The Marriage Contract by Marlee Kimbrell (the snowy day read aloud txt) 📕

behind it. The walls were painted a Charcoal gray with delecate tree like, floral patterns on it. The bed was white with black and gray bedding. The curtains were white as well as the majority of the furniture. I knew it was mine when I saw my tan stuffed dog, Clover, that I always slept with sitting front and center on the bed.

 

I opened the closet and, true to what Ryland said, my stuff was delivered and put away, along with a shit load of other clothes that still had the tages on them. I walked inside the closet and opened one of the drawers built into the shelf and was mortified to find pieces of skimpy lingerie in blacks, blues, and reds.

 

I dropped the piece of "clothing" and walked out of the closet. To the right of the closet, was a door that led into a bathroom. As soon as I saw the jecuzzi tub, I was in love. The entire room was made of tile that resembled stone. There was a open shower that had four different settings and was just perfect.

 

"It couldn't hurt to try it out.." I whispered to myself. I mean, I do live here now. Might as well get comfortable.

 

I turned on the faucet in the bathtub and withing minutes, it was filled and warm to perfection. I stripped off my clothes and slowly, stepped into the water. I sighed in content as my eyes rolled back.

 

"Oh, a girl could get used to this," I said to myself as I leaned back in the tub. I sat there with my eyes closed until the water turned cold. I pulled the plug and let the water drain out, then wrapped a towel around my body.

 

I walked back out into the bedroom and over to the closet. Cringing, I went to the drawer that held all of the lingerie. I dug around past all of the...skimpierpieces until I found a pair of modest, blue bikini panties. I sighed in relief, then put on a matching tshirt bra, but when I went to look for one of my sacred oversized t-shirts, none of them were there.

 

I was seeing red, but I took a deep breath and walked out of the closet. "I guess I will be stealing his then," I said in an evil voice. It washitsfaultthattheygotthrownawaysoheshallbesacrificingoneofhis.

 

I walked across the hall into his room and quickly made my way to the other side of the room to his closet, strangely paranoid that he was going to walk in and swallow me whole for being in his room, even though I knew he wouldn't be home for s few more hours - atleastthatshowlongittookdad. It didn't take me long to figure out that there were no t-shirts in his closet. It was almost completelyfilled with suits.

 

I rolled my eyes and went on to look in his drawers. The first was filled with socks and underwear. I smirked to myself as I took a pair of the socks and slipped them on. Surprisingly, they almost came up to my knees! Continuing on in my search I finally found a white, Hanes tshirt. I pulled it on and made my way into the living room to, hopefully, find something interesting to do. That's when I remembered the beautiful baby grand in the corner.

 

I walked over to it, slowly running my fingers over the glossy surface. I sat down at its bench and started running my fingers over the keys. I was just making simple little tunes, st first but it eventually blossomed into Blank Space, by Taylor Swift.

 

"Nice to meet you, where you been? I could show you incredible things. Magic, Madness, Heaven, sin. Saw you there and I thought, 'Oh, My God, look at that face!' You look like my next mistake. Love's a game, wanna play..."

 

I sang the song happily until I was interrupted when the front door slammed. "What the hell are you doing," Ryland snapped, loosening his tie.

 

I looked at him like he was stupid - whichhewas! "I'm playing the baby grand."

 

"I can see that. I meant, why the hell are you singing such trash?"

 

My blood started to boil, "Are you fucking stupid? Taylor Swift has one of the most real voices in pop culture to date!"

 

He rolled his eyes. "Well, at least I know what you do for fun, sit around and dung shitty music," he said, starting towards the hall.

 

I almost growled and stood up, following after him, "At least its better than nothing! I bet you watch paint dry for fun!"

 

He spun around, "Well, at least - is that mine," he said, cutting himself off, lookingbover my body.

 

I paused, crossing my arms over my chest. "Not anymore."

 

His eyes darkened and he turned away from me, walking down the hall. A few seconds later, his door slammed. Not long after, his shower cut on. I smirked to myself and went to my own room, content that I had just won this battle.

4. Chop It Off.

"Five more minutes, dad, I promise," I groaned, rolling over and pulling the blankets over my head.

 

"I'm not your dad, now get up," Ryland's annoyingly sexy voice said, waking me up a bit more, just before my blankets were jerked away, leaving my bare legs and arms exposed to the cold. "And aren't you meant to be 21? Who still has their dad waking them?"

 

"Jesus, Ryland! I could have been fucking naked," I yelled jerking the cover back over my now freezing legs.

 

He shrugged, "I don't care. Put on something presentable. We have an appointment at one thirty," he said simply, walking out of my room, shutting the door behind him. I glared at the closed door for a few minutes after he left, but rolled my eyes and got out of bed anyway. 

 

I ran my fingers through my hair as I made my way to the bathroom. It was just past 11:30 so I had enough time for a shower. 

 

When I was finished, I wrapped a towel around myself and went into the closet. I looked around for a minute before I came across a royal blue, denim high wasted skirt. I took it off the hanger and looked at it, then I had an idea. 

 

After a reasonably long search, I found a thin dark beige, boat neck tshirt that tied at the collar. I pulled it on and tucked it into the skirt. I grabbed a brown leather belt and put it on my waist. I left my hair down and looked in the mirror. Smiling to myself, I slipped on a pair of thin soled vans and a long chained pocket watch necklace that Hayley had given me on my twentieth birthday. 

 

Grabbing my phone and my bag, I walked out of my bedroom to find Ryland on the phone in the living room. When I walked into the room he turned around and paused in his conversation. His eyes rolled over me and I had to fight the smirk threatening to take over my face.

 

"I'll call you back," he said and hung up the phone, placing it in his pocket. He looked down at he watch, then back up at me, "Come on, or we'll be late," he said, looking over me again, lingering on my legs.

 

I smirked as he adjusted his tie and turned towards the door. I followed him, uneasily into the elevator as he took his sweet time about pressing the button. Before he could get to it, I jumped in front of him and slammed my fist onto the button for the ground floor. 

 

He looked at me like I had no functioning brain cells as I pressed up against the wall, anxiety rolling off of me in waves. "Are you scared of the elevator," he asked looking at me.

 

"Hell yes, I'm scared of the damned elevator! Its a fucking trap waiting to drop me to my death," I answered.

 

"Rory, this elevator was inspected a month ago. I watched the men do it. There is nothing wrong with it," he said. 

 

I mad a face, "I don't care who the guck you watched! He could've been drunk for all you know! And font call that," I snapped, crossing my arms.

 

He smirked, "And why not?"

 

"Only my friends call me Rory," I said. The elevator doors dinged ond I walked out of the elevator like the boss ass bitch I am.

 

As we walked out the doors, Ryland walled ahead of me to a black Maserati, parked just in front of the building.

 

"Huh," I said as I got into the passenger seat.

 

"What? Surprised that I have a good taste in cars," he asked sarcastically, almost bitter.

 

"No," I answered truthfully. "That you can drive, period," I said and closed the door behind me. He scowled but started the car and took off down the street.

 

Within a few minutes, Ryland parked the car outside of Belle Vie. "Uhm, excuse me, why are we here," I asked as we got out of the car.

 

"Because we are buying your wedding dress," he said casually, walking towards the door. "Like I said earlier, my mother and sister are already inside, and I had my assistant make a few calls, so I'm pretty sure your friend Hayley is here too." I stared at him, shocked. Did he actually consider my feelings?

 

"Well, why are you here then? Isn't the husband supposed to wait until the wedding to see the bride in her dress," I asked jokingly, trying to be at least a bit friendly.

 

He shrugged, "I'm paying for it. And I can't have you looking ridiculous," he said seriously.

 

I narrowed my eyes at him, and grudgingly followed him inside. He walked up to a counter where a woman with blonde hair stood, "Yes, how may I help you," she said with a flirtatious smile, leaning over to give Ryland a good view of her breasts.

 

I narrowed my eyes at her, but she ignored me. And don't take that the wrong way, o still can't stand Ryland, but its obvious he is here for some type of wedding dress shopping and I'm standing right there! 

 

"Yes," he said looking at his phone, ignoring her. I smirked, "We have an appointment under Steel."

 

When he said we her eyes snapped over to me. She skimmed over me and her eyes hardened, envious. "Right this way. Your party is already waiting."

 

She stepped out from behind the counter and let us down a few halls to a showing room. Inside an older lady - who I was assuming was Rylands mother - a girl that looked slightly older than Ryland with the same tone of hair and Hayley sat, awkwardly. When we entered, they all turned back and smiles graced their faces. 

 

"Ah, you must be Aurora! Ryland, sweetheart, you weren't mistaken about how beautiful she is," she said, pulling me in to a hug. "My name is Lanah Steel," I glanced over at Ryland with a raised brow and - I'll be damned he's blushing! It was light, but I was there. "And this is my oldest, Roxanne," she said, releasing me.

 

"You can call me Roxy," Ryland's sister said as she, as well, brought me into a hug. "It's nice to meet you, Aurora."

 

"Call me Rory," I said with a smile to both women.

 

"I thought only friends