24

EIGHTH HOUR

"You'll let me spank you."

The room fell silence. Out of all things, this was the last that she thought he would want.

"Punishment?"

"Pleasure." He smirked back. "We're not having sex but spanking you will just rile you up, so when we do have sex at the end of tomorrow, it's going to be so much more exciting." He explained when he saw the confusion on her face.

"Fuck you!" She protested loudly.

"Okay, I'll give you a second choice." He placated, she stared at him cautiously and waited for him to keep talking. "I get to put a ring on your finger."

"What. The. Fuck?" She got each word out slowly just so that her mouth wouldn't hang open.

"I don't like you wearing a ring from another man." He explained with a shrug, "you know I'm possessive and jealous."

"You want to replace this ring?"

"I don't have to replace it, you can just wear it on another finger."

"What's this ring going to mean then?"

He shrugged, really hadn't thought of that part yet, "a promise ring?"

"Fuck no!" She protested because her mind went to a promise for marriage.

He looked away just to hide the hurt in his eyes at the cruel rejection.

"Do you already have a ring for me?" She asked quietly knowing that her outburst stung, and she knew he didn't like to be rejected because no one does. He nodded solemnly, fearing that he would get yelled at again. "How about," she proposed, "we make that ring a promise ring, signaling our pact. The one we made where we promised each other that we wouldn't go back to our old lifestyle if we date."

"I like that idea."

She swallowed and nodded nervously. Silence fell between them, and it wasn't exactly comfortable.

"Come on, make up your mind. We have to sleep early tonight, we're going to have a very early morning." He tried to lighten up the mood with a light tone, but it only distracted her and not really changed anything about the atmosphere.

"What are we doing tomorrow?"

"It's a surprise."

"It better be good since you're going to be dragging me out of bed in the morning."

"I know my girl isn't a morning person."

"I'm far from a morning person, I usually take my run at midnight." She deadpanned.

"That's interesting, I might have to think of ways to get you to wake up in the future then."

"Perks of sleeping with you?"

"Perks of sleeping next to me." He corrected. "By the way, I want to ask you something, I've been wanting to ask about it for a very long time now."

"Yeah?"

"Your tattoo."

"What about it?" She asked.

"Just tell me about it." He requested.

"Okay... uh..." she thought for a while about where to start and what to reveal because she knew he wouldn't like her answer much. "You don't like tattoos do you?"

"No, I never said that. I'm just very curious. That's your only one right?"

"Yes. Mine is a big one. I got it with Ethan, the guy I was video calling earlier.He got something small and I got this." She answered, "we didn't get matching ones but I did help him choose what he was getting."