Summary: Leo’s and Katie’s past mistakes come back to haunt them and they reach an impasse in their relationship.
Warning: This piece involves sexual explicit content (Dom/sub, choking, gagging) and mentions of drug consumption which may be disturbing/offensive to some readers. Reader discretion is advised.
Katie gaped at her phone staring at Dean’s contact number. Spite of all her efforts not to flirt with him, she still didn’t want to stop talking to Dean. He was always a good listener, so sweet and understanding. During the past few months, Dean has helped her since her problems with Leo began and things were improving slowly. She did notice the irony of taking advice from the guy who was the reason why her marriage in a bad place, but every time she needed a piece of good advice, she would go to him.
“Hello?”
“Hey…”
“Is everything okay?”
“I don’t know…” Katie picked at her nails.
“Katie?”
“Yeah?”
“What’s going on?”
“Err…” she played with the ends of her hair.
“Did you go through his things again?”
“Maybe…” she heard him heave a sigh. “I can’t help it.”
“Yes, you can. Be honest with him. Tell him how you feel about the marriage.”
“It’s not that easy.”
“I know it isn’t, but you have to. For the sake of your well being, and his. And your daughters’.”
“Yeah, I’ll try when he comes back.” A long moment of silence passed by before she found the courage to speak again. “Dean?”
“Yeah?”
“You’re great, you know.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“You are. You’ve helped me so much with my issues.”
“I had to.”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Yes, I did. I can’t bear the thought of seeing you unhappy.”
“That’s exactly what I’m talking about. You’re so good and selfless.”
“Is it really selfless if I take pride on knowing that you always come to me and I help you with your issues instead encouraging you to talk directly to the man you chose as a life partner and never picking up your phone calls again?” Silence took over again. As always, he was right.
____
Leo, Liam and Drake killed the engine of their bikes and took off their helmets grinning. “Man, you really are good at this,” Drake enthused.
“They don’t give me trophies for being pretty. Even though I think they should pay me a lot better for that,” Leo jested.
“But whenever they start rewarding contestants for their egos, you’ll definitely win,” Drake retorted. The three men laughed.
“This was a wonderful afternoon, guys. I really needed this. Thank you,” Liam smiled at his brother and his childhood friend.
“Of course. I can’t believe you guys leave these babies sitting around here gathering dust,” Leo said.
“I take mine for a spin at night,” Drake shrugged. “The King here is the one who doesn’t have time.”
“Sure, because it’s so easy to convince Father, Regina and the entire King guard that it’s okay for me to ditch a bulletproof Rolls Royce and ride on a Harley Davidson,” Liam retorted.
“It worked for me,” Leo smiled.
“Haha! His Royal Majesty here isn’t as stealthy. He nearly fell into a bush of roses just to go out for a cronut and Bastien had tails on us the whole time,” Drake grinned.
“Aww…” Leo guffawed. “Don’t worry, little brother. You’ll get there.”
The men laughed once again.
“I mean it, Leo. It’s great to have you here,” Liam confessed.
“Hey, I’m here whenever you need me, Li,” Leo patted his baby brother’s shoulder fondly when the familiar sound of throat clearing came up behind them.
“Busted…” Drake muttered, making the brothers chuckle.
They turned around at the same time, Leo and Drake plastering the insolent smiles as Liam wore a more apologetic one.
“Hey, Bas! How’s it going?” Leo cheered.
“Your Highness, Mr. Walker,” Bastien bowed stiffly. “Your Majesty, Queen Mother Regina and Countess Madeleine were appalled you didn’t join them for tea.”
“Yeah, right…” Liam grumbled.
“You should go change before Lady Tight Leash finds you and stares aghast at the fact that you own a leather jacket and have dust on your face,” Drake mocked as Leo chuckled.
“Your Majesty?” Bastien called.
Liam glared at them then turned to his bodyguard. “I’ll take a shower and I’ll go to my office. Let the Queen Mother and Lady Madeleine know I won’t be joining them until dinner.”
“Very well, Sir.”
“Bastien?” Liam gave a subtle nod to his bodyguard and turned on his heels to leave the garage.
“Yes, Sir,” Bastien nodded and smacked the back of Drake’s and Leo’s heads while Liam walked away grinning.
Leo marched back to his room, taking off his dirty jacket on the way when he found his daughters playing with their nanny in the toys library recently renovated from them. “My little bees!”
“Daddy!” They squealed running towards him.
He picked them up and kissed their faces. “Having fun with Anita?”
Ava nodded.
“Daddy, you are dirty,” Emma grimaced and brushed her tiny hand on Leo’s cheek.
“Yeah, Daddy was showing Uncle Liam and Drake a few moves,” he chuckled.
“I want to see the maze,” Ava beamed.
“Sure, let’s do it. I’ll take a quick shower, call mommy and we’ll meet you both here, okay?”
The twins nodded. Leo put them down and walked to his room, but the door is locked. He furrowed his brows, but walked in through the girls’ room and opened the door that connected both rooms. As he opened the door, he found a flushed Katie staring at her phone.
“Babe?” Leo raised an eyebrow. “Watcha doin’?”
Her eyes went wide. “Uh… Nothing, just looking at some stuff.”
“Are you watching that fem porn again?” Leo smiled slyly.
“No…”
“Can I see it?”
“Leo!”
“Come on, baby… We can role play it,” Leo winked.
“I said no!”
“Okay, okay… We don’t have to do it now,” he lifted his palms up grinning. “The girls want to see the hedge maze. I’ll take a shower and meet them at the toys library. Wanna come with us?”
“Yeah, sure. I’ll wait for you outside,” Katie replied hiding her phone on her purse and leaving the room.
Leo eyed his wife suspiciously. Usually, she’s the one making questions and trying to look through his phone. And if there was one thing he hated was when someone kept secrets from him.
The family visit to the hedge maze was longer than they expected. Leo was so happy to have the twins there, he played with them until they were visibly tired. The couple dismissed the nanny for the night and took the toddlers to their room to give them a bath, dinner and put them to bed. While Katie tucked the girls in, Leo checked the news on his phone when he spotted Katie’s phone unattended. Taking a quick glance at the door, he reached for his wife’s phone.
Katie returned to her room and found Leo sitting on the end table staring at her phone. His features were reddened, one hand balled into a fist and the other held the phone tightly.
“Leo?” she asked quietly.
“What the hell is this?” his voice was low but filled with rage.
“It was just small talk. No big deal,” she tried her best to keep it together, but it wasn’t easy. Leo rarely initiated argues with her. Yet, the fights he did start weren’t small ones.
“Funny… I don’t remember you saying this when I talk to Madeleine,” he goaded.
“She’s your ex-fiancee,” she hissed.
“She’s also my stepmother’s niece and Liam’s future wife. She still is part of my life. And who are you to judge? You went a guy you fucked after I proposed to you.”
“Oh, now you’re throwing that on my face? Unbelievable,” she scoffed. “You were out, I was bored, we talked. That’s it. Stop making a fuss about it.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? I was with my brother helping him deal with the mess I made in his life and in the kingdom and you think you it’s okay to flirt a guy who clearly didn’t forget you?”
“It’s not like that, Leo. I would never–”
“Cheat on me? Well, the compliment you gave to his dick pic says otherwise,” Leo fumed showing the chat to her.
“Leo, please.”
“By all means, Katie. Do go on with your little chat with the bartender. Even better. Go to Thailand. He must be waiting for you. But rest assured I’m not going to be here while you pretend to be a loving wife to my family but you’re still thinking about him,” he grabbed his leather jacket and keys and headed to the door.
“Where are you going?”
“Away from you,” he said slamming the door shut and walked down the halls ignoring anyone who talked to him on his way out.
…
The night had deepened when Leo was back at the palace. As instructed by Liam, a few of his bodyguards was assigned to keep an eye on Leo and make sure he would arrive safely. But the guards were surprised to see he came back riding without anyone’s help, yet he could barely walk straight.
“Heeeey, Ems! Sup!” he beamed at the guard standing in front of him at the garage.
“Your Highness,” the guard bowed. “Do you need any help, Sir?”
“Nah… I’m fine,” he replied, trying to support himself on the bike and almost tripped over a toolbox.
“Sir, I take you to your room.”
“Nuh uh,” he shook his head. “I won’t sleep with that cheater. I’ll sleep with my daughters.”
“King Liam asked the maids to prepare a room for you next to your daughters’ in case you didn’t want to bother Lady Katherine, Sir.”
“Of course he did… Liam is the good one. He always thinks of everything. He always cleans up the mess I make,” Leo said as he tried to stand still.
“Sir, may I suggest you go to bed?”
“Why?” Leo gave the guard a nasty look. “No, you may not! I’m fiine.”
“Sir–” The guard tried to reach and help Leo.
“Sir my as–”
“Hey, Leo!” Drake chimed in.
“Heeeey! It’s my whiskey buddyyyy!” Leo cheered placing an arm over Drake’s shoulders.
“Thanks, Emmet. I can take it from here,” Drake said to the guard, who bowed and left.
“I’m not even going to ask where you were because I’m pretty sure I know, but you got your wife worried sick, dude.”
“Ah…” Leo scoffed. “That was all for show. She doesn’t give a fuck.”
“Leo, you have to get some rest. You promised Liam you’d join him for the breakfast at the embassy tomorrow at eight.”
“Noooo… Politics suck, man!” Leo grimaced. “You know what we should do? Drink Liam’s favorite scotch!”
“I have a better idea. How about we go upstairs, you take a shower, have a glass of water and go to bed?”
“No!” Leo tried to push Drake away, but Drake barely moved. The prince furrowed his brows. “Since when did you become a buzzkill, Walker?”
“I didn’t. But you have kids, remember? Two little cute identical toddlers, who make the most heartbreaking pouting faces when their father wreaks like cheap whiskey and pot and gets easily mad at them when he’s hungover?”
Leo’s heart sank. He was so mad at Katie and so focused on pissing her off he forgot how much Ava and Emma suffer from the consequences of their fights.
“Whatever Katie did, your daughters don’t deserve to become collateral damage,” Drake reasoned.
“You’re right.”
“I know I am.”
“Ugh… I hang out too much with my brother.”
“Come on, let’s get you a shower and that weird juice Liam drinks when he gets drunk,” Drake wrapped a hand around Leo and led him into the palace.
On the way to Leo’s room, they crossed paths with Regina, who asked her maid to fetch the juice, a few pills and water to help Leo deal with the hangover in the morning. He had just got out of the shower when he heard a knock on the door.
“Come in.”
“Excuse me, Your Royal Highness’” the maid bowed gracefully. “Here are the medication, water and the beet and carrot juice with orange. It’s recommended for you drink it now before the juice loses its vitamins,” she said extending the tray in his direction.
“Alright,” he replied taking the glass and drinking the thick burgundy liquid as he sat on the bed. “Thank you, Miss…”
“Angelique, Sir,” she answered coyly, her eyes fixed on Leo’s abs.
“Thank you, Angelique. You can go rest now. I’m sure Regina went to bed and won’t need your services tonight,” he declared, putting the glass in the nightstand.
“And won’t you need my help, Sir?” she batted her lashes, stepped closer to the bed and began to unbutton her uniform.
“What are you doing?” In the dimly lit room, Leo was too wasted to understand what was happening until she dropped her underwear on the floor and her hand reached under his towel. “Whoa! Hey there!”
“I can help you get rid of your drunkenness right now, Sir,” she purred unwrapping the towel from his waist and sitting on his lap.
“What the– Oh, shit…” he burbled as she massaged his testicles with one hand and stroked his cock with the other.
“Does it feel good, Sir?” she murmured, nibbling his earlobe.
“Damnit, girl. What are you doing to me?”
“Giving you the proper care you deserve, Sir.”
“Listen, I–” he trailed off as she lowered herself onto him.
“No need to worry, Sir. No one is listening to us and I’m wearing protection. All you have to do now is enjoy,” Angelique pushed Leo on the mattress and bounced up and down.
As he realized how close he was to Katie’s room, a sudden thrill of lust and rage took over Leo while he watched his stepmother’s maid riding him. “Well…” He gripped her waist and rolled over the bed then pinned her wrists. The girl stared wide-eyed at the large man hovering her.
“You’re new here, so I think you’re not familiar with my codes of conduct, but here’s rule number one: you don’t get to ride me until I say so,” he whispered, ramming into her fiercely. She whimpered. “But it’s okay…” he pulled out her leaving the tip of his cock inside her and one of his hands ran down her arms, tightened around her neck and he pounded into her again, smiling as she gasped. “I’ll go easy on you this time.”
Leo drove faster into the girl, sucking and biting her breasts as she moaned louder at each thrust. “You’re too loud, Angelique. We have to fix that.” Grabbing his towel, he pulled out of her, turned her on her stomach and tied the fluff fabric around her head, covering her mouth.
Leo plunged into her and pulled her head up with the ends of the towel whilst she panted, biting the towel to fight the urge to scream. He picked up speed, slamming fast as he pulled the towel, forcing her to bend backward. Her damp pussy clenched around his manhood and he growled when the door opened.
On the doorway, tears ran down Katie’s furious face as she watched Leo finish on the girl’s back.
_____
Katie’s heart raced as she sat on her bed, running her fingers on her hair. She wished it was just a dream, but she knew that was actually a vivid memory of her family’s last visit to Cordonia. A memory that would haunt her down every time she looked through Leo’s personal things when he went away. And no matter how many people told her to stop, she couldn’t. And so her sick cycle of jealousy went on.
Hours seemed to stand still that morning. With the twins at preschool, her housekeeper cleaning and cooking and the light work at her office, she had too much time to think. She needed to be calm when Leo arrived, but everything was making her anxious.
By the time she was finally going back home to leave the groceries and pick up the twins, Katie had pictured many different scenarios of their conversation and the thought of Leo not taking it seriously like he usually did was driving her mad. But what if he finally sees how bad things are? Will he leave?
Her thoughts were promptly interrupted as she drove into her house. In the front yard, Leo and his daughters laughed and ran around while they played tag.
“Mommy is here!” Emma pointed into Katie’s direction.
“And how do we greet Mommy?” He smiled at the toddlers.
“With kisses!” The twins belted.
“Then what you are you waiting for? Go!” Leo grinned as the little girls ran towards their mother and followed them.
Katie went down on one knee and hugged the twins.
“Hi, beautiful,” Leo said with a slow smile.
“Hi. Welcome back,” she stood up and as her eyes met his, Leo’s smile faded. She discreetly looked towards the swings on a tree nearby and he nodded then marched to the spot.
Katie turned to her daughters. “You guys have been playing for so long that now Daddy seems hungry. You know what you guys should do for him?”
“Sandwiches,” Emma answered.
“And lemonade,” Ava added.
“Go ask Anita to help, okay?”
The twins nodded and walked away. Katie made her way to the swings, where Leo quietly watched the ocean.
“Hey,” she said taking a seat on the swing beside him.
“You didn’t wait until dinner. This must be a pretty serious talk,” Leo affirmed, his eyes still fixed on the ocean.
“It is,” she cleared her throat. “I miss us.”
“Why? I’m right here.”
“Yeah, but until when?”
“Katie, not this again…”
“I know it’s your job. But when you’re at home you barely stay with me. You’re always fixing bikes, going out with and playing the girls, meeting your crew. What about me?”
“What do you mean?” A line appeared between his brows as he stared at her confused. “You have your own life. Your job, your friends, your daily activities…”
“But I don’t have you. And not just for sex. I miss cuddling and watching movies together, talking all night, going on dates. We don’t do that anymore, Leo, and I need to know why,” she argued.
“Katie, we shouldn’t talk about this now.”
“Yes, we should. We have to. I can’t keep pretending like everything is okay. We both know it’s not.”
“Do you really want to know why?”
“Yes!”
“It’s because you got all crazy and possessive since we came back from Cornodia. I messed up, I apologized. But it seems like that’s not enough. You have to look through my stuff, smell my clothes and search for things on my phone to believe instead of just believing me and I hate it,” he snapped.
Katie’s eyes welled up. “Do you actually hate something about me?”
“Yes,” he sighed. “I wish I could let this slide, but I can’t. I don’t like this jealous, obsessive side of you. It feels like you’re smothering me.”
She bit her bottom lip as it quivered. Leo grasped her hand, his thumb rubbing it gently.
“I know I’ve been an awful partner lately, but I can’t be with someone who makes me feel like I’m trapped. Our marriage isn’t in a good shape and we only had ourselves to blame, but we’re also the ones who can fix it. And we’ll only get past this if we trust each other. So, I’m asking you right now,” he stood up, kneeled before her gaping into her eyes. “Do you trust me?”
I don’t know… “Yes,” she croaked.
“Are you sure?”
I love you so much but I don’t know. “Yes.”
“Okay,” he cupped her face with both hands, thumbs brushing away the tears. He stood up and pulled her into his arms. “I’m sorry, babe.”
“I’m sorry too,” she held him tightly. “I’m so so sorry,” Katie sobbed as she couldn’t no longer control her emotions.
“It’s all right. We’ll figure it out,” he murmured, kissing her forehead.
