Lahat ng Kabanata ng Worthless In Their Eyes, Perfect In His : Kabanata 61 - Kabanata 70

He smiled at that. "If I were you, I would still chase my dreams. Contract or no contract. Whatever arrangement you are in with whoever you are in it with, that is separate from who you are as a person and what you want for yourself. You should not have to shrink what you want because someone else is uncomfortable with it."I did not say anything."That is just my opinion," he added."I've heard you," I said.He nodded and then reached into the bag he was carrying. He pulled out a folded piece of paper and held it out to me. I took it and unfolded it. It was a flyer, printed on good paper, not the kind people made on a home printer. It had a photo of a large open gallery space at the top and bold text underneath.ARTISTS CONNECT. ANNUAL ART EXHIBITION AND COMPETITION.I read further down. It was an open competition for artists at any level. You submitted a piece or a series of pieces. A panel of judges reviewed them. There were different categories—Painting, sculpture, mixed media, di

Ruby's POVI did not know what to say to that so I did not say anything. The room was quiet for a moment. Then Malcolm's eyes dropped to my wrist. He looked at it the same way he did before. That focused, still look that lasted just a moment too long.I had been waiting for the right time to ask about it and I decided that the right time was probably not going to announce itself so I might as well just do it now."Why does the mark bother you so much?" I asked.He looked up at me."Every time you see it you get this look," I said. "You went through my room because of it. You have been staring at it since you first noticed it. I want to know why."He exhaled slowly. He looked at the mark again and then back at my face."Do you know what it means," he said. "To be marked by a man."I blinked. "What?""When a man marks a woman it means something. It is not casual. It is a claim. It is saying that she belongs to him."I felt something go cold in my stomach. "And you thought someone had ma

Ruby's POVThe boutique was exactly what Malcolm had described, small, well lit, and very organized. The woman who had spoken to me on the phone was already at the door when I arrived. Her name was Diane and she was brisk and efficient and did not waste time.She had pulled eight options, all gowns, all in my size range. She had laid them out in a private fitting room at the back and she stood to the side while I looked through them without hovering too close.I ruled out three of them immediately. One was too stiff, one was a colour that did nothing for my skin tone, and one had a neckline that I just did not feel comfortable in. The remaining five were all genuinely good options. Diane had done her homework. I tried on four of them.The one I picked was a deep burgundy. Floor length, with a fitted bodice and sleeves that came to the elbow. It had a small slit at the side that stopped just below the knee. Nothing dramatic. It fit well across the shoulders and the waist and did not pu

Ruby's POVThe first thing I noticed when I woke up was that the ceiling was wrong. Not wrong in a bad way. Just different from what I was used to seeing when I opened my eyes in the morning. The ceiling in my room had a small water stain near the left corner that I had gotten used to looking at. This ceiling had nothing like that. It was plain and clean and higher than mine.I lay there for a second without moving.Then I turned my head slowly and looked around. This was Malcolm's room. I sat up fast and immediately regretted it because my head started pounding the moment I did. I pressed my hand to my forehead and sat very still and waited for the throbbing to settle into something manageable.I was still in the burgundy dress from last night. It was creased and the zip had come down slightly at the back. My shoes were on the floor beside the bed. The covers were pulled up to my waist. I looked at the other side of the bed.It was empty but the pillow had an indent in it like someo

Malcolm's POVShe was asleep. I could tell by the way her breathing had evened out and her eyes were closed and she nestled in my arms. She looked different when she was asleep.I was on my back with her curled into my side and my arm around her and I was looking at the ceiling.I had not slept. I was not tired. My mind was doing what it always did, which was process everything and turn it over and look at it from different angles. I could not turn it off. I had tried for years.I looked down at her. Her hair was loose across the pillow and her face was pressed lightly against my chest and one of her hands was resting on my stomach. She looked ethereal in her sleep. She had fallen asleep fast, which told me how tired she actually was, or maybe it was just an aftermath of the sex.I thought about what she had told me earlier about her mother. The things she had said to Ruby as a child. The way she had watched another woman's daughter get everything Ruby had been told she could not have.