His Slave Her Master

Part 22 Her

That night, and for the first time, I dreamt of Robbie.

However, not the Robbie I left. But the Robbie I first fell in love with. The Robbie who had a passion for rugby and had taken me dancing on our second date. The Robbie that could walk.

When I awoke, I felt an hollowness in my chest. As on the first night I dreamt of my boyfriend, I realised how much I didn't miss him. Not his bad jokes that made me laugh, nor his burnt bacon and chewy eggs in the morning. Not the way he would kiss me before I fell asleep and just after I woke up. Not even the random and spontaneous moments he would tell me he loved me.

All the things I would have thought I'd miss, I didn't.

Perhaps it was me finally realising that there was no future with Robbie. He was unable to have children due to his accident, taking away something from me that I didn't even get a chance to decide if I wanted. He was completely against marriage, what with his parents having had a terrible divorce that broke his entire family to pieces. And he hadn't been able to make me feel special in a very long time.

They say love overcomes anything, but when exactly had I stopped loving Robbie? As I sat in the middle of Valentino's giant bed alone, I came to the sad realisation that I never really did love Robbie. Not really. Things had just become so complicated that I let my sadness over his accident cloud my image of what was a feeling of responsibility towards another with what was a feeling of love.

Had I told Robbie how I really thought, told myself, I could have been anywhere by now. Not sat in the middle of a monsters bed feeling as if I'd just been stabbed in the chest with harsh truth.

Feeling as though I was going to throw up, I ran into Valentino's bathroom and dry heaved into his toilet bowl. I had been so dumb to think that I was happy. To think that I had found the right man at such a young age. How many people stayed with the man they met at sixteen?

Especially when that man was against everything you believed in and wanted nothing you desired from life.

As I lay, curled up beside the toilet, I listed all the reason why I didn't, couldn't, love Robbie.

No children.

No wedding.

Bad relationship with family.

Different interests.

Different desires.

Minimal physical relations.

I wouldn't say I was desperate to have a physical relationship with a man, but who could honestly say they died a virgin and were happy with it? I believe in God, but I am no saint. I wanted to wait until marriage with Robbie, but it was obvious that that was never going to happen. For more reasons than one.

I was frustrated. With him. With myself. With the world.

Why, when the life I am currently living is going terrible, did my past life that I thought was amazing have to be tampered with?

What must have been hours went by until I heard the door to the bedroom open. I had fallen asleep on the bathroom floor, my head resting on my outstretched arm.

I jumped awake when I heard the bedroom door closing, sitting up and grimacing at the horrible taste in my tongue.

As quietly as possible, I went to the sink and took greedy mouthfuls of the water, splashing some onto my flushed cheeks.

I paused when I heard voices, my ears perking in interest. I would have thought that it was Valentino, returning to wherever he had disappeared off to. All night, I had been afraid of his return, not wanting to share a bed with him, but at the same time not wanting to sleep on the floor.

Seems it didn't matter either way as I spent half the night in the bathroom passed out.

Ever so slowly, I crept towards the bathroom door that was cracked open slightly from where I hadn't bothered to close it.

I inhaled a sharp breath at the sight before me.

It was Valentino, knelt before the open window where the moon shinned down brightly. He was still dressed in his suit from earlier, however his hair was standing up wildly and his sleeves were rolled back to reveal his muscular pale arms. I couldn't help but ogle at the sight.

Though it wasn't his arms that had me gasping, it was what he said to the air, as if talking to a person.

"We are to marry," he said, "and I will bind her to me as promised." He waited a moment before continuing. "Though there is one thing." Another moment he waited, having me gritting my teeth. "I will not force anything upon her." The next pause panic flashed across his face. "If you think I'm going to-" he cut himself short, squeezing his eyes closed as if he were holding himself back. "I refuse to hurt her."

I pushed myself away from the door, having to cover my mouth to keep from screaming or sobbing. Whoever he was talking to, wanted him to hurt me. And by the sounds of it, he would do it in ways I couldn't even begin to fathom.

"No!"

I jumped from Valentino's sudden shout in the other room. I dared peek through the crack to see him now standing, a look of pure fury on his face, his golden eyes glowing so brightly they looked like two tiny Suns.

"Don't insult me!" He yelled to the moon, his voice promising death and pain. "If you make me lay one finger on Natalie's head I won't hesitate in calling upon her. And you know of her power and her willingness to help me."

Who the hell was her? And what did he mean by power?

After ten tense seconds, Valentino growled out, "This conversation is over. Don't fucking think about calling on me until you realise how fucking brainless you sound."

He stepped away from the window, but not before pulling the curtains closed. I flinched when he turned his back on the window, gripping on his hair what looked painfully. A second later, he was spinning around and slamming his fisted hand into the window. The sound of shattering glass filled the room, along with his heavy breathing.

I felt as though I'd just witnessed something that I shouldn't have. So, without a word, I stood away from the door until I was sat on the floor and staring down at my hands. Leaving Valentino to calm down.

And I could have sworn I heard him say my name before silence.