“You’re right, I’m sorry. I wasn’t trying to seem ungrateful. You know I appreciate you.”
His shoulders relax, but his eyes still glean with anger. My heart plummets and a sick feeling begins to swirl in my stomach.
I’m ruining this entire night. It seems since the moment I got in the car, I keep saying the wrong thing.
The waiter delivers our meals while Ryan and I attempt small talk. It smells absolutely divine, the different spices wafting from our dishes and intimately mingling in my nose. Ryan ordered a caramelized beef fillet with foie gras, parsley purée and madeira sauce, complimented by black pudding and baby beets. And I ordered crab-stuffed filet mignon with whiskey peppercorn sauce, grilled asparagus and a side of spinach strawberry salad. The meat is tender and falls apart in my mouth. I moan around my first bite, my eyes rolling to the back of my head.
Ryan’s freezes, his fork paused midair as his eyes bore into me, flaring with ire. His face reddens, but he doesn’t say anything, instead slowly bringing the fork the rest of the way to
his mouth and taking a bite of his food. He chews slowly, the flames in his eyes growing stronger.
“I’m sorry,” I apologize quietly, embarrassed by my reaction. “I’ve never had food like this before.” A quick glance around confirms that no one seemed to notice. The people I can see are too consumed in their own conversations.
He smiles, though it seems tight and doesn’t quite reach his eyes. “Get used to it, baby. This is your life.”
Well, that sounded fucking ominous.
“YOU KNOW THAT I love you, right?” Ryan asks, his eyes trapping mine in an intense dance of willpower. He’s asserting his dominance, and I don’t want to let him have it.
I close my eyes tightly, desperate to block out the scene before me. I nod my head, though it’s stilted. Ryan’s hand is gripping my jaw too tightly, minimalizing my movements.
“Do you know that I’m the only one who does, River? I’m all you have. No one else will ever love you like I do. And you make me do these things, and I hate it,” he whispers. His hand tightens, and my jaw screams. I squeal, rising on my toes to abate the pain. He follows my movements. My cheeks are beginning to pinch in my teeth. Copper blooms in my mouth and I don’t have enough movement to swallow it.
He drops my jaw long enough to wrap his hands around my arms and shake me roughly.
“Why do you make me do this to you?” he shouts, tightening his hands around my arms.
“What did I do?” I cry, tears burning my eyes.
“You dress like a whore, moan in the restaurant like a whore. Do you want men to take you from me? How am I supposed to protect you if you invite men to fuck you?”
A tear slips out of my eye.
“I’m sor—” My apology is cut off from another brutal shake. He grits his teeth, bringing his demonic face close to mine.
“Sorry doesn’t keep men from wanting to fuck you!” he roars. I crumple in on myself. The only thing keeping me upright is Ryan’s unforgiving hands around my arms.
It hurts. It hurts so bad.
“Did you not see all those men staring at you? I bet you liked it, huh?”
I shake my head desperately.
“You did,” he accuses roughly. “Look at yourself—look at yourself now!”
My head drops as I look down at my form-fitting dress. It stops a few inches above my knees. My ample cleavage is peeking through the slouched neckline, and back of the dress plunges low, baring my skin completely save for a few strings crisscrossing my back.
He’s right, it is a sexy dress. And I did catch a few men’s interested eyes.
Tears blur my vision, distorting Ryan’s angry face. It only accomplishes in making him more terrifying. He growls and pushes me away with all his strength. I fall backwards and land awkwardly on my hip. My head smacks against the floor, causing stars to explode in my vision.
I lie there for a minute as he storms off, completely shocked by Ryan’s visceral reaction. He’s never laid his hands on me like that before. Sure, I fell that one time after I met his parents, but he didn’t aggressively throw me the way he just did. I breathe heavily, afraid to move and in shock by how quickly this date went downhill. After the conversation about the charity event, I thought we were having such a good time. He smiled at me and joked with me, complimented me a few more times with that ugly word—beautiful. I beamed at him like the word doesn’t make me feel like millions of ants are crawling under my skin and made sure to tell him how thankful I was for him taking me to such a gorgeous restaurant.
Then, we got in the car and he forced his cock into my throat again until I couldn’t breathe. I moaned and acted like I was enjoying, even though I wasn’t. Sometimes I think that’s the only thing that gets him off anymore.
Tears continue to flood my eyes until it feels like I’m drowning in them. I sob quietly and lift myself off the floor, feeling pretty fucking pathetic. I don’t know where Ryan disappeared off to in this large house, but I can only pray he’s not in our room.
My hip smarts when I pull myself off the ground. Limping the entire way, I drag myself up the stairs and down the long hallway. Pictures on the walls scrutinize my walk of shame, his parents taunting me with their smiling faces and stupid fucking façade of a perfect family.