Page 91 of Downfall

She lets out a ragged exhale, her eyes darting to all the people watching. I’m playing her and she knows it. It’s mean. Cruel even. But I won’t deny I enjoy the moment of using her perfectly poised persona against her.

She stiffens more as I lead her towards the dancefloor. There’re enough people already on it for us not to stand out and yet it feels like we’re the centrepiece. The focal.

I take her hand, wrap my arm around her waist, feeling the delicious warmth of her body and she takes the moment to glare at me.

I let out a low laugh which if anything clearly infuriates her more.

“This is all some joke to you, isn’t it?” She snaps.

“No.” I reply as we begin to move. As the music allows me to direct her body as I wish. As I feel the way her beautiful curves seem to meld against me.

“You forced yourself on me.” She says, glancing about as if she thinks everyone can hear.

“You enjoyed it Rose so don’t try to deny it. Your body may have been tied down but you still rode my mouth like you wanted it.”

She shudders shaking her head. “I didn’t want it. I didn’t want any of it.”

“And yet you still screamed out in pleasure as I made you come.”

She drops her gaze, her cheeks heating enough to tell me the effect my words are having on her. “Could you at least pretend to be a decent human being for once?”

“Is that what you want Rose?” I reply glancing around, making eye contact with her father of all people, who’s practically purple in the face and I’ll admit part of this is to make a point to him. To show him how little his words truly mean. “You want me to pretend the way you do? To put on a pretty façade and smile sweetly for the cameras like all these people wouldn’t stab you in the back if it was worth their while?”

She shakes her head. “You’re disgusting you know that?”

“At least I’m not living in a deluded fantasy world.”

She scoffs. “I’d rather be deluded than live like you do.”

“Is that so?” I murmur, pulling her body just a tiny fraction closer to mine, lifting her face so that she’s forced to look at me. The dance is long gone. Both of us are stood immobile in the centre of the room too focused on each other now to care what anyone thinks. “I think you’re lying Rose. I think you’re telling yourself that because it’s easier than facing up to what you did.”

She blinks, her face visibly paling. “I’ve done nothing wrong.”

“No?” I murmur. “So you didn’t set your sights on me just because of who I was? Because your dear daddy was eager to strike another blow at the Montagues? Tell me Rose, did he order you to fuck me or was that just you using your initiative?”

She pulls away. Her perfect mask slipping entirely from her face. She looks like she might just start crying here, in front of us all.

And yeah I’ll admit that has an effect on me.

Something deep in my chest reacts to that and for an instant I contemplate pulling her back, pulling her into my arms, and never letting her go.

“The Roman I knew was never this cruel.” She murmurs so I only just hear the words and then she walks away, leaving me staring at her retreating body.

Rose

“…Tell me Rose, did he order you to fuck me or was that just you using your initiative?”

The words ring in my head as I walk away. I can feel the stares. The shock of everyone around me. I know none of them heard. The music was too loud. The chatter too distorted.

No doubt it was how we were, how our bodies reacted to one another, that’s what they’re reacting to.

But that doesn’t stop the twist of the knife inside me. Because that’s what he thinks, what he believes. No wonder he acted the way he did. At least this explains it. He saw me as a whore. He believed I was one, that I was simply following orders.

And yet the reality was he was the one that turned me into one.

He was the one who ruined me, not the other way around.

It’s hard not to laugh. Not to cry too. The swirling bitterness of my emotions feels like a tempest I can’t get control of.

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