MAVERICK
What the hell?
I could see the fury in his eyes, but I’d done nothing wrong. It wasn’t written in the agreement or my demand that I was not allowed to have fun with my friends. And then he just appeared out of nowhere after he chose to ignore my calls.
Well, he just made me mad. And he just showed me who he really was.
Once we left the Bazz, I noticed their car park behind mine. “I’m not going home with you.”
“You’re going home with me,” he said harshly.
I faced him, meeting his fury with my fury. “And why should I? After how you treated my friend. And you just did what those women did to me back there. Humiliated me.”
“That’s not entirely the same.” A deep frown formed between his brows.
“Mrs. Winston, please, get in the car. We’re attracting people,” Owen repeated it.
“I’m going home, but not to this man’s house.” I walked away from them.
“Maverick!” Lake didn’t just want to accept his defeat because he used to get what he wanted. Not this time.
I ignored him and unlocked my car. “You heard me the first time, Lake.”
“What the fuck are you doing?” He came to me and cornered me beside my car.
“I don’t know why you came tonight. I thought you were going home early. I told you I was at the party. You clearly came to fight with me because, as far as I know, I didn’t break any of our agreements. I know what I signed up for, Lake. But what you did back there, it was a physical abuse.” I held up my wrist. “Intimidation and narcissism. You just showed me what kind of man you are.”
He looked taken aback. Even hurt flashed in his eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“I’m tired of listening to your sorry, Lake. I also want to have a life out of this arrangement. I’m still young. I want to enjoy my life, but this is not what I want. While this is a contracted relationship, I want to have respect for each other, and clearly, you want to control this relationship. You want to abuse our marriage, and it won’t work for me.”
He swallowed hard and went quiet for a moment. At least he realized his mistake.
“What is your problem with Cooper? He’s nothing but nice to me.” Oh, God. I sighed shakily. “You’re jealous of him? Is that why you treated him like trash? Is it because he doesn’t belong to your billionaires club? Who gives you the right to judge and mistreat him because you’re richer than him? Because that’s what your society dictates, right? Well, guess what? If you can’t treat people like him, neither can you on me.” I opened the car, and he blocked me from entering. “Get out of my way, Lake.”
“Where did that come from? I’m not that person, Maverick. I have respect for people, and I see everyone as equal.”
“Now you sound so ridiculous.” I snorted. “You treat people like rugs under your feet because you are so mighty. The Mighty Lake Winston always gets what he wants. So privileged and entitled.”
“That’s not fucking true. I have a huge respect for you,” he said reverently. I almost fell for it.
“But not for my friend?” I threw him a disgusted look. I knew I was overreacting because Lake was a good man, but he pissed me off, and he mistreated my friend.
“Mr. Winston, we have to go.”
“Yeah, Mr. Winston, you have to go. Your wealth and awesome castle are waiting for you.” I managed to get in the car without him blocking it. I drove away from them and watched him kick the road.
I had nowhere to go, and I didn’t want him following me. If I went to my apartment, I might find him there, but that was if he wanted to apologize, which I doubted.
Genesis and Rocco might have seen the incident. It was a good thing, though, that people like them could work magic, erasing any traces if someone took a picture or video of us in that heated argument.
“What are you doing here, Ricky?”
“Hey, Nana.” I joined her in the living room. She was watching some knitting video tutorials on TV.
“You haven’t answered my question.”
“Because you didn’t give me a chance to.” I sighed as if I was too tired.
She eyed me for a moment. “Boy problem?”
I chuckled and took off my heels. I was about to put my foot on the coffee table, but Nana quickly hit my leg.
“Sit like a lady, young woman.”
“I was at my friend’s party. Cooper’s birthday.”
“And then what happened? The guy who gave you that ring saw you both and didn’t like it.”
“Yeah. How do you know that?” I stared at her.
“I raised you, honey.” She tipped her head. “Go up and get some rest. Everything will be okay tomorrow.”
“I hope so, Nana.” I got up. “Night.”
***
My phone kept buzzing. I cracked my eyes open and realized I had slept in my old room and was wearing my old pajamas.
I grabbed my phone, and I had a couple of missed calls. Okay, there were tons of missed calls and text messages from Lake, Owen, and Homer, as well as from Rocco, Genesis, and Cooper.
I ignored it. I would read and return the calls later once I got my dose of caffeine. I went to the bathroom, peed, and brushed my teeth.
Before I washed my face, I looked at myself in the mirror. I still had smeared mascara around my eyes, and I looked tired.
I went downstairs only to stop at the bottom when I realized Nana and I were not alone anymore. My eyes grew big to see Owen and Homer on my grandma’s couch.
“Hi.”
I turned around to see Lake standing at the kitchen door. “What are you doing here?”
“Where are your manners, young lady?” Nana’s angry voice stiffened my back.
Shit. “How long have you been here?”
“Ten minutes ago,” my grandmother replied. “Go ahead. They brought breakfast.”
“Um. Maybe later. I wanna talk to Lake first, Nana.”
“Go upstairs. I don’t want our neighbors to spread gossip.”
“Thanks.”
“And please, don’t make out in there,” she added, making Lake chuckle.
Owen and Homer shook to laugh.
“Not funny.” I went up, and Lake followed suit.
I locked the door to my room and faced him, and he looked as if nothing happened last night.
“I saw your pictures in the living room.” He checked out the room. There was nothing to see but some old boyband posters, pictures from high school, and me and Nana at my graduation ceremony.
“What are you doing here? I haven’t told Nana everything, except-”
“That I’m the one who gave you the promise ring.”
“Yeah.”
“And you fought with me last night.”
“I guess there’s nothing left much to say, is there?”
He looked at me in the eye intensely, almost making me squirm. “I’m an idiot, an overbearing idiot. I was way over my head. I’m an arrogant son of bitch. I’m overconfident, controlling sick fuck. I don’t blame my parents. It’s me. I made myself to be this person because I thought people would show me some respect if-”
“If you’re an idiot?” I arched a brow.
“If I control everything around me.” He managed to put a sad smile on his lips. “Last night, I acted on my impulse. I asked my assistant to buy two dozen flowers because I was trying to surprise you, but you were not home. So I put the bouquet on your bed.”
“And then you found out I was out there partying. Yay. Such a good wife.”
“You’re allowed to do what you want. To go to parties, dance in the club. You’re free, Maverick. I just never felt what I felt last night when I saw Cooper has his arm around you when it should be mine.”
“Why didn’t you just admit you were jealous last night?” I tried hard to hide my smile, but it broke out anyway.
“Because I can’t be jealous.”
“Why not?”
He swallowed hard. “I don’t wanna lose what we have right now.”
“I don’t understand.” My brain scrambled frantically.
“You have to forget about the demands, and I want to hear them from you.”
“Right.” I nodded subtly.
“Right what?” He looked more in pain than confused.
“Then you can’t sleep with another woman-”
“Deal.” Wow.
“I’m not finished. Until the contract is over.”
“Then after the contract?”
“I don’t know. Maybe if you still want each other, then we stay exclusive.”
“Of course, we will. You’re my wife, Maverick.”
I covered his mouth, and I felt his smile against my hand. “Lower your voice.”
He nodded, wrapped his arms around me, and said something in a muffled voice.
“What?” I took my hand off.
“You should tell your grandmother-”
“No. I can’t right now.”
“Fine. I apologized to Cooper.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Really?”
“Yeah. Last night.”
“Good.”
“Can I kiss you now?”
I kissed him quickly. “No making out, remember?”
He beamed at me. “Later then.”