Page 88 of Tall, Royal Hater
I gave my head a little shake as I entered the bathroom. Pushing all what-nows to the back of my mind to consider later, I switched the light on.
My priority was cleaning Mariyah up and making sure she was okay. Our animosity didn’t matter, she deserved the proper care after I’d fucked her hard and long. I’d even hold her if that was what she wanted, though I had my doubts; she’d probably prefer it if I served her grapes on my knees while she relaxed in a hot bath.
I opened the long, single-doored cupboard by the white sink in the bright, gold and white, regal ensuite. I took out a bottle of lotion plus two smaller white towels. When I moved across to the sink to wet one towel, I caught a glimpse of myself in the square mirror and did a double take.
Fucking Neves.I looked like a sex maniac.
My hair wasn’t so dishevelled as it was damp with sweat around my face and the back of my neck. My ears and cheeks were flushed a bright pink. I had never in my life seen my pupils so blown, making me look possessed, and there were faint pink scratches all over my shoulders.
I set everything down and opted to wash my face with cold water first. Then I wiped myself quickly, including my nether regions, dumped the towel in the wash basket, and dampened the other one. I heard a string of three different clicking noises and frowned.What was that?Unsure, I grabbed the two things and headed back through the ajar door.
My feet stopped abruptly.
What the fuck?Mariyah was gone.
All that was left were the torn remnants of her T-shirt.
Fucking Neves, had she run out naked?
Confused, concerned, and exasperated, I dropped everything in my hand on the chaise and headed into the dressing roomto grab some bottoms and make myself decent enough to step outside.
The light was already on in the corridor as I exited my room. Three long strides had me standing in front of Mariyah’s bedroom. I tested the door handle, and the door clacked against the frame.Locked,for fuck’s sake.But she was definitely inside.
Gritting my teeth, I banged my fist on the door. “Mariyah. Mariyah! Open the door now.”
Silence. I raised my hand to knock again, but—
“Why?” she called from inside.
I glared at the wood. “What do you mean ‘why’? Open the door.”
“Why?”
So I can wring your fucking neck.“Because I need to make sure you’re okay.”
“I’m perfectly fine, so piss off.”
“Are you being serious? Open up now,” I rumbled, banging on the door. “I was—” Remembering where I was standing, I cut myself off and lowered my voice. “I was rough with you, Mariyah. You need to let me check you’re not hurt. And we need to talk.”
“Oh, fuck off.” I could practically hear her rolling her eyes. “You’re not the first guy who’s been rough with me, so stop acting like I need you to piece me back together; I’m not bloody breakable.” I didn’t like that she’d brought up past men. In fact, I hated it. “I’m going to shower and sleep. Go do the same and stop bloody banging on my door.”
I was going to kill her. I was actually going to throttle her mouthy fucking arse.
Livid to an unmeasurable degree, I moved closer to the door and hissed, “I don’t know what made you think it was okay to get up and leave when I told you to stay put, but if you’rerunning from me like a fucking coward, don’t make the mistake of thinking I will let you.
“You can have your space tonight, but we’re going to talk about this, Mariyah. One way or another.”
Chapter 21
Mariyah
Coward?Coward?I wasn’t a bloody coward!
I’d left his room to save us both from the awkward “so…what now”and “can you leave my room now that I’ve finished railing you senseless”conversation.
How the fuck was I supposed to know that he actually wanted to have that talk enough to chase me to my room, raging like a madman?
And him acting all “let me check you’re okay” had been stupid. I wasn’t fucking breakable.
