****ANNIE'S POV****

He was gone by the time I woke up.
  The lights were off, but a warm glow was being emitted by the lava lamp now standing on my night table. He must have asked someone to bring it in while I had been sleeping.

I smiled and pulled the pillow he had used closer to my chest. It still smelled like him, a soothing yet masculine scent.
   All the beautiful memories of us together since we met again flooded my mind. They were...perfect.

I was more than glad to have decided to chase after him. I was a few steps closer to having him. If anything, the last encounter had proved he still valued me. If I meant nothing to him, he'd have stayed with Pattie and let her take care of him.

  Pattie...
I had almost forgotten about that snake.

   My chest tightened and my heart twisted.
Only a single thought and I felt like I could kick her out of the city, let alone the mansion.

Jack must have had his reasons for allowing her to stay. Whether she was pregnant or not, she would only be used by Jack for the future of the organizations.
He was not one to do things thoughtlessly unless it was about me.

    Knock-knock!

Someone was outside?
I pulled the covers right to my face and feigned sleep just to deceive whoever it was. I wasn't in the mood for any chatting or otherwise.

  They opened the door and walked in.
Their light footsteps made it impossible to guess who they were. It could have been anyone, from the servants to... Pattie.
   My heart did a double beat to that thought. But I slowly organized my breathing and quietly slid a hand under the pillows to grab my pen knife, all while making as little movements as I could to avoid any detection.

      A soft thud rose from the night table like a tray.

  The tension bombarding my insides reduced to just a little, leaving one defense wall still up.
And when a manly chuckle lifted from them, the hand clutching the pen knife loosened. It was Jack.

   "I must say, you're good at pretending."

Silence.

The area near the night table sunk, indicating he had sat on the bed.
For about a minute, I waited. Waited for him to make his move so I could pretend even more. But nothing.
   The silence.
The heartbeats.
The curiosity.
They were all starting to kill me.

Why wasn't he moving? Why wasn't he exposing my pretense if he had seen through it?

  My left eye split open just enough to peep at the outside world. And there he was, leaning towards me, his blue eyes fixed on me lightly with a wicked smirk on his lips, giving him an evil yet damn sexy appearance.
He was wearing his specs, adding charm to his natural looks.

   Goddammit!
How could there be such a hot forty-year-old man? He looked nothing like forty, outsiders could easily mistake him for a mid-thirty male.

    "Gotcha," Jack breathed a chuckle.

"You cheated," I accused childishly.

"Come on, time to eat."
Jack only laughed moving away to give me space. He then slid his hands into my underarms and pulled me up to a sitting position like I was a baby.
   The feeling of his hands on the sensitive skin of the underarms made me giggle. A weakness I should not have exposed to him.

  "Still ticklish eh?"
He wasn't asking, he was confirming.
Like a statement made to let other people know you know of their dirty secret.
 
   "No I'm not," I denied, pushing his hands off of me lest I fall into a pit I had dug on my own.

  He laughed, giving me the, 'I already know' look.
   "Eat."

On the tray by the night table was a platter full of chicken drumsticks, some fries, and a bit of sauce. Next to the platter, stood a glass of apple juice, waiting to be drowned by none other than myself.

   The aroma was better than KFC or Popeyes. I had failed to detect it before due to the covers having been cutting off my nostrils from such a hunger-instilling smell.

"It smells amazing," I praised sitting cross-legged to accommodate the tray.

   Jack smiled, but it was snatched away from me when he turned towards the night table. With one hand turning on the brighter lamp, his other picked up the tray.

   "Eat all you want."

I smiled receiving the tray.

For about five minutes, Jack nothing, only watched me devour the food in such an unladylike manner. It tasted quite different from the food I had eaten the previous day. Had the chef been replaced?

  "You like it?"

I nodded energetically, my mouth stuffed with the tender juicy meat. Ooh, it tasted too good to go slow on it.
The fries were great as well, but the chicken, aaah! My taste buds were watering even while I was busy chewing.

   I didn't mind that he was watching me.
This was the man who had seen me naked, touched me, and even fucked me. What was there to be ashamed of in front of him?

   "Eat some more."

Wait.
Why was Jack being so nice?

He had been strict unless I acted first.
Yet here he was, bringing me food and encouraging me to eat.

   I forced the food down my throat and flushed it down with a gulp of juice.
  Once my mouth was free, I spoke up, "Is there something you want to tell me?"

  Jack smiled and nodded.

A strange spark flickered in his eyes. He seemed happy and something else.

    "Let me take that," his hands picked the try from my thighs and placed it back on the night table, then faced me.

An edgy feeling sunk into my stomach, spoiling the food I had just eaten. The way he was acting suddenly had me feeling goosebumps under my skin.

   "Annie, I have something important to tell you," Jack started, taking my hands in his.
He gave them a faint squeeze while his gorgeous eyes held mine. "This is really important, so listen carefully."

   "Jack, you're sounding so-"

"It's confirmed."

"What is?"

The male threw his gaze to the door and then back on me.
   "We're getting married tomorrow."

Marriage?

Instead of frowning, I smiled excitedly, leaving me questioning my sanity. I didn't remember Jack proposing, nor us talking about marriage.
  
   "Really? When?" I squeaked jumpily. "Where will we go for our honeymoon? Whe-"

Jack's hand snapped from mine coldly.
  His expression turned into disgusted and pissed. "Who said I'll be marrying you?" He questioned with a bitter scowl in his beautiful eyes.

    "What?" My voice betrayed my emotions. There was confusion, curiosity, and a sprinkle of instability.

Jack got off of the bed, the sweet personality that had been there a minute ago was now replaced by an angry and demeaning aura. He seemed ready to devour me wholly just as I had done to the chicken. And the specs no longer looked beautiful on him, they now gave him an evil and dark look.

    "I'm marrying the woman who didn't abandon me. The woman who is going to be the mother of my kids. She's beautiful and sticks with me even when I don't want her."
    When he finished the heart-shuttering words, the door swung open with an eerie creak.

A pregnant Pattie walked in in a flaming hot red dress that hugged all her curves, including her abdomen. The pregnancy seemed about eight months old, already mature.

   "Hello bitch," Pattie mocked sliding under Jack's welcoming arm. "I won. He's mine. All-" her hand moved across Jack's chest and down till it rested on his loins, "-mine. Everything is-" the hand slipped into Jack's pants and pulled out his already hard cock, "-all mine. Including your beloved Mr Cock."

I stared in horror as the pregnant female got on her knees and slid Jack's cock in her mouth.

    "We're going to get married tomorrow, start a family and you're going to watch us every damn day as we fuc- ooh!" A moan interrupted Jack's words.

No, this isn't real. Jack would never stop this low. He would never do such a disgusting thing and let me watch.

  Wake up Annie. Wake the fuck up, I screamed at myself, pulling my hair.

Pattie cackled out loud, joined by Jack's mocking words, 'She's losing it'.

       "Annie?" A different Jack called.
My eyes snapped open but were blinded almost immediately by the bright light in the room.

  "Are you okay?"

I looked around frantically. An odd dread corrupting my chest.
  
    "You didn't eat," Jack said disappointed. "Come on, go take a bath and meet me downstairs."

My gaze fell on him. His hair was different from the Jack that had taunted me. His eyes did not seem so devious as the other Jack's.

   This one was real.

It had all been...a nightmare.

We're less than two weeks away from completing book 2 on Patreon... 🎉🎉