“Is that your way of asking me to tie you up?” Marco asks as he unhooks my seat belt and pulls me out.
“I’m being serious,” I say, pulling away from him.
“No, Stella. I don’t want you to feel like a captive here,” he says. He is rigid in the way he talks. He wants me to trust him, but he is as comforting as a stone slab on a summer day in Georgia.
“I am a captive here, Marco,” I say, raising my voice. “Am I allowed to leave?”
“No,” he says. “Not without me.”
“Then I am a fucking captive. Call it whatever you want, but this is kidnapping. Good intentions mean shit if you have me isolated.”
“Let’s go inside,” he says dismissively.
“No,” I scoff. “You go do whatever you want, I’m not going in your home.”
“Stella, it’s late. Will you please come inside?” he asks, still with the same harsh tone.
“No,” I repeat. I walk up on the porch and sit on one of the oversized wicker patio chairs. “Go on inside, Marco. It’s getting late, remember?”
“Fine, you want to be a brat about it? Enjoy your evening. The door will be unlocked when you change your mind,” he says as he turns and walks into the house.
I don’t think he understands just how stubborn I am. Most kids go through a phase where they say they are going to run away, and the parents sometimes will pretend to help them pack. Well, my parents did that and I actually ran away. It took them nearly four hours to find me asleep on a slide at a playground a mile away. I will die on this porch before I go into that house. He will either act like a normal human with emotions or I won’t go inside. He acts like he has a stick up his ass. He is too high and mighty to stoop to acting like he gives a shit that he just kidnapped me. Although, as a kidnapper, he is only going to see his reasoning. I think what I am caught up on is he acts like he wants me to trust him but is offering zero compassion.
I pull my feet under me and lay my head on my arms as they rest on the arm of the chair. He left the light on, probably to bother me, but it’s nice to have some light as the sun goes down. As the temperature drops, I get cold. Instead of folding, I just pull my arms into my shirt and cross them over my chest before repositioning so I can rest my head. I fall asleep like this.
I feel weightless as I slowly wake up. It takes me a few seconds to realize I’m being carried. “I won,” I mumble.
“You’re a stubborn woman, Stella,” Marco says as he lays me down and pulls a blanket over my body. I am still shivering but the warmth surrounding me helps. Marco lays on the bed behind me and wraps his arms around me before pulling me closer.
“You’re warm,” I say.
“You’re not,” he says, kissing my shoulder.
“Thank you.”
“For what?” he asks. “Not letting you freeze to death?”
“Partly, but for showing emotion. All I wanted was for you to show that you care about my well-being, at least a little.”
“I don’t think the cops would like it if there was a dead body on my porch,” he says. I laugh and roll to face him.
“I thought you said it wasourhome?” I ask.
“It isourhome,” he says as he brushes my hair from my face. “I know this is scary and I know I’m asking a lot of you, but please understand that I’m doing this to help you.”
“Why would he want to kill his own child?” I ask quietly.
“I don’t know,” he says. “I know you don’t want to be in this world that he has dragged you into, but we need to be able to coexist.”
“Does that include angrily fucking me in the woods or was that just a bonus?” I ask and he smirks.
“I didn’t intend for that to happen, but you seem to push all the right buttons,” he says.
“So, what now?” I ask.
“Now, you go to sleep,” he says. “Tomorrow, we can get you settled.” I nod and close my eyes. I’m too exhausted to fight with him. This isn’t how I imagined getting married, but I can at least make the most out of the time we will have together. That can start with being less of a bitch to him.
All day today I have been sorting through a hoard of clothes that Marco had some woman bring over. They’re nice but more modest than I’m used to. There are no dresses above the knee. Nothing shows anything below the collar bone. I don’t know if that was Marco’s doing or hers. She can dress in a short strapless dress and five-inch heels. No doubt she’s trying to get his attention.