The Marriage Contract

4. Chop It Off.

"Five more minutes, dad, I promise," I groaned, rolling over and pulling the blankets over my head.

"I'm not your dad, now get up," Ryland's annoyingly sexy voice said, waking me up a bit more, just before my blankets were jerked away, leaving my bare legs and arms exposed to the cold. "And aren't you meant to be 21? Who still has their dad waking them?"

"Jesus, Ryland! I could have been fucking naked," I yelled jerking the cover back over my now freezing legs.

He shrugged, "I don't care. Put on something presentable. We have an appointment at one thirty," he said simply, walking out of my room, shutting the door behind him. I glared at the closed door for a few minutes after he left, but rolled my eyes and got out of bed anyway.

I ran my fingers through my hair as I made my way to the bathroom. It was just past 11:30 so I had enough time for a shower.

When I was finished, I wrapped a towel around myself and went into the closet. I looked around for a minute before I came across a royal blue, denim high wasted skirt. I took it off the hanger and looked at it, then I had an idea.

After a reasonably long search, I found a thin dark beige, boat neck tshirt that tied at the collar. I pulled it on and tucked it into the skirt. I grabbed a brown leather belt and put it on my waist. I left my hair down and looked in the mirror. Smiling to myself, I slipped on a pair of thin soled vans and a long chained pocket watch necklace that Hayley had given me on my twentieth birthday.

Grabbing my phone and my bag, I walked out of my bedroom to find Ryland on the phone in the living room. When I walked into the room he turned around and paused in his conversation. His eyes rolled over me and I had to fight the smirk threatening to take over my face.

"I'll call you back," he said and hung up the phone, placing it in his pocket. He looked down at he watch, then back up at me, "Come on, or we'll be late," he said, looking over me again, lingering on my legs.

I smirked as he adjusted his tie and turned towards the door. I followed him, uneasily into the elevator as he took his sweet time about pressing the button. Before he could get to it, I jumped in front of him and slammed my fist onto the button for the ground floor.

He looked at me like I had no functioning brain cells as I pressed up against the wall, anxiety rolling off of me in waves. "Are you scared of the elevator," he asked looking at me.

"Hell yes, I'm scared of the damned elevator! It's a fucking trap waiting to drop me to my death," I answered.

"Rory, this elevator was inspected a month ago. I watched the men do it. There is nothing wrong with it," he said.

I made a face, "I don't care who the fuck you watched! He could've been drunk for all you know! And don't call me that," I snapped, crossing my arms.

He smirked, "And why not?"

"Only my friends call me Rory," I said. The elevator doors dinged and I walked out of the elevator like the boss ass bitch I am.

As we walked out the doors, Ryland walked ahead of me to a black Maserati, parked just in front of the building.

"Huh," I said as I got into the passenger seat.

"What? Surprised that I have a good taste in cars," he asked sarcastically, almost bitter.

"No," I answered truthfully. "That you can drive, period," I said and closed the door behind me. He scowled but started the car and took off down the street.

Within a few minutes, Ryland parked the car outside of Belle Vie. "Uhm, excuse me, why are we here," I asked as we got out of the car.