Areston thinks he can shield me from his past, but what he doesn't realize is I'm already part of it.
The darkness that haunts him? It's the same one that's been chasing me for years.
I've given him everything-my body, my heart, my soul-and still...
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"Still don't want to talk and just sit?"
"You know I can't do that." I sigh, tilting the glass of Chardonnay so a calculated portion slips into my mouth. "Hug me."
"Oh, honey. Come here." Selene strokes my loose hair in a motherly fashion and hugs me sideways before resting her head on my shoulder as we sit by the edge of the lap pool with our feet dangling in it.
My husband brought me straight home and tucked us in bed with me wrapped in his embrace like a koala bear, refusing to leave him. I fell asleep like that for an hour or two and woke up when he carried me for a bath. He hates those and prefers showers, but he doesn't mind as long as his wife is naked and wrapped around him in it. We talked or more like he made me smile with his dirty mouth and fucked me raw in the bath—made me ride him and then pushed me on my fours and took me from behind, making me forget all about my emotional outburst from earlier.
I was FaceTiming my best friends and told them about what happened. Selene and Arion showed up within almost thirty minutes with Kryslian. Claire is in London so she couldn't, however, she used her bestie privileges to threaten my husband to not interrupt us after Selene hung up, possibly texting her her intention to visit me and asking her to keep me company until then. Areston hates when he has to share my time with anyone, but even with his extreme territorial nature, he has started to understand that we're both wired differently. While he's okay having no one but me around, I need my best friends and family time and again.
"You're my brave pumpkin. What can I do to make you feel better?" She asks, tightening her arms around me in a protective manner.
"Just existing would do," I smile, kissing the top of her head. "Thanks for being here."
"Shut up. We're sisters." She swats my arm playfully. "Want to do something crazy to take your mind off that whore?"
I laugh. "I am always up for something crazy."
Her gray eyes light up with mischief. "Let's take our men to a Karaoke bar. The only thing my husband sucks at. It's fun watching him cry a river every time he loses in the lyrics challenge game. He can't guess the song lyrics even if his life depends on it. Disadvantages of having a husband who is a 100-year-old soul trapped in the sexy body of a 36-year-old hunk. And let's just say if he guesses the lyrics right, we always have Krys to convince her best daddy in the whole world to lose."
"Selene De L'Aquila! Are you saying you've been using our child to win petty games against your husband?" I fake gasp with my hand on my heart, grateful for her presence just like I felt when my husband appeared in that cathedral.
"Quit the dramatics. They're better suited to Elizabeth," she rolls her eyes, laughing and tearing off a bite of Twix. "Let's go."
"Give me a bite of that."
She raises a brow and lifts the chocolate. "You mean this thing you describe as poor people's chocolate? Are you sure you're my best friend?"
