“And three,” He kisses the final finger. “I don’t need you to agree, to know you are mine,” Then he closes the distance and presses his lips against my own. It’s soft and a little unsure. Nothing like our first kiss in the Billiard room. I give into him, letting my body mould into his as he closes his arms around me. The kiss deepens and when I lift my hands to the back of his neck, it turns desperate. Like we are trying to consume each other.
The bliss is abruptly pulled back with the sound of hoots and whistles around us. When I eventually look, it’s like the whole academy has their attention on us, and now I understand why Darcy wanted this so bad. The ballroom is filled with the most important people in their world, and a spectacle like this is a claiming. Asher claimed me in front of everyone.
And I don’t care. In fact, I don’t think I have ever felt happier than in this moment right now. Is it ideal. Not at all. But as I gaze into his mismatched irises, I want nothing in this world other than him. Ruin be damned.
TWENTY FIVE
ASHER
As I watch Ruella head to the bathrooms with Deena and my very excited sister chatting her ear off, probably about the public announcement I made, I can’t seem to wipe the genuine smile from my face.
That is until my eyes clash with a very seething blonde fumbling through the crowd trying to get to me.
I spin on my heels and quickly make my way to the dark corner of the free bar where I have a direct view of the doorway that leads to the bathrooms. I have decided I am no longer pretending to myself and everyone else, that I don’t have feelings for a certain white-haired beauty.
“Macallan. Neat,” I nod to the bartender, he places the amber liquid down and instead of knocking it back like I usually do, I sip it. Savouring it. Like I plan on doing with Ruella.
“You can’t honestly think I will accept the shit you just pulled on me,” Darcy’s voice snaps from somewhere behind me and I grimace. I change my mind about sipping my drink and gulp it back in one. I need it to deal with the monster with too much hairspray in her hair. I turn, placing a look of boredom on my face. Darcy has her arms crossed over her chest, pushing her fake tits up even higher than they unnaturally sit. She wears a black dress that is so sheer it is almost see through, way too much for an event like this. Where Ruella’s dress may be showing some skin, it is still elegant, unlike the woman before me. Her family may haveenough money to buy anything she wants, but she still somehow appears cheap.
“Did you hear what I said?” One toe tapping in annoyance on the marbled floor.
“I heard you perfectly. I am just trying to muster up the fucks to answer you,”
The scowl hits her face so hard I worry for the filler in it.
“Daddy will hear about this. And then you will have to deal with your own father,”
I sigh. “I am honestly past caring. My father will have no real power over me soon enough,”
She growls animalistically. “You can’t honestly think your family will allow you to run the company with a tramp like her by your side,”
“It can’t be any worse than what they would think having you by my side,” I scoff. “At least I want Ruella,”
A fire lights in her. “We will see,”
I snap. I’m done being nice to this bitch. My hand grips her wrist, hard enough she can feel my wrath, but not hard enough to hurt her. My face comes into hers, venom bleeding through my pours.
“If you do anything to Ruella I don’t like, then you will have me to answer to, got it,”
I push her back and she stumbles on her heels before righting herself.
I fix my suit jacket, not even glancing her way, but my words are aimed straight towards her. “It would be a shame if dear old daddy got a hold of pictures of you and his stepbrother in bed together,”
Her eyes widen as she clutches her neck in shock. Then she scans the area in panic, checking to see if anyone heard me airing her dirty laundry.
“How did you know about that?” She whispers.
“I always do my research, and Ialwayshave the upper hand. No one forces me to do anything I don’t want to do. Not anymore,” I grit out between my clenched jaw.
“You are going to regret this Asher,”
“I think not,” Then I turn my back to her and signal the bartender for another round.
I don’t know if Darcy is still there or has run off. I honestly don’t care enough.
I know that makes me heartless. She was once someone I gave the time of day, even found her attractive enough to put my dick inside. What I didn’t realise was the price I would pay for that lapse in judgement. I may have acted like your everyday red blooded twenty something year old with raging hormones and enough money to be a prick, but I quickly realised that I am not that person. I am not your everyday man, and I refuse to forget that and let people manipulate me into anything anymore. I make my own decisions. I choose my future. And that future just walked through the doors, with a twinkle in her eye and a huge smile on her face, laughing with the only other woman in my life that means anything to me.
This is where things change.
