THE CONTROL: An Arranged Marriage Romance by Elena Monroe (ebook reader android .txt) 📕

“Where are you going?” Her small voice still drenched in a sleepy tone reached me just as my hand on the door handle pushed down, stopping me in my tracks.

“I need some air.” I had no real reason to escape other than she needed to be reminded I was heartless until the pretty princess shit was gone for good.

I could hear her rustling behind me, standing and forcing me to turn around. “I’ll come with you, Bowey.” Still naked, she was flirting with me silently. Her body did more flirting than she intended to, and it was killing all reserve left in me.

Leaning against the door, I shook my head no before I vocalized it. “No. I want to be alone.”

“Don’t be silly. Just wait a second while I find an outfit.”

The filter on her voice was grating and irritating my last nerve. I wanted the Eve who wasn’t afraid to put people in their place, the one who said and did what she wanted.

I wanted the Eve who hijacked the bachelor party and wanted to be covered in my worst vices because she knew that was the only way to get through to me—to drag me behind her, straight to hell.

“Eve. Stop. I fucked up last night. It was a mistake, and we aren’t repeating it.” Every syllable felt sharp, and my aim was deadly as I watched her face fall from grace.

I ripped my eyes from her trembling lip because if I looked any longer, I couldn’t be like this to her anymore.

Paying no mind to her nudity, she walked over to me, forcing me to look at her. “What do you mean mistake? You can’t just take back a whole night because you don’t feel like being nice to me today.”

I forced a sick kind of laugh that mocked her juvenile feelings putting me in the same category as nice. It felt as bad as it tasted in my mouth when I pushed off the door and leaned into her personal space. “Mistake, as in it won’t happen again because I regret it. And for the record? I’m never nice.”

Making a quick getaway, I exhaled deeply in the hallway like I was safe from her, this argument, her trembling fucking lip and my sick way of mocking it.

I barely made it down the hall before her full-frontal nudity followed me, in nothing but feelings.

Turning around, I pinned her against the wall, looking around to make sure the hallway was empty. It was for now, but we had unwelcome guests who were as unpredictable as Eve. “What do you think you’re doing? We have guests,” I barked the words against her sensitive skin.

She said nothing as I watched her hand come up between us and land across my cheek in a well-deserved slap.

“No refunds, asshole.”

Her words might as well have been a dagger to the heart on top of the perfect sting of her slap. My head was still turned to one side, absorbing what felt like her hand still against my skin while contemplating if I could break her before breakfast.

She’s almost there. I wanted this to be as painless as possible yet here we are bleeding and handing each other band aids.

I didn’t twist my face to the voice I knew as Khaos. “Did you guys forget we’re here? Hurts a little.”

Ignoring him completely, I spoke in a low voice once my eyes found hers swelling in unshed tears. “Maybe you’ll finally learn. You’ll never survive being an Astor as the weak princess waiting to be saved. I’m not saving anyone, princess.”

My hands closed into fists, pushing against the wall, calculating how much more I could push her. Pulling away from her, I jogged downstairs and disappeared into the library I kept under lock and key.

I needed to leave her without me as a comfort.

I needed her to fucking break because I wasn’t marrying a princess, I’m marrying Eve.

Monitoring my consumption of Henny, I knew I needed to be sober, otherwise I would fall into the same trap I did yesterday of being normal. Usually no one is around when I’m drunk, and now I know I’m basically a party trick.

An hour later, I came out of my secret room and hid the key back where I kept it. Hearing chatter in the kitchen, I headed that way when Vic came in from the other direction.

Khaos barely got the words out without laughing. “Hey, Daddy. I’m sorry to report that I can’t give you MVP of the night.” Moving towards me, he slapped my ass without warning. “This guy. Nice job, buddy, we all heard that last night. A little pregame for the wedding.”

Ignoring him completely, I looked at Eve’s cheeks flared up in pink.

The girls and the guys had gone their separate ways to get ready when my cell phone buzzed against the table. I sat in a leather chair, trying to pace how much Henny I consumed, but it was making me more anxious. I’d rather drown out the feelings and pretend sobriety is fictional.

“You good?” Grimm rarely spoke, but when he did it was normally to take inventory of everyone being alive—sometimes the dead too if he was having a bad day.

I ignored him, pushing the phone up to my face while watching the doorbell monitor to see my mom standing there with her middle finger pushed up to the camera. She was holding garment bags and a coffee in her well-manicured hands.

Pushing up, the guys’ attention all landed on me, and without a word I went to open the door for my mother in hopes that I could convince her to go around the house because I had enough trespassers in my space already.

“Mother.” My voice was flat and unamused.

“I really hope you didn’t