Chapter 13

“Skylar, let him explain!” Ethan said in annoyance once I shut my mouth.

My face turned toward him, fixing him with a hard glare. “I told you I don’t like it here.”

He sighed. “Give me a valid reason as to why this place is bad.”

“He doesn’t respect me!” I said, looking at the manager who was now worried about his employment in the hotel. “Where is my freaking name?”

“He said Mr. and Mrs. Parker!” Ethan complained. “Don’t complain that he didn’t go with the first name. He probably doesn’t know your name.”

I glared at him harder.

Actually, when we finally reached the hotel here in London - yes, that’s exactly where he planned our honeymoon - I had literally seen every freaking thing named as ‘welcome Mr. And Mrs. Parker.’

So I politely asked the manager to not do stuff like that and if he really wanted to welcome us, he should also mention my name in it.

To this, he disagreed. So to stay in his hotel, I disagreed. And to this behavior of mine, Ethan disagreed.

“Just get me the key and leave,” Ethan said to the hotel manager. “I’ll deal with her.”

The manager nodded in fear and left the place in a hurry.

I turned to Ethan and planted my hands on the hips. “What? Don’t give me that look. I told you I don’t want to stay here.”

“We’re staying here, Skylar. Even if you don’t like it.”

“Oh, that’s where you’re wrong. You know what, I’m just getting out of here and go-”

I was cut off abruptly as Ethan surprised me by his move. He swiftly bent down and threw me over his shoulder.

“-what the hell! Ethan! Put me down!”

“You called for it.” He replied, with a sigh.

The old couple that sat in the lobby stared at us and shared a good laugh.

“Ethan, everyone is looking!”

“And does it look like I care? They know we’re on our honeymoon. They’re probably expecting more from us.”

I widened my eyes. “Just shut up.”

“Yes, ma’am. Please stop squirming. Your stubborn ass is tough to handle.”

I growled in anger but could do nothing. How could I escape this? I could do something to him from behind but there is a good chance that I’ll just fall on my nose along with him.

So I shut up and endured the torture. We entered the room and he quickly walked to the bed to throw me onto it. I groaned in pain while he flexed his arms and muscles.

“Nice weightlifting it was.”

Ignoring his comment, I turned around and took the sight of the room in. “What. The. Fuck.”

Towards one end of the room was a spectacular view of the London Bridge, while onto the other side lay a giant king-sized bed. On that were a deep red mattress and a white duvet. There were white candles burning onto the side with their containers holding them in place with their fragrance filling the room. There was a giant bath tube put inside the ground in the bedroom itself! Seriously?

On the wall was a giant picture of us taken on our wedding day where he kissed me. Seriously, the thought of our wedding pictures didn’t even cross my mind until now. Below the picture lay a caption, Together forever.

“I’m so not staying here!” I said, looking back at Ethan. “This looks like a freaking honeymoon suite.”

He frowned and locked the door behind him. “This is a honeymoon suite.”

I rolled my eyes. “We both know we’re not exactly here for a honeymoon.”

He shrugged. “Well, I’m here for a honeymoon.”

“Ethan!” I said. “You- I. Ugh!”

“You’re doing everything for your benefit!”

“No.” He said with a frown again. “You’re getting the benefits too.”

“Benefits like?” I gave him a fake smile and planted my hands on the hips.

He smirked and took slow steps towards me. “You can completely let go of the fact that you hate me and think I’m your husband.”

I eyed him and took one step back. “Willum. you are my husband, legally.”

“Yes.” He said, still taking steps towards me. “But now, whatever happens in this tour will be between us. And we don’t even have to talk about it with anyone. Not even to each other.”

My back finally hit the wall. He inched closer and his breath fanned my face. “Well, we can try the friends with benefits thing again.” He smirked. “Like we did in High School.”

“I.” I gasped in for more air. The atmosphere around me seemed to have changed drastically. It was freezing outside but around us, there was only heat. I felt as though my body was hyperaware of every tiny detail.

His knees pressed against mine, our toes almost touching, yet seemed so far apart. I was aware of all these things just by a glimpse of them.

His hand went for mine, slowly climbing up. It rested near my elbow and I was slowly pulled toward him. My torso was now plastered against him, my hair falling on my shoulders.

He slowly pulled them back, moving his fingers over the side of my face. His cold fingers sent chills down my spine and I gulped in more. My mouth suddenly felt so dry, probably due to the closeness of his face to mine.

He edged closer, his nose brushing against mine. I closed my eyes, and so did he. I leaned in more as he pulled my face closer to his by my neck.

And ever so slowly, our lips met. And suddenly, we sprang apart when Ethan’s phone rang in his pocket.

“Fuck my life.”

He grumbled under his breath and took the phone out of his back pocket. His hand was still resting on my neck and our bodies were still very close to each other.

He answered the call and put his phone to his ear.

This is it. This is the time to escape, Skylar! Go, save yourself from the awkwardness.

I moved a little away, but his hand instantly shot up to my waist and blocked me from moving. He took another step and caged me against the wall. I looked up at him to find him intently staring at me.

“This better is important, Ben” He spoke into the phone.

A few seconds passed, and he spoke again. “I’m going to hang up.”

Ben spoke something on the other side which made Ethan’s face twist in anger. “Fuck you.”

With that said, he cut the call and shoved his phone back into his pocket. He looked back at me with the same heated gaze.

“So... where did we leave-”

He was cut off again by the phone call. He rolled his eyes and pulled out the phone. But this time, he switched the mobile off.

Shit.

“I need to go to the bathroom,” I mumbled before he had the chance to speak.

He frowned and eyes me suspiciously. “Now?”

“Um. yes.” I said, nodding.

He gave a knowing look and let go of me. I hurried to the washroom and closed the door behind me to let my body cool.

***

I’ve been avoiding Ethan for an hour now. We have gone out to do some shopping and I’ve been maintaining a good ten inches distance. He was confused with my change of behavior and eyed me suspiciously every now and then.

But seriously, how was he even able to survive this proximity? It was burning me inside. Just the scent of him was killing me. I groaned and headed to the ladies’ section leaving Ethan with the Sales guy.

I randomly went about with different clothes, not paying attention to anything. First of all, I needed to compose myself. Then came clothes.

While I carelessly went through the clothes, I noticed a dress on one of the hangers. It was a pink Jumpsuit with thin straps on the shoulders. I checked for the price and my eyes widened to form huge circles. It was way too expensive. I checked in my wallet but didn’t find enough cash. Sighing, I was about to keep it back when a salesgirl arrived.

“Do you want me to pack that, ma’am?” She asked.

“No. I...” I mumbled but was cut off.

“Yes, please.” I heard Ethan’s voice as he emerged from behind me and handed over the dress from my hand to her.

She smiled and left to the billing counter. I turned around with an annoyed look.

“What?” He asked me with a frown.

“Why did you buy that?” I asked.

“Because I wanted to.” He shrugged and walked past me.

I followed him. “I don’t want you to pay for my stuff!”

“I’m your husband, Skylar. There’s nothing wrong with accepting my money.”

“You-”

“Keep talking if you want me to repeat what happened back in our hotel room.”

I stopped in my steps and shut my mouth up. He smirked at me and left to pay the bill while I kept glaring at his back.

Just then, I felt my phone buzz in my hand. Frowning at the unknown caller ID, I spoke.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Sweetheart.” I heard him speak.

My heart stilled for a second. “Jake?”

“You know me so well, sweetheart.” He said. “How are you doing? Missed me?”

I gulped and looked around to find Ethan. He was talking to the salesgirl who was taking his card from him.

“Uh-uh, don’t call your husband, baby.” He said. “That won’t be a smart move considering the hooded guy behind him.”

Sweat began to form on my head as I looked beyond Ethan’s shoulder to find a hooded guy with a mask gesturing me to shut my mouth. I gulped at the sight of him and spoke into the phone.

“What do you want?”

“You.” He said, with an evil laugh. “Ha-ha, I’ll have you later baby. But now, I need you to remove the changes you’ve pressed against me.”

“Rot in hell, Jake,” I said. “I will-”

“Do you see that guy behind your husband?” He asked. I looked back at the hooded guy to bow see that he held a pistol underneath his gloves.

My eyes widened. “No.”

“It won’t take a second for him to shoot your husband.” he said. “He is a very loyal person to me. He will kill your husband in a blink.”

“No!” I cried. “No, no! You can’t do that.”

“I can do that, sweetheart. And I will do that.” He said.

“No, no! I’ll remove the charges against you. Please, don’t shoot him!”

“That’s my girl.” He said with another evil laugh. “I’m expecting to be out of the jail by tomorrow sweetheart. If not, you know what I’ll do.”

With that said, he cut the call.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx