Chapter Nine – Athena
Despite Felix kissing me, he pulled away from me almost immediately.
He was a guarded, rigid man, but his behavior over the last several days had grown even chillier.
We still slept side-by-side, but unlike that first night, he kept his hands to himself and never repeated his dirty talk.
Even his attempts at casual conversation had stopped.
He continued checking on my injuries, though.
His sponge baths also stopped. Instead, he’d begun bringing me pans of water and retreating from the bedroom as I cleaned myself.
He acted as if he hadn’t already seen my naked flesh.
Pride prevented me from demanding an explanation.
Besides, my belief that he regretted our kiss stung me.
Perhaps, he thought he was too good to slum it with a ‘lowlife’ like me, an assumption that nearly killed me with rage.
Who did that pretentious fuck think he was, leading me on, and then pulling away when I responded to his advances?
By the fourth day of his icy treatment, I was fed up, and I wanted fucking answers. We’d been in this fucking cabin almost ten goddamn days. Not only was I starting to go stir crazy, his cantankerous, unfriendly ass was my only company.
Fuck him. He’d talk to me or fucking else.
Even with my hurt and simmering anger, I attempted conversation at breakfast, to minimal results. It fed my ire, so when he went outside for more firewood, I stormed behind him.
The blizzard was long over, but light snow fell intermittently, like now. I made sure to steal some of Felix’s clothes and bundle up. Dressing myself had been a bitch, but I managed, just as I managed to hobble where he was splitting wood with an axe.
He didn’t notice me immediately, and for a moment, I just admired how handsome he looked each time he raised the axe and hit the wood.
The outline of his muscles was visible, flexing with every move he made.
A soft grunt escaped him each time he split a piece of wood.
Whenever he bent over to get another piece, I resisted the urge to go to him and squeeze his fine ass cheeks.
Fuck him for being so goddamn sexy.
I didn’t want to startle him and cause an accident, so instead, I just waited until he was done.
Besides, he claimed standing and walking helped prevent blood clots, so I’d pretend those were the reasons I observed him as he cut firewood, and not me ogling him or fantasizing about him bouncing me up and down on his cock.
“What do you want, Athena?” he demanded as he tossed the axe aside.
My eyebrows rose. He’d given no indication that he’d noticed my presence.
“How long have you been watching me?” he continued, turning around to face me.
“A while,” I said honestly, taking a step towards him.
“Why?”
“I wanted to talk.”
“Funny, because I haven’t heard you say a goddamn thing.”
A sound of pure frustration left me. “Do you always have to be so fucking combative?”
He laughed, a sharp sound that lacked amusement. “Rich coming from you. Now, why did you come out here when you know you should be resting?”
“I’m fucking tired of resting,” I snapped, marching up to him. “All I’ve been doing is fucking resting, and I came out here because I’m also tired of you barely acknowledging me!”
If it wasn’t for the narrowing of his eyes, it would be easy to assume he was unbothered by my statement. “I’m treating you as a doctor should treat his patient.”
It was my turn to let out a humorless laugh. “Don’t give me that bullshit. Doctors don’t flirt with their patients, they don’t call their patients pet, and they sure as hell don’t kiss their patients and leave them wanting more! What the fuck is your problem, dude?”
“You’re my problem,” he snapped, leaning down until our faces were inches apart.
When he spoke again, his voice lowered into a growl that I shouldn’t have found so sexy.
“You’re a fucking annoying little tease who’s disturbed my peace.
You’re infuriating, Athena, a hardheaded bitch who’s difficult for no goddamn reason.
I should be counting down the days until you’re fucking gone, until I can live in peace again without a criminal in my presence, but I’m not.
I’m dreading when you blaze out of my life.
I shouldn’t want you, shouldn’t fucking fantasize about you, but I do, and it’s fucking annoying. ”
His confession inspired conflicting emotions to well within me.
Desire, because everything he did left me wanting him.
Satisfaction knowing that he wanted me, too.
Rage at the reckless way he talked to me, a manner that has gotten people’s ass beat in the past. The dominant emotion was offense that he saw me as a criminal seductress who had infringed on his peace.
For a moment, we engaged in a silent staring contest, the air between us heated despite the chilly temperature. I was the one who broke first.
“Fine,” I said through gritted teeth, taking a step back. “If I’m such a fucking nuisance, I’ll go.”
“That’s not what I said, and you fucking know it,” he hissed, coming closer as I retreated. “Now stop being dramatic and go back inside before you freeze your ass off.”
“Fuck you,” I snapped, even though I longed to listen to his advice.
I still had my pride, though, and while I didn’t intend to rough it in the wild, a stroll through the woods didn’t sound half bad.
“I’m not playing, Athena,” he said when I didn’t obey him.
“Neither am I.”
To prove my point, I turned on my heels and began to stalk away, my injury making me walk slower than I would’ve liked.
Though I was growing more mobile by the day, I still walked with a slight limp, and I worried that it wouldn’t go away even after I was fully healed.
It’d be a permanent reminder of Fendi’s death, of what those bitches did to us.
Eventually, they’d pay for that shit. But for now, instead of plotting revenge, I’d take a walk to cool off.
At least, that was my plan, until a pair of strong arms lifted me off the ground. Felix threw me over his shoulder as if I weighed nothing and began stalking to his cabin.
“Let me go!” I demanded, flailing in his grip and pounding on his back.
He delivered a hard smack to my ass, making me yelp and creating an annoying ache between my legs. “I fucking told you to go inside.”
“Fuck you!” I hollered, my voice echoing.
“Come up with something new, pet, because that one is fucking old.”
“How about you’re an insufferable little man-child with a miniature flea-sized dick?”
The laugh my words resulted in pissed me off more, this one full of genuine amusement. “Telling lies isn’t going to get you your way.”
I huffed in frustration, continuing to slam my fists against his back even as he kicked the door shut. It galled me that my words were a lie. The glimpse of his manhood revealed he packed a monster between his legs.
“You can settle down now,” he said as he stalked to the couch.
I bounced as he dropped me, somehow managing to avoid irritating any of my wounds.
“Asshole,” I growled, shooting to my feet. “I was just going for a walk.”
“I don’t care. When I tell you to do something, I expect you to listen.”
“You don’t have that fucking right,” I snarled.
His grin wasn’t nice. “You keep forgetting that this is my house, and that I could do whatever the fuck I want.”
My short temper and tendency to throw hands was well-known throughout the Royal Harlots and the Bastards.
It was what earned me my name, even if I’d learned diplomacy due to my position as president.
Yet, Felix made me forget any reasoning skills and made me act on impulse.
Impulse is what made me slap him, the force hard enough to whip his head to the side.
“You little…”
In the blink of an eye, he’d encircled my wrist in a vice grip. Sitting down, and tugged me over his lap, using one arm to hold me down. In our current position, his erection was easy to feel.
“You’re a fucking brat,” he snarled, quickly tugging down the oversized pants I wore, my lack of panties leaving my ass exposed.
When his palm slammed against my ass, I gasped, and the sting reminded me of my relationship with Warrior and the punishments he inflicted if I got too out of line.
I fucking loved it.
Felix froze, relinquishing his grip on me. I made no move to get up, though, wishing he’d do it again.
“I…that was inappropriate,” he said after a very pregnant pause. “We do not have that kind of relationship.”
“But we could,” I blurted.
I hadn’t meant to say the words, but once they were out, I didn’t regret it.
“You’re a smart man. You should know I like it rough, that I like to be punished,” I continued, my voice growing breathier as I grew more excited. “I was out of line for hitting you. A spanking is only fair.”
A breathy chuckle left him. “You’re a fucking masochist, aren’t you?”
“Not a masochist. A submissive,” I corrected, pushing my hips upward and wiggling my ass to try to entice him to deliver another blow. “One who knows when she’s out of line and deserves punishment.”
When he didn’t immediately obey my demand, I did the only thing I could think of: goad him further.
“Unless you’re too much of a pussy? Maybe you aren’t a real dom—”
A hard blow to each ass cheek shut me up. I didn’t hide the moan that slipped out.
“Count the hits, safe word is kitten,” he ordered.
Kitten? Interesting choice.
“Repeat it back to me.”
“Count the hits—”
My sarcasm earned two more blows.
“The fucking safe word, smartass.”
“Kitten,” I said, anticipation building.
“Good girl. Start from one.”
His hand met my ass again, hard enough for me to feel my cheeks jiggle. Sitting down would be a challenge later, but I didn’t care. I wanted more.
“One,” I panted, my arousal soaking my thighs. A moan left when he spanked me again. “Two.”
By the fifth hit, I was positive I’d dripped onto Felix’s pants. By the tenth hit, I was grinding against nothing, longing for him to fill me.