The Arrangement

The next morning, I woke up with many body aches and a deep feeling of embarrassment for what had happened the night before. Sometime in the night Mathew and I had rolled over in our sleep so that his chest was now pressed firmly against my back, his steady breathing warmed the back of my neck and then cooled it as he inhaled. The embarrassment quickly turned to shame as I realized I had slept with Mathew in front of Brian. I looked to my hand where my ring that he had given had been the night before and my chest tightened, it was no longer there. I reached under the pillows looking for it then around my body under the sheets and still nothing. Franticly I pulled away from Matthew and began to rummage through the bedding, waking Mathew in the process.
“Elizabeth?” -he sat up startled still, dazed with sleep- “what are you doing?”
“Oh my god I can’t believe I lost it, he’s going to be so disappointed.” I mumbled on the brink of tears.
“Elizabeth, what did you lose?” Matthew grabbed me and pulled me on to his lap.
“The ring Brian, Syn, what ever you call him, gave me last night. It was on my finger last night,” I couldn’t hold the tears back any longer and climbed off Matthew and out of the bed. I didn’t care that I was naked, in pain, and dirty with dried evidence of sex on my body.
“Does this ring have a skull and wings on it?” He asked standing up also not caring about his body out in the open.
“Yes, what am I going to do?” I covered my eyes with my hands.
“Elizabeth, it is right here,” -he held it up as he walked over to me- “I woke up to take a leak and when I laid back down I landed on it. The wings are quiet sharp.”
“Oh my god,” -I quickly took it from his hand and held it to my heart- “Thank you.”
“Yeah, don’t mention it.”
“Sorry I, I have to go,” I cried feeling like I had betrayed Brian with Matthew.
“What don’t be ridiculous come back to bed with me.” He sounded confused.
“I’m sorry Matthew, I can’t,” I cried and ran out.
“Elizabeth!” he called out to me.
“Brian, pineapple, pineapple!” I screamed as I ran through the room doors searching for him.
Both Brian and Val turned around with surprised looks on their faces. Brian rushed over and wrapped his arms around me within a matter of seconds. I buried my face in his shoulder and tried to calm my cries as people in the hall way asked what was going on. Curiously I peered over Brian’s shoulder, three men that I recognized from the ‘wedding’ were all looking confused and surprised. They had offered themselves as partisans to me, I knew one of their names was Zacky.
“Elizabeth, what happened?” he asked grinding his teeth as he stared at Matthew.
“I just want to go, get me out of here please?” I begged.
“You know I can’t unless you tell me he hurt you.” Brian pulled away from me and looked me dead in the eye.
“Please,” I begged before looking over my shoulder at Matthew.
“Just take her,” Matthew sighed rolling his eyes “I’m done fucking her anyway.”
“Here, take this.” Brian removed his button up shirt and wrapped it around me. It was long enough that it covered me up well enough.
“Val,” Matthew yelled causing her to jump before she walked in to the room and shut the doors.
“Hold on,” Brian picked me up in his arms and walked past the guys “I’ll see you later guys.”
“I’m sorry I interrupted you and your friends Brian.” I wrapped my arms around his neck as we walked down the hall in to the room we were dressed in.
“Don’t worry about that, wat happened?” he asked closing the door with his foot.
“Nothing,” I mumbled and pushed my nose in to his cheek.
“Here I’ll run you a bath,” he set me down on the bed and went to the bathroom.
“This is all so fucked,” I rubbed my eyes.
“Elizabeth, baths ready.” Brian called after taking a good fifteen minutes in there.
“Thanks,” I sighed walking in to the bathroom.
The tube was filled with a murky water with herbs and flower pedals floating in it, it looked nice. I stepped in and sat down without thinking of Brian’s dress shirt and how he might have not had anything else to wear. Brian sighed and walked back in to the room leaving me alone with my thoughts for about 15 minutes.
“Alright, you’ve had some alone time to think, now I want to know what the hell happened in there.” His shoes mad a tapping sound as he walked over to the bathtub.
“I can’t tell you,” I admitted dunking my head in the warm water.
“Elizabeth,” he warned.
I ignored him and held my breath underwater until he peered down at me. When I resurfaced I smiled and pulled on his hand causing him to fall in. He turned his body as he fell and landed with a splash.
“Shit Elizabeth, what the fuck?” he yelled pulling his phone, wallet, and my old charm bralette then tossing them on to the floor mat.
“My bad,” I smiled.
“It isn’t cute, you got mu clothes and phone all wet,” He sounded upset.
“I’m sorry, I got lonely in here.” I said sheepishly.
“Elizabeth, get it through your head you are married to Matt. I cant do certain things like take baths with you or kiss you it isn’t right, not to mention it goes against everything I promised I would do!” he spoke with conviction as he pulled himself out of the bathtub.
“It isn’t fair I didn’t have a choice Brian!” I yelled back.
“None of us did!” he retaliated.
“You did!”
“Yeah, I chose to be your protector and to make sure you have a good friend who you can trust to teach you what you don’t know! I did not choose to be your lover boy alright?” he yelled as his face reddened.
“Yeah you’ve made yourself clear Brian,” -I turned away from him so he didn’t see my tears,- “I would like to finish my bath alone if you don’t mind.”
“Elizabeth, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings,” I could hear the instant regret in his voice.
“Just go find me some clothes or something, unless that’s not in your job description?” I asked sourly.
“Fine, I won’t beg,” he said and walked out of the bathroom.
I heard the room door close and I knew he was gone for the moment. As my tears fell I quickly got up and drained the tub then made my way to the shower where I instantly removed Brian’s shirt. His ring landed on the piled shirt and I began to shower. I didn’t care to much now for the ring, but I did keep it in sight, so it didn’t go down the drain. I made sure to scrub myself well so that the prior nights endeavors would wash away. I did enjoy them, but I felt very confused about me, Matthew, and Brian. Why was Brian so angry with me? And what could I do to not upset Matthew any further?
“There are some clothes on the counter when your ready,” Brian called out.
I peeked out of the shower, but he was already gone. Once I was done I put the outfit on that he had set out and sighed it was again to much for me. The dress was beautiful but uncomfortably sexy, the shoes looked cool however they were difficult to walk in, and the underwear didn’t leave much to the imagination, no bra or stockings. I let my hair down and tousled it with the hair dryer giving it a nice messy look. I picked up the ring from the shower floor and just held it in my hand as I walked out. Once more I had no pockets or choice.
“I feel stupid and incompetent in this outfit,” -I told Brian as I saw him smoking by the balcony- “Who chose this?”
“I did,” -he turned and looked me up and down- “after what happened with Matt this morning you need to keep his mind on your body.”
“My body?” I asked confused sitting on the bed facing him.
“Yeah since your personality leaves much to be desired.”
“Right.” I rolled my eyes.
“Look I’ll go get you some jeans a T-shirt if you want but Matt will probably beat the shit out of you. Is that what you want?” he asked irritated.
“Obviously not,” I answered even though he didn’t need an answer.
“Then just wear it and shut up, I know Matt and I know what he likes, if we keep him distracted than we keep you from harm.” He tossed his smoke.
“Okay, I will just sit here with my mouth shut,” I mumbled.
“Good, we leave in a few minutes. Matt and you are going on a honey moon it will only be one week, but this should serve as time to get to know each other. Val and I will come along but we will stay in an adjacent room. You can’t pull what you did earlier Elizabeth you get one free ride and that was it, understood?” he walked back in to the room and stood in front of me.
“So, I will be staying in a room with him for a whole week?” I asked nervously.
“Yes, be sweet and innocent, just like you normally are, and you will be fine. Remember I will be there to keep you safe.” He said and walked off leaving me in the room alone.

Notes

sorry for the late update i was in surgery two days ago and was unable to type cohesively lol hope you enjoyed this read!