Page 73 of Sweet Surrender
Gone was the vile lime green couch, and in its place was Nash’soriginal huge leather couch. The hot pink hand chair had vanished, replaced with the soft cream recliner that Nash seemed to favor. Even the queen goose picture had gone, replaced with the picture of a Mediterranean city at sunset that had been hanging there before I took it down.
My jaw dropped open as I scanned the room. How the hell did Nashget his furniture back? Come to think of it, how did he know where I’d stashed it in the first place?
Suddenly, a set of arms wrapped around my waist, and Nash’sdelicious scent smothered me, his hot breath whispering against my ear.
“Next time you want to play games with me, sweetheart, you mightwant to think twice. I willalwaysbe one step ahead.”
A surge of anger seared through me as realization dawned.
He’d played me.
He’d wined and dined me, opened up to me, and treated me like aqueen. Showed me what life could be like, and got me to willingly open my legs for him, when the whole time he wanted me out of the house so he could get his damn furniture back.
I shrugged out of his arms and spun to face him, finding him with atriumphant grin spread over his mouth.
“How?” I spluttered. “How did you know where your furniture was?”
“Because there isn’t a single thing you can do that I won’t knowabout,” he replied, lowering his face so it was only an inch away from mine.
He chuckled at my lack of response, and like the patronizing assholehe was, he flicked underneath my chin before turning away and giving me his back.
“Have a good day, sweetheart,” he said, heading toward the frontdoor, only to pause and look back at me over his shoulder. “Oh, and just so you know, I’ve had your credit card blocked, and from now on Brian will be the only one driving you anywhere.”
With that, he walked out the door leaving me to stare after him,quietly seething.
Well played, Nash.
Well played.
For the next few days, Nash and I lived like strangers. When he camehome from work, usually well after night had fallen, we barely spoke. If I asked him a question, he’d answer with as few words as possible.
He refused to eat anything I made. Instead, he’d bring home a takeout or claim he’d eaten at work. At night, we still slept in the same bed, but he wouldn’t touch me or give me a kiss goodnight.
I hated every second of it.
Yeah, it was what I wanted, but after that amazing night with him, Iwasn’t so sure it was. Even if that amazing night had been orchestrated to get me out of the house so he could get one up on me. It didn’t change how I felt about him, and the longer he gave me the cold shoulder, the more I had no choice but to accept the truth.
I missed him.
Even his controlling ways, and every part of me wanted to get downon my knees and tell him he could take what he wanted from me, that I was surrendering to him, just so I could bathe in his affection again.
Did that make me a fool for giving in to him so easily,especiallyaftereverything he had done to get me to this point? Probably. But there wasn’t a single part of me that cared. I wanted Nash, just the way he was.
I spent the first day trying to occupy myself around the house, butwith no one to talk to, and nothing to do, I was bored. It wasn’t as if I could go shopping, not without a cent to my name, and the only person to talk to aside from Nash was Brian, and I still hadn’t forgiven him fordrugging me.
After Nash left for work, I grabbed my phone, intent on doing someresearch on Nash to see what else I could find out about him, but as I typed in his name, a thought popped into my head, and I quickly closed the internet down.
He must have found where I’d moved his furniture to through myphone. What was the betting he had access to my call records? And if he did, then he’d no doubt be able to see what I’d been googling.
I hadn’t picked up the phone since.
Without the internet to keep me busy, I wandered aimlessly aroundthe house until I found an old copy ofWar and Peacein one of the spare rooms. It was the only book I could find in the entirety of the house, and with nothing else to do, I thought I’d give it a go to pass some time.
By the time I was halfway through, I was invested, and at some pointit, occurred to me that I couldn’t remember the last time I sat and read.
Growing up, I loved to read. I’d always choose a book over watchingTV or going out with friends. It used to drive Liam mad, and there were more times than I cared to remember when he’d snatch the book from my hands or hide it, before begging me to give him some attention.
After my mom got ill, I didn’t have the time to relax and enjoy reading,and then after she passed away, I was too focused on college and starting a career in the fashion industry, that again, I didn’t have time to pick up a book.
