"The thing is, Cassandra, I can't seem to stay away from you. Therefore, I don't want us to end this, at least not anytime soon."

I tense up against his body and want to get up, but Adrian holds me tighter against him. "Adrian," I warn him, not liking this.

"No, I want you right where you are," he mumbles.

Yes. Of course he does. I grunt, but don't try to move again. "We had a deal that both of us can end this at any time. You're going against your word now."

"I want assurance."

"Assurance? What assurance? This is a small fling between us. You know it can never be anything else and you know this can't last for long." I also refuse to get my heart broken by a man like him – who I know is unavailable.

Adrian sighs. "I feel like you don't feel the same about me as I do about you."

I stop breathing for a second. This time, I manage to move away from his chest to look at him. "Disculpe?"

Adrian settles his eyes on my face. "You heard me."

"But I don't think I understood the meaning of your words."

"It feels like you can put distance between us anytime you want. It feels like you can stay away from me. And I just can't." Adrian wears such a sombre expression, it makes my chest feel tight. He sounds sincere. And he sounds sad.

"Eso no es cierto. That's not true, Adrian." I put my hand on his bicep, softly squeezing his flesh. I don't know where his vulnerable side appeared from, but it's putting me into a position where I don't know what to say back to him.

"You had no problem ending things between us and acting like I don't exist. I did not like that. I hated it, in fact."

Dios. Adrian is really here, baring me his soul and openly talking about his feelings. I think I got so used to his cold side, to him not showing his feelings that when he opens up and talks about them, it makes me speechless.

I like that he's so open about it, I'm just afraid I don't know what he expects my answer to be and I don't want to disappoint him. "You knew what this was before you came to me with the proposal. You knew it better than me. And I heard that this isn't the first time doing this. You never had a problem ending things, Adrian, and that's why I'm afraid to jump into this."

Adrian settles down a little lower on the bed and looks up at the ceiling. I sit by his side and watch him as a long silence stretches between us. I'm biting the inside of my mouth, willing myself to keep quiet and give him time to think about it and what he's going to tell me.

"You're screwing everything up for me. And I don't like it."

I lower my eyes. "Even one more reason to end this now, then," I say quietly, twisting my hands in my lap.

Adrian inhales sharply, turning his head in my direction. "I can't. I can't stay away! For Christ's sake, Cassandra." He pinches his nose bridge. He sounds and looks mad. "Stop saying that! I can't, nor do I even want to stay away."

"Alright. What do you want, then?" I ask patiently and calmly.

Adrian looks at me. "I don't want you to end this. Ever. I want to change our terms."

I cock my head to the side. "You want to take away my 'right' to end this. Is that what you're saying?"

Adrian only slightly purses his lips, but stays quiet otherwise.

"Absolutamente no!" Absolutely not. I'm outraged. "You can not be serious, Adrian," I continue, a little calmer. "That's not how a relationship between two people work."

Adrian still doesn't say anything.

"Have you ever been in a relationship before?"

Still silence.

"Adrian?"

He merely shrugs. "Have you?"

I shake my head. "You're ... you're casado, Adrian! Married!"

"Meaning?" he says, visibly impatient.

I sit against the headboard and pull the sheet over myself, suddenly feeling cold. "You can't forbid me not to end this. No way, Adrian. Making me feel trapped won't make me stay."

"Then what the hell is going to make you stay?! Huh? Tell me!" Adrian bellows, sitting up on the bed now. I move away from him. He scares me when he looks like that and when he raises his voice at me. He's a scary, powerful man when he wants to be and I don't like him using that power on me.

"Don't raise your voice, please."

He bangs his head back against the wall, looking at the ceiling yet again, taking deep breaths.

"Why don't we take this one step at a time? Continue things how they were and just keep going with it."

Adrian lets out a dry, sarcastic chuckle. "Yeah. A Fantastic idea." Adrian suddenly stands up and puts his pants on. And then he turns and looks down on me, his eyes full of sorrow. "This was clearly a mistake on my part, coming here tonight and saying everything that I've said. I apologise."

My bottom lip trembles. "Adrian, you don't have to –"

He swiftly leans down and kisses me on the cheek, keeping his lips lingering there for a few seconds, inhaling my scent. "Good night, Cassandra. I hope you'll sleep well."

"Adrian!" I try again, desperate, when he starts walking towards the door. He doesn't turn around. He slams the door as he exits, making my heart shatter.

I grunt, throwing myself back down on the bed and just blink up at the ceiling the way Adrian was doing before. Did this seriously happen or did I just imagine it?

In the morning, Adrian is the first down yet again. He's burried in the papers on the dining table and intently looking at the computer. Once again, he's wearing glasses that make him look even more irresistable.

I take a deep breath before I go behind him. I don't know if he hears me, but I lightly put my hands on his shoulders, feeling him tense up. "Good morning," I say, slightly leaning down close to his ear. I don't know what to expect from him.

"Morning," he roughly grumbles back.

I squeeze his shoulders. "I'm sorry for last night."

I feel him eyeing me. "The breakfast won't make itself."

I lift my hands off his shoulder as if they burned me. "Of course, Mr Welch," I say through the enormous lump in my throat.

I start walking towards the kitchen, cursing myself for being an idiot.

"What did you just call me?"

"What I should've been calling you all along."

I hear him shifting in his seat and when I look over my shoulder, I see he angled his body towards me so he's looking at me now. "What you should've been calling me all along," he repeats. "And who said that, Miss Duarte?"

I blink at him.

"Who gives you orders in this house?"

I still don't say anything.

"Cassandra, I expect answers to my questions."

"You," I say quietly, hating him for making me feel so humiliated.

"It'd be well to remember that. And what did I say how you should call me?"

I feel like he's mocking me. My face twists. "You're such a imbécil, Adrian." Jerk. Adrian's eyebrows arch. "Your breakfast will be ready in a few minutes."

I disappear into the kitchen, too overwhelmed with too many emotions to stay there and listen to him humiliating me any further.

I don't like feeling like I'm below someone. I don't like feeling like I'm not good enough. And that I constantly do everything wrong. Adrian is making me feel that way and I already regret forgiving him and taking him back – if I can even say so. It seems like this thing will be over again sooner rather than later.

I try to quickly whip Adrian's breakfast together, but I'm in such a distress that I'm clumsy and it takes me longer than it should have. I prepare for the second war I'm going to most likely get today when I put the plate on the table, along with a glass of water.

When I turn away from the table, not even looking at Adrian, he grabs my arm and sits me down on his lap, wrapping his arms around me.

My body becomes rigid and I get still as a statue.

He buries his head into my neck and I shudder. "I'm sorry," he whispers, placing a kiss on my neck.

I dig my nails into his hands, wanting him to release me. "Let me go."

"No."

"Libérame, Adrian." Release me.

His arms get even tighter around me.

"You can't make me feel like shit and think that 'sorry' afterwards is going to make it all better."

"Make you feel like ...? No, that's not what I was trying to do," Adrian says, almost desperately.

"Well, you did! How fucking hard it is to be a decent person and try to give me respect instead of being an asshole every time you don't get everything you want?"

"I'm sorry," Adrian says once again.

"I'm mad. Let me go," I grit out, trying to force his arms apart, but he doesn't budge.

"Be mad on my lap."

"Déjame ir, Adrian!"

"No!"

A loud sob suddenly ripples out of me. "Stop hurting me, maldición!" Goddamnit.

Adrian releases me then and I immediately spring on my feet, running out of the dining room and angrily wiping my tears, angry with myself for showing him my weakness and for letting him cut me so deep.

Maldito sea. Damn him.

I run to the bathroom downstairs and lock myself in. I run cold water over my wrists to calm myself down and then splash my face with it.

My eyes look slightly red but otherwise, there are no traces of me crying or being upset. I just look tired and overall fed up with everything. I don't know if I'll be able to stay here for much longer anymore. I don't know if I'll be able to still continue working here. It's starting to prove that it's becoming hard for me.

I have some money. Not enough to go through the college and find myself a flat, but I think I could survive until I find the next job.

I put my elbows on the sink and put my hands over my face. I don't know what to do. I don't know what would be the right thing to do for me.

I know it'd be better to go and go somewhere else. That'd be better for my heart and for the peace of my mind. But financially and basically otherwise, I wouldn't do myself any favours. I could ruin it all. I might not be able to go back to college next year if I leave this job now because God knows where I'll be able to find the next job, how fast and how much they'd pay me since I don't really have any kind of experience.

I lean on the sink and glare at myself in the mirror, giving myself a pep talk. I can't be a weak bitch now. I can't let a man ruin it for me. I refuse to. I have my ambitions, I have my goals, and no one, not even an authoritative asshole won't stand in my way.

I go out of the bathroom, feeling better and stronger, until I come face to face with Adrian again. I want to just go and hide somewhere.

He wears a regretful expression and I keep my face neutral and without any emotions. He comes straight to me, putting his hands on my arms. "I'm sorry, Cassandra," he says yet again, his voice full of emotion, his eyes sincerely regretful.

I simply nod and he sighs. He puts his hand on my cheek and I try not to lean into his touch. "I have no idea how to do this. I have no clue how these things even work. So, please, talk to me. Don't run away from me. Tell me when I fuck up so I know how to fix it."

"You don't know how to do this and I don't know if I even want to do this. This is going nowhere, anyway, Adrian."

He shakes his head, both of his hands coming on my cheeks now. "Don't do that, Cassandra."

I look across the room, away from his face, feeling sad all over again.

"Goddamnit, don't do that! We'll make this work. Yeah?"

I press my lips together and Adrian leans his forehead against mine. "We'll make this work," Adrian says, this time as a statement.

And I finally give him I nod because he gets me under his spell enough to actually believe him.

He kisses me then, softly, slowly and sensually, his hot, soft mouth moving against mine in a hungry, yielding kiss.

He brushes down the hair in my ponytail when he leans back, his eyes searching my face. "Go eat something now, will you? Please."

I nod, giving him a silent promise.

He pecks my lips once more before he buttons his dress jacket and takes his hand through his hair, combing it so it doesn't look that messy. I put my shaky fingers against my mouth, his kiss still lingering there and my lips are tingling from missing his already.

Ha made me addicted. And he made me obsessed. 

GUESS WHO'S BACK?!! yeah, it's your favourite person on wattpad. I'm done with my exams (hopefully) and I'm back to writing after a full month of not even writing a word. wheeew, did I miss this. 

Let's finish this book now!