50 Shades of Drake 1 and 2

50SOD II: Chapter Thirteen

    Destiny had to remember that Carlos was standing behind her. Remembering this helped her to keep her anger in check. Remembering this helped her to hold her tongue. She only spoke one word in reply: "Seriously?"

    Aubrey raised an arm and gripped the edge of the door. "Yes. Those are my stipulations."

    She shook her head in disbelief.

    "You know what? I don't want to cause any issues. I can get a hotel. It's fine. Really."

    Destiny whirled around to face Carlos. His expression was apologetic. "You're not going to stay in a hotel. You're my friend. You're going to stay here. With me."

    "And with me." Aubrey's eyes left no room for argument.

    Destiny turned and asked, "You want to talk, Aubrey? Okay, fine. Let's talk." She breezed past him, gesturing for Carlos to do the same.

    Aubrey closed the door behind them.

    "Stay here," Aubrey and Destiny said in unison.

    Destiny glared at Aubrey.

    Aubrey turned and led her to the master bedroom.

    She closed the door behind her after entering. "Why are you being so difficult?"

    "Because I don't know him," he said simply.

    "I do."

    "You do?" he asked her, sitting on the edge of the bed. "For how long?"

    She frowned. "That's not the point."

    "He left one country and travelled to another without warning you that he was coming," Aubrey pointed out. "You don't find that odd?"

    "He wanted to surprise me," Destiny said, her tone turning defensive. "He knew something was bothering me."

    "So he hops on the first plane and runs to save you?"

    Would you rather Brian be the one to save me? she wondered. She didn't dare speak the words out loud. She'd already made the mistake of speaking her thoughts out loud one times too many. "He was willing to sleep on the couch."

    "Not good enough for me."

    "Are you really that..."

    He tilted his head to the side, waiting for her to finish the sentence.

    "Are you really that insecure?" she asked him, standing in front of him with her hands balled into fists at her sides.

    "It's not about insecurity," he said flatly. "I don't know him. And because I don't know him, I don't trust him. And you...you're the most precious thing to me in this world. Until I trust him, he can only sleep under the same roof as you if I am under that same roof."

    "You don't trust him?" she demanded, overlooking the sentimentality of his statement. "You think you even have the right to say that, after what you did to me last night?"

    He rested his elbows on his knees and lowered his gaze to the floor. "I lost control last night. I take full responsibility for that. But it doesn't change how I feel about letting Carlos stay with you."

    "Because you don't trust him."

    "Correct."

    "Well, I don't trust you."

    He looked up at her.

    "And I know that doesn't matter to you," she went on, fueled by frustration and anger. "Because you own me. I'm your property, like the contract says."

    He squared his jaw and looked away from her.

    She sighed and ran a hand across her forehead. "Okay, how about...how about he stays at my place. And I stay here? In the guest bedroom?"

    "That would be fine," Aubrey told her.

    She turned on her heel and reached out to grab the doorknob. "I'll go tell him."

    "Destiny, wait." He stood up and grabbed her by the wrist.

    She kept her back to him. "Yes?"

    "Look at me."

    "No."

    He raised his free hand and braced it against the door, beside her face. He pressed his body against hers and lowered his head so that his mouth was close to her ear. "I'm so sorry about what I did."

    She closed her eyes and lifted one shoulder, undeniably turned on at the sound of his voice and the feel of his warm breath that close to her ear.

    "I would never hurt you like that on purpose. Ever."

    "But you did."

    "I did. But I won't again."

    "Can you promise me that?" she asked him, opening her eyes and turning her head. She looked at him out the corner of her eye. "Can you promise me that you won't ever lose control again?"

    He stared back at her.

    "You're hesitating," she said.

    "I want to make sure that my promise isn't empty," he told her.

    She turned to face him.

    He leaned into her. "Yes. I can promise that it won't ever happen again."

    She wanted to believe him. She wanted to believe him and let everything go back to normal. But she remembered the look in his eyes. That kind of darkness, that kind of demon didn't just go away. It was still in him. "After Carlos goes up to my condo, are you willing to sit down with me and talk about it?"

    A muscle in his jaw twitched and he blinked. "Talk about what?"

    "Everything. Your parents. Your ex-fiance."

    "There's no need to talk about that," he said flatly. "It's in the past."

    "It's in the past, but it's affecting our future," she told him. "It's still affecting you. And your actions. You need to talk about it, Aubrey."

    He gave her a hard look.

    She dropped her eyes. "I mean, Sir."

    "I don't want to talk about those periods of my life," he said.

    She was quiet for a few moments. "As long as you don't, there's a chance that you could hurt me again. So...like I said before, I will serve you from Friday through Sunday. But during the rest of the week, I'll need space from you. So after work, I will go straight to my condo and spend that time with Carlos. I will sleep down here. But until it's time for me to go to sleep, I will be up there. With him."

    Hewanted to say something. She could see it in his eyes. He wanted to find somereason why she couldn't spend all of that time with Carlos. But in the end,there was no reason he could find. His own contract worked against him. Hebowed his head, then nodded slowly. "Okay."