The Barmaid's Contract

6.

After the visit to the lawyers, we ended back up at Avery's prison.

I sat at the bay window, after a fresh shower and a cup of coffee, staring out the window.

Avery's words echoed in my head. You will be broken.

What the hell did he mean?

I was quite comfortable on the padded bay seat and a cushion wedged between my back and the wall. My head leaning against the corner of the wall and window pane. I lifted my leg up and lazily scratched my thigh.

My hair as always when not pinned up was in my face as I blew it away. I'm a prisoner here. Avery won't let me leave. Every time I step out off the room I'm in, there is always someone nearby, watching.

I didn't bother turning when my door opened.

"Have you calmed down yet?" Came Avery's calm tone. His voice was heavy and low, with no hint of any kindness.

"I have one nerve felt and you're dry humping it. Fuck off." I muttered as I kept my vision ahead of me.

"I guess not. Get dressed and come downstairs."

I heard my door shut and I wanted to throw something at it.

I felt the threat of tears and I quickly blinked them away.

I didn't want to get dressed. I was comfortable in my singlet and shorts. I'm not dressing up like a stepford wife.

It was a while before I peeled myself away from the nook, leaving the room. There was someone pretending to dust the pictures hanging up in the hallway.

I slowly ventured down the hallway, not caring that I didn't know where I was going.

My fingers brushed the walls as I went down the hall. I have no idea where I'm going. Every room had a door. No arches, no open rooms. The place was closed off, at every room.

I don't know how long it took me to go from my room to whatever destination my legs took me to, but Avery found me, a bit concerned.

"There you are." He called. "Hurry up." He turned on his foot and went back the way he came.

I slowly followed him, making Avery stop every few steps for me to catch up.

"I thought I told you to get dressed." He snapped at me.

"I thought I told you to fuck off." I mumbled under my breathe.

"You can fight all you want, but you are going to lose." Avery replied as he opened a door.

I went in to the room and waited. "What now?" I snarled at him. "Do I have to wait till I'm allowed to sit? Is there a seating arrangement that I have to follow?"

"Get nasty all you want."

I shrugged as Avery offered me a chair. "I'm already going to hell, I'm just doing all this for a good spot." I bit out as I sat, crossing my legs and arms.

Avery sat down and stared at me.

"I'm not agreeing with you." I know he will bring up the will reading.

"You have no choice. Either you take on the role, take the new CEO seat and be miserable. Or, you can agree to it, let me take the CEO seat and you can do whatever you want, within certain limits."

"Either way, I lose. I don't get what I want. Whereas you do. What do I get out of this bucket of dead kittens?"

Avery raised his brows. "Dead kittens?"

I groaned as I rolled my eyes. "You may think the deal is all freaking rainbows but to me, it ain't."

"That is the deal, what I offered, not including any fine print."

"Nope." I emphasised on the word.

"Alexandra, like I said, you have no choice."

I just wanted this to go away. To never exist. "I have no choice? I know it looks like you have put me in a corner, but watch me fight. I have a nasty bark, but I haven't been biting yet."

"Yes, I know." Avery groaned as he rubbed the bridge of his nose. "That pub, the one you worked in. I believe you are very loyal to it."

The words sunk in. Worked. Past tense. "The only people I owe my loyalty to are the ones that never made me question theirs. So yes, I'm loyal to the pub."

"It will be a shame if it closed down or something happened to it."

My heart stopped. It was a well known pub.

"The media doesn't know you're back as well."

"Not by my choice!"

Avery ignored me. "It will be a shame if they found out too. Who will protect you from that?"

"Are you blackmailing me?" I squawked out.

"Think of it as coercion." Avery corrected me. "It's not like you are hard to miss."

"I may look like an easy target, Avery Montgomery, but I'm not." I threatened him.

Avery smirked. "Then we have a deal."

Oh lord. I can't believe I'm even thinking about this! "You know, being a dick isn't going to compensate what's missing in your pants."

"I've had enough of your smart mouth." Avery told me as he stood up from his leather chair.

"Calm down. Take a deep breathe and hold it for twenty minutes." Why would I consider this? It's ludicrous!

"I thought I told you to get dressed." I heard him snap.

I quickly glared at him before turning away.

"You can tell me lots of things, Avery." I bluntly told him. "But I'm not going to listen. What about what I want?"

"You will get what you want. You'll be free of the company. That pub will be still be there."

"But I'm stuck with you! For three fucking years!" I yelled as I stood up. "No thank you. I rather put up with that company than put up with you. I'll take the lesser of two evils."

Why am I saying this? I don't want this.

"I'm warning you now, your last warning." Avery glared as he picked up his phone.

I shrugged as I removed some hair from my face. It had tried to curl up from the moisture in the bathroom earlier, but now, it was a matted mess. "I have nothing else to lose." It was true. I didn't.

"Why do you have to make things more difficult than what they really are?"

"I'm a redhead. I'm not suppose to be handled." I know I'm loud and voice my opinion. I also know, it doesn't stop, it just comes out withput me thinking about it.

"Are you willing to give it all up?" Avery narrowed his eyes at me again. "The freedom and trashy clothes? What you say and how you say it? Have everyone watch you move and wait for you to fail? Because it will be a spectacular sight. Right in front of the media, possibly losing millions of dollars in unfair dismissals and reimbursement, compensation pays, long term pays."

Avery had gone from minor insults aimed at me to business talk and my head was swimming already.

I sunk back down in the chair.

"You can't hire anyone to take your place, not even me. You have to take it all, or let me shoulder the burden through this deal."

Why did Dominic have to die? Why did Avery have to find me? If I knew he would be in my work looking for me, I would've taken the day off. But I was cornered. I didn't want to take on Dominic's company. But I didn't want to marry either.

I know I'll fail spectacularly on the business if I took control. But Avery has told me I don't have to do with anything from it if I let him control it, but we will be married.

I wanted to curl my lip up at him. "What is the fine print?"