18. Astor
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
ASTOR
I ’m mesmerized at what I’m seeing in front of me. There she is. The Alessia I know, the one I remember. The one I fell in love with when we were teenagers. She’s always been that way, ruthless when someone pisses her off. She’s worked so hard putting out a fire that isn’t meant to be contained. I watch her when she walks up the stairs, only turning to Anna when I hear the water turn on.
“You might want to leave and never come back, Anna. You think I’m fucked up? You have no idea with the monster that’s upstairs.”
“Fuck…her…” she says, catching her breath. I close in on her, stepping outside of the door and wrapping my hand around her throat. I pull until her feet are no longer touching the ground.
“Hear me, loud and clear. Do not speak about her that way. I can promise you she’s probably upstairs, right now, talking herself out of making good on her threat. Go home.” I push her backwards and slam the door in her face before I beeline for the stairs.
She sits in the tub, bubbles covering her body with her eyes closed. Her face is in a frown and she slowly taps her finger over her knee. A trait she picked up after our training when we were kids. I sit on the edge of the tub, but she doesn’t acknowledge me, keeping her eyes shut.
“Any more girlfriends stopping by tonight?”
“Not that I’m aware of. No.”
“ Lovely .”
“You almost lost control.” Her eyes pop open at my words and she narrows her eyes at me.
“Fuck you . You should have kicked her out the moment she reached out to fucking touched you.”
“ Alessia .” My voice is low and deadly. She sits up and water splashes around her.
“No, don’t Alessia me. You better get all of that shit out of your system before you say I do , because if you let anyone touch you?—"
“Stop talking.”
“Excuse me?”
“I said to stop talking. Let’s get something straight, you don’t make any rules in this fucking relationship. Next, if you curse at me again, I swear I’ll shove you on your knees and stuff my cock so far down your throat you’ll choke on it. Lastly, if I want to fuck the entire fucking city of New York, I’ll do it. Just because I fucked you doesn’t mean a happily ever after.”
I don’t mean the last part. There isn’t anyone in the world that I would rather be with than her. It’s just that I’m not used to taking orders from anyone and I feel like I need to make a point.
Her eyes fill with tears. She tries so hard to keep them in, but the moment one falls, she wipes it and closes her eyes. I watch her as she regulates her breathing before responding.
“And just because I let you fuck me doesn’t mean I won’t fuck who I want now, too.” Fuck. No. I move closer to her, leaning down next to her ear. I drop my voice to a whisper.
“Then their lives will be on you.” She nonchalantly shrugs her shoulders, dipping her head back in the water.
“Just…get out.” Her tears are flowing uncontrollably now and she dunks her head under the water to hide from me.
Fuck.
I turn for the bedroom, forcing myself to breathe. What the fuck was that? We were fine .
I finally fucked her; I took what always belonged to me. I was ready to let that change the years of built up anger I’ve had. I was ready to cave and give it my all. To give her my all, again .
Her reaction to Anna turned me on, made me want her even more. Showed me that she wanted me, that I was hers. But when I saw how angry she was and realized that anger was towards me , all bets were off.
I wanted to hurt her, and if I didn’t, my words did.