Dare Trilogy | Book 3 Editing | ✓

3.24 | Taking Advantage

Edited: November 11, 2020

| . . . C H A P T E R - 3 . 2 4 - T A K I N G - A D V A N T A G E . . . |

After wiping my face off the makeup from the party, I walked out of the washroom to find Arnav still on the bed with his face buried amidst the pillow, still dressed in the clothes he'd worn to the party.

"Arnav, go change." His answer came in 'hmm' form, but he made no attempts to get up. Discarding of the towel in the laundry basket, I climbed into bed and turned on the dim lights instead of the overhead one. "Atleast get rid of your tie if you aren't going to change." I suggested as I pulled the blanket from under his weight to cover my legs.

"Shh." He silenced me, twisting to lay on his back, eyes still closed.

He must have been exhausted after the night we just had. Even with his eyes closed, I could pick out the tiredness reflecting on his face. I didn't push him to get up again. Shifting to my knees, I waddled over and decided to work on untying the material around his neck myself.

"Thank you," he mumbled realizing what I was doing.

"Your welcome."

"I know you said you'd take advantage of me tonight, but I didn't think you were serious." He teased me when I moved to unhooking his belt.

"Shut up, you can't very well sleep comfortably with a belt." I explained. His mind may have been quick to jump to conclusions, but my motives were purely... pure. For his own comfort.

He opened his eyes, "Mind getting rid of this shirt too then?"

"You're even more childish than Aarav." Even though Aarav was a child, and more tired past his bedtime, he didn't trouble this much.

He stuck his tongue out, making me shake my head in amusement. Sitting with legs tucked under me, I worked on the collar button. It was being stubborn. Groaning in irritation, I leaned forward to use both my hands. When it finally did slip through, my grip slipped and jaw dropped at the scratch.

He exclaimed, "Damn it, lady. You need to cut your nails."

"Hush." I scolded him and lifted his chin to make sure the scratch on his neck wasn't too deep that it would have drawn blood. Sadly, things don't work the way I wish for them to. "See, this is why you don't tell me to do risky things for you."

"Risky?" He repeated in surprise, "Sweet pea, I just asked you to take my shirt off for me!"

"Well then, these buttons are as stubborn as you."

"I am not stubborn. You are!" I was about to retort when he touched the cut where blood was seeping out. "Ugh, fine. You can argue with me later. Can you get something first to clean this up?" Too tired to move, I took his tie to clean it up. Gasping, he stole it from my hand before it would touch his neck, "Not my tie!"

"You didn't specify what to get to clean it up." I said in defense as I used my thumb instead. "There. It doesn't look that deep."

"Burns like hell though."

"You're being dramatic." I dismissed it, going on to unbutton the rest of the buttons. I had only reached mid-way when my eyes flickered up to the scratch mark where there was fresh blood. I was going to have to go get antiseptic. I walked off to get it from the washroom and settled next to him again.

As soon as I pressed the cotton to his neck with some pressure to stop the blood, he flinched. Concern overtook my irritation. It might have not looked deep, but I wasn't the one with a scratch. Taking a fresh one and pouring a few drops of antiseptic on it, I dabbed it over the mark. He hissed, closing his eyes. I leaned over to blow air, hoping it would somehow soothe the burn.