Arrogant Master (Arrogant #2)(36)

I couldn't have asked for a better hybrid employee.

"Nashville?" she glances at her calendar. "Oh, the conference. It's next weekend."

"Yes."

Her jaw slacks. "Oh. Um. I'll have to figure out a way to tell my parents, but yeah. Okay. I'll go."

"Like you had a choice."

She smiles, dipping her chin but keeping her focus on me. She's looking at me like that again. There may not be love between us, but she's smitten. I know that much.

All I have to do is keep her at a distance. That should prevent this perfect arrangement from becoming null and void, ruined and soiled. With equal parts sex and love-free commitment and dedication, we should be able to keep this going for as long as we both would like.



       
         
       
        

"I've never flown before," she says.

"I'll ensure the private jet is stocked with champagne."

She tilts her head, smiling.

"This Friday, Bellamy, I'm taking you out on the town." A spark ignites in her eyes though I pretend not to notice. "I'll have a dress sent sometime this week, and I'll have Marlene book your appointments at Bellisima Spa."

"Thank you." Her fingers trace her lips, camouflaging a smile. "Looking forward to it."

It might be dangerous to take her out on a date at this point when we're dancing along the razor's edge. But she deserves it. She's a good sub who doesn't complain, doesn't ask for anything, and rarely steps out of line.

Rewarding her good behavior is just as important as reprimanding her when she misbehaves.

"Dane?" she calls after me as I step away.

"Yes?"

"Do you want to get lunch today? I always eat alone, and it'd be fun to get out of the office for a change."

This is going to hurt me just as much as it's going to hurt her, but it's just the way it has to be.

"It's not a good idea, Bellamy."

I leave before I have a chance to watch her face fall.





THIRTY





BELLAMY



"We're having company over for dinner tonight," Mom announces Friday morning during breakfast prep. "Please wear your Sunday best."

"Can't make it tonight," I say dryly. "Work thing."

I've been drooling over the intricately beaded peach and gold dress Dane had sent earlier in the week, and my check-in time at Bellisima is at ten o'clock this morning. I've waited all week for this.

"You didn't mention that before, and it's not on the family calendar. You'll have to reschedule it." There's a finality in my mother's words that send a thick dread to the pit of my stomach. "Our guest is coming from out of town. Your attendance is mandatory, and Waverly, why on earth do you look so tired this morning? You feeling okay?"

My sister wears dark circles beneath her clear blue eyes. This house creaks and moans, and I've woken up several times in the dead of night to the sound of doors shutting and footsteps trekking down the hall.

At first I refused to believe it.

My sister, the golden child, sneaking off in the middle of the night to spend time alone with our stepbrother?

It didn't make sense, and it was so unlike her and obscenely far-fetched that I laughed it off.

And then it happened again. 

And again.

And then I heard my father talking to our mom in his study one night. I only caught bits and pieces of the conversation, but it went something along the lines of he was worried about Waverly's virtue, and he wasn't comfortable sending her off to college in the fall. He even intercepted her acceptance letter to Utah.

Waverly doesn't know yet, and I don't have the heart to tell her. I'm still figuring everything out, piecing what I know together, and waiting for the right time to get out of here.

I'm taking her with me. She won't have a life if I don't.

"Are you going to tell us who's coming?" Waverly asks, massaging her temples.

"Your father will talk to you about it this evening," Mom says.

***

My stomach sinks as I knock on Dane's door.

"Come in," he calls through the thick wood.

I step in, taking small, hesitant steps in his direction.

"What's with you?" he asks.

"We're going to have to postpone our night out." I soften my gaze, hoping he'll show mercy toward me.

His jaw sets, his eyes narrowing. "And why would that be?"

"I have a mandatory family dinner tonight." My head hangs, and my eyes wince as I await his response. I've been doing so well lately with not disappointing him.

"You're almost twenty-fucking-three for Christ's sake." He rises, hunching over his desk with clenched fists. "When is it going to end? When are you going to get the hell out of there? Let me help you, Bellamy. I'll put you up in an apartment downtown. You'll be free once and for all. What are you waiting for?"

He remembers my birthday is next month?

"My sister."

I don't talk about Waverly much with him. For one, I know he doesn't care and for another, he doesn't like getting-to-know-you chats.

"I'd been waiting for her to graduate from high school, and she did a few weeks ago. Just waiting for the right time."

"You're scared."

"I am not scared."

"You're terrified. Your parents have brainwashed you into thinking you'll never survive in the outside world," he sneers. "That's exactly what they do. That's how they control you. They paralyze you with fear."

"If I were so terrified of the outside world, would I have agreed to all this? Would I have handed my virginity to some strange man in exchange for a salary and a few pretty things? Would I move Heaven and Earth to ensure my family believes wholeheartedly that I sit in a cubicle all day? Does that sound like a girl who's afraid to take a giant leap of faith into the unknown?"

"Then jump, Bellamy, before I'm forced to push you." He straightens his posture and lifts his brows. "Because one way or another, I'm getting you out of that situation."

So he does care about me … in his own way.

"I appreciate your concern." My palm faces toward him. "Believe me when I tell you it's going to happen. My sweet sister is a bit naïve, and she still eats from the palm of my father's hand. Convincing her to come with me is going to take a bit of work on my end."

"Then I suggest you get busy. You never know when the day will come when your entire life is turned completely upside down," he says. "And I'd hate for your sister to be blindsided by something horrid all because you were waiting for the right time to show her the light."

He has a valid point.

"I'll talk to her tonight. I'll plant the seed. I'll feel her out," I say. "We have to dress up for this dinner, so I'll bring it up when we're getting ready."



       
         
       
        

"You have to dress up for a family dinner? Is that a normal occurrence in your household?"

I stare off to the side. "No. We're having company. A guest from out of town."

"Fuck, Bellamy. You know exactly what's going on." He pushes a weighted breath through his flared nostrils. "Two young women? Single? A visitor from out of town? Your family is putting you both on the auction block."

My stomach churns and tiny beads of sweat line my forehead.

"Back on the compound," he says with a choke in his voice. "That's what would happen right before one of my sisters would get married off. A man would come to dinner. Then a week later, she was gone. Married off."

***

"You know what's going on, don't you?" I ask Waverly as we face the bathroom mirror. I slick on a couple coats of mascara, leaning forward and examining my eyelids for smudges.

Waverly irons a large curl into a strand of her sandy hair and rakes her fingers through it to loosen it up.

"No, I don't. Care to enlighten me?"

I have to test her. "No. I'm asking. You know what's going on?"

"Of course not," she huffs.

"Something's up." I click open a blush compact, my hands trembling as I reach for the brush.

"Obviously," Waverly says.

"Last minute dinner guest …  Us being told to look good … "

"Maybe it's someone from the AUB? Dad's always trying to get on their good side. They don't like that he left the old community and moved us all here."

It's true. He's been desperate to redeem himself ever since we relocated.

"Could be a friend from work," Waverly continues, ironing another section. "Maybe he's just being sociable. I heard there were secret poly families all over Whispering Hills."

I can't stand her naivety a moment longer. The girl was born with sunbeams shooting out of her backside, but real life's about to smack her upside the head.

"Stop being so naïve, Waverly. He's trying to marry us off." I squeeze my compact until I feel the satisfying click in my hand and place it on the counter.

"You don't know that."

"It's the only logical explanation."

"Dad wouldn't do that. I'm going to Utah in the fall." She turns to me, combing her fingers through her curls one more time. "You're twenty-two. You're done with school. Aren't you just waiting to be – "