The next morning, Leroy's face is the first thing I see. He is asleep, but that's not what makes me hold my breath for a moment.

It's more the fact that he's so close to me.

We have spent several nights in the same bed so far, but somehow there has always been a certain distance, but now the tip of my nose almost touches his, we are so close. My hand is on his neck and I can't explain how it got there, but I don't want to take it away either.

Did my words yesterday trigger something and he chose to be close after all? And what does that mean? Does it mean that he usually distances himself, or was it rather me who wanted to keep the distance even while sleeping?

Whatever it was, it doesn't matter. The only thing that matters is the feeling of his arm around my waist, which I don't want to miss anymore. I feel comfortable. I feel comfortable in his arms, surrounded by his masculine scent, which makes me close my eyes, fluttering, and the knowledge that I have taken a step forward after all.

But after a while, I get quite warm and my bladder makes itself known so that I have to try to get loose. I open my eyes and take a long look at his flawless face before quietly trying to wake him up because I just can't get his heavy arm away.

"Leroy?"

He merely mumbles.

"Let go of me, I need to pee," I demand in a whisper. "Hey," I repeat, shaking him lightly by the shoulder as I suddenly feel his big hand on my thigh.

"Then go, but if you're not back here in three minutes and instead searching the house for aliens, I'll snap your neck," he suddenly replies loud and clear, making me wince hard.

Really... like I'm some kind of crazy scientist!

Grumbling, I rise carefully so that the wound doesn't hurt any more than it already does and go into the bathroom where I do my business, brush my teeth and wash my face with cold water before returning to the bedroom.

My eyes fall on the tattooed man lying on his stomach in bed, probably fast asleep again. 'So much for his three minutes', I think to myself mockingly but have to smile about it too. He does seem to have been very tired.

I let my eyes wander searchingly, but I can't find a clock that tells me what time it is, but I can't go back to bed, because now I'm wide awake. My gaze falls on Leroy's wristwatch lying next to him on the dresser and without thinking further I walk towards it before checking to see what time it is.

I can just make out that the needle is about to strike six when I am suddenly grabbed by the wrist and whirled around. I land roughly on Leroy and have to moan loudly in fear that I've fallen on my wound, although I don't feel any pain at first. It was a quick-witted reaction because I was so frightened.

Nevertheless, I feel a slight tinge of anger that Leroy did that and thus took it into his head to really hurt me, and I moan again in deliberate pain.

"Diablo," Leroy curses softly as he must realize that I am actually hurt.

I tighten my legs slightly to make him feel like I'm writhing in pain as my face is stuck in his throat.

"Fuck, I forgot," he sighs, actually sounding stunned before I feel his fingers against my stomach.

"Don't," I whisper, feeling a little bad for a moment that I'm fooling him, but hastily I tell myself that he deserves this now because he really could have hurt me.

"I'm just checking to see if the stitching has opened up. You're not crying now, are you?"

"No, I'm not crying, but it hurts a lot," I lie.

"Everything seems to be healed. Do you think you can move?"

"Yes," I breathe and he is already grabbing me gently by the hips and rolling me to the other side of the bed.

He straightens up onto his knees and builds himself up in front of me before pulling up my top for good measure, only to find that nothing is bleeding again.

But he doesn't apologize. I can see in his eyes that he feels bad, but he doesn't say anything, which disappoints me.

"What were you doing there anyway?" he asks me, snapping me out of my thoughts before dropping back into bed.

"Just looking at the watch," I answer quietly, not looking at him. "Because I can't sleep anymore and I wanted to ask you if I could go for a walk."

All at once, his eyes are open again, although he had just closed them again. I bite the inside of my cheek, already knowing what he's going to answer now. "What makes you think I would agree to that?"

"Well, I just thought that since we're in Ohio now and you realize that I'm not going to run away and I can't even if I wanted to," I begin uncertainly, trying to withstand his unyielding gaze. "And besides, we discussed this, didn't we? If I want something, I'm supposed to do something about it first, and that's what I'm doing."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yes. I thought I'd bake you a cake," I confess, shrugging slightly as he balks. "I was still wondering if you like chocolate cake?"

"No, you don't take a walk." With those words, he reaches for his phone and checks to see if any messages have come in.

"What? Why?", I exclaim indignantly, slowly straightening up. I don't understand. After all, he can see how much I'm accommodating him, so why can't he accommodate me a little?

"You're hurt," he merely says without looking at me, to which I simply raise my eyebrows.

"I'm just going for a walk and would walk slowly - and I won't go far either, I promise!", I hurry to say as he lies back on his stomach and buries his arms under the pillow. "Please, I need some fresh air! And you said you'd give me a chance for a decent life if I just paid you reasonably."

"Pay? Is that how you see it?"

"You know how I mean it," I sigh, at which Leroy blinks up at me. I sit cross-legged in front of him and that's how I'm going to stay until he agrees because I need some time to myself and time to think...

"Do I?" he interjects, raising his eyebrows expectantly as I just barely refrain from rolling my eyes.

"If you don't want cake, then I can come up with something else," I try to persuade him, only for him to close his eyes again. I grit my teeth angrily. Is he serious?

"There is a small casket in my jacket pocket. Bring it to me," he suddenly orders, making me blink in perplexity at first, but in a moment I am on my feet and running to the armchair where his jacket is lying.

I ignore the quiet voice in my head that tells me that his jacket was still hanging downstairs yesterday when we went to bed because I already realize that he must have disappeared during the night again. Shaking my head, I grab the black casket and walk back towards him as he sits up, annoyed.

"Sit down," he commands without glancing at me and opens the casket, which contains a small silver chain. Confused, I sit down on the bed, and immediately he unexpectedly grabs my foot. I draw in my breath quietly as he merely puts the chain on.

"Ehm, thanks?", I murmur irritatedly and take a closer look at the pretty anklet before I look him in the face again. Coldly, he returns my gaze and makes me swallow.

"This anklet contains a chip that tells me your location. Accordingly, I advise you not to do anything stupid because I would immediately find you."

Stunned, I return his gaze. It's hard to believe that he doesn't trust me at all, even though I've just told him that yes, I couldn't run away anyway!

"You must know that it only makes my work easier. In the end, I would find you even without this chain. Remember that you now wear my name," he adds to his previous words and lifts my hand as if to demonstrate before I can follow exactly how he strokes my wedding ring. Silently, I press my lips together angrily and tear my hand away from him before slowly standing up.

The important thing is that I can finally get some fresh air!

While I put on weatherproof clothes, I see Leroy going back to sleep in the corner of my eye before I leave the bedroom.

"Can you open the gate, please?", I ask the guard as I arrive outside and stop in front of the huge gates, whereupon he looks at me suspiciously at first.

"Who are you?"

I'm about to say Katrina Cooper when I remember that's not my name anymore, as Leroy had just pointed out. "Katrina Kingston," I say then, instantly feeling the goosebumps on my arms.

"Oh, Mrs. Kingston, please forgive me, but I have never seen you here before, which is probably because you arrived yesterday, right? I heard about the visit, but I wasn't here myself yesterday because I was on holiday," he explains immediately, a little panicked, to which I merely wave him off with a slight smile.

"No problem. Thank you," I reply curtly and wait anxiously for him to finally enter the PIN code and for the gates to open, which they do immediately.

I smile gratefully at him before finally going out after all these weeks.

☼ ❅

An anklet with a chip... how romantic

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