CHAPTER 012

Ciel paces from one end to the other. He and Xerxes were taken to a spacious room with a large bed right in the middle. It turns out they are spending the night in the mansion. Ciel lets out a humorless laugh as he finally stops pacing, he looks at Xerxes who remains collected as he carefully takes off his large coat and his upper jacket, leaving him in his white sleeves and pants. Ciel tries not to notice the veins in his palms and how they run through his sleeves or the button at the top that's been released, revealing some clean skin on his broad chest. This whole contract wouldn't have been so painful if he wasn't attracted to the man.

“Did you really bring me here to parade me around just so they could tear me into pieces? Why the hell did you bring me here? Is this your idea of a fun evening?And now what, we are spending the fucking night here?”

“It could have been worse; you should have expected that.”

Ciel glares, frustrations and anger building up in his system. “Well, I'm sorry sir, you didn't give me a bloody script on our way here. You didn't tell me your family is filled with vultures.”

"You did exactly what they expected. You played into their hands with your sarcasm and brave act. Well done.” Xerxes proceeds with nonchalance that bites into Ciel's skin. He spends almost an hour on that dinner table, listening to insults that come mostly from his mother and this is what he has to say?! Ciel is fucking pissed.

"What was I supposed to do? Sit there and take it? Smile as they tore me apart?"

"Yes. That’s exactly what you were supposed to do. I could have handled everything."

"Well, I'm sorry sir, I didn’t ask for this, or you, for your family, for any of it! I didn’t sign up to be your punching bag or theirs, it wasn't part of the fucking contract!”

Xerxes moves like lightning, in a wink he's standing in front of Ciel, slamming his back on the nearest wall that causes a gasp to rip out of him and his green eyes widening as Xerxes's hovers over and traps him against the wall, grey eyes shining with unknown intent.

“You might to want to keep your voice down sweetheart, we don't want to blow our cover so soon,”

Ciel breath hitches, his chest rising and falling rapidly as Xerxes leans in, their faces becoming inches apart. He holds his breaths as he gets a sniff of the man’s cologne. He looks at him dead in the eyes. And says in an unwavering voice. "What? You can’t handle someone calling you out? Does the great Xerxes Laurent feel small?"

Xerxes tilts his head, amusement now dancing in his eyes. “That's ridiculous. Do you ever stop talking, Mr. Reid?"

Ciel smirks. "Not when I’m right."

He moves down, his hot breath fans against Ciel's neck, causing goosebumps to rise on his skin. His voice drops low and steady. “Here's a little reminder sweetheart. You signed a contract. You agreed to play your part, I will advise you to stop whining and do what you're told,”

‘Does your little fiance here know you killed your own father?’ Mrs Laurent’s voice and words suddenly echo in his head, causing him to shudder but he still manages to maintain his brave font. “I don't want to be here, Xerxes! I don't want to hear any more insults from your family.”

Xerxes steps closer, their bodies are almost touching, Ciel feels heat in his stomach and it's running south. Fuck, now is not the time to be feeling horny!

Xerxes speaks, his voice low and dangerous. “They don’t matter. You’re mine, and they’ll have to get used to it.”

Ciel heart flutters unexpectedly, fortunately, Xerxes pulls back before he could do something stupid, like leaning in for a kiss because Xerxes's lips looks so fucking alluring.

Xerxes begins to fold up his sleeves. "You held your own tonight, better than I expected."

Ciel scoffs. He barely stomachs anything. "Well, isn’t that sweet? A gold star from the great Xerxes Laurent.” he racks a hand through his hair again and runs his tongue over his lips. “Help me here, I'm supposed to act the part of your fiance but you aren't telling me shit and how long are we gonna stay here?”

“It’s not about them liking you, Mr. Reid. It’s about controlling the narrative. It’s only an annual gathering. A tradition my late father was obsessed with. This is a farce. A show of power by man who’s desperate to remain in control even in his grave, manifesting in his wife,”

For the first time, Ciel hears disdain and bitterness in Xerxes' voice but it's gone as soon as it came. Ciel suddenly is curious. What is the story here?

Xerxes continues with a frosty gaze."Your role is to stay quiet and follow my lead. Don’t pry into things that don’t concern you. We leave in the morning.” he finalizes, leaving no room for argument.

Ciel exhales a deep sigh and racks a hand through his white hair for the nth time; he seems to be doing that quite a lot lately.

What choice did he have? He needs this man to save his career. He's already here, he should just deal with it as he always deals with his problems. Once his thoughts are settled, he finally decides to address the other elephant in the room. “How do we sleep, there's only one bed?”

Xerxes shakes his head and goes over to the long sofa beside the glass windows that obviously leads to a balcony. “I will take the sofa.” he lies down and shuts his eyes. “Have a goodnight rest, Mr. Reid.”

Ciel will like to protest, will like to share a bed with the man, and will like to know what it's like to be pressed up against him. Fuck! He curses and shakes

his head. He really needed to control his horny thoughts.

All this is gonna end in a fucking year.