by Marian Tee
“I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I’m so, so, sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.” She wept harder as she felt him tenderly cupping her face, and when their gazes met and she saw the unconditional love in his eyes, she sobbed, “I’m so sorry.”
He lifted one shaky hand to push away the wet strands of hair clinging to her tear-ravaged cheeks. “You never have to say sorry to me, brat. As long as you don’t leave me.”
She shook her head, pressing her lips to his. “Never.”
His control snapped, and he hauled her tightly to him even as he took her lips in a kiss. “I love you.”
She wept and laughed, loving the way her heart thrilled at his words. She was going to be all right now. She was really going to be all right. Wrapping her arms tightly around his neck, she kissed him back, whispering, “I love you.”
Chapter Fifteen
Helios Andreadis, President of the Afxisi, was terrified.
Normally, he would have a problem admitting that, but today was different. A man should only marry once in his lifetime if he could help it, and Helios knew in his case that would be true. So of course, he reasoned to himself irritably, he would be feeling a little…terrified. Anxious. Nervous as fuck.
Beside him, Kellion clapped him on the shoulder. “Breathe, President.”
He inhaled, exhaled, and after that, he said, “Fuck off.”
Kellion burst into laughter, drawing the attention of the crowd. And it was quite a huge turnout, with the university’s chapel filled to the rafters. More students waited outside, all of them hoping for a glimpse of a couple that was now the stuff of legends and urban myths.
Helios’ breath caught when he watched two attendants slowly open the doors of the chapel. Somewhere at the side, the famous pianist they had invited to his wedding began to play Stay with Me, a slower version than what was originally performed by Sam Smith.
After a few moments, Ioniko appeared, holding the hand of Helios’ bride as he guided MJ up the steps. His heart swelled at his first sight of her. Perfect. Sheer bloody perfection, and he could not believe that she was really his.
She had no veil covering her face, and personally he liked it that way. Her long brown hair flowed freely down her bare back, and her face was a picture of glowing happiness even though her violet eyes showed more than a little apprehension.
Across the entire length of the chapel, their gazes met. You look gorgeous, he told her silently.
She grimaced. I just hope I won’t trip on my gown.
He smirked. Her gown was of white silk, with a corset top and a full twenty-foot train, which her own sister had insisted on. He had agreed wholeheartedly with Katya’s choice since the alternative was MJ’s preference for a short skirt to make sure she didn’t trip.
Ha!
Like he would ever let her wear something so skimpy.
It had been a year since they had survived the worst ordeal of their relationship, and he was sure as hell nothing worse than that would happen. One year, and MJ had slowly found herself again. There were times when she would have a vacant look on her eyes, but he knew how to get around that now, knew how to bring her back to the present and remind MJ that they still had a long, happy future to look forward to.
By the time Ioniko handed MJ to his care, his bride was crying profusely. “Take care of her, Andreadis,” Ioniko said soberly.
He nodded. “I will.” He meant it with his life. And he would treat her gently, too. Treat her like she was a piece of fragile jewelry because she was that precious to him.
But when MJ continued to sniff and sob next to him as they walked to their seats, he heard himself growling, “Stop crying.”
“I’m trying.” But she only ended up sobbing more loudly anyway.
“If you don’t stop crying…”
She looked at him innocently. “Wh-what?”
He muttered under his breath, “You might have me in fucking tears, too.”
Her eyes widened.
He glared at her. “And if that fucking happens, I’ll kill you.”
But his threat, rather than scaring her, ended up making MJ smile. At least her tears stopped, Helios thought. As they took their seats, he grasped her hand and squeezed it tightly, the tension inside him only easing when she squeezed his hand back. These days, he had a pathological need to know she was really there with him.
When it was her turn to speak her vows, she stood up, surprising Helios because they had initially agreed that they would not be making any personalized vows. But she had always intended to say this, as a way of thanking him for loving her during her darkest days.
She looked at him, and his sheer gorgeousness took her breath away, as always. His hair had grown a little longer now, enough for him to have to tie it back halfway, making him look sexy and rakish. Combined with his wonderful black and white suit, and he looked like a cross between James Bond and a pirate, guaranteed to make every eligible girl in the church swoon.
Taking a deep shaky breath, she said, “When I first met Helios Andreadis, I thought he wasn’t human. It wasn’t because he was the grouchiest person ever…”
Laughter from the crowd made her pause and smile, but she hurriedly continued when she saw Helios’ glare. “It wasn’t that, really. It was because…he took my breath away with his courage, his strength, his compassion. He’s not…” She closed her eyes, remembering the time Helios had saved Rick from the men who had abducted him.
“He’s not the type to back down from a fight, to stop fighting for the people he loves…” She remembered the time he had allowed himself to be beaten up just to prove to her that he could be normal for MJ. “And just as easily, he would allow himself to be defeated if it’s what it takes to protect the ones he loves.”
Wiping her eyes, she said, “It was because of these things that I fell in love with him and did everything I could to get into this school. I wanted to see him, be a part of his life, and maybe if I was lucky, maybe I might even get him to fall in love with me.”
“You mean seduce him,” Kellion coughed not so subtly from the front row.
MJ turned red, but Helios only smirked.
“I was so excited when I was about to meet him the first time here in school. I had so many things I wanted to say but when the moment finally came…” She smiled sheepishly at Helios. “I ended up making him mad because I was talking to him like this. Do. You. Understand. What. I’m. Saying?”
Helios scowled, which only made the crowd roar with laughter.
“In my defense, it wasn’t like I wanted to make him feel stupid. I just thought he might not be so fluent in English.”
Helios slowly ran a finger across his throat.
She gulped. “Anyway, my time as a volunteer at Afxisi was made special because I got to wake him up most days. The times he was not alone, I’d rather not remember.” This time, her eyes bored through his while color stained his cheeks.
“I got to see sides of him that not everyone gets to see and all of it, the good and the bad, it just made me love him more.” She smiled at Helios, mouthing I love you. Tears stung her eyes as he mouthed the words back. The old Helios would have never done this for her, but ever since she had been taken away, it was as if Helios was determined to make her feel loved and cherished every second of her life, never mind if it meant having his pride dented once in a while.
But today, it was her turn to give back.
“Helios is the most magnificent man on earth. And in hindsight, I would never have known how much he loved me, I would never have been able to comprehend how much he loved me if not for the time...I was taken away.”
Silence descended on the crowd as her words sunk in.
Helios froze in his seat. While he had no problems hiding what had happened, he had never opened up about it, not wanting to cause MJ more distress. “MJ…”
She shook her head. “It’s okay. I got this.” And the smile she gave him was 100% the old MJ, the one who always worked hard to l
ook for silver linings in every cloud.
“I used to ask God why did He let that happen to me. Why me? What did I do so horribly wrong that I had to go through that? But with every day that Helios made me feel loved, made me feel like the most important person in his life, I eventually understood that…maybe, maybe if that never happened, more women would have suffered the same fate, or maybe something worse if Helios hadn’t come to save me and put a stop to the entire operation. But more than that…if it didn’t happen, I might never have learned to love him as much as I love him now.”
Wiping the tears from her eyes, she continued tremulously, “If that didn’t happen, I would never have known how much Helios mattered to me, never would have allowed myself to love freely and open myself completely to the risk of being hurt. But because that happened…I can be the kind of woman who can give herself completely to the man I’ll marry. I can look straight into his eyes…”
She raised her gaze to Helios.
“And tell him,” she choked out, “that I really do love him with everything inside me and everything I can be. I will love him until my dying breath, and if it means dying now to make his life longer by just a second, I would do it. Because my every breath belongs to him. Because Helios Andreadis is my life, and I will never forget that—”
Helios had her in his arms before she broke down completely, and his lips caught hers before she could say another word. He was humbled beyond imagination at what she had revealed, knowing it was true. She was no longer looking at what happened to her with regret because for her, every second of it had been worth the lesson of learning to love freely.
“I love you,” he said fiercely against her lips. And he would love her forever.
Ten minutes later, and the priest was finally forced to stand up and go to the kissing couple. He tapped the groom’s shoulder. “The ceremony isn’t over yet, Mr. Andreadis.”
****
When Helios came out of the en-suite bathroom of his yacht’s master bedroom, he found his wife at the balcony, dressed in a silk nightgown with its matching robe. The look on her face made him cross the room swiftly, and wrapping his arms around her waist, he pulled her back, making her lean against his chest.
When their eyes met, he told her calmly, “You look like shit.”
The vacant look in her eyes disappeared. “I do not!”
He laughed, and after a second, she made a face, realizing he had pulled one over her again. It was his way, she had long ago realized, of making her stop thinking about memories that were best left forgotten.
Feeling his lips trail down her skin, she arched her neck to give him better access. “I love you, Mr. Andreadis,” she whispered shyly.
He stopped kissing her, raising his head to look at her with a knowing smile. “You’re just calling me that so I can call you Mrs. Andreadis, aren’t you?”
Her answering smile was sheepish. “Kinda?”
Laughing, he spun her around to face him and as he kissed her, he murmured against her lips, “I love you, too, Mrs. Andreadis.” Lifting her up in his arms, he carried her back to the bedroom, figuring it would serve to meet the tradition of carrying his bride over the threshold.
Laying MJ gently on the bed, he asked her solemnly, “You’re sure about this?” Unknown to everyone, he and MJ had not made love since her abduction, Helios allowing her time and space to heal and make the most important decision about her body.
It had killed him to hear her speak about what she had gone through when she narrated her ordeal to their therapist. If he had the chance to kill everyone in that fucking warehouse again, he would have given up his entire fortune to seize that opportunity. Dying once was just not enough for what Manolito Chavez had forced MJ to undergo.
Looking down at MJ, he swore to himself that he would wait for as long as it took for MJ to trust him with her body. When she opened her mouth to speak, he readied himself for rejection, but instead all she said was, “I can’t believe you’re going to take my virginity again.”
A ragged laugh escaped him. “Did you really just say that, brat?”
She nodded, a half-shy, half-teasing smile on her face. “But I really mean it. I’m just stunned, that…we’ll have something this special for us to celebrate again. Because if it were up to me, I’d never have done something like that. But it happened and now…” She tenderly placed a hand on one smoothly shaven cheek. “I think it’s all predestined, don’t you think?”
“Whatever you say, brat.” He lowered himself to her, careful not to crush her body under his. “All I know is that I’m lucky to have you in my life.”
She wrapped her silken limbs around his neck. “Me, too, President,” she whispered. “Me, too.”
He growled, “Stop calling me that.”
She giggled. “I think it’s sexy now.”
“I don’t. It makes me think you’re screaming for Obama when I fuck you.”
She gasped. “Whyyyyyyyy…” She beat his chest. “Oh my God, why do you have to say something like that? Now I can never call you President in bed or I’ll always think that.”
He smirked. “That’s exactly my plan.” Before she could complain about his underhandedness, he started kissing her, and MJ’s protests turned into whimpers.
She savored every kiss and caress, loving the fact that there wasn’t a single second she felt like shrinking away from Helios’ touch. The past was really gone and buried, leaving her with only the most promising days in Helios’ arms to look forward to.
She sighed and whimpered as Helios started sucking her breasts, gently at first, but when she tugged his hair, reminding him that she was no fragile doll, he started sucking hard. And when he bit her nipples, she cried out, her body arching towards his because she wanted more. So, so much more.
MJ twisted and writhed under Helios as he kissed his way further down, pausing right on top of her folds to tease her. She tried pushing him down, her inhibitions disappearing at the strength of her desire for him, but he resisted, even raising his head to smirk at her.
“Please,” she begged him.
“In time,” he promised, his voice rough with need.
He teased her folds with light drifting touches from his fingers, teasing it over and over until she was sobbing and soaking wet. And just when she thought she couldn’t take it anymore, his mouth was suddenly there, sucking on her clit the same time he pushed two fingers inside her. His thrusts were gentle and firm at the same time, working to make her inner muscles relax.
Her nails dug into his shoulders. “Please,” she whispered. “Please, take me now.”
Her plea was said in such a sexy whisper it was impossible for him to ignore, and with a growl Helios lifted himself up. Pushing her legs apart, he slid one hand under her, readying her to take him all in. “This is likely to hurt again,” he warned her.
“I know. But I’m just so glad…it’s you again.”
“Me, too, brat.” He pressed a kiss on her forehead. “I love you.”
“I love you—” She gasped, realizing Helios had distracted her so that he could slide his cock into her fully without her being tense about it. Inside her, she felt something break, again, and she closed her eyes, tears slipping down her face.
For her, what happened was God’s miracle, allowing her to experience the beauty of losing her virginity to Helios again. But unlike before, this time they both knew they loved each other.
She tightened her hold around his neck. “Take me.”
His lips covering hers, Helios proceeded to do what she wanted, what they both wanted. He took her as his, completely his, his every thrust remembering every cell of her body who it belonged to. Soon, his thrusts became just a little bit wilder, just a little bit faster and rougher. He tried to slow himself down, tried to be gentle, but God, it had been so fucking long—
Her nails dug into his buttocks. “More,” MJ demanded.
His control snapped. His thrusts became frenzied, heightened by his need and love for
her. I love you. I want you. I need you. His every thrust pounded the truth of his feelings into her, and he shuddered when MJ’s body welcomed him with beautiful warmth, her inner muscles tightening around his cock so deliciously it had his eyes rolling back.
“Let’s come together, sweetheart,” he invited her.
Her eyes were hazy with desire, her lips parting as she answered him with a helpless whimper.
Helios reached for between her bodies to rub her clit hard.
She came apart with a scream, and as her entire body shuddered, she heard Helios come with a growl over her, his thrusts becoming more rapid as he filled her with his seed. She wrapped her legs tightly around his waist, wanting all of it. If they were lucky, maybe, just maybe they would have created something special tonight.
****
That night, she dreamt about Panic.
It had been a long time since she had seen the monstrous little girl, and even though MJ told herself that Panic wasn’t real, that Panic was just a figment from the nightmarish past, she couldn’t help tensing as Panic skipped and hopped towards her, looking crazier and more terrifying the closer she got.
When Panic was just half a foot away, MJ’s eyes involuntarily closed.
But instead of Panic’s deafening titters, she heard…nothing.
Her eyes slowly opened.
And she gasped…and after a while, she started to laugh.
Helios was beating the shit out of Panic, kicking her until the monstrous little girl was pounded into ashes.
“MJ?” Helios tried not to sound too worried as he shook his wife awake. “You’re having a bad dream.”
Gradually, MJ found herself falling back into consciousness. Her eyes drifted open, and she saw Helios looking down at her, a grave look on his face.
“You had a bad dream,” he repeated.
She shook her head drowsily. “No. It was a good dream,” she mumbled, closing her eyes. “You were beating up a little girl.”
Silence.
Oh. Wait. That didn’t come out right, did it? She opened her eyes again and saw Helios gaping at her.