Page 6 of Viparious

He’s getting what he wants. I’ve shut up, but nothing is ever good enough for the mighty Vartanov.

“Inessa.”

Still no reaction. He has two things to apologize to me for before I’ll look at him.

My back slides up the wall as he lifts me. My hair does the same, getting caught in the condensation, but I keep my eyes straight and let my arms limply fall to my sides.

“You’re a fucking brat.”

I don’t even understand why he’s complaining. He never stops telling me to shut up. If our marriage had a word tree, it would be filled with ‘shut up’, ‘close your mouth’, ‘be quiet’, ‘stop talking’ and every other variation to exist.

I’m content staring at the glass as I make a game to occupy myself. There are two beads of water close to each other, and they fall in a zig-zag motion, so I intently watch them, waiting to see if they’ll absorb the other. The hands on the back of my thighs abruptly leave, and I slip down the wall as Vlad takes half a step back. My hands whip out, grabbing onto his shoulders, but he wraps his hand around my biceps, steadying me with a dumb fucking smirk on his face.

“Stop being a brat, and I won’t have to scare you.”

“You do not scare me,” I fire back.

I’m glaring at him as I break my own game. He just smiles and guides us under the spray as he changes the setting to increase the pressure. It’s more forceful, like being caught in the rain, and he smooths his hands over my hips to hold my ass. Our hips are stuck together. His dick is going to leave an imprint in my stomach, but he’s relaxed.

“Caring for anyone is a burden, a weakness that will live outside of my body. Would you be able to say it’s different?”

I move away from his face, which is slowly inching closer to cut off any reply.

“Yes.” My voice comes out harsh with conviction. “Because I’m not you, and I don’t separate my life based on strengths and weaknesses. Emotions aren’t a weakness, and being a heartless prick isn’t strength.”

His eyes darken in contrast to the soft smile on his face as he cups my jaw and stares at my lips.

“Do you think I’m heartless, meelaya?”

No.

That’s my first thought. No, he isn’t heartless because he cares about his family in his own twisted way. By the standards of the general population, the less psychotic people in existence, he’s worse because he has the capacity to care and refuses to.

He softly brushes along the delicate bone of my jaw and accepts my non-answer with a threat.

“I hope you never do anything for me to show you what heartless really is.”

Grabbing his wrist, I pull on it and lean up on my toes to speak against his face.

“I hope you never do anything for me to show you exactly what I’m capable of.”

He pauses, the anger entering back into his bloodstream as he grips my face tighter and looks across each of my eyes. He controls himself, taking three breaths, and closes his eyes on the third. When they open again, he’s managed to push it away and says two words that make me dizzy.

“You’re mine.”

I’m lifted off my feet from the force of his lips slamming into mine. He doesn’t let me feel any strain and wraps his arm around my middle before straightening to his full height and taking me with him. My fingers are pruning, but I don’t care because he’s finally showing emotion that isn’t rooted in death, but life. I return it and stroke my fingers through his hair. I don’t move until I notice his shoulder beginning to droop and I push my weight down.

Authority fills me as I order him to move.

“Don’t touch me and turn around so I can get your back.”

He ignores me and shakes his head to pick up his body wash. Vlad complains I’m stubborn when he’s injured and acting like this is all normal. The only tell that he can feel it comes when he washes himself. His hands are slower, but there’s no grimace. He’s an idiot, a stupid fucking idiot, who’s going to injure himself more because he’s too fucking proud to admit that he’s human and feels things like pain.

Stepping around him, I grab the chair and position it at his back. He doesn’t stop me until I stand on it. His rough voice bounces off the tile.

“You’re going to hurt yourself.”

He hasn’t been back from the dead for a full day and he’s already pissing me off.

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