“You remember our deal, don’t you?” she snapped at me, her voice sharp as a whip as it cracked through the air. I nodded.
“Of course, I do,” I shot back, running my hand through my hair.
“Then you know that I’m not doing this to piss you off,” she went on. “I’m doing this to look after myself, Kristo. I’m doing this because I need to.”
I fell silent. I hated the thought that she was here because it was the only thing she could do. Sure, I was being naïve in letting myself think she had come to this place out of choice, that she would have stuck things out with me if she didn’t need the money, but I had let myself believe it, even just for a while.
“You’re the one who wanted to draw up the contract,” she reminded me. “You’re the one who wanted this to be a business relationship. I’m just honoring your wishes, that’s all. Isn’t that what you wanted from me?”
She glared at me, deeply into my eyes, as though daring me to contradict her. Her eyes were burning, as though they were moments from catching fire and sending this whole apartment down in flames. I looked for as long as I could and then tore my gaze away. I couldn’t help but remember the way I’d felt when she had first walked out of the apartment, when I’d called after her and she had paused in the doorway and looked back at me, as though daring me to say something to her, to confirm that her feelings weren’t lost on me. But I had had nothing to say then, and I had nothing to say now. I didn’t know how I was supposed to keep myself together in the face of what she was doing to me, but I knew she was right. This was what we had agreed on.
“This is what a contracted wife does,” she told me and then turned and stalked off toward the bedroom. And that was when I realized I couldn’t let her walk away again. Not after last time. As soon as the door clicked shut behind her, I strode across the room toward her, ignoring the voice in my head telling me this was crazy, that I was going to get hurt or that she was. I wanted her, needed her, and there was no way I was going to let her walk out of my life all over again.