• Louis' POV •
From the moment I woke up in the morning, I recalled last night and how it hadn't gone how I thought it would. Aria was still sleeping on the very edge of the bed facing away from me. She had untangled herself from me at some point during the night.
I wanted to hold her again, but I decided I'd let her sleep. Unfortunately I sort of traumatized her. Everything was going so smoothly—she was letting me kiss her and she even put her hands on my chest. I thought she was getting into it. She didn't stop me even when I laid her on the bed. It was only when I pressed my horniness against her womanhood that she panicked and vocalized her desire for me to stop. I'd been completely turned off at that point and sorely disappointed. I had no idea she had been feeling that way.
Sitting up in bed, I tried to peek over her shoulder to see her sleeping face. But I couldn't without waking her so I carefully got off the bed and walked around it to her side. My chest grew warm at seeing her closed eyes, relaxed lips, and her messy red hair sprawled everywhere. She looked so innocent and vulnerable—like an angel. Six months ago I hadn't cared for redheads. I always preferred the darker women like Quinn, but now...
When I heard footsteps walking past my door I suddenly tensed up, remembering what my father had told me. He had pretty much demanded that I claim her last night; but I hadn't gone through with it. I could simply lie if he brings it up, although he'd most likely somehow find out. Or I could just be confident in my leadership and tell him to fùck off. I rubbed my temples, already feeling stressed out.
The bed sheets stirred and I looked over at Aria as she sighed and stretched her arms. She opened her eyes and spotted me, her face showing confusion, and then quickly turning red. She sat up and looked away.
Oh right. I was only wearing boxers.
"Nothing...happened right?" She asked, her voice scratchy.
"You don't remember?" I asked, moving toward her.
"After we laid down and I fell asleep. Nothing else happened right?" She seemed worried for some reason.
"No. We just slept." I was confused at what she was getting at.
"Okay." She slowly got out of bed and went into the bathroom.
Frowning, I hoped she didn't think I would do something to her while she was unconscious. I may have a monster inside of me, but I had limits to how much of the monster I let out...even if I didn't let anybody know about that fact.
After putting on fresh clothes—a crisp blue button up and black trousers—I waited for her to come back out. She came out for a second only to fetch herself a dress and then she disappeared again, avoiding me altogether. Honestly, I didn't know how to deal with her. Under normal circumstances with anyone else, I would simply demand good behavior and administer punishment if I didn't get what I wanted. But with her...my wife...I needed to be kind. Fùck. Just the thought of being kind made me start to sweat.
As Aria came back out into our bedroom, I stepped up to her. She'd put on a little makeup to conceal how tired she looked.
"Breakfast?" Was all I could manage to think of to say.
She avoided my gaze and shrugged. "I'm... not very hungry."
"We'll wait then." I decided and she seemed disappointed with my statement.
"I was thinking...maybe I could go see Quinn." She murmured.
"Alright, we can do that. " I nodded and touched her arm to guide her to the door.
She pulled away from me but kept walking. "I was thinking I would go alone."
I paused at the door, feeling this foreign emotion bubble up inside of me. She didn't want to be around me. My muscles tensed and I clenched my jaw to keep myself from overreacting over her desire. I had no idea how to get her to want to be with me.
"Okay fine. I'll walk with you until we find her." I mumbled and led her out of the room.
We found Quinn in the doctor's wing in one of the examination rooms. She looked up from her work cleaning bloody tools. Aria was swift to leave my side and enter the brightly lit room. She apparently didn't even care that there was a bowlful of blood on the table and bloody tools beside it. She was that eager to get away from me. My face grew hot and my eye twitched.
"Well, I guess I'll leave you two alone." I said.
Quinn smiled at me, but Aria ignored me so I turned and left the room. But I didn't leave. I remained outside, leaning against the wall so I could listen to whatever they talked about. Their conversation consisted of pointless shìt for a while until Quinn brought up last night. I strained to hear Aria's soft voice.
"What about it?"
"Did you guys do it?" Quinn asked.
"Um. No." Was Aria's response.
"No? What the heck. How could you not hit that?" Quinn exclaimed and I rolled my eyes. She would never get over me.
"I just...I just don't feel ready for that." She replied quietly.
So maybe one day she would feel ready? I swiftly grew excited at the thought.
"So when do you think you'll be ready?" Quinn asked for me.
"Maybe never." Aria answered and I nearly choked.
Quinn laughed. "Oh honey. I'd like to see you try. Listen, it might take some time, but undoubtedly you will someday find yourself sexually attracted to him."
"I already am...but that's not the only thing about this that matters. It's mostly because I... " Aria trailed off.
"You what?"
"I don't love him." Aria answered. "It's stupid for anyone to think that I should just forget everything he's done to me and jump in his bed."
"What can he do to make you love him?" Quinn asked curiously.
There was a pause, and I sincerely hoped she would answer the question. I wanted to know how I could make her love me, without letting her go.
"I don't know if there's a way. He's already dug himself in a deep hole. I mean, he kidnapped me and made me marry him. Why does everyone expect me to fall in love?" Aria said in exasperation.
Annoyed, I wanted punch something. Why was it so difficult to make her like me? Sure I did some fùcked up things to get her here, but I hadn't hurt her much and I didn't plan to in the future. She had everything she could ask for here and she had me.
"Give him a chance." Quinn said and I was glad I had kept her around. She was one of the most loyal followers I had. "Please, Aria. Just give Louis a chance. I think he'll surprise you if you get to know him...the real him."
"I'm afraid of him." Aria said so quietly I almost didn't catch it.
"Why?"
"He...he has so much power over me. He could do anything he wants and no one would stop him." She sounded as if she were about to cry.
"But he won't. You don't have to be scared. Remember? He doesn't take advantage of women like the media makes everyone think. He's never done it and he never will." Quinn assured her.
"It doesn't matter. I'm still scared." Aria admitted.
Frustrated, I left abruptly, not caring if they heard me march away. I was so annoyed that she didn't want to have anything to do with me when I was trying so hard. This was more challenging than I had anticipated. Getting a wife sounded fun and exciting before, but this was much different than I thought it would be. Perhaps I had done everything wrong. Would Aria have loved me if I hadn't kidnapped her and courted her like a normal boring person?
As I sped through the mansion, searching for something to take my anger out on, I spotted Harry walking along. He usually found a way to fùck something up and I recalled that he missed a patrol shift the other night. Maybe I could give him a beating for it.
"Styles!" I barked.
He stopped instantly and turned around, his expression showing that he knew he was in trouble. By my tone, anyone would know that they were screwed. He gulped and glanced around, waiting for me to approach him.
"Yes, sir?"
"I heard you missed a patrol shift the other night." I said with a scowl.
He cleared his throat and his eyes darted from me to the side. "Shìt...yeah, I did. I'm sorry I had other things going on and I just-"
"Don't make excuses. You put all of us at risk and need to be punished. Get downstairs." I stated and his face paled.
"Yes, sir." Harry hung his head and turned to obey.
"Louis!" The sound of my father's voice sent chills down my spine, but I ignored the feeling. I knew that tone.
Mason came up from behind me, looking anything but pleased. "We need to talk."
"I'm busy." I snapped and started to follow Harry, but my father grabbed my arm.
"Now." He demanded. "Harry, you're free to go for now."
Harry glanced back, relief written all over his face and quickly hurried away before I could object.
Glaring at Harry's retreating back, which I just wanted to beat the shìt out of, I reluctantly followed Mason instead. If I didn't, I would be sorry for it later. And with Aria, I didn't want to risk him hurting her in any way. I followed him down the hallways until I realized where he was leading me and then I stopped.
"No. You're not doing that again. You can talk here." I said firmly.
"Louis. Don't test me. You know what could happen to your wife if you do. Now follow me." He replied coldly.
"You aren't in charge! You obey me. Not the other way around. What the fùck is wrong with you?" I spat out.
"You didn't claim her like I told you to."
"That's right, because she didn't want it." I said, my anger rising steadily.
"Louis, my disobedient, rebellious boy. When will you learn to obey your dad?" Mason tsked and shook his head tauntingly.
"When will you learn to shut the f-"
"If you don't do what I tell you right now she will get hurt." He interrupted.
Furious, I swung my arm and punched him in the face. Without waiting to see his reaction I walked forward and opened the basement door. If I had to obey him, I wasn't going to do it quietly. I wouldn't let him touch Aria, so I'd simply go down and get this talk over with. Hopefully it would only be a talk. Someday soon I would put an end to this altogether.
We walked downstairs and he pushed me forward as if I weren't walking fast enough. At the bottom he opened a door and made sure I went inside. He shut and locked it behind us. As usual the room was mostly empty besides a cabinet on the right, a table on the left, chains on the ceiling and the foreboding center piece: a coffin-like box in the middle of the room. As I stared at it, I could feel panic threatening to paralyze me. I hadn't been in here in months, yet the last time felt like it was yesterday.
"Alright, you wanted to talk. So talk. " I said, crossing my arms.
"Are you going to obey me the next time I tell you to do something?" Mason asked pointedly.
"Not when it concerns Aria." I grumbled.
He sighed, rolling his eyes dramatically. "You disobeyed me on something that was very important for you to do and now you're continuing to be problematic."
"You're not the fùcking boss of me, Mason, so why don't you just go fùck yourself?" I snapped, surprised with how confident I felt in my declaration.
"Be disrespectful one more time and you'll wish death upon yourself. Again." He warned, all traces of amusement vanishing from his expression.
I was about to shut my mouth, but then I thought about how badly I didn't want to be pushed around anymore. And I snapped.
"No. Listen to me old man. I am the leader of the Blue Knights. Not you. You will obey me and you won't ever lay another finger on my wife again or I'll kill you." I lashed out, nearing him. I had no idea where this sudden burst of defiance toward him came from but I blamed Aria. I got in his face, but he was still slightly taller than me and bigger bodied.
He placed his palms on me and shoved me back. "Guess you're still a little boy in need of correction. Time for you to be reminded of your place."
"It's above you, bàstard! Don't fùcking touch me ever again!" I yelled, lunging at him and getting a second punch in.
He staggered backward, but recovered quicker than I expected he would. He moved toward me and swung at me, but I dodged. However I wasn't fast enough to dodge the second time and he socked me right in the face. I stumbled back. He hit me again. He was still stronger, even though I'd spent countless hours in the gym working out just so that I could beat him if he ever tried this again. But I still wasn't strong enough.
"I was going to simply beat the shìt out of you, but you've earned a worse punishment." Mason wiped blood from his mouth as he stepped over to the long skinny box on the floor and my heart dropped to my stomach. He opened the lid. "Get in."
"I am not getting in that thing again." I said.
"Now."
"I swear I will fùcking kill you." I said through gritted teeth, rubbing my jaw.
"You know you can't do that." Mason responded with a smug smirk.
"Watch me." I challenged and stepped forward, but abruptly halted when he pulled out a gun.
He pulled the trigger before I had time to react and suddenly two wires with darts on the ends shot out and latched onto me. Every muscle in my body immediately started frantically spasming and I felt like I had been struck by lightning.
He had fùcking tased me.
I collapsed to the floor, being in horrible pain for a dreadfully long several seconds before he stopped it. I lay limply against the wall, in shock. My muscles still felt like they were cramping as Mason grabbed me and dragged me over to the box. I could hardly move at all as he managed to shove me inside the small space that would barely be able fit Aria, let alone me. I could only pointlessly groan in desperation.
He stood above me, smirking down in satisfaction. "Maybe when I let you out tomorrow you'll be more inclined to do as I say. Maybe then, you'll take your little wife and claim her like you were suppose to."
"Fùcking àsshole." I croaked out, trying in vain to sit up.
"With that attitude, maybe I'll keep you in here longer." He slammed the lid down on top of me and locked it.
Horror and panic seized my entire body. I had no room to move in the small box, even if I could. The light coming in from the holes in the sides went dark as Mason turned the light off and left the room. If he had left me in here with a knife, I would have stabbed myself.
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