Page 34 of Monster
Pulling her between my legs, I waited until she had control of her breathing before I spoke. “There's a new deal now Angel.”
She didn't answer me and shooting me one more death glare, she turned on her heel and stormed away. Slamming the door behind her.
Wearily, I pushed myself to my feet.
“I think I might need to go and sort this out,” I sighed. “Otherwise there won't be a wedding at all.”
* * *
“Angel?”Softly, I closed the door behind me. Leaning against it heavily, I watched her as she paced back and forth, only stopping for long enough to glare at me before continuing her angry little march.
“Fuck you.”
“Angela,” I tried again. Reaching for her, I closed my hand around her wrist, stopping her in her tracks. “Will you just give me a chance to explain?”
“Explain what? How you’re willing to throw your life away because of some woman you don't even know? That's not a plan, Monster, that’s total madness and I won't let you.”
A woman I didn't know? It was true that I had only known her a few weeks but Angela didn't feel like a stranger to me at all. If anything, it felt like she had known me my entire life. Like she knew all my deepest darkest secrets, all my desires. I had never in my entire life felt someone had got me quite like she did.
“I know you, Angel.” My voice lowered. “I know you because looking at you is like looking in the mirror.”
Her eyes widened in shock. “Monster, this wasn't what we agreed. I would never be able to live with myself.”
I let go of her hands and turned away from her. “To hell with the plan, Angel. I've got a new one. One where you are free and happy.”
“And I don't get a say in this?”
Slowly, I turned back to her. “No, Angel, you don't.”
27
ANGELA
I didn’t knowwhere he got off telling me what was going to happen. This didn't just affect him. It would affect my life as well.
“The plan is….” He didn't let me finish, with one small shove against my shoulders he sent me sprawling back against the mattress. I bounced twice before coming to a stop.
“The plan has changed, Angel, you need to roll with it.” Climbing over me and looking every bit the apex predator, Monster bit down on the swell of my breasts. “No one even knows if it's going to happen.” He sucked the mound into his mouth, hard enough that I knew he would leave a mark. “All I know for certain is that I'm going to marry you.”
I wanted to melt at his words. Not because they were overly romantic but because they were sincere. Not many people in my life had ever been totally honest with me. They always had another motive. With Monster it was different. Sure, he had agreed to marry me to get his hands on my fortune, but going to prison for me? That was for me. Because in his own way he cared about me.
And it was because I cared about him as well that I couldn't let it happen. He might not know for certain whether my father was going to charge him with anything, but I did. I knew my dad. He would make the case stick. Monster would go away for a very long time. A lifetime. When I had first arrived I had told Monster that he owed me. But he didn't owe me that much. I would rather walk away, forfeit my trust fund and make my own way in the world. It wasn't like I didn't have a good education and a good career. I could make it happen. I could carve out a little bit of the world for myself. All I had to do was walk away from Monster.
Glancing at him through my eyelashes, I felt a moment of panic. All I had to do was give him up. Tell my father I would give him up. Monster would be spared prison. He would be free to go about his life and forget all about me. It would be easy.
At least it should have been easy. But one look at him and I knew it wouldn't be. Monster was well and truly under my skin now. Giving him up wasn't going to be easy. Not now that I'd had a little taste of what being with him could really be like.
We were kindred spirits. Both dark, damaged souls. If I believed in such things I would call him my soulmate.
“You don't understand, Monster. My dad is relentless. He is going to make sure you go to prison.”
His lips against mine were unbelievably soft. A tear slipped from my eye before I could help it. I wiped it away in shock. I was crying.
“Don't cry, Angel, please don't cry.” Monster’s lips kissed away the tears as they continued to fall. “Let me do this for you. If I hadn't recorded you then none of this would have happened. This is all on me and I'm going to make it better. We will get married, and no matter where the cards fall after that, whether we spend a great year together fucking at every possible moment or I go away, you are going to be free after a year. It's the least I can do. Now, no more arguing with me.” He sucked my bottom lip into his mouth. “I'll sign the divorce papers and set you free the moment you need me to. That part of the deal hasn't changed.”
I hiccupped softly. He thought I was crying because I was scared I wouldn't get my money when in honesty I was crying because I couldn't imagine my life without him in it. I hadn't cried since I was a child. Not once. I hadn't let myself feel anything since I was a child. But I was feeling something now. An overwhelming sense of loss.
All my years of scheming didn't matter now. Monster was right. There had to be a new plan. One which kept him out of prison. For the first time in my life, I had to think about someone other than myself. And it was tearing my heart out.
