By the time the openers came in, I was feeling pretty good about how the day had gone.
“You did really great today,” I admitted reluctantly as we got ready to leave. The corner of his mouth twitched up as he followed me into the kitchen.
Mike was setting up the pantry, and I gave him a wave and a smile.
“Hey, Mike! Thanks again for the brownie the other night,” I said. Mike gave me a grunt and a nod, waving me off. He was a man of few words, but he had a good heart. I couldn’t wait to see what he would say when I gave him his little engraved spoon. I smiled to myself at how flustered he would likely get.
I turned to Reaver and found him glaring at Mike. A weird muscle in his jaw was pulsing.
“What?” I asked him. He blinked and turned his attention to me, giving me a dazzling smile.
“Nothing.” He herded me toward the back door that led to the smoker’s pit and held it open for me. I looked up at him, still feeling a little weirded out by how nice he was being. He looked down at me and cocked his head to the side, his striking eyes burning with some sort of emotion I couldn’t quite make out. He reached behind me and tugged on a strandof my hair gently.
“Let’s get you home, deathtrap,” he said softly. I opened my mouth to argue but thought better of it. I knew he wouldn’t let me take the subway. Until he passed his exams, he was going to have his way, and there wasn’t much I could do about it.
“Okay,” I murmured, already dreading how much the bike was going to vibrate against me. He tapped my nose and smiled at my easy consent to his will.
“Good girl,” he purred and led me to where he had parked the bike.
“And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.”
—2 CORINTHIANS 11:14, ESV
Reaver didn’t stick around after he dropped me off, but he gave me very strict orders that I was not to leave my apartment unless it was to go to work. As much as this was typical behavior at this point, it still made me grind my teeth together. His bartending exams couldn’t come soon enough.
I spent the rest of the afternoon cleaning my apartment and doing my best to ignore the aching burn between my legs. Figuring I needed a distraction, I decided I would make myself pumpkin gnocchi from scratch.
The issue with this was that I would need to leave my apartment to get ingredients, which was against Reaver’s rules. A very strong part of me wanted to just say fuck him and do it anyway because, let’s be serious, how was he going to know?
I bit my lip and paced in my living room. This was stupid. I should just go. I shouldn’t let some asshole dictate whether or not I could go getgroceries…should I?
What if I went and he found out, and then he followed through on his threat? I looked over at Chaos, who was snoozing in full loaf formation on the couch, and sighed. I couldn’t risk losing my job and my apartment, no matter how much it killed the feminist in me to obey the commands of some arrogant tattooed asshole.
I decided that instead of just going and hoping for the best, I would text him.
Lilith:
I need to go to the store.
I flopped down on the couch and stared at our conversation, waiting for the three dots to appear. When they did, my heart skipped a beat in my chest.
Reaver:
You’re telling me this… because?
Lilith:
You told me not to leave the apartment, but I need to go to the store.
There was a pause, and I could almost feel his sinister smile from a mile away.
Reaver:
Are you telling me that you need to go to the store, or are you asking me for permission to go to the store?
I let out a frustrated scream and kicked my feet, startling Chaos from his nap. He puffed up his fur and hopped down from the couch, relocating to the top of the kitchen table. The furball eyed me warily and licked a paw, rubbing it over his little cat face to clean it.
I could do this for Chaos. I could swallow my pride and ask for permission to leave my own fucking home.
