CH 18 ~ Familiar

Rennie's legs fell away from Alex's waist and she pushed at his chest until her levered himself up to look down at her curiously.

He made a soft sound of protest when he saw the tears on her cheeks and attempted to fold his arms around her.

Yet another unprecedented move but she shoved him again until he stepped away from her.

"Why are you crying?"

Alex asked hoarsely as he readjusted his clothing.

"I hate you,"

Rennie spoke as she dashed at the tears.

"What we just did didn't feel like hatred to me,"

Alex pointed out.

"Just another..."

Rennie's mouth started to form the ugly word but he cut her off.

"Don't say it,"

Alex snapped.

"Don't you dare say it!"

"Why not?"

Rennie protested.

"It's the truth and don't you try to pretend otherwise at this stage of our so-called marriage, President Crawford!

Do you think sex makes things better? It makes everything worse, like adding petrol to an already raging fire.

All you've proved is that I am humiliatingly unable to resist you!"

"That is entirely mutual,"

Alex responded dryly and she went still.

"Oh, please..."

Rennie spoke as she choked because of sobbing.

"Of course you can resist me.

I'm just another woman to you. I'm of no particular consequence, so don't try to play yet another game with me!

I'm sick of your lies and deceit."

"Rennieeh,"

Alex hissed furiously; no matter how he wants to end this matter, it just keeps getting worse then before.

He let out a heavy breath to calm himself down before he started to speak again.

"You're not just another woman, Ren. you're my wife! You hold a position of great consequence in my life."

"A wife you're ashamed of? I don't think so!"

Rennie yelled as she looked at him furiously and Alex become frustrated as the topic turned to a completely unrelated matter.

"Whoever told you that I was ashamed of you?"

Alex become outraged by the very notion.

"You did..."

"Rennieeh, everything else that you've accused me of so far has had some element of truth to it.

But this is just ridiculous!

I have never, not once, told you that I am ashamed of you..."

"You never said it; you didn't have to..."

Rennie spoke as she slid off the desk, making sure that her skirt was straight before looking up at him again.

"You show me every day."

"What?"

"You never take me to your family meetings, it's always either mom or your brother, Aleric; who invites me!

I know that you have two close friends, Dante and Gabriel, they're university buddies.

If I'm not mistaken, you play football with them every week. You didn't think I knew that, did you?

I haven't met any of those people of consequence in your life,"

And there was someone else too but, of course Rennie wasn't ready to confront him with that bit of knowledge yet.

"They are the people who matter to you and if I'd been the wife you wanted, a wife you were not ashamed of, I would undoubtedly have met them by now!"

"It's not like that,"

Alex denied, almost stumbling in his haste to reach for her but she stepped away before he could touch her.

"Yes it is. Please don't insult my intelligence by denying it..."

Rennie desperately looked around for her panties and finally saw them lying beside the single sofa.

She very quickly swooped them up before turning back to face him.

"I need a shower,"

Rennie whispered bitterly.

"You know what it's like when you have an overwhelming urge to scrape the touch, the scent, the very essence of someone off of your skin, don't you?

After all, that's what you usually do thirty seconds after your orgasm and I can finally relate to that"

She turned and left the room before he had the opportunity to respond.

'I had enough of this, Alex... I can't go on with this all anymore,'

They barely spoke over the next week or so, merely co-existing in the same house.

Alex still insisted that they take breakfast and dinner together and that they sleep together.

But he never touched her in bed, maintaining the distance that she had insisted on.

Some part of Rennie was relieved while another, even larger part, bemoaned the loss of the one bond they had shared.

Still, she kept telling herself that it was just sex and it had never meant anything.

"Are you listening?"

"H-Huh? Yes-"

Rennie shuttered as she replied to Justin, who had accompanied her to save Chris from the secret base camp of Darknight.

"I have located Chris, he is in the abandoned factory of the Darknight's base camp. Be careful as we might be ambushed."

"Wow, Sister! Is it the newly developed voice altering device?! I totally couldn't tell that you are a woman if i didn't knew you before!"

Justin spoke as he climbed the wall and jumped down, while following Rennie.

Darknight secret base:

"WARNING! THE INTERNET SYSTEM HAS BEEN BREACHED! ALL MEMBERS TO BE ON GUARD QUICKLY!"

"Damn! Someone has intruded into our base!"

The guards chased after the two people in black clothes as they signaled a warning to the other guards.

Instantly, those two people in black was surrounded by Darknight's guards and a sharp yellow spotlight fall on them.

"The 'Prince' of Dead Rose is indeed courageous!"

"I wouldn't be prince if i was a coward like you, Dark! Planning out a loophole on purpose to get me show myself... Such a fantastic plan, that it makes me feel bad to continue."

Rennie, who was in the disguise of a man replied mockingly to Alex; who also used a voice changer and eye mask like her.

As Rennie was wearing tight clothes and a wig, so it was hard to tell that she was a woman in man's disguise.

Still, Alex felt somewhat suspicious as he felt something in his heart when he got closer to 'Prince'.

'...Why does this prince feels so familiar, specially his height?'