Emperor of Mayhem

t h i r t y

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Warm fingers brushed stubborn locks away from my face, a pair of electrifying lips planting a subtle, though lasting kiss on my cheek.

And I sighed.

Though I wasn't ready for the day just yet, I had to stir awake on the way too comfortable bed, releasing a soft groan before my hand lazily flew down only to pull the duvet further up to my chin, relaxing into the bed that seemed to have grown a pair of warm arms just to embrace me.

"Hey, beautiful." I pulled a frown when I felt his knuckles brush softly against my cheek, consistent enough to make me shiver at his igniting touch. Touching me was acceptable but not when I desired to sleep a little longer like right now. I would love it if he just left me alone...just for now, of course.

"Hey to you too," I let out a mumble, his intrusion in my sleep persistent enough to threaten to tick me off. An hour more on this floaty bed was all I asked for and he found it hard to grant me that?

"I'm heading down to the gym." His husky voice was closer to my ear, lips brushing against the sensitive lobe as he moved down to kiss my neck. "I will come back to you when I'm done, okay?"

"Yeah, whatever, bye." I dismissed him without hiding my lack of interest. Heck, I could barely grasp onto any of the things he just said as they probably bounced back before they could even reach my ears.

I heard him chuckle softly though, the echo like an enchanting symphony to my ears, wishing it lasted longer but it didn't. I felt it when he lifted himself off the bed, his warmth that I craved so much going along with him. He exited and I heard his footsteps fade down the hall followed by the ding of the elevator in motion.

He was gone but his intoxicating scent lingered around me and in the air; wafts of cedarwood and sweet melancholy carried by the hint of lavender freshly blooming.

My heart stirred in my chest as it gravitated toward the prose that was him. I was here on his bed but my heart definitely went along with him. Such a stupid heart I'd got. Oh, you stupid, dumb and foolish little heart of mine. Why won't you learn to loathe him?

Honestly, I had begun to find it hard to understand this organ called a heart. Was it just mine that was this confused or were all human hearts so complicated and naive? To beat so excitedly for a man that had such carnal urge, ruthless to the core?

It almost seemed as though I never truly, deeply loved Filip like I thought I did. Maybe what I felt for the lad was just a deep crush that never metamorphosed to love. For I doubted a broken heart was this quick to heal and move to the next available man in a space of a few months; always beating so wildly in my chest when I was around the said man or even if all I got was a whiff of his floral and woodsy scent from miles away.

I wondered how many times I would have to convince myself that I hated him until it would finally become real.

It had been two weeks since we arrived in Russia and I must say that I was constantly expecting the worst every passing day because Mikhail had made it a lifetime mission to frustrate the life out of me.

He put me on house arrest, forbade me from going to school even though school was back in session and I would have been done with high school in about three months. He said with the way I had become so harsh and vile toward him, he didn't trust that I wouldn't run away from him. He even locked my room and forced me to move my things to his.

I tried putting up a fight concerning my lack of privacy. My very valid point being that we weren't couples and I was raised to only share a bed with a man I was married to. In reaction to my argument, Mikhail walked to a drawer and pulled out ten different boxes of diamond and gold rings. The diamond rings were of the cullinan diamond-the highest, roughly 3106 carats -and all the gold rings were all twenty-four karats. He told me to pick whichever ones I desired to wear as his bride. Speechless was an understatement if I must say. I was so shocked my tongue felt too heavy to move. All I could do was gape at the man like a fish out of water. He definitely shut me up because I wasn't ready to be anybody's bride. I wasn't even ready to be anyone's girlfriend. I turned down his very ungentlemanly proposal. And still couldn't even complain about staying with him because he did give me a choice. I was the one that rejected it.