The Guardian(4)

This was no time to dwell on that now though. He dragged me back into the room, collecting my sparse belongings. Thankfully I hadn't brought much. My futile attempts to get him to release me went unnoticed as he threw my bag over his shoulder and without a word pulled me from the room.

We were out of the room and the hotel in less than ten minutes; I didn't even look back.

He had us driven directly to the airstrip where he kept his plane.

"Where are we going?"

"If you knew what was good for you, you wouldn't talk to me right now Isabella. Of all the stunts you've pulled to get my attention, this has gone too fucking far."

So he knows I was just trying to get his attention, how embarrassing.

I felt my cheeks heat up and my temper sparked.

"You don't have to worry about that anymore, since I'm such a chore, Paulo’s will be the only attention I want from now on."

"Make that the last time you throw that little fucker up to me."

Wow, he was really steamed, but what now? Would we go back to the same old same old? I couldn't live like that anymore, wanting him all the time and knowing I can never have him.

"Where's your precious Sonja?" Just saying her name hurt my heart.

"Sonja doesn't have anything to do with us, fasten your seatbelt."

The engine of the jet purred to life, and I still didn't know where we were going.

"I have to call Paulo and let him know I'm not coming."

"That's the least of his worries, and I'll thank you never to mention his name in my presence again."

"What do you mean the least of his worries?"

"Did he touch you?"

"No, what?" my face must have shown my distaste.

"You know Isabella, I find it strange that you were about to marry this man and yet the thought of him touching you seems to repulse you."

He got me there; I couldn't even stand for Paulo to kiss me. I'm such a fool. I felt the first wave of a panic attack coming on, what was I thinking? I was about to marry someone just to upset Zared, I had become truly out of control. I felt cold and empty at the thought.

"Head between your knees."

I did as he said and then I felt his hand in my hair, soothing. I don't think he had touched me in anyway since I was fifteen and had stopped having nightmares. Not even the brush of a hand in passing. I was almost tempted to stay as I was just for the touch of his hand.

After it passed I was back in fighting form, there he sat, so stoic, so removed. I would be damned if I was going back to the way things were between us, so distant, and him flaunting that wildebeest in my face.

"What does it matter to you anyway, you don't want me you made that obviously clear the last time I stupidly threw myself at you. So why don't you go back to your blonde bitch and leave me alone?"

"Isabella, I'm warning you; don't push me. I suggest you keep your mouth shut until we reach where we're going."

And where was that I wondered? Maybe I’d finally pushed him too far and he was going to pack me off to boarding school. But no, I was too old for that now surely.

I’d talked him into letting me apply to the local university so that I wouldn’t have to go move from him. Would he still keep his word or had I fudged that up as well? There was no telling what form his anger would take, I have seen him angry before usually at others though and never me. Not even when I’d gone as far as I could on that tight leash he had around my neck.

He opened his ever-present briefcase and pulled out some papers to read. I guess that meant there would be no more conversation until we reached wherever it was he was dragging me off to.

“If you take me away I’ll just run away and you’ll never see me again.” I don’t know where I got the gumption. His only answer was to pick his head up and glare at me before returning to what he was doing.

I settled back in my seat and fought back the tears that were my constant companion lately, whenever I had any dealings with the infuriating jackass. My body finally relaxed from the tension of the last few days and I was soon fast asleep. Subconsciously knowing that I was safe, as always with my Zared.





***





We landed...somewhere, I don't know, it looked like an island or something, but not one I’d been to before.

There were palm trees and I could see a beach in the distance.

"Where are we?"

"Praslin." He didn’t seem so angry anymore though there was still a bit of a bite in his voice.

"What are we doing here?" I knew it was some island in Seychelles where he owned property, but that’s about as much as I knew about the place. When we still took trips together it was usually on his yacht, and the farthest we’d gone was the Greek Isles.