22. Brantley
B rantley~
I’d never been so fucking livid in all my life, and that was saying something. Anger had always been a very comfortable companion of mine, but this wasn’t anger.
I wanted to fucking murder this woman.
Keris was glaring up at me, no ounce of fear on her face as she laid naked beneath me.
, and I had no idea how I’d gone from accepting a companionable marriage to refusing to let this woman leave me.
I honestly believed that no one could anger me the way that Ares Cormac could, but I was clearly wrong.
Keris didn’t only anger me; she drove me mad with fury.
“I’m no one’s property,” she seethed.
“Wrong again,” I hissed down at her. “Now, you can be mad at me all you want, Keris. You can even think that I only want you for the mines, and you can also think that my hard dick is just to get you pregnant. You can think whatever the fuck you want, but it changes nothing. You’re my wife, and you will act accordingly. Do I make myself clear?”
“You don’t scare me,” she said, her eyes so dark with anger that I believed her.
“I should,” I warned her. “But I think that’s your problem. You’ve been pampered all your damn life and dating pussies that you don’t have the sense to know when you should be scared and of whom.”
“So, what’s the plan? To hold me against my will? Hire security to follow me around everywhere?” she sneered. “Exactly how do you plan on controlling this marriage and me?”
My hand reached down, circling her slender throat, then I squeezed my fingers around her.
“Don’t act like the idea of me holding you against your will isn’t making your pussy wet, baby,” I smirked.
“Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if you started this fight just so that you can get fucked like you keep begging for it. ”
“Not every argument is foreplay,” she replied scathingly. “If sex is the only card that you have to play, then you better know when it really is foreplay and when it’s rape.”
That had me jumping up off the bed.
That one word.
Keris quickly sat up, wrapping the towel around her naked body; a body that I was never going to touch again.
I could only stare at her as everything about our relationship changed.
Every time that I had put my hands on her, she’d been soaking wet, giving me silent permission to fuck her, no matter her arguments.
However, she wasn’t wrong by demanding that I better know the difference between roleplaying and the real thing.
Not only did a woman deserve that type of consideration- no matter what kind of sex she liked -but I’d felt uncomfortable enough after that first night to know that I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I ever accidentally raped her.
Hell, raped any woman. While I might enjoy rough sex and dominating a woman in the bedroom, it was still all about consent for me.
Now, while I had always wanted a marriage born out of mutual respect- not really caring about love -that wasn’t what I had.
I was actually in love with my wife, had been hoping to escape what Onyx and Magnus had, and my wife hated me.
She thought that I only wanted her for those damn mines, and she also believed that I was only sleeping with her because of the trust requirements.
As I stared at her beautifully enraged face, I couldn’t even blame her.
We had doomed this marriage with our first impressions of each other, and now I had to figure out what to do next.
As a matter of fact, I knew exactly what to do next.
“No need to worry,” I told her. “I think it’s safe to say that any hope of a civil marriage between us is out of the question now.
So, since you have no desire to give me children, and since I have no desire to become an actual rapist, I think that marriage on paper thing is a perfect solution to all of this. ”
Her face paled a bit, anger giving way to confused surprise. “What?”
“I have more money than I will ever need, Keris,” I reminded her.
“I couldn’t care less if the mines end up belonging to the Central American government.
It’s not my family’s legacy that will be lost. Besides, I have plenty of time to bleed the mines dry before it becomes obvious that we’re not going to have children.
” I slid my hands in the pockets of my sweats, trying to appear casual.
“Of course, if you get pregnant by a future lover or something, the lawyers will have to figure something out, but I don’t see a problem with that. ”
“So, that’s your new plan?” she asked quietly as she tightened the towel around her luscious body. “Bleed the mines dry before we lose them?”
“Or before you divorce me,” I added. “While the contract will ruin your parents and make life a little bit harder on your sister, there’s absolutely nothing stopping you from filing for divorce, Keris.” I gave her a knowing look. “We both know that you only care about your sister anyway.”
Her green eyes narrowed in suspicion. “What about all that talk earlier about never letting me go?”
“I’m a liar, remember?” I replied coldly.
“Why would you believe any of it? The truth is that I married you for control of the mines. The truth is that the contract never said anything about living happily ever after. The truth is that I don’t need the money, never did.
The truth is that you need to give me children to keep the mines.
That’s the truth, Keris. Everything else is rather irrelevant. ”
Her eyes started darting around as she was clearly digesting my words, and I wanted to take it all back.
I wanted to redo everything. I wanted to have met this woman at the park, an art showing, a fucking deli.
..anywhere that could have led to an actual relationship that wasn’t riddled with so much hate and regret.
I had insisted that my father wasn’t going to control the narrative of my marriage, but he was doing exactly that.
He’d always been doing it, my parents and her parents both.
“I’ll give you a week to find somewhere else to live,” I announced, and her head snapped up at that. “Moving forward, the only communication that should be necessary is that of the professional variety, so that can be done through email or our lawyers.”
“What happened to keeping up appearances?” she challenged.
“You’re forgetting who you’re talking to, baby,” I told her. “It’s my parents who like to keep up appearances, not me. I couldn’t give a fuck about them, especially if they come with this much bullshit.”
Her chin came up. “What about honoring your vows?” she asked, throwing my words back in my face.
I shrugged. “It was a nice idea while it lasted,” I replied flippantly.
“Besides, it’s not like our vows are going to be the first ones ever broken.
Magnus and Onyx are married in name only, too.
” Just to be an asshole, I tossed her a wink.
“Besides, being an adulterer sounds a lot more appealing than being a rapist, don’t you think? ”
Tightening the towel around her body some more, Keris stood up, eyeing me. “What about the rest of it?”
“The rest of what?”
“If we’re married in name only, I can’t afford Lindsey’s healthcare on my own,” she answered carefully. “Living here without a mortgage or utilities was helping to make sure that Lindsey didn’t have to rely on my parents too much.”
It was a cold reminder of why she had married me in the first place, but at least the woman was being honest. While my father had saved her father’s company, if Edmund Bishop hadn’t learned his lesson, then I could easily see him losing it all again, no daughter to offer up this time.
“Call her insurance company and instruct them to send all of her bills my way,” I said. “I’ll pay any extra out-of-pocket costs.”
“You’re a liar, remember?” she said, throwing my words back in my face again. “How can I trust you?”
“Your sister’s bills are a small price to pay for never having to see you again, Keris,” I replied icily.
“While your pussy is made of some premium stuff, it’s not worth the price that you’ve seemed to place on it.
” I lifted my chin as I looked down at her.
“In fact, you’ve done nothing here tonight but remind me why women like Rochelle are in such high demand. Peace is fucking priceless.”
The corner of her lip curled in disgust. “So, that’s the plan? Going to run back to Rochelle?”
“Not that it’s any of your business anymore, but she wasn’t the only woman that I’d had on speed dial before my father made that fucked-up deal to bail your family out of debt,” I shot back.
“By the end of the night, I’ll be forgetting all about you, and what’s better?
The girl will keep her fucking mouth shut, then leave in the morning like an obedient whore.
The kind that you were supposed to have been. ”
“Fuck you,” she hissed, wetness making her eyes glitter like crystals. “I’m not a whore.”
“Oh, that’s right,” I smirked. “You’re cattle, branded and everything.”
“Get out,” she seethed, a tear escaping, making me want to lick it away while I held her down, then forced her to take back everything that she’d just said.
“One week, Keris,” I repeated. “You have one week to get the fuck out of my house and my life.”
“Not a problem,” she bit out. “And you know what, Brantley?”
“What?”
“This marriage is not going to stop me from finding happiness,” she threatened. “You are not going to be the last man to hold me in his arms.”
Her words sliced down the center of my chest, but I just said, “Like I give a fuck, baby.”