he would fight for Julianna and take her from me. The thought made me queasy.
“I don’t get it. First you give me that folder changing everything, and now you’ve gone and bought us a house? What is your game Slade? Are you trying to get my hopes up? To torture me more? What do you want?”
He took a few steps toward me. “I want you.” Taking my face in his hands, he tilted it up so his lips hovered over mine. Suddenly I didn’t care what he wanted from me. I was weak for him and always would be.
Our lips collided, and I was a goner. He wrapped his arms around me and lifted me up so I could wrap my legs around his waist. I started to lift up his shirt, needing every inch of him pressed against me. He walked us back to where we were up against a wall, and I continued to grind against him, needing him with every breath that I had.
His lips left mine and began to trail down my neck, kissing along until he got lower, and lower. My skin was on fire from his touch, and all I wanted was him all over every inch of me.
He broke away, breathing heavily. “This isn’t why I brought you here.”
My legs loosened and dropped to the ground. Of course it isn’t. He doesn’t really want me, does he? Could I believe that it is me he wants and not just our daughter or to use me in some way. Did I even care? I licked my lips as his dangerously called to me. “Then why did you?”
He took a step back, pulling his backpack off and getting out that same folder he gave me earlier. My breath caught; I honestly never wanted to see that thing ever again.
The pain that folder brought started to ease into my stomach once more. I was happy for Slade...I truly was. That didn’t change the fact that my whole life was a lie.
There were so many missing pieces... who killed Mother? What happened to Slade’s parents? How are they royalty?
He held up the folder, “We need to talk about what’s in here. This is the best place to do it because it’s secluded and there’s no prying eyes or ears.”
He moved around me and unlocked the front door to the house. I followed in after him and my mouth dropped open at the gorgeousness of the place.
It was a mix of beauty and elegance, with rustic farmhouse features, to a sleek brown and white furnishing. It was my dream home. It was simple and pure, no traces of the horrific background I grew up in. Memories weren’t tarnished here; it was a blank canvas, a fresh start.
Tears started to well up in my eyes, but I kept them down. I couldn’t get my hopes up. I couldn’t believe that Slade truly loved me that much, to where he would buy my dream home and take me away from that awful nightmare.
I followed him deeper inside the house, into a large living room with couches that could be sunk into, a fireplace that could be snuggled up with a blanket and hot cup of coffee, and a large flat screen TV on the wall. It was perfect, and my heart ached at the thought of this not being ours.
My thoughts went further, and it made me wonder if this would even be a possibility. If we were to get back together and he became King, we would still have our duties to the Kingdom. How on earth would this work?
He took off his packsack and placed it on the hardwood floors, and put the folder on the wooden coffee table. I took a seat on the soft brown couch and sunk into it, briefly forgetting the worries that surrounded me.
Slade raised a brow, a small smile outlining the corners of his lips. “What do you think?”
Since I hadn’t seen every outlet of the house, whether or not the kitchen was big enough for me to do all the cooking I ever wanted, or whether I had the large soaking tub that I’d always dreamed of, but somehow I knew he had given me everything I would need or want in this house.
“It’s...” I let out a sigh, “Perfect. Truly and utterly perfect.”
His smile grew, and it was quite the sight. I haven’t seen him this happy in so long, and I couldn’t even tell if he was happy. Being with him made my heart soar, but he was still this mysterious puzzle I couldn’t figure out. I wished life was more simple and we could just be us without the pressure of life around us.
He took a seat on the white lounge chair nearest the couch and folded his hands. His face went from happy to serious in a matter of seconds. His smile dipped into a firm line, his eyes crinkled and his brows turned inwards.
“What are your thoughts on the information in the folder?”
That was the thing, I wasn’t sure what thoughts I had on the whole situation or how I felt about it. I just knew once I read that file my world changed. My shoulders lifted, “I don’t know. I really don’t know. You said you wanted me on your side, what exactly does that mean?”
His gaze met mine straight on. “It means that I need you to go through with the wedding.”
My entire body stilled. No movement, no signs of life. I just sat there, frozen in time, with the statement revolving around in my mind. My ears started to ring, and my vision began to glaze over. I was in a different reality, there was no way I was currently in this position, listening to the things coming out of his mouth. Did those words really come out of his mouth? There was no way...not after everything I had been put through. How could he expect me to go to the alter and stand there with the most vile creature to ever walk the earth? Had he completely lost his fucking mind?
I swallowed some spit, anything to cure the cotton mouth I was currently facing. I cleared my throat, “I’m sorry...I’m probably not hearing you right. You want me to do what now?”
His silver gaze never wavered from mine. All traces of laughter, warmth and love was gone. He was serious, and cold. “You need to walk down the aisle, and marry that clown.”
I knew it. I knew it was too good to be true. I knew he just didn’t stop hating me and this... this was the final blow to my heart. I was so stupid to let my hope bloom and grow. Why? Why is he doing this?
Movement returned to my body, and my fingers went from being stiff to curled into a fist on the couch. My blood pumped at an abnormally fast rate, so fast that I swore I could hear it pumping through my veins. The scene reminded me of that Twilight series where Bella came back to life as a vampire. Something was changing inside of me and it wasn’t for the better. I had always been angry at Father, that would never change. Slade on the other hand, I loved him so my anger with him was minimal and would always dissipate when he was near.
The fact that he was asking me...no...telling me that I need to walk down the aisle and marry that monster meant that he truly didn’t give one single fuck about me. In a sense he was just like Father. Giving me hope when I had none. I would get stronger without them, then they would dangle a little string of hope that they loved me, and then I would become weak. Unguarded. Walls down. It was a cycle I couldn’t seem to break.
I didn’t say a word to him, but I stood up and walked over to the massive window, looking out at the grounds in front of me. The dream of it all seemed so surreal, that he could truly love me and want me to be with him and Julianna. But he didn’t. He wanted me to marry Zeke so he could take Father down, and return to the throne.
I supported him on returning to the throne, but I thought his plan included me in it. Not pushing me out of the way, never to be seen from again.
“No.” One word came from my lips, and I was firm on it. My lips trembled, my throat clogged. Tears welled up in my eyes, and my shoulders shook. How could he ask me to do that? Hadn’t I been through enough? Losing my life would be better than handing it over to Zeke.
Maybe I should just finish the job. Maybe that would be better. Then Slade wouldn’t have to worry about me. He could take down Father and get his place on the throne. Julianna would be happy because she would be with her father, and everything would be right with the world. She would learn to cope with my death.
“Hear me out, Rav...”
I turned to face him and just let him see everything. The trauma, the pain, the heartache of never being wanted. I wasn’t going to do this. I refuse. If he wasn’t going to help me get out of this situation, then I would do it myself. I’ve done it before, several times over.
“No. I won’t hear you out. You asked me to be on your side, and I am. But you asking me to hand myself over to him, to be ripped apart bit by bit as if he hasn’t already done enough damage, is the stupidest fucking thing I’ve ever heard of in my life. You asking me, no, telling me to do this means you don’t give one flying fuck about me. So no, Slade. I won’t marry him. You don’t want me...fine. I’ll swallow that pill, but I absolutely refuse to do this.”
Without another word, I ran out of the house and off into the woods. I didn’t care that it was getting dark out and that I didn’t know where I was going. I just couldn’t stand there and look at his face anymore.
He didn’t want to help me, so I would find a way out of this nightmare by myself.