I laid there, still inside of her, for several more moments until finally, I was able to use my body again. I kissed her lips as I pulled out and sat up on my knees, wincing internally as I felt a twinge of guilt push against my chest. I reached down and helped to her feet, handed her the panties on the ground and stood while we got dressed. She smiled sweetly as she buttoned the last few buttons over her breasts, covering up her skin. If I had it my way, we wouldn’t leave this maze for at least another hour. However, as the uneasiness in my stomach built, I knew it was time to walk her back out.
I leaned in and kissed her on the forehead, unable to shake the pull I felt for her. She was so beautiful, and as she stood in the bright sunlight, I couldn’t help but allow myself to feel for her for just a moment. However, as we walked arm and arm back through the maze of bushes, that moment faded, and my guilt turned to fear. We stepped out of the maze, back into the garden, and walked slowly toward the castle doors. She leaned her head against my shoulder, and I could feel the fear as it turned to panic.
“We should have dinner together tonight,” she cooed. “We could set up out here and eat under the stars.”
“That sounds lovely,” I said as I mustered an excuse. “But unfortunately, I can’t. I have a dinner meeting with some of the council. I’m sorry, darling. Rain check?”
She shook her head with a disappointed look on her face, and my fears started to mix with guilt again. I walked her back up to the castle doors and kissed her on the cheek, trying to avoid eye contact. I could tell she wasn’t sure of my choice of excuse, but I turned and walked away without another word. The last thing I wanted was for us to have another fight. I was too pent up at that moment and knew I would be defensive and cruel. I stood at the bottom of the stairs and watched as she took a deep breath and turned toward the castle. Once I had seen her enter the palace, I made a beeline for my quarters.
I couldn’t move fast enough to escape the fear bulging in my chest at that moment. I searched the room for my phone and called down to the servant’s quarters, asking for a car to be pulled up out front. I gathered some clothes into a bag and headed out the back way, so as to not be seen. I needed to get away and get away fast. Fear was driving me absolutely insane. There was no way I could let myself feel these feelings. I would end up stuck in a marriage, and my freedom would be gone.
I jumped into the town car out front and set the course for the capital, where I could get into a hotel, get changed, and head out to the bars. While the car moved further from the palace, I pulled my hands through my hair with frustration. I had let myself go with this girl, and I should have known from the beginning. She was too beautiful, too smart, and way too charming for me not to have feelings for her. How I thought I could get away with this, I didn’t know, but I was kicking myself for getting into this situation. Whether I liked it or not, which I had made sure to not think about, this woman was my life for the next eleven months.
For an entire year, I was going to have to continue to torture myself, trying to keep my hands off of her. Who was I kidding? If I continued to fuck her and bolt, she was eventually going to call me out on it or leave the castle altogether. Regardless of contracts, Adriana was no fool, nor would she sit around and let someone like me screw with her head. There were too many men out there that deserved a woman like Adriana, and I wasn’t one of them. Part of me knew that was true, while the other knew I was making up excuses to feel better about leaving. The all-out truth of the matter was, she scared the hell out of me with her radiant smile and perfect body. Just the way she arched her back sent waves through my cock, and thinking about her kind nature, well, that was just a double threat.
Once I arrived at the hotel, my mind had calmed a bit, and I was just ready to get out and do some drinking. Nothing cut a woman from your mind quicker than a fifth of whiskey and some sexy girls. After changing into one of my best suits, I took a shot for the road and headed down to the capital for some fun. The bars were packed, and there were beautiful women everywhere. As I sat at the bar talking it up with two buxom blondes, the only thing I could think of was Adriana and what she was doing at that moment.
The frustration of this woman in my mind was driving me absolutely mad. So, I paid my tab and moved on to the next bar. Bar after bar, woman after woman, I repeated the same cycle. I had a few drinks, tried to focus on the sexy women in front of me, and then in frustration, moved on to the next place. I tried whiskey, I tried brunettes, I even tried drinking a martini, but nothing was shaking the thought of her from my mind.
Eventually, I ended up at a strip club, a strange place to get my current stripper wife out of my mind. I ordered bottle service and invited two of the strippers over to join me. By that point, I had drunk my fair share and was feeling loose and ready to mingle. However, as I slid my hand over the stripper’s tight thigh, Adriana’s gorgeous smile flashed through my mind. I saw her as she laid in the moss and grass earlier, haunting me with our amazing afternoon together.
I pulled my hand back and poured another shot, hoping I could drown out this ghost in my mind. The way she looked at me was refreshing and pure. It was as if she was seeing me and not anyone else. I wanted to be the man she deserved so badly, but I was terrified of cutting off my freedom and sinking myself into something so beautiful.
I forced my hand back over the stripper’s leg and ran it up her thigh, grazing her pussy with my fingers. She looked over at me and winked, and I knew if I wanted her, I could have her right here and right now. Even though my mind was on this stripper, my cock was having none of it, and I felt absolutely nothing in my pants. Fuck, Adriana had gotten me so deep, my own cock was revolting against me. In my drunken haze, I thought maybe if I just got in one good lay with someone else, these thoughts would stop haunting me, but it looked like that wasn’t going to happen.
Instead, I started to drink way heavier than before. By the time the strip club closed, I was three sheets to the wind, trying to focus on the sidewalk under my feet as the two strippers helped me toward the hotel. I groped at the blonde’s tits and watched as she ran her hand up the outside of my pants. I shook my head as she pouted at me, noticing my dick didn’t react to her at all. I didn’t know if it was the alcohol or Adriana, but something was making damn sure I wasn’t able to have any fun that night.
The alcohol didn’t help me get rid of Adriana, but there was definitely something else that would, a complete liquor blackout. That’s exactly where I headed, and quickly. From there, my mind started to shift in and out of consciousness, and all I really remembered was bits and pieces of crossing the lobby and leaning against the elevator wall, hoping I didn’t puke everywhere. It was like a bad movie with random scenes flashing through it, and nothing making much sense at all. As soon as my feet hit the penthouse floor, my mind went blank, and nothing else besides Adriana’s sweet smile passed through.
Chapter 15: Adriana
I laid in my bed and watched as the rain ran down my window. I had hoped Milos would have come into my room during the night, but he hadn’t, and I woke up alone as usual. Outside of my bedroom chamber, I could hear the servants scurrying about, cleaning up as they whispered back and forth. It was strange for me to hear them at all, much less whispering in low tones outside of my door. I pulled myself from the bed, curious as to what all the noise was about. I opened my bedroom doors, still dressed in my pajamas, and stared out at the girls who froze instantly and looked down at the floor.
“Okay,” I said putting my hands on my hips. “What’s going on?”
I looked at each of the girls, but everyone refused to look me in the face. I walked forward, toward the head servant, and noticed she was clutching a newspaper in her hands. There was obviously something these women didn’t want me to see.
“All right,” I sighed, holding out my hand. “Give it to me. It can’t be that bad.”
The woman looked up at me but didn’t move, obviously not wanting to be the one to hand me the paper. She took a deep breath and met my eyes as she handed it over and shooed the other girls from the wing. She stopped at the door and looked back at me.
I opened the paper and stared down at the picture on the front page. It was Milos with two girls strung around his neck. He looked completely wasted and the headline read, “Trouble In Paradise?”
Slowly, I crumpled up the paper and threw it hard at the floor. That’s why he never came to my room. He was too busy screwing some dirty whores in the capital. To make matters worse, he made the front page of the paper, which humiliated me and showed he didn’t give two shits about the price I had to pay for this whole ordeal.
“Can I get you anything, Your Grace?” The servant obviously felt terrible, but I was glad I had seen the paper in the privacy of my own room, instead of in front of the Queen.
“No, thank you,” I said, shaking my head.
How could I have been so stupid? I had really given a piece of myself to him in that hedge maze in the gardens, and he’d given me the same thing he always did, absolutely not
hing. He had taken my forgiveness and wiped his ass with it, making me look like an idiot. I went back to my room and laid down in the bed, resolute to not get up for the rest of the day, and that is exactly what I did.
Several days passed and still, I heard nothing from Milos. Either he was too drunk to care or he was hiding out, knowing he had to face both me and his mother when he returned. Whichever it was, it wasn’t boding well for him with the kingdom or the Parliament. One good part about being the girl no one pays attention to is the sheer amount of information you get from just walking the halls past the royal council and members of Parliament.
While I was in self-induced exile, I figured, what better of time to go through the bags I had brought with me? Slowly, I pulled my old clothes from the backpack and laid them out. I grabbed my toiletry bag, excited to finally find my favorite body spray. I opened the case and dug around, running my hand across a tampon and stopping in horror. I dropped the case and ran over to my phone, pulling up the calendar and shaking my head. My period had been like clockwork my entire life, and I realized at that moment, that I was more than two weeks late. I had forgotten my birth control pills in Prague and vowed to reorder here, but with the wedding and everything else, I had completely forgotten. Immediately, I started to panic, wondering if I was, in fact, pregnant with Milos’s child.
I grabbed one of my old pairs of jeans and sweatshirt from the bed and threw them on, pulling the hood up high. I peeked out of the door and called the head servant over and whispered into her ear. I needed her to discreetly get me into the city so I could go to the store. I told her it was private but of grave importance. She thought for a moment before she reached through the door and grabbed my arm. I followed her into the servant quarters and out the back door where she had parked her car. She drove me slowly into the city as I hid my face, and parked outside of the local drug store. I walked in with my head down, not wanting to be noticed, and grabbed a pregnancy test. A sick feeling washed over me as I handed the money to the girl behind the register and glanced over at the Prince and his whores on the cover of every magazine there.