4

Looking back, I immediately recognized Odran, who eyed us both skeptically and took off his brown jacket. His eyes kept aiming at me fleetingly, but most of the time he was looking at Senan, who slowly got up again.

"What does it look like?" he grinned stupidly at his older brother, who didn't seem to think it was funny at all.

An unexpected grip on Senan's neck and he rudely tore him back into the living room. I was left alone with wide eyes and blamed myself that Senan would now get problems because of me, although he just wanted to be nice.

My heart was only pounding unevenly and I would have liked to follow them inside right away, but my feet didn't want to move an inch because of nervousness.

Not out of fear of Odran, but out of fear of my new life, which I still don't know... Basically, I had no idea how they all really felt.

Not a peep came out of the villa and still overwhelmed with the whole situation, I turned to Nero, who was just walking around quite nervously.

Since after a while it was almost unbearable to look at the darkened windows like a fool alone, I pulled myself together and ran ahead of Nero into the living room, where only a small light was left on and nobody seemed to be but me.

Have they forgotten me now?

Fuck them all. Use the few weeks to get a tan on the beach and improve your cooking skills, that's all you need!

Head held high, I ran to the stairs and then went up them to arrive in a large hallway with several doors.

It was dark, but since I could see lights shining through two of the doors below, my room could only be one of the other two, and I just hoped there really wasn't any more stress about me.

The lighter door was ajar and as I opened it quietly I turned on the light and marveled at this beautiful large bathroom until I remembered to look for my room.

I closed the door very quietly and then ran to the rearmost one to open it hesitantly as well.

As soon as I turned on the light, I immediately noticed my familiar brown suitcase lying on the white carpet in front of the big bed.

Jackpot!

I glanced around at the black bedding, the few plants and the TV mounted on the wall before I sat down on the carpet and opened my suitcase.

The familiar smell of home hit me immediately and a satisfied smile spread to my lips as I began to select a pair of white black pajama bottoms and a white top.

With the things in hand, I got up again and went back to the bathroom, where I stood directly in front of the mirror and examined myself carefully.

My brown irises darted curiously across my slightly flushed cheeks. I must have spent a few minutes too long on the meadow. Then I remembered Rian and I showed myself my best smile in the mirror, only to roll my eyes in annoyance.

"Acceptable... he doesn't have them all anymore," I murmured annoyed and then unzipped my dress to slowly slip it off my body.

"I'm much more than just acceptable," I told myself, standing there in my underwear, and had to admit that I cared more than I thought that he made me look so stupid. I've always struggled with my looks, because unlike others I found myself rather boring with slightly wavy brown hair and brown eyes and now that I was actually happy with myself, after puberty, this idiot had to have me again to shake.

I quickly shook off the negative thought of him, slipped into my sheep's clothes, and then, dress in hand, padded back to my room, where I stopped short at the sound of a noise.

First the front door slammed loudly, then several loud steps and, to my regret, the loud, nasty giggling of a woman...

Had he seriously brought the blonde here with him?

"I'm in the bathroom again. Just go to the back room," I heard Rian's deep voice from the hallway and then my heart started racing when I heard heels coming straight to my room...

Was this my room at all, I thought and stared at the small lamp in front of me, which only gave off a little light.

My first knee-jerk reaction almost made me duck under the bed before I remembered I was the wife who got dumped on this floozy...

So the time to get back at him had come sooner than I could have imagined.

I confidently tossed my hair over my shoulder and sat on the edge of the bed, Nero immediately stepping protectively in front of me.

The door opened in the next moment and this blonde, who was now lingering in the door frame, was unfortunately really very pretty. Tall, slim and a red dress. Somehow almost cliche, but she didn't seem to be sober anymore.

"Oops," she slurred, giggling, looking at me with wide eyes. "Probably the wrong room."

"No, you're exactly right here," smiled at her friendly, whereupon she wanted to take a step forward, but Nero got up at that moment, fixed her and made her more than just nervous.

"Sooo," I heard Rian and before he even noticed me, he wrapped his arms around her waist from behind to caress her shoulders.

And although I shouldn't mind at all and I've only known him for a day, I felt a slight pain in my stomach at the sight.

"Baby," the blonde whimpered, half moaning, and tapped his arm, causing him to let go and look at her questioningly. "Who is this?"

Rian looked at me in confusion and just as he looked deep into my eyes, all of his facial features fled, while I actually wanted to smile triumphantly, but it kind of felt like shit to see him standing with her.

"That is-"

"I'm his wife," I blurted out angrily. I got up and immediately her eyes widened in disbelief while Rian looked at me almost in bewilderment at what I said.

"I'll go then... I'm sorry... I didn't know anything," she stuttered awkwardly and turned to Rian to slap him so hard that even I could feel it and the smile grew on mine lips again.

I liked this blonde bitch.

All you could hear was her quick clacking steps down the hallway, then how she took the stairs and finally a loud slamming of the front door.

Rian's gaze met mine again and I raised an eyebrow with a smile until he suddenly slowly walked towards me and stood so close in front of me that my heart leapt. His scent of perfume got deep into my mind and I had to open my mouth a little bit not to be exposed to that scent any further.

I wanted to somehow avoid his proximity, but he roughly took my chin and looked me up and down without expression, which sent a shiver down my spine.

Nero growled softly, but Rian didn't seem afraid of him... probably he wasn't afraid of anything...

"When God closes a door, he opens a window," he breathed in my face, grabbing my hair to pull my head back slightly. It didn't hurt, but I was still shocked by the gesture and felt completely at his mercy as he then pressed his lips to the skin of my neck, making me feel I didn't want to feel.

***

His warm breath hit the skin of my neck, causing tiny hairs to stand up electric and I closed my eyes dazed for a moment to enjoy this intense feeling of my body responding to his stimuli.

These sensations were completely new to me.

I had never felt such comfortable goosebumps on my arms that made me sigh softly while Rian began to suck my skin lightly.

I knew it was wrong, absolutely wrong, after everything he had done to me in such a short time, to stand here and do nothing against his approach... but I was trapped.

"You smell good," he whispered in his deep voice, gently releasing my hair to place his hand on my chin again and look deep into my eyes.

My heart was pounding at an uneven rhythm while my mouth was slightly open and I couldn't tear myself away from the beautiful gray-blue of his irises...

There was something in his eyes. Something that only came up when he looked at me for a long time and made me feel like he had something of a heart under that cold facade after all.

Time stood still and I knew that even if the whole world had perished around me, nothing could have destroyed this magical moment.

Except himself...

As if struggling against something deep inside, he suddenly let go of my chin and ran both hands over his face as if trying to regain his sanity.

"Your room is upstairs," he then explained as coldly and emotionlessly as before, taking my suitcase with one hand and using the other to pull the door wider behind him.

I didn't say anything, caught myself staring at his butt and mentally slapped myself at my stupid, naive behavior.

Luckily, now that he wasn't close to me, my sanity came back and I was annoyed that I even looked into his eyes for so long.

Rolling my eyes, I ran after him down the dark hallway and then, when he switched on a light, actually saw a bright spiral staircase at the end, leading upstairs.

"I'm not going up there, but you have everything you need up there and also your own bathroom," he then let me know, while his gaze became wistful for a moment before he put his expressionless mask back on.

"Thank you," I breathed, still unsure about everything, and carefully took my suitcase. I wanted to play with fire. Inwardly wanted him to look at me again, but he didn't and quickly turned away from me to walk past Nero back to his room.

How could someone who seemed so cold and distant make me want to be close to him? Was it because I was his wife now, if only on paper? Maybe it was all just too much for me and my emotions got the better of me.

Climbing the few steps, I suddenly had to think of Stockholm Syndrome. Kidnapped people fell in love with their kidnapper... From a psychological point of view it's not that unlikely, but based on reality I had to know how to prevent something like that in any case.

At the time, I was also sure that I would never feel anything for this bastard. How naive I was sometimes...

At the top there was only a small hallway with two doors. Curious, I opened the first one, which led me into a bathroom that was smaller but just as well appointed as the one below. A bathtub, a sink, a toilet and a laundry basket. That should be enough and was far more than we had in the caravan.

After I dropped my suitcase on the floor, I rummaged for my toiletries and cursed my older cousin.

"He only packed laundry for me, this complete idiot," I stated annoyed and held my head for a moment. How stupid could someone actually be? But no wonder, as often as he had been beaten by my uncle. In the end I should be glad that he had even brought the suitcase to the wedding party in one piece.

Frustrated, I pushed the suitcase under the sink with my foot, took a quick, last look at myself in the mirror and then walked barefoot through the narrow hallway to open the second door.

"Oh, you...." I exclaimed, impressed, and I suddenly found myself in a room that was even larger than Rian's room.

One side consisted only of a huge window that faced the beach and I was already looking forward to having this view every morning and every evening.

Unlike downstairs, the floor up here consisted only of carpet. A white carpet that just felt incredibly soft under my bare feet.

Then my eyes fell on the four-poster bed, which was covered with red linen and was made of light-colored wood.

When this room was so much nicer than his own, why didn't Rian come up here?

Eyeing the large, dark wardrobe across from the window, I ran to the bed and sat cross-legged on it, patting the covers to indicate to Nero that he, too, was welcome up here.

A skillful jump and already exhausted he snuggled up to me. He too had a long day...

The silence that then took me up here made me feel uncomfortable and lonely because I wasn't used to it.

We lived trailer to trailer and you were lucky if you were quiet in our neighborhood before 3 a.m. In addition, the four of us lived in a very small space and now I felt completely alone in a palace that, despite its size, threatened to suffocate me...

I tried not to think about it any further, also forcing myself to forget the moment with Rian and flopping back wearily to close my eyes and fall asleep.

Of course, I didn't succeed right away, and every time my mind tried to force me to think back to those tingling goosebumps, I would twitch angrily and toss and turn until even Nero jumped off the bed and made himself comfortable in front of it.

Great! Now you've pissed off your last friend here too!