Claire: The Forced Virgin Of The Billionaire

The read receipt popped instantly and I turned the phone off and then thrust the phone back in my pocket. My heart sank but that sensation was below the surface of my anger, which was bigger than my fear or my common sense right now, so I resumed walking and Nino followed right along behind me. After a few minutes I was beyond annoyed with him walking right behind me and I needed to lose him. I just needed five damn minutes by myself, totally by myself.

I saw a blonde woman in a skimpy outfit carrying a tray of drinks and I saw a drunk-looking middle-aged Asian guy approaching her so I suddenly took off running past him, sort of bumped him, and he knocked her drinks all over the place. This happened like it was carefully rehearsed choreography, right in front of Nino and I was off…half walking half running hoping casino security wouldn’t think I was suspicious and try to stop me, zig zagging through rows of slot machines and then card tables and roulette wheels. I finally got the nerve to glance back and there was no sign of him.

I found my way out into the lobby of that hotel and left. I went to a café a few doors down and sat and drank an iced cappuccino and took my time about it. The longer I sat there, the angrier I got. How dare he! What the heck was his problem?

Better question: what the heck was

my

problem? My heart sank. Provoking him like that? I had no idea how pissed he’d be but I was pretty pissed, too, and the way I was feeling I’d have no problem articulating that to him.

After over an hour in the café, I hailed a cab out front. I asked the driver to take me to the hotel. I had no death wish desires so, no, I wasn’t running away right now. I guess I was just teaching him a lesson. How dare he do that to me and then have the audacity to ‘give’ me half an hour to cool down?

I paid the cabbie and then I strolled up to the concierge’s desk and told him I was with Azriel Clarke, gave the suite number, and said that I’d forgotten my room key.

He punched some keys into his computer and told me he remembered me from the other day and that he’d escort me up in a moment and asked me to just have a seat.

I had to stand my ground. If we were going to have a real relationship, one that was a two-way street, I had to have a voice he paid attention to.

If he really wanted me for me, he’d understand that he couldn’t keep doing things like this.

And he’d have to learn to rein in his temper, too, because what’d happened this morning was totally unacceptable!

The concierge came over a moment later and told me he’d escort me to my suite. Once inside I kicked off my shoes and then I poured a glass of wine from the ice bucket in the bedroom.

It was from last night and the ice had melted but it was still chilly. I sat down on the bed and I waited, arms crossed.

I was ready for a showdown with my fiancé.

I turned the phone on and saw there were 2 missed calls and 2 texts,

“Claire! Turn around right now and meet Nino at the front desk.”

Another one.

“Are you seriously stupid enough to do this? I f*****g hope not”

Nothing since then. It’d been over an hour ago. I answered with a text,

“Cool your jets. I’m in our room.”

Immediately he read it and those three dots appeared, showing he was typing,

“big f*****g trouble baby”

I wrote back,

“You know what? Bring it on. I’m so f*****g pissed at you. This relationship needs to be a 2 way street. You want to test me and play games with me over & over again? Treat me like crap & like a piece of property and then expect me to have zero reaction at you playing mind games? Wrong! If you want me to be the faithful and dutiful fiancee I SUGGEST you start treating me with respect!!”

My phone rang almost immediately after he read the message.

I answered it practically spitting, “What?”

“Be ready and waiting, baby girl. When I get there, I’m gonna paint your sweet little a*s black and blue.”

Click.

All my bravado drained out of me and I instantly felt like throwing up.

I am such a stupid naïve little girl. I thought I was so tough, so determined to stand up for myself, but here I was now quaking, wondering what sort of rage I’d be faced with when he returned.

His voice was so angry, so scary, that I wished I had an undo button for that conversation.

I started to pace, started to entertain thoughts of taking off and escaping but before I could form a coherent thought I heard something outside so I looked out the peep hole and there was a security guard standing right outside the door.

Holy s**t.

I went back into the bedroom, into the Hers bathroom to splash water on my face, and about fifteen minutes later I heard the door open.

My heart started to speed up but I took a deep breath, tried to push my fear away. I narrowed my eyes and crossed my arms.

There was a knock at the bedroom door, which was already half way open. I walked over to the doorway and both James and Nino were standing there. They both looked absolutely pissed.

The sight of the pair of them in my doorway was pretty damn intimidating-looking.

I swallowed and hugged myself. James spoke, “Azriel asked that you wait in the bedroom for him to get back. He’s asked us to lock the door. Since this door doesn’t lock from the outside, one of us’ll be right outside the door on guard till he gets back. You need anything?”