“We shall never speak again, apart from through lawyers. And they’ll keep you well informed about my case for full custody of Axel and your criminal case.”
“Ahh, that pesky thing,” I chuckled—even if it was a hollow, fake chuckle. I sat back down and gave him a sheepish grin. “I half hoped you had forgotten.”
“Nice try,” he said, and then sat forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “I’m hoping neither of those options comes to light, Rachel. I’m hoping after six months you’ll realise you can be happy here. I’m hoping you’ll see the changes, see how different things are, and how good we can be together, and you’ll forget about leaving entirely.”
“We were never good together, Dante.” I shook my head.
“No? Before it all went tits up and the war happened, there were some good times. Whether you want to admit it, we hadfun together. We made each other laugh. The sex was always amazing. There’s no reason we can’t have that back.”
“Whilst we’re negotiating and talking, I want to add another stipulation. No sex.”
“Fuck off,” he laughed, sitting back again.
“I’m serious. If you want me to seriously give this a shot, then I don’t want you clouding my thoughts with sex. I want to be thinking straight, and I’ve never been able to do that when you’re too close.”
I fucking hated admitting that. But I figured if we were putting all our cards on the table, I had to give a valid reason for enforcing abstinence.
“Fine,” he said, sounding as though it was anything but fine. “But you have to sleep in my bed every night.”
It was my turn to laugh in disbelief. “Not a chance.”
“Non-negotiable,” he said with a shake of his head. “We’re going to be living as a genuine couple. That means having you in my bed every night, exactly where an old lady should be.”
“Fi—”
“And you can’t have sex with anyone else,” he interrupted. “If sex is off the table, it’s off the table completely.”
“I’m not the one with a new partner!” I hissed back at him, my hand aching to slap him again.
He grinned at me, “jealous?”
“About the fact you get to have sex and I don’t? Sure. But hypocrisy has always been your strong suit, hasn’t it?”
“I’m not having sex.”
“But V—”
“Forget about her,” he waved. “She’s easily gone.”
“Fine.Fine,” I gritted my teeth. I pushed myself to my feet and glared down at him. “But I want my freedom. If I am promising to stick by your side for six months, then you have totrust I’ll keep my word. I don’t want you trailing me or putting tracking devices in my phone.”
He got to his feet too, towering over me before grinding out: “If I give you your freedom, then it’s only fair that you are never allowed to even hint about wanting to leave here for the next six months. You must act as though this is your permanent future.”
“Then it’s only fair that you make this a pleasant living environment,” I hissed, pushing closer to him. “Which means getting that mother of yours under control. I’m not spending six months being insulted by her.”
“Then you can control your temper and not goad people. There’s another stipulation.”
“Then you can’t interfere with the way I choose to raise the children.” I pushed up onto my tiptoes until my nose was almost touching his.
Big mistake. Being this close to him had my body roaring to life, wanting everything that I had once been able to take freely.
“And you’ll stop trying to interfere with club business!” He snapped back, his breathing heavier.
Seems like he’s not as unaffected as I previously thought!
“And you’ll stop making fucking demands of me!” I hissed, wanting to stomp on his foot.
And wanting to take his lips with my own.
