Chapter 22 Earned
Earned
I paced back and forth inside the walk-in closet, my agitation growing with every minute.
It had been five days since I beat Darren at his stupid little challenge.
Five days and he still hadn’t made good on our deal.
I’d finally secured myself a sure way to get the fuck out of this house, and he was holding out on me.
I’d given him two whole days before I brought it up, reminding him of the importance of his word, but all I’d gotten was a promise of “soon.” Whenever the fuck that would be.
I wanted to pester him about it more, but he’d barely been home the last couple of days. It was like the fucker was deliberately trying to avoid me so he could delay it.
I meant what I said before. I would steal one of those damn cars if I had to.
When it was time to head downstairs for breakfast, I stormed my way into the dining room, finding Darren already seated at the head of the table.
Plopping into my chair, I folded my arms against my chest and stared ahead, refusing to acknowledge him. From the corner of my eye, I could see that he had arched a brow as he stared at me.
“What’s with the attitude this morning?” he asked, unimpressed.
I held my composure. “I’m still waiting.”
Darren rolled his eyes and sighed. “This again? Excuse me for not prioritizing your little joyride, princess, but I do have several empires to run and two wars to direct.”
I clenched my jaw. I didn’t give a flying fuck what his excuses were. I wanted our agreement honored just like he would if he were in my position.
“Sounds like just a bunch of excuses to me,” I mumbled.
“What was that?”
I closed my eyes and sighed through my nose, attempting to cool down my anger before it got me in more trouble. “Nothing,” I replied, dejected. “Just never mind.”
Darren’s tone was so grave, it could have cut steel. “Careful, little girl. Some of us have actual professions that require more time and attention than lounging around the house all day might.”
My entire nervous system instantaneously detonated, bursting into flames with an absolute, uncontrollable rage.
How. Fucking. Dare. He.
“Well, I guess you shouldn’t be writing checks your ass clearly can’t cash then, huh?” I retorted bitterly.
Nice impulse control, dumbass.
The heavy squeak of Darren’s chair against the floor had my stomach clenching in anger.
“Come here,” he ordered, pointing at the space in front of him.
Refusing to look at him, I huffed a breath and scooted out from my chair, keeping my arms folded tightly against my chest. It only took a single step for Darren’s arm span to reach me and yank my body the rest of the way to haul me over his lap.
Wrapping his arm around my waist, he held me in place as he lifted the back of my dress and smacked my bare ass so hard, the sound echoed off the walls.
I bawled and jerked in his hold as he smacked me again.
“You ever talk to me like that again, and you won’t have a working jaw to even speak with anymore.” His hand cracked down against my ass a third time, making me inhale with a sharp gasp, the pain radiating everywhere. “Do you understand me?”
I blew out a frustrated breath. “I just—”
He smacked me again so hard that an involuntary tear slipped from my eyes, a cry scraping up my throat.
“Do you understand?” he roared down at me, making me flinch internally.
“Yes!” I shouted back, my ass so inflamed I dreaded having to sit back down through breakfast. He spanked me again, slightly less hard this time, but it was enough to make me grit my teeth until my jaw ached.
“I don’t know where this sudden sense of entitlement is coming from, but it’s really starting to piss me off.”
I scoffed. “Excuse me for expecting you to honor our agreement. How stupid of me to trust your word,” I practically spat.
That earned me another hard swat, making me growl in agitation.
“Yes, you were very adamant during our negotiations, weren’t you?
The what, the where, the length of time.
You knew exactly what you wanted.” His hand came down again, the sharp burn making me whimper.
“However, you failed to negotiate one very important provision,” he stated, rubbing his palm across my sore and stinging ass. “You forgot the when.”
I immediately stiffened, my mind circling back to the day we discussed the terms, trying to find the lies in his words.
But I knew there were none because Darren never lied.
I hadn’t even felt the need to consider the when.
I was too damn excited over the rare possibility of it even happening in the first place.
What was worse was that I had the chance to renegotiate before the rematch, but I didn’t. My brain just automatically assumed it would happen immediately like most pay-ups did.
Fucking rookie mistake.
I sighed in frustration and hung my head low in defeat. For all I knew, the when could be a fucking year from now.
“You’re unbelievable,” I murmured under my breath.
I groaned as he landed another hard swat, my ass scorching with fire.
“I’m also unbelievably fucking busy right now. So you will have to continue waiting until I have time to make those arrangements. Do you understand now?”
When I didn’t answer fast enough, he landed one final hard slap, making me jerk in his lap.
“Answer me.”
“Yes, I understand,” I spat.
“Good,” he seethed and wrenched me back up to standing. All the blood rushed from my head, making me sway. “Now sit your ass down and shut your mouth. I don’t want to hear one more fucking word out of you.”
I huffed an irritated sigh as I moved away from him and eased myself back into my seat. I clenched my jaw so hard as the pain from his hand burned along my skin, the pressure making me grimace.
I was being a petulant child, and I knew that, but that was only because my recourse could only come in the form of being a brat. If someone hadn’t honored an agreement with Darren, he had the ability to remedy that in any way he wanted—intimidation, blackmail, murder…
I didn’t have that luxury.
My only weapon was that of a bad attitude. So that was what Darren would get.
Breakfast passed by in an uncomfortable silence as we both ate quietly, but a reprieve came when Darren received a phone call that he had to step away to take. I’d finished my plate quickly before he came back, so I was able to quietly slip away.
I retreated back to my den, finding Camaro snuggled in her bed. Her head popped up as I closed the door behind me, a big yawn stretching her snout as she made her way to me. I decided to spend the rest of my morning pretending to watch movies while I stretched and sulked on the floor.
I couldn’t believe he had the gall to call my enforced captivity “lounging around the house” as if my bullshit marriage to him allowed me to do literally anything else!
And the fact that he called it “lounging” at all was insulting, considering how hard I had been working at my rehabilitation over the past couple of months.
What a fucking dick.
Just a few days earlier, I had been soaking up his praise like a destitute junkie, feeling so damn good about myself. Sometimes Darren could make me feel like I was on top of the fucking world.
And then there were days, like today, where he could make me feel like a foolish child. I hated how much power he had over my emotions when it came to my own self-worth. Apparently, all it took nowadays was just a few hard spankings and a single insult from him to annihilate it.
When did I become this weak and pathetic?
God, I was so desperate for a single drop of dopamine I was willing to act like a goddamn fool to get it. Fucking pitiful.
For the rest of the week, I avoided Darren like the plague, not wanting to cross paths with him and my unending petulance.
I didn’t need a repeat of that encounter.
So when Clive informed me we were going out to dinner and that I had one hour to get ready, I was a little more than shocked. I was irritated.
As much as I always enjoyed finally getting out of the house, the thought of spending an evening with Darren in public was already exhausting, considering how much harder I had to work to “behave” around him. But what fucking choice did I have?
So I showered, did my hair and makeup extra special, and when I was ready to get dressed, I found a white cocktail dress with diagonal sequined rose gold stripes laid out on the bed. Matching white platform heels sat on the floor.
Though white wasn’t exactly my color, it was a very pretty ensemble. After pairing it with some jewelry Darren had gotten me for Christmas, I was ready to go.
Or so I thought.
After six months of not wearing heels, my ankles were suddenly feeling less than enthusiastic about performing on stilts.
Each step I took toward the door made me feel like a fucking baby deer walking for the first time.
I’d never had to put so much focus into walking in heels before, and it actually sucked.
When Clive and Owen escorted me from the bedroom to meet Darren downstairs, I found myself holding my breath as I walked down the curved stairway.
I was going slower than normal and gripping the banister a little harder than necessary.
Thankfully, that wasn’t where Darren’s focus was trained as I carefully descended each step.
My nerves instantly erupted when I caught his heated gaze, my mouth going dry.
That hard look of deep focus and scrutiny slowly worked its way up and down my wobbly body, gradually increasing my heart rate.
But by the time his eyes returned to mine, lust and prideful possessiveness had replaced his assessment—the golden seal of approval.