Page 15 of Bound By Flames

“It has to be perfect. He’s going to be there and I want his jaw to fall on the floor, you hear me? On. The. Floor,” she chants, agitating her hands while I’m laughing on the bed.

“I know, Kia, but trust me, with the red one, if he doesn’t go into a full coma, then he’s definitely not worth your time.”

“Oh my god, you’resoright,” she giggles. An unusual noise comes out of nowhere. It can only be the main door downstairs.

Could Ares be here early?

It’s been two months since the wedding and I haven’t really seen him. The only contact we had was when he took me back to his room each night, making me wake up in an empty bed every morning. I swear this man does not sleep. I never see him; he goes to work before I wake up, and it feels…lonely.

Why does he do that?

Leaving me all alone, trapped in a fake marriage with no friends or family around. They all stayed in Chicago, which is an eight hour drive. I’m lucky my sister will come visit but I don’t want her to feel obligated to do it when she could be living her life. I’m usually always around people I meet at parties. They’re not real friends, just people I like to have around me. Honestly, my sister is my only friend. It’s sad, I know, but I’d rather have her than a hundred meaningless party friends.

“Gotta go, sis. There’s someone downstairs,” I tell her, concealing my anxiety about facing Ares after so many days.

“You think it’shim?” She talks about him like an alien coming from another planet and honestly, she isn’t wrong about it. What kind of man leaves you alone all the time but still wakes you up each night to take you back into his bed?

It makes no sense.

I thought about stopping my little nightly escapes after a few days by myself but it was comforting to know that he would still come and get me.

Pathetic. I know, but it’s true. I miss talking to someone at the end of the day.

Facetimes with my sister can only last so long.

“Maybe, I don’t know.”

“Go ahead and tell him he’s stupid to leave you alone,” she says, pointing her index finger in the air. It makes me smile. My sister goes feral when she thinks I’m sad about something. If that doesn’t tell you how kind she is, then nothing ever will.

“I don’t think he cares enough to even listen, Kia.” My voice is surprisingly sadder than I thought. I sigh. “The red one, definitely. Gotta go. Love you, Kia.”

“Love ya,” she answers, blowing me a kiss. I end the call, and walk outside the room to the stairs in my leopard legging and pink crop top. I know they’re a bit much, but I love colors. They make me feel better. Heavy footsteps are coming to me, and before I get the time to register what’s happening, Ares stands in front of me in the wooden entryway.

I forgot how handsome he was. As if it’s even possible to forget him, but still, my jaw falls on the floor at the sight of his tall body filled with muscles and his disheveled short brown hair.

“Hey” I say, trying to keep my voice as unbothered as I can.

He drinks me from head to toe and grunts.

See? Total caveman.

“Put some clothes on and get your ass in the kitchen. I need to talk to ya,” he orders me.

“Wow, what happened to hello? How are you?” Resting a hand on my hip, I hold his gaze from the second step of the stairs. He steps closer, my shoulders stiffening all of a sudden while his massive body towers over me, his musky scent hitting me like a truck.

“Hello, wife.”

I suck in a sharp breath, the air in the room suffocating me.

Wife.

I clear my throat, my palms getting sweaty.

“I’m good in my leggings. What’s up?”

His jaw clenches.

What is wrong with the way I dress? I like funky clothes, sue me.