Mr. Harsh & Her

Chapter 20

Rachel's POV 

Alexander took me 3 more times before I couldn't take it anymore. His stamina was unreal, I thought I could keep up with him, but he was a master at his craft. I was completely sore down there and I could barely move my legs.

I desperately needed a shower because I was sticky from all the dried up residue that was still in me and on me from last night. The sheets also needed to be change because there was also a little crimson patch present.

I looked over at him and he was sleeping on the other side of the bed. He was facing me however he put up a barrier of pillows in between us. I was confused at his action because isn't he supposed to hold me and sleep close to me after being intimate? He made me feel a little bit out of sorts.

I looked at the glass windows that illuminated the early morning sunrise. My sleep had broke and I was feeling thirsty.

"I can practically feel your frown from all the way over here. What's you got you bothered?" asked Alexander in his groggy voice. I thought he was asleep.

I turned to him and saw beautiful teal eyes looking back at me.

"I'm okay. Just thirsty. I'll go get some water," I said and attempted to get out of bed.

"No, let me. I'll go and get it." He stood up and wore his boxers as he made his way out of the room and down the stairs. I waited for a few seconds until he returned with a glass of water and handed it to me. I sat up and leaned against the headboard still looking at the barrier of pillows in between us.

"Thank you," I whispered and downed the whole glass of water in one go. I was really thirsty.

Alexander climbed into bed again and resumed his original position on the other side of the pillow barrier, still facing me.

I couldn't help it, I had to ask. "Why did you put pillows between us?"

His face slightly dropped and he looked disappointed. "I have a tendency to hurt you in your sleep. First when I pushed you of the couch, and the second when I held you too tight."

I placed the glass on the bedside table and clasped my fingers together. "Oh. I see..." I said dejectedly. I guess he did have a tendency to be rough, but then why was I disappointed that he wasn't close to me?

"Will you always sleep far away from me then?" I had no clue why I asked that.

"Do you want me to sleep far away from you?"

I looked at the pillow barrier again and shook my head slightly. I was unsure myself. "I..."

He raised his eyebrows in expectancy at my lack of an answer.

"Not really... I mean... Well it's a waste of the bed space honestly," I tried coming up with a suitable explanation.

Swiftly, he pushed the pillows of the bed and scooted closer to me but I stopped him.

"No, we have to change the sheets first," I said with a tinge of red coming onto my face.

"Why is that, princess?"

I looked at the patch of crimson with a little bit of embarrassment. "I-I bled a little."

He didn't pay heed to what I said, instead he snaked his arm around me carefully and pulled me to him.

"We can do that later, for now let's go back to sleep."

*  *  *

It was almost lunch time and Alexander was in his study since the morning. I kept myself occupied by cleaning around a little and cooking which Alexander gave me an earful for saying that he had people to do all of that and all I had to do was relax.

It was rather difficult for me to do so because I was used to constantly working. I never had time to do nothing and now that I have ample time, it's quite unrelieved.

I knocked on the door of his study and entered. Alexander was sitting behind his desk with multiple documents sprawled out in front of him. He looked focused and tensed.

"Hi," I smiled at him.

He looked up and saw that it was me, he smiled and gestured for me to get close to him. "Hello, princess. Do you need something?"

I went over to him since his hand was out and he pulled me for a little kiss. After that I went around him and settled for the chairs in front of his desk.

"It's almost lunch time so I just wanted to call you down. Food will be ready in a few minutes."

Alexander was back to shuffling all the papers in front of him. "I'll be down in a few," he said and got out more papers from his drawer. "Could you help me out quickly? I need the first 5 figures to correspond with the estimated profit percentage. Could you look over it for me?" He handed me 2 sheets of paper and went back to focusing on what he was doing.

Nervously, I set the papers in front of me. I hated reading and writing. I wasn't smart. I was actually very dumb. Even though this may be a simple task for him, it was close to death for me.

I looked down at the document and tried reading it. It was difficult because I felt as if the words and numbers were dancing all over the page. I could barely make out what the letters spelled out. I only managed to comprehend a few sentences.

Shakily I took one of the pens from his desk and attempted to tick of which figures were the same but I was getting a small headache trying to decipher what was on the paper.

"Princess?" Alexander called out.

I looked up at him in shock, completely thrown off by trying to read what was in front of me. I was so embarrassed. He was such a smart man, so successful and here I was having trouble reading.

Hastily I handed him back the 2 sheets of paper. "I'm sorry, I can't do it. I'm not smart. The words are dancing around all over the page," I rushed out in one go. I was humiliated.

Alexander looked at me in skepticism. "What do you mean dancing around all over the page?"

I shrugged. "Exactly that. I'm not smart. I'm actually really stupid and dumb. I barely passed high school as it is and reading all of that gave me a headache. Okay I'm going to go now," I attempted to make a run for it because I was ashamed of myself.

"Wait," Alexander yelled out as I almost reached the door. "Get back here now."

Begrudgingly I turned around and went back to sit in front of him. He typed something on his computer and printed it out.

"Read this out loud for me," he instructed and gave me a sheet of paper.

I managed to read it out loud, only stumbling a few times but it was relatively easy compared to the previous document he gave me.

He then handed me another piece of paper and a pen. "You have 8 minutes to complete the problem."

It was a math problem. I spent the first 2 minutes trying to figure out what method would be applicable. I wrote down what I thought was correct and handed it back to him.

Alexander looked at me and then looked back at the math problem I had solved. He concentrated on my answer and furrowed his eyebrows.

"Well done, princess. You answer is correct." I exhaled in satisfaction when I heard that.

"However, we have a little issue."

Now I looked at him in confusion. "Why? My answer is correct."

"Yes, certainly. But your number 3 are all backwards and some of your 6's are 9," he said and turned the paper back to me, showing me what he had pointed out.

I looked at it horrified. Why was I like this? I huffed a deep breath and was agitated at myself.

"I told you, Alexander. I'm stupid okay. Can I please leave now?" I really didn't want to sit here and feel my inferiority complex go higher than it already was.

He shook his head at me and threw the paper in the bin. "You are by no means stupid, princess. I think you're mildly dyslexic."