The Billionaire's Bitch

Pt. 2 Twenty-One

It was a glaringly silent car ride home.

I was still furious with Lyndsey, whose drunken apology hadn't gone over well with me. Not to mention I was feeling intimidated by Adrian's stony silence.

"Are you mad at me?" I asked him finally in a meek voice.

Adrian looked at me, doing the old drive-and-stare for an uncomfortably long minute. "I'm not sure what I am." He admitted. "I just can't believe I had to hear something like that from your sister. Were you ever planning on telling me?"

I was rendered speechless for a moment.

"H-honestly, I never wanted you to find out." I confessed quietly. "I certainly didn't want you to hear about it this way."

Adrian shot me a cold look. "Dammit, Eve."

He said nothing else for the rest of the drive home. I didn't know what to say, plus I didn't dare say anything else that might just piss him off more.

He left me to stew in his brooding silence, not saying so much as a word on the elevator ride up to the penthouse.

I was properly miserable by the time we arrived.

Twisting my fingers together, I turned in the foyer to face him. "Do you want me to sleep in my room tonight?" I asked in a small voice, hoping and praying the answer would be no.

He faced me, studying me with a dark, unreadable expression. "No." He answered flatly and my stomach tightened in anxious anticipation. "I don't think I will allow you to sleep tonight at all. You, dear Eve, have one helluva week of punishment coming to you."

I swallowed compulsively as he slinked closer to me. His movements were predatory, his gaze downright menacing.

"Yes, Master." I whispered, more excited than alarmed.

Adrian's expression became shockingly dangerous. He grasped my jaw in his hand, making me gasp softly.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He groaned. "If I'd known you'd been abused...I'd have never even suggested we go into bondage play."

He shocked me still further when he clasped my shoulders and rested his forehead against mine. "Eve...I'm so sorry. Why didn't you fucking tell me?!"

I felt something sickening rising up from my gut. I pushed away from him, my face no doubt muddled with emotions. "I wasn't abused! Did you not hear what Lynds said? I testified to Raven's innocence."

Adrian searched my eyes and I couldn't believe the amount of doubt I saw. He didn't believe me!

Of course, no one had believed me at the time; why should that change now?

"So he never hurt you? Never once scared you, or got you to do things for him you weren't comfortable with?" He asked the question ruthlessly.

I shook my head as I took another step back from him. "No! No, he wasn't like that. He was like you, a Dominant."

This hadn't been the thing to say, I realized, though, as I saw a hurt rage flicker through Adrian's eyes.

"So you admit you think this is abuse." He said, quite unreasonably, I thought. "Why do you let me Dominate you, then? Is the feeling of abuse so familiar to you?"

I stared at him, disbelieving. He wasn't making any sense. Did he really see himself as such a monster just because he was a Dominant?

"Are you just with me because I remind you of him?" He then demanded harshly.

A swell of anger hit me then. I was officially done with this whole conversation.

"If that's what you really think, and if you refuse to believe me about Raven's fucking innocence, then this is me turning in my two week notice."