Chapter 12 #2
"Now, all I care about is my freedom. I want to be able to go to my cafes whenever I want. I want to sleep where I want. I don't want to be threatened, or manipulated. Am I correct in assuming that what you care about is not being in pain?"
I dipped my head.
"What makes your pain the worst?" she asked.
Not touching her constantly.
"Sleeping. It's worse at night"
"That's why you wanted to share a bed."
"Yes." And because I wanted her body beside mine, but I wasn't going to risk pissing her off by saying that.
"Okay, that's not a big deal." She opened one of my desk drawers. Then another.
"What are you doing, Kitten?"
"Finding paper."
She lifted a pen from the top drawer, trapping it between her teeth as she continued searching.
I was officially jealous of a pen.
Fantastic.
"Bottom left."
She pulled out a sheet of paper.
I watched her write something on the page. I wanted to see what, but wasn't willing to trigger the pain by moving closer.
"So your main priority is sharing a bed."
"I thought I had made that clear."
She rolled her eyes. "That's one way to put it. Aren't you in pain whenever we're not touching?"
"Yes."
"Alright. As part of this extremely official contract, I agree to sleep next to you every night, and platonically touch you or be platonically touched by you whenever you want.
You agree to let me have as much freedom as I want.
If you try to reduce my freedom, I get to reduce how much you touch me. "
If this was how her negotiations started, something told me I wasn't going to be thrilled with the way they ended.
"Kitten, that's—"
"Not weighted in your favor? I'm aware. It's called fairness. You can always go with me wherever I decide to go, if you want more physical contact."
This wasn't a negotiation.
It was a statement of what she required if I wanted her to be my mate. Unfortunately, she now knew that I was desperate enough to give her whatever she wanted if she played by some of my rules.
"We need a way to make sure you're telling me things, too, because you clearly have a hard-on for secrets," she added.
"I wouldn't call it a—"
"If you ask me a personal question and I answer it, you owe me an equally valuable answer to a personal question about you. If I ask you a question and you already know the equivalent answer about me because of your stalking, you have to answer. If—"
"I get it. You expect me to share freely."
"Exactly. If you don't, it's a breach of the contract, and I don't have to sleep next to you or let you touch me in any capacity."
"This negotiation is getting worse for me by the minute."
"Maybe you should've been nicer to me."
"I was plenty nice."
She narrowed her eyes at me. "Do you really want to start that conversation right now?"
I recalled my texts with Liv about me not knowing how to handle a relationship and cleared my throat. "Continue."
I would figure out ways around the rules I didn't care for.
Or I would force myself to comply, for the sake of keeping my mate.
"Thank you. Now, we need to talk about sex."
"Does that really belong in the contract?"
"It does."
"Why?"
"Because you never let me reciprocate, so it's very one-sided.
I'm done being manipulated, remember? Don't pretend like you would've let me jerk you off today.
You were going to say no. I could see it in your eyes.
If you don't want me to fuck you in any capacity, you no longer get to fuck me in any capacity. Even during heat, with your mouth."
"I'm not agreeing to that."
"Why not?"
"Because I'm not."
"You're going to have to tell me what your issue is with sex, because you already know my thoughts and feelings about it. It's in writing. No way out." She lifted the sheet of paper.
"Writing it down doesn't mean I'm going to agree."
"The contract is happening regardless of how you feel about it. And if you break any part of the contract, I get to break any part of the contract. Which means your bed will be empty and painful."
I narrowed my eyes. "Are you threatening me with my own pain?"
"I am."
My cock jerked. "And you said I was unhinged."
"You said that too. Why don't you want me to reciprocate? What's the problem with letting me touch you?"
"Continue with your contract."
"I want you to bring the couch back. And whatever other furniture was here before you got rid of it all in an attempt to make me sleep next to you."
"Fine."
She scribbled her name on the bottom of the page, then set the paper and pen down on the desk, directly in front of me. "Sign it or don't. I'm not making the vows without this. Sable and I are on the same page. She'll sleep on the floor if you don't sign."
Considering the way the wolf had slammed the door in my face, I believed her.
I could probably win her back in time, though. The wolf liked to snuggle too much.
I stared down at the paper long after Kat left me in the office.
The woman had just given me an ultimatum.
Liv was wrong. She didn't want love.
She wanted freedom.
I wasn't sure which was worse.