Whoever thought Marcel was better off without an adult’s supervision, obviously thought wrong. Marcel was insufferable! How could he take those drugs without eating? And she didn’t trust that hot-headed gangster to stick to prescription. Arianna has stayed long enough with Marcel to know that he never sticks to the rules. So annoying.
“Miss Arianna, perhaps if you can leave everything to me….” said Beatrice, the housekeeper, who finally returned after her long leave. However, the cutting look from Arianna shut her up and she didn’t bother her anymore.
One needed not guess that Arianna was in a foul mood from the way she chopped the vegetables loudly, and with energy on the chopboard. She stomped across the kitchen to grab the ingredients she needed from the fridge, the irritation clearly written on her face.
“I’m sorry for my negligence…” The woman said after a while when Arianna wouldn’t talk to her, “It’s just that Marcel sometimes skips his meal and I had no idea that he was not feeling.”
“It’s not your fault, Beatrice,” It was all her boyfriend’s fault, “I am not mad at you, but at Marcel, and I would love it if you would let me express that through my cooking.” Arianna didn’t want to transfer her aggression to the woman.
“If you say so then,” Beatrice looked at her, reluctantly leaving the kitchen when she found out that there was nothing she could do there. She was being a distraction to the young lady – and stopping her from expressing her anger.
Arianna went about her cooking all alone until she sensed a presence and turned to see that it was Chloe and Winters. The girls were standing at the entrance of the kitchen unsure whether to come in or not.
“Nope, don’t think of it,” Arianna warned her when she saw Chloe put a foot out. “This is my kitchen, no distraction.”
“You’re mad.” She said.
.....
“At your brother, yes.”
“I’m not surprised, he’s good at pissing people off and stubborn too.” Chloe pointed out.
“Yes, annoyingly stubborn.” Arianna concurred while adjusting the gas burner.
“So…” Chloe probed, “Are you going to leave him? Because he pisses you off and is stubborn?”
Arianna turned to look at the girl surprised. She asked her, “What makes you think that?”
“Even good couples do break up sometimes and you said it yourself, my brother is infuriating.”
Arianna raised a brow, “Honey if I wanted to leave your brother, I had plenty of opportunities to do so in the past.” She walked over to where the girl stood and whispered to her hearing, “He’s not exactly my type. I think your brother actually charmed me into loving him.”
Chloe chuckled and Arianna laughed with her too. She then reached out and ruffled the girl’s hair, saying, “The point is that a few bad qualities are not going to stop me from loving your brother. I’m not innocent either, I have my bad attributes too, and can be impossible to convince. So I think we are a match made in heaven.”
“That’s the most romantic thing that I have ever heard after seeing Akim sweep Winters off her feet with a mind-blowing kiss.”
The instant Chloe said that, Arianna’s gaze rested on Winters with a pointed look that said, ‘What have you been teaching this kid?’
But Winters merely shrugged, no one said Chloe was innocent either. She had a boyfriend and knew things kids her age in this generation would.
“Speaking of Akim….” Arianna started, “I hope he’s settled down properly?”
“Yeah, he’s currently lying low in one of the guest’s rooms, although, I would have to inform you that Marcel has no idea he’s spending the night over. You should have seen the way Akim grew wide-eyed when he saw him, I have this feeling that Marcel warned him off me. ”
“It wouldn’t surprise me, sometimes, Marcel can be protective to a fault.” Arianna let out a deep breath, “You don’t have to worry about a thing, leave it all to me. I’ll handle Marcel, myself. You guys go rest up and we settle things in the morning. Marcel is in no condition to deal with any drama. He needs to have rest and I have come to make sure of that.”
“Okay.” Winters was only able to relax after he heard that promise.
Akim has been on the run again from his family and had no place to go. They want to send him back to Lincolnshire – and made sure their relationship ended. Niklaus thought of her as bad luck and Winters has no idea what Akim’s parents thought of her since they haven’t met face to face. But she bet they must have heard the rumors and don’t think highly of her either.
Winters didn’t blame them though. Most people don’t think much of her reputation and people who stayed with her always ended up hurt. Perhaps, it would be a good thing if they broke up. Come to think of it, both of them were from two different worlds and there was never a time she would have ended up anyway as his queen. They were young and there were plenty of times to fall in and out of love.
Even at that, the thought of ending things with Akim sent a searing pain through her. It was as if someone stabbed her in the chest with a knife, twisted it and left it there for her to bleed out to death.
“Are you okay?” Arianna asked, noticing the way the girl went pale in the face.
“I-I’m fine. I’m good,” Winters covered it up with a smile, “I think I should check up on Akim.” She made up an excuse to leave before Arianna sensed something was up.
Arianna in question stood at the spot, watching her retreating figure. Something was bothering Winters, she could tell.
“I think your soup is burning.” Chloe reminded her, pointing in the direction of the stove.
“Shit!” Arianna cursed and hurried over, turning off the gas. This is why you don’t need a distraction while cooking. By the time she turned to the entrance, Chloe was gone as well. Wonderful, everyone leaves you during the bad time.
Thankfully, her chicken soup didn’t burn as much as she thought and the next minutes, Arianna went upstairs with the food on a tray. Marcel was on his phone typing when she came in.
“Phones away,” She commanded him.
“Just give me ten minutes, love, this is work-related and I would give you all of my attention afterward.”
“Is anyone dying?” She asked.
“No. Why do you -”
“Is there any sort of trouble?”
“No, it’s just that I need -”
“Put the phone away, Marcel.” She said sternly and for a moment there, when he lifted his head and their eyes connected, Arianna thought he was going to be mad for telling him what to do.
But to her surprise, he said,
“Yes, boss lady.” And put the phone down, pushing it to the far end of the bed, asking, “Satisfied?”.
“Very,” Arianna said, before setting the tray on the bed and taking a seat in front of him. She removed the lid covering the food and he saw,
“Chicken soup?”
Arianna answered, “Chicken broth is rich in essential fatty acids and protein. Both help your body build and repair healthy muscle, bone, skin, and blood cells. You need proteins the most now.”
“Okay.” He said, reaching for the spoon but Arianna took it from him, saying, “Open up.”
“Cool, you’re feeding me too, best day ever. I love this baby treatment.” Marcel was smug.
However, Arianna was not in the mood for his jokes as she stirred the soup and lifted a spoonful saying, “Open up, Marcel.”
And he did, only to flinch in the next seconds because the broth was too hot and it burned his tongue.
“Too hot!” He complained.
“Exactly,” Arianna said, “This is what would happen the next time I check up on you and happen to hear that you skip a meal.”
It hit Marcel, did she just scald his tongue on purpose?
He swallowed, “I’m so scared.”
“You should. Now open.”
Unlike the first time, Marcel did not open his mouth widely until Arianna blew on the spoon and fed the food to him. It didn’t burn him anymore, the torture was over, and he was relieved. He thought he was scary, but it seems his girlfriend was scarier.
Perhaps, he could add this torture to his collection. Of course, he would have to do a bit of improv, but torture by eating doesn’t seem that bad of an idea. Arianna had no idea that she has given Marcel a new idea of how to deal with the bad guys.
It seems after the rain comes sunshine because the meal turned out to be more enjoyable than he thought. In the middle of feeding, the soup dripped down his chin, and instead of Arianna wiping it away with her palm, she instead leaned towards him and licked it clean with her tongue.It was a simple gesture yet erotic enough to make his heart pick up speed and his member rose.
Sadly, it was a pity he couldn’t engage in any vigorous activity. What a loss.
_________
Hi guys, as you guys figured out, Akim and Winters would not end up together in this series. A reader once suggested making a standalone book for them and I’m considering that. In one word, Akim and Winters story would be the contemporary genre. I would try my best to come up with a synopsis so you guys have an idea of what we dealing with. And then we can take a vote between the fantasy genre and the contemporary genre. We have until the end of February to hear all of your lovely opinions!