The Beast And His Belle

Chapter 24

Belle tore through the doors of Jackson's dark and empty house. Storming straight to her quarters she glanced at herself through the mirror hanging on the wall. Her hair was disheveled and locks of her curls had fallen out of her pinned updo. Her mascara had dried with her tears as black thick lines running down her face. She wet a warm facecloth and washed off her stains but didn't bother to fix the rest of her appearance. She wanted to have packed her things and left before Jackson got home.

After everything she did for him! After everything he did for her! Her mind was racing with agonizing thoughts and her heart was brokenly pounding out of rhythm from her chest. She had done everything to justify his name and make their marriage look loving and true. And he had the nerve to not only stomp on her virtuous name and make their marriage into an unfaithful one, but she had finally given herself to him. He had made love to her one night and found the pleasures of another woman on the others. She felt sick to her stomach, violated, and abused.
The painful words echoed in Belle's mind from the women at the ball. "Awww, honey, did you think you were enough for the beast himself? Did you think he would actually want you?" She had truly hoped he would. She realized, she wanted him more than anything. She had never before found her heart so connected to someone before. Never before wanting to pursue love until she started to see the real Jackson Mason no one seemed to know.

"BELLE!" Her heart jumped out of her skin to the raging sound of his voice and the door to the house slamming behind him. She quickly continued throwing her clothes in messy piles into her suitcase, her feelings for Jackson being overcome with all the rage from her tormented heart.
"What the fuck are you doing?" He came bursting through the doors out of breath like he could have run home.
"I'm leaving!" she said not taking her attention away from packing her things.
"Why?"
"Because!"
"Because WHY?" his tone of voice began to grow in anger.
"Because I WANT To Leave!" she finally broke and looked up at him with piercing eyes wondering if he'd let her go or force her to stay; secretly praying for both answers at once.
"NO!" he said sternly and started taking out the clothes from her suitcase and throwing them on the floor.
"Stop it!" Belle shouted.
"NO! You're NOT leaving!" For each item of clothing that had been put back in the suitcase, another piece had been taken out.
"Stop it! You can't force me to stay here!"
"Yes, I can!"
"YOU DON'T OWN ME!" she shouted at him.
YOU'RE MY WIFE!" he shouted back. Both of them shooting daggers at each other, practically nose to nose. Their emotions running high and their anger rising above all else.
"Not when you fuck around behind my back!" She said enraged watching his face turn from anger to blankness.
"I thought you..." her tone changed to hurt and sadness and tears started welling thinking back to Paris and everything that happened between them. She tried to suppress those thoughts and not bring them up.
"I did this for my father's sake and for the image of your company but you've only thought of yourself and embarrassed me as your wife when you threw your dick around!" She said in an insulting tone as pulled a piece of clothing from his hands and threw it in the suitcase continuously packing.

He was speechless and shocked hearing her words at first. He was comprehending it and questioning that irrational thought when just as she passed by his body, did he finally react. He grabbed her arm to prevent her from taking any further steps and moved his body in front of hers to gaze seriously into her angered and saddened eyes. He kept questioning in his head and analyzing her mannerisms; she didn't just feel embarrassed by the accusations of having an unfaithful husband, but she seemed jealous at the thought of him with another woman.
"Belle, I don't where you heard such things or from whom but I swear on my mother and father's graves I have been faithful to you. I haven't touched another woman since I met you, nor have I wanted to."
She let out a nonsubtle huff and rolled her eyes trying to maneuver past him. Anger rose inside him that she didn't believe him. She wanted to believe him but the fear had grown too large at the moment to give him the benefit of the doubt. She feared so much giving herself fully to someone and having her heart ripped out like Jackson had happen to him. But she wanted to believe him. Swearing on something so meaningful and important to him as his parents, he would've surely been struck down by the bolts of lightning from the Gods if he wasn't speaking the truth. Just as she wanted to reconsider she turned back to face him, but his anger exploded.
"FINE! GO! Don't believe me! Just go! I'm not going to keep you here! You don't have to pretend to love me or be my wife! JUST GO!" He grabbed the pieces of clothing still left out from the suitcase and aggressively threw them in, now helping her pack. She fought back, both now having changed their positions in the fight as she was taking her own clothes out of her suitcase.
"Stop it! Now you're forcing me out!"
"It's what you want isn't it!"
"NO! It's not!"
"WHAT DO YOU WANT THEN?" he stopped packing and grabbed her by the shoulders firm and hard shouting in her face.
"I WANT YOU!" she shouted back at him, not realizing her guard had dropped.
In a split second, he fiercely pounced on her lips in his beastly form. She let out a weak moan as her hands found their way to his head, tangling her fingers in his hair and holding on for dear life. Every nerve, every muscle suddenly awoke inside them like a volcanic eruption. His beastly instincts were heavy and he only wanted to feast on one thing, her.