48

Chapter 48
Princess observed him where she sat across the table from him, he seemed quite uninterested in the food and avoided her gaze at all costs.
She had questions, lots of them to ask, why had he left the bed like that? Just disappeared. Why was he avoiding her gaze? Did he not want to talk about it? Was he still obsessed with Ava after all that happened between them?
Plenty of questions to ask, but she did not know where to start, so she sat quietly and ate, feeding her starving stomach while she contemplated what to do next.
Her gaze lingered on him every few minutes, she could not help it. Wishing and waiting for the perfect moment to speak.
Giving herself a little ‘fuck it’ pep talk in her head, Princess took a gulp of water, inhaled, exhaled, and blurted her very first question, one of out of the many in her mind.
“You left” she cringed at her voice, and the fact that that came out as a statement instead of a question.
A frown creased his perfect eyebrows, and he seemed to think for a minute, there was not nothing to think about, he knew what she meant.
“I had to attend to a few things. You looked spent, and I would rather not wake you.” Princess did not like his answer, maybe because she had expected something more than that from him.
A heavy silence enveloped them and Princess resumed her eating, the food tasted stale and like metal on her tongue, but she ignored the sudden change.
He sighed and dropped his spoon with a thud, his eyes meeting hers, and he let his words out.
“You know, if you have something in mind, you could just say it instead of staring at me like that”
She could tell he was becoming rather impatient and angry, the vein on his forehead popped out, and he bit down on his teeth, making that weird sound.
“It’s just…never mind.” She shut herself up before she got too far with this. She had wanted to say something about Ava, but she knew how that would make him feel, worse.
Spooning some soups into her mouth as quickly as she could, she hoped that would keep her from blurting nonsense, at least it would have her think before speaking.
“No, I mind…so tell me, speak please.” Now she had him where she wanted. Not only was he interested, he was hooked, he wanted to know so badly.
She let the silence stretch for a bit, a rather dramatic pause before she said anything. “So you regret what happened between us?” Her eyes were on him the whole time, never shifting from his lips, she wanted to hear every word that left his mouth.
“No, I do not.” He said.
“Well, regret is not that word.” He added when she still stared at him in silence.
“Then what is it?” She wondered what the word was, what it was he felt.
“Guilt”
“What?” She asked like she had not heard him the first time. Did he feel guilty for having sex with her? Guilty about what exactly?
“I said guilt is the word he repeated himself and an idea popped into her head, she still had the pictures and if she showed it to him, he would not feel guilty anymore because it would show that she was doing the same thing.
Princess stared at him and then pulling her act right she burst into laughter. A hearty one, making it sound and look as real as possible.
“What is funny?” He asked, already looking pissed off, he hated to be the object of ridicule, and with her laughing like that it only made him look like one.
“It’s just…hang on.” She said and continued laughing, pretending to hold back and trying to control the laughter as much as possible.
“Can you just talk” he bellowed, he sounded stern and Princess knew she had gone a little too far with it so she stopped immediately
“It is just really weird that you feel guilty for having sex with me, why? Because you love Ava?” She asked rhetorically. A snort almost escaped her lips at his nod of affirmation.
“Yes, I love her and I know it sounds stupid since we are not together in any way, but I love her and I know she loves me too.” Alpha Damon said rather too confidently.
Princess knew this next move would break him and probably make him lose his trust in everyone, including herself, but she had to do it. Showing him the picture was her only and final option.
“Okay, if you think so,” arguing with him would only make what she was about to show him less dramatic, and it would give him a hint of it, so she let it go, let him believe she loved him then blow it all up his face.
“Is that all you have to say?” He asked, “You went on almost an hour of laughter and all you can come up with is if I think so?” He sounded so pissed, so angry, Princess was glad she sat so far away from him.
Page held back her smile at how funny the whole situation was and how rather easy it was to make him fall for her deceit.
Now was the time, she thought as she fetched her phone from atop the table. Taking her time to scroll through until she found the album she was looking for.
“Here,” she said, smiled at it, and slid the phone on the table across to him. It stopped a few inches from him, and the princess raised her gaze to meet his.
She kept a poker expression when he picked up the phone, she wanted him to not be able to pick up a hint as to what it was, she wanted him to be pleasantly surprised.
“Go on,” Princess said, urging him to take the phone while she continued eating, trying to seem as nonchalant as possible.
He stared at her for what seemed like forever before his eyes lowered to the screen. He glanced up at her and then back at the phone.
His eyes went from squinting to looking at it wide-eyed to squinting again. His eye met hers again in a questioning manner, and she sighed.
She knew what that look meant, he was asking what next. Who was this? The look could ask many questions.
Taking her time to chew her food, she gave her spoon a lick, making sure the back of it was clean before she replied. She was bidding her time, building the suspense and anxiety.
“Swipe to the left, to the next photo.” She said, and leaned back on her chair, looking as relaxed as possible. He was suspicious of her, she could tell from the way he was looking at her at the moment.
At least he was doing what he was told and was still interested in this. His fingers swiped and led blunt, his eyes were still on her.
A small commotion outside the dining room doors drew their attention, she glanced at the door, then at him, and finally at the phone in his hand.
She panicked a little when the door flung open and Beta Will walked in, he seemed angry and the butler who walked after him looked even angrier.
She glanced at the phone in Alpha Damon’s hand and thought of a way to ask for it before Will got to the table, but Alpha Damon was smart, he quickly pressed the power button, shutting off the screen.
Both men exchanged words, and she cared less about what they were talking about. All she could think of was how bad of a timing this was for Will to come here.
She was almost down with her mission, she might never be able to get him this invested in this again.
“I will come with you” was all she heard before his chair was scrapped back against the floor, and he stood up, picking up the phone after him.
He walked around the table, passing by her, he slowly dropped the phone beside her almost empty plates and his breath brushed against her ear when he leaned down to whisper into her ears.
“We will continue this when I get back,” he said and walked out of the dining room with Will behind him.
While she hated that the plan did not go through all the way, she was glad that he was until invested in it, he still wanted very much to know.
Sighing, she grabbed her phone and headed out of the dining and back to her room. She contemplated waiting for him to be back or just going to sleep and telling him at a later time.
The first option was the best, but she had no idea where he had gone to or how long he was staying, so she retired for the night, hoping that the next day would go better than today.