Meadow’s POV:
“I’m sorry I put the note in my bra.”
It had been an hour since ric and I had sex. We remained in my bed, both of us wide awake but lost in
our thoughts. He was in a calmer mood now, but I could still tell that he was still slightly annoyed with <ol><li>me. </li></ol>
Because he hadn’t said a word to me. He just kept stroking my back tenderly as I rested my head on his
chest.
He paused then, hand on my lower back. I raised my head to look at him and he was already watching me with a gaze I couldn’t decipher. His teeth scraped lightly over his bottom lip.
“Hey…” I continued softly, reaching up to cradle his cheek. “The waiter was an asshole, ric, but I would
never do that to you. I wasn’t going to call him, I was just… being defiant.”
Plus, I wanted to see what he would do, but I didn’t add that part. My mind drifted to his phone on my
vanity. He’d been typing a message on it before he dropped it. Who had he texted? Trip? The waiter?
I knew ric wasn’t going to let this go. However, I couldn’t exactly snoop around on his phone when he
was here.
“That’s not what <b>I </b>was worried about,” he murmured.
I scoffed. “All the things you said to me while we were…” Heat crept up my neck and I cleared my throat.”
Were they all lies? Because it seemed as if you were really bothered by it.”
ric’s jaw clenched as he replied. “I wasn’t.” He kissed the top of my head. “I’m not.”
But I instantly knew he was lying. Most of the time–all of the time, really<b>–</b>ric was an excellent liar. But looking at him now, he seemed a little… vulnerable. Like he was annoyed about letting himself go like that when he was fucking me,
I swallowed. “So, you’re not scared of me leaving you after I got what I wanted?”
ric’s eyes shed as he shoved out a breath. When he spoke, his tone was cold.
“Did she do anything to hurt you<b>?</b>”
My brows furrowed. “Who?”
“You said you were with your sister at the restaurant, didn’t you?”
My face flushed for whatever fucked up reason it did. I wasn’t too bad a liar–sometimes–but ric’s
gaze on me had me flustered. As if he knew I was lying but was just ying along.
“Oh, yeah,” I breathed nervously, looking away from him. “Um, no. No, she didn’t do anything <i>to </i>hurt me, ric. And why are you changing the subject?<b>” </b>
He arched a brow, and then he gently moved his arm from under me, swinging his legs over the edge of the bed. My tongue dried in my mouth as I watched his back muscles flex. “Will you talk to me about this?” I murmured.
ric ran a hand through his hair. “Drop it, Meadow.” His tone was a low mumble.
I sat up in bed, making my way toward him. I started to reach for his back. “But I just-<b>” </b>
“What part of ‘drop it‘ was not clear to you?” There was a harder edge to his voice now as he rose to his
feet. And I wasn’t sure why, but I looked away when he turned to face me. He scoffed. “How can you be so
sharp with your tongue and too timid to even look at my cock when I’m not fucking you?”
My cheeks heated. “I’m not timid,” I denied, my voice bing a high octave. “And you keep changing
the subject.”
“Then look at me,” he said smoothly, dark amusement coating his tone.
I swallowed. I didn’t know what was wrong with me.
“Look at me, Meadow<b>.</b>”
I did. I was already near the edge of the bed so ric’s cock was directly in front of my face. He was semi- hard, curving up slightly so I could see a glimpse of thedder beneath.
ric carefully gripped my chin, tilting my head up so I could look into his eyes. “Do my piercings repulse you?”
“What?” I breathed. <b>“</b>No. I just… you’re right, okay<b>? </b>I’m timid. I’ve epted it.” I rose to my feet. “When are you going to ept that you’re scared of me leaving you?”
His eyes turned hard as he red at me, and then his hand left my chin. I shook my head. “ric, there’s nothing wrong in being-”
“One more word about this and I’ll have Trip do more to that waiter than I initially nned to,” he gritted out. I jerked back as if he’d pped me and he used that opportunity to walk away from me, grabbing his pants from the floor.
I scoffed, watching him put them on. “Is that it? You’ll threaten me to keep me from talking? Kill the waiter for being an asshole? Kill Tyler for being aplete idiot?”
He tilted his head at me, slowly dragging his gaze up and down my naked body. I crossed my arms in front of my chest and his eyes shed. “You sacrificed your ass for Tyler, Meadow,” he muttered. “I can hardly ssify that as a threat, seeing as you’d rather take some fucking strokes on the ass than let me give that fucker what he deserves.”
My stomach twisted, my throat thickening as I stepped toward him. “So what? You’re ming me for yourck of control?”
I was cutting deep, I knew that. ric was nothing if not controlled and calcting. But he was pushing me away again, and if this was what I had to do to get him to lose even a bit of that control with <b>me- </b>
outside sex–then I would do it.
His voice lowered, eyes darkening as he spoke. “I assure you, Meadow. I am very much in control.”
I opened my mouth to speak again, but in no time, ric was right in front of me, his hand around the back of my neck as he leaned in close. My eyelids fluttered and my sore center pulsed.
“ric…” I breathed, shaking my head. “Just…”
“There’s a reason there’s no time use in the contract you signed, Meadow.” His tone was low and cold.” You want to know why that is?”
I swallowed, not sure if I wanted to know the true answer behind it. I’d been wanting to ask, since it was
an oversight on my part.
ric’s brows drew together and his nostrils red. “It’s so you could leave whenever you want.”
My breath hitched. “What?”
“I’m not trying to trap you, Meadow,” he muttered. “I promised I was going to help you get revenge, and whether or not <b>you </b>want it, I’m going to give it to you. The main thing you wanted was for me to take your virginity. And I took it.” His gaze dropped to my mouth. “Whether or not you choose to stay afterward,
that’s on you. Not me.”
He started to turn away from me but I stopped him. “But you don’t want me to leave.”
I didn’t know what else <i>to </i>say. What on earth was I supposed to say to this? Him telling me he’d never let me go one second and then telling me I can leave the next<b>? </b>
But that wasn’t the only issue.
“And the money… God, ric. You can’t tell me you paid me a hundred million dors just for me to just…
leave when I want.”
His jaw ticked. “The money is yours.”
Frustration wed at my chest. “It’s not about the fucking money, ric.” I dragged my hand through my hair as my voice rose. “It’s about you. Why won’t you just talk to me? Why is it so damn hard for you to just tell me you’re scared of me leaving? Why won’t you let me see you? Know you?”
He was pushing me away again because he didn’t want to let his guard down, and I was fucking sick of it.
“You <b>don’t </b>want to know me, Meadow.<i>” </i>
There it was again.
“I’m not asking for all of you, ric. Not now. But at least just…. don’t start pushing me away all because
you’d rather not open up to me.”
For a moment, ric was quiet, his thumb stroking the length of my throat. And for a second, I thought
that he was finally, finally going to crack. Finally going to let me see a little more vulnerability.
But then, his gaze darkened, jaw ticking. “Drop. It.”
A gasp escaped my throat, and as the back of my eyes burned with unshed tears, he stepped away from <ol><li>me. </li></ol>
My heart plummeted with every step he took toward the door, and as my knees buckled, I lowered myself
to the bed, blinking rapidly.
And just when I thought he was already gone, I heard him rasp: “Fuck.”
I sprung to my feet, surprised to see that he was walking back to me. “ric-<b>” </b>
“Come here,” he muttered, pulling me to him and crashing his lips down onto mine.
<b>4/4 </b>