Or, at least, most of the day?
“Why?” I blurt through half-processed thoughts. “Why didn’t you come to me and tell me?—”
“So my brother could talk you out of it? To tell you I’m unhinged and?—”
“Youareunhinged.”
He lifts his shoulders to that. “My methods had to adapt based on the situation. Since Iknowwhat the Hardings will do.”
I frown. “What would…”
Bronte impatiently rocks his hips, prompting me to hurry up with this conversation. “Rushed wedding. Drain your bank account. Ask you to take out a loan—several of them to save Bobby. He’s five million in debt, Daydream. You think I was going to sit back and permit that to happen?”
I didn’t add up Bobby’s debt. It was there, but the more terrifying aspect of what I was given was Bobby’s mob ties. The text messages about more money and meeting places in Chicago. One even asked if I had any collateral to tie Bobby’s loan to.
He was already about to drag me down.
What more do you need, Meirna?
“I can’t…be married to you.”
Bronte’s response to that is rocking his hips into me and directing my body to do the same. “You already are. And I fucking love that, Meirna. That’s not going to change.”
That sounded like a threat.
Like a means of nowhere out.
“You’re trapping me,” I lightly accuse, clutching onto hisshoulders to remain grounded to this conversation. “Just like he was.”
“You feel like that now?” I immediately bob my head, but it doesn’t deter Bronte. “Then give me until New Year’s. A full shot. And, if you still feel trapped, I’ll let you go.”
I gape at him because that’s a full one-eighty from what he just said. “You’d…divorce me?”
“No, you’d divorceme.I’m dedicated to making this work. On making you happy. To give you everything you’ve ever wanted. On loving you until the day I die.”
My heart tightens in my chest because of the level of what he’s already thought of giving me…I’ve never gotten that from Bobby.
But I never needed to be free of him.
Until possibly now.
“I’m not yours,” I whisper. “You can’t?—”
“You’re mine now.” He rocks faster. “New Year’s, Daydream. You open yourself up to me until New Year’s, and I’ll show you everything we could’ve been if life didn’t get in the way. Can you do that for me?”
What other alternative do I have?
If I say no, he might just make my life a living hell. He might make things worse.
I bob my head quickly before I change my mind. It’s a clear shot out unless he’s lying. But I have no way of telling right now.
“Is this still a no?”
Oh, it should be.
But the right side of me dissolves when Bronte begins to fuck me harder. He slowly lays me on my back and towers over me, careful to keep his weight off.
Out of my peripheral, the Christmas lights beam over us as he fucks me hard and fast.
