Chapter 5

  Ethan

  I barely managed to calm my nerves after my conversation with Ryan. This was not the night to anger him; as it stands, I was only getting whipped with his favorite flogger. While painful, it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.

  But getting handcuffed to our bed was out of the question. If I let him do that, there’s no telling what he would do to me. If I was lucky, he’d only fuck me, but knowing my luck, Ryan would leave me there alone in the dark for hours. He's done it before. I was an emotional wreck for weeks the last time he did it.

  He left me alone for only one night; I was handcuffed to our bed all night, unable to sleep. When I could sleep, Ryan would dump water on me to keep me up. I couldn’t even go to the bathroom; when I asked, Ryan would just punch me in the face. I ended up peeing myself and laid in my own waste for the rest of the night. Ryan thought it was hilarious.

  As for strike three, I didn’t even want to think about it. Ryan being creative in his punishment meant that one thing. He was just horny and wanted to use me however he wanted, my safety be damned.

  We sat next to each other at the dining room table, and Victor and Margret sat across from us. Just what I needed. If there was a God, please don’t let her antagonize me.

  “Ryan, honey,” Margret began, turning towards her youngest. “I hope you and Ethan are well. I would hate to see you two divorce.” She gave off that same smirk that Ryan loves to give.

  “We’re good, Mother,” Ryan assured his mother. “Ethan and I just had a little communication problem, but it's all good. Right, Ethan?”

  “Yes, Margret, everything is great; we’re just as in love as the day we met,” I smiled at my mother-in-law. “There is no need to fear about us getting a divorce, and even if we did, I'm sure Lisa would make sure everyone would be happy. By the way, how far along are you? I can't wait to meet our future niece.” Sorry, Lisa, I got to get the attention off of me.

  Lisa, another of Ryan’s older siblings, was a prominent Divorce lawyer. In fact, she was the one who drafted all of my siblings' legal documents; she drafted the prenup Ryan had me sign and, on Cedric's insistence, our Wills. If we ever got divorced, Lisa would probably handle everything, and even if she liked me, she would fight tooth and nail for her brother and leave me with what I had before we even met nothing.

  “Of course, I would,” Lisa proclaimed, “but I don’t think we have anything to worry about with you two. And to answer your question, I'm seven months.”

  With everyone’s attention on Lisa, I could focus on avoiding trouble. I knew most of the dinner would be focused on her; having the first grandchild in a family like the Adams would be a huge deal. I just hoped that Margeat would leave me alone and be more worried about her future granddaughter than trying to get under my skin.

  “Have you picked out a name yet, darling?” Miriam, Ryan’s grandmother, asked her granddaughter.

  “Not yet, Grandma, but Chris wanted to name her after his great aunt; Samantha would be such a lovely name, don’t you think?”

  I flinched; I really hoped they would reconsider the name. It reminded me that I hadn’t spoken to my sister in years. She was never supportive of my decision to date Ryan. I did everything for her growing up, and she repaid me by abandoning me; I don’t even know where she lives.

  “Ethan, something wrong,” Victor asked; almost nothing could get past the guy.

  “It's nothing, Victor, thinking about my sister.”

  “Oh, Ethan,” I could just feel the pity in Lisa's voice. “I forgot about your sister; it never crossed my mind.

  “It's fine, Lisa,” I assured her, “just some bad memories. How about we get started on dinner I'm starving.”

  After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, dinner was in full swing. The meal had what you expect from a dinner from the Adams: a large pot roast with garlic mashed potatoes, grilled salmon, and even some lobster mac and cheese. Margret spared no expense to show off her cooking skills. Yeah right.

  “Mother, this dinner is simply divine,” Ryan told his mother; it was a great meal, but there was no way that Margret made this meal, and I'd bet my life on that,

  “thank you, Ryan. I spent all day working on it. I wanted to make sure everything was for my family.” she was beaming with pride; how I wanted to tear her down. We all knew she would never lower herself to do any kind of manual labor. I held my tongue, trying not to get on Ryan’s bad side.

  “Well, I'm sure we're all grateful; Mother, in that, right Ethan?”

  “Of course, Margret, I have always enjoyed coming here for dinner; it's always the best food I ever had.” I was laying it on pretty thick, but lucky I knew how to work with Margret’s ego.

  “Why thank you, Ethan,” Margret initially seemed happy that everyone was buying that she made this dinner, but she had to go too far.

  “I'm sure growing up the way you did, anything would seem like a grommet meal. You must have struggled so much to ensure you and poor Samantha had enough to eat.”

  God damn rich bitch.

  “Well, it was a struggle, but we never went to bed hungry,” I said, barely able to control my anger. I could feel everyone looking at me and Margret, waiting to see what would happen next. This happens at every family event. Margret says something that sets me off, and I hit her with something that makes me seem like the bad guy. But not this time; I had to; my fear of Ryan is helping me hold my tongue right now.

  “That's great to hear; I'm glad you managed to take care of yourself and your sister, just like Ryan takes care of all of your needs; it's a shame that little Samantha never felt the same. If you cared for her for all those years and never talked to you again, talk about being ungrateful. I suppose it's a good thing she's not here; I bet she just be here to ask for handouts. People who grow up like that are always looking for handouts.”

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  Fuck it, I'm taking this bitch down a peg. How fucking dare she talk about my sister like that, Samantha and I may have our differences, but no one talks about my sister like that. She thinks she can hurt me, like, I'm going to show her how to hurt someone.

  “Victor, I have a personal question, if you don’t mind?” I calmly asked the man. Everyone was quiet waiting, knowing the history between me and Margret; if they wanted a show, I'd give them a show they wouldn't soon forget.

  “Of course, Ethan, what is it?”

  “Has Chef Owen become a live-in chef.”

  “Of course not. Why would you even ask such a thing?” Margaret interrupted just as I knew she would.

  “Oh, I was just wondering why you called this a home-cooked meal when the person who made this wonderful meal doesn’t even live here.”

  I fought to keep my innocent face on; I finally got Margret to drop that better-than-thou attitude. I can see some of the others trying to hold in their laughter. We all knew that Margret couldn't cook, but I was the only one with the balls to say it.

  “What makes you think I didn’t make this meal?” She questioned me, trying to play dumb, but I have been playing this game all my life.

  “Well, correct me if I'm wrong, but this is the same meal that Chef Owen made for our reception, sweetie,” I simply asked my husband; if I brought him into this, it would hurt Margaret's fragile ego, having her baby boy agree with me.

  “Well, yes, Ethan, but that’s beside the point; you need to apologize to my mother,” Ryan replied, making it seem like I was the bad guy, but I knew an order when I heard one. Before I could respond, someone beat me to it.

  “No, Ryan, I want to hear your mother's answer,” Cedric told his youngest grandchild. Amusement was evident in his voice; if anyone hated Margret more than I did, it would be Cedric.

  “Now Margret dear, who prepared this lovely meal, you or was it Chef Owen.”

  “Well, if you all must know, Chef Owen did make this meal, but he was following my recipes,” Margaret regrettably admitted.

  “Of course, everyone knows that a head chef makes the menu, and the cooks cook the food,” I assured her. It was all too easy to set her up; people like her just wanted their egos stroked, which made it easier to tear them down.

  “I'm glad you understand, Ethan,” she was cautious, not sure where I was going.

  “Of course, I worked with many head chefs when I was a server, and you and they share the same attitude for having great success on the hard work of others.”

  Cedric snorted at my comment. I wish Margaret had learned not to mess with me. She never wins these little spats. She always starts it, but I always win. I always get a sense of satisfaction when I verbally beat down my mother-in-law.

  I felt a tightness on my thigh; Ryan was trying to signal me to stop. But I went this far and may as well go for it. I can deal with the consequences later.

  “I’ll have you know not all of us have time to spend on preparing meals all day long. Some of us have to work for a living and don’t have the luxury of sitting home all day on someone's dime.”

  “Of course, you're absolutely right; not all of us have time to order around such an impressive staff to ensure everything is perfect for you to show off. But that makes me wonder how you can have all of the staff here take care of everything but still don’t have the time to better your own career?”

  The others were full-on laughing, except for Ryan and his mother. It was always so easy to get under her skin; she hated looking useless in front of her family.

  ” How dare you speak to me like that, you ungrateful.”

  “That’s enough, Margret,” Cedric interrupted, finally calming down from his earlier laughter. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you this, but don’t start a fight you are afraid to finish. I think you should apologize to Ethan. You went too far insulting his sister the way you did.”

  “I suppose you are right,” oh god, is she really going to apologize? I wish I could record this.

  “Ethan, it was wrong of me to insult your sister. I'm sorry.” Her face was pinched in disgust as if the very words almost made her ill. I didn’t care. This was going to be worth whatever Ryan did to me. And from the grip that Ryan has on my thigh, tonight’s going to be a long one.

  “It's alright, Margret. You are forgiven, and I do apologize for what I said. I'm also so sorry to everyone here for ruining this dinner. I hope we can enjoy the rest of the evening.”

  Everything seemed to finally calm down; the servants just finished clearing the table and preparing to serve dessert. Dinner was almost finished, so I'll go home with Ryan soon. With everything that happened, I just hoped I could get Ryan to be merciful.

  “I hope everyone saved room for the dessert I made,” Margret began, but I gave a slight cough to give her a subtle reminder about what happened only 20 minutes ago.

  “Sorry, Chef Owen made a delicious fruit tart. I had some earlier, and it was simply divine.” Now, she wants to give credit to where it was due now that she got exposed.

  While everyone was eating, Lewis, Ryan’s older brother, a prominent prosecutor, spoke for the first time that evening. “Ethan, Ryan, I meant to mention this earlier, but with all the excitement, I forgot, but I saw a cop walking into your apartment. I think it was Captain Doyle, I worked with him before, he's a good cop. So what was he doing there.”

  Can this night get any worse? Why did Lewis just so happen to see Doyle walk into our apartment? I could feel Ryan glare at me. I had to think of something.

  “Ethan, do you know anything about this?” Ryan's voice was cool and calm, but I knew the anger bubbling inside.

  “Nothing to worry about, just some break-ins, nothing too serious; the police just wanted to make sure we are all on the lookout for anything suspicious.”

  Lewis seemed to let the subject go and returned to talking to his wife, Susan. As soon as Ryan and I finished, he got up from his seat and told everyone it was time for us to leave.

  “Do you have to go?” Lisa asked wanting to spend more time with her baby brother. “The night is still young. I'm sure Mother has more planned for tonight,” Margret confirmed with a nod of her head.

  “Sorry, everyone, I have an early day tomorrow, and Ethan has to prepare for his new job. Inst that right, Ethan?” Ryan glared and screamed, "Just try me, " which I had no intention of doing.

  “Yes, goodnight, everyone. It was great seeing you all. Thank you, Margret, for organizing everything. Again, I'm sorry for how everything went down tonight.

  “That's quite all right. We both said things we regret.” I knew he was putting on a show to save face.

  As soon as we pulled out of the car, Ryan went off on me, “Ethan, do you have any idea how pissed off I am tonight.” I knew better than to lie I had to devise a way to calm him down. I slowly reached over to rub his cock; a little blow job usually calms him down.

  Ryan licked his lips, grinning with excitement; I would do whatever was necessary, and if it meant a little humiliation, I would take it. On the other hand, Ryan had a different plan; when we stopped at a red light, he grabbed the back of his head and slammed it right into the dashboard.

  The world went white, and I was having trouble staying awake. Then, I felt more pain in my side. Ryan sent a jab to the bruise he had been working on for the past few days; why can’t he aim for somewhere else.

  “Don’t think you can whore yourself out like that, it's not going to work on me. And stop your damn whimpering. You look pathetic; besides, you deserve it,” Ryan spat with venom. “Man up and take your punishment. You spent all day pissing me off. Do you enjoy pissing me off? You must because why else would you go against my orders?”

  “I'm sorry, babe, I just.” With another punch to the side, he silenced me.

  “Shut the fuck up, Ethan First off, you give an attitude about dinner and didn't tell me about that job Walter gave got you. I was going to let that go. Be a good, forgiving husband, but you had to go and use that fucking smart mouth of yours.” his voice rose. His anger was starting to scare me. Maybe tonight would be the night when it all came to an end; I wasn’t ready for it to end, not yet.

  “How dare you mouth off to my mother like that? She went out of her way to invite the whole family to dinner, and you embarrassed her like that. I should beat the shit out of you just for that. And let's not forget the fact that you had a fucking cop in my home and didn’t think to let me know. Why are you fucking him? Or did you think you could cry to the police and say I was abusive like a little girl? Answer me, you shithead.”

  “Ryan, I would never cheat on you; I just made that break-in story up because I didn’t want your family to know what Lila did.”

  “Lila, what doe that bitch has to do with anything.”

  “She was the one who went to the cops. I had nothing to do with it. You have to believe me.” we were pulling into our parking lot, and if I didn’t think fast, my life might just end tonight.

  Ryan grabbed a fistful of my hair, pulling it to expose my neck. “First off, I don’t have to do anything you tell me; second, you’re lucky, I believe you. Now I'm going to smoke to calm down; when I come up there, you are going to be in our room naked.”

  “What are you going to do, Ryan? Please, I'll do better.” I begged. Ryan loved it when I begged.

  “Didn’t I tell you you’re going to be my punching bag? I meant that literally.” his evil grin had me backing away in fear; he was one sadistic bastard. “The bags at the gym suck. I would love one that screams; it will be good to know how hard my punches are.”

  As I walked up the stairs, I could help but think how fucked my life was; I seriously thought that no matter what Ryan does, it’ll be better than living on the streets. I just had to remember no matter what happens, I will survive just like I always do.