5
ESPIE
Walking outside to talk to Adrik was a shitty idea. Probably my daftest one yet, but here I am, watching him brood and smoke. The pockets in his cheeks caving in as he sucks polluted air into his lungs. His dagger blue eyes search the night sky, and he’s angry. I can tell by the way he’s holding himself.
He can get in line.
Olive didn’t want me getting anywhere near him, but we were sitting at the top of the stairs when I saw him step outside, and I couldn’t stop myself from following. God, he really is a horrible guy. And I do hate him, almost as much as I hate being forced to marry him.
Why the hell did he suggest we stay somewhere together? Vince was so close to getting me out of this, and now I’m sucked right back into it. Fucked. Completely and totally.
“Fuck me.” Adrik breathes out a thick cloud of smoke and I take a step forward into the evening winter air.
“Funny, I was about to say the same.” I chide, and he whips around with a shocked look before flashing me a smirk that I want to smack off his horribly gorgeous face.
“You were about to ask me to fuck you?” He raises a brow and I catch my breath.
“That’s not at all what I meant, and you know it.”
His lips shrug along with his shoulder, and he takes another puff before offering me it.
“No.” I pull my brows together, curling my upper lip in disgust. “I have a little more self-respect for my body than to put that in it.”
“Your loss… ” He takes another hit, not breaking eye-contact and though I want to, I don’t. “Self-respect is for boring people.” He breathes out, glancing at me from the corner of his eyes.
“You’re despicable.” I continue to hold his gaze and his lips twitch up.
“Oh, don’t flatter me.” He licks his grin and I scoff.
“You really are insufferable to be around. You know that?”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Then why the fuck did you come out here?”
“I—“
“Exactly. So, you can either run along and go read one of your little fantasy books, or shut the fuck up and let me live.”
I know my mouth parts in utter shock at his harsh words and their cutting delivery. He’s impressed by himself, smug. But I won’t let him have the satisfaction of knowing just how deeply he cut me. He doesn’t deserve a reaction.
“You’re an asshole.” I bite back, turning around on my heel and stepping back inside, but not before catching his rebuttal.
“And you’re a prude.”
I pause in shock before slamming the door shut and locking it behind me. Olive is on her phone, but she looks up when she hears my heels clicking up the marble steps.
“What did he say?” She doesn’t need to look at me longer than a second to ask this— to determine he’s done something offensive. Though, it doesn’t take a genius to guess that every interaction with that despicable human being is unpleasant at best. I don’t answer her, just grab her arm and pull her to our room before slamming the door behind us. She sits on the bed, watching as I struggle to rip off this itchy, tight dress.
“I can help.” She weakly offers, and I ignore it, going into the bathroom and grabbing a hanger from the closet. I hook the end of it to the zipper after a few attempts and pull it down, unzipping the dress to my hips. Olive is in the doorway now, eyes lowered and curved with an expression of concern and sympathy.
“I’m fine.” I answer before she asks, slipping out of the gown and grabbing my white cotton nightgown off the sink.
“Espie, this isn’t fair. I just got you back.” I pull my night gown over my head and braid my hair back, ignoring her for as long as I can until she’s behind me, hand on my shoulder.
“This isn’t fair for more reasons than being separated.” I say to her through the mirror as I begin taking my makeup off.