Filed to story: Submitting to My Bestie’s Daddy Read Online >>???
“It does matter, Tallon,” she said indignantly. “She’s doing this shit because she thinks she still has a chance with you. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t be trying to stop you from getting married. How can you not see why this bothers me? How would you feel if I had an ex-boyfriend who was actively trying to get in the way of us getting married? Are you seriously going to tell me that you wouldn’t do exactly what I just did, or worse?”
I had to admit, she had a point, but it didn’t change the fact that she had lied to me.
“It’s not really about that. It’s about the fact that you went behind my back with my best friend. Did you really not think that Vinny would tell me? It is not okay for you to ask him to keep secrets from me.” I managed to calm my voice slightly, hoping that she could hear the logic in my words if I could keep my emotions in check.
“Fine, I’m sorry about involving Vinny and I’m sorry I went behind your back. But surely you see where I’m coming from.”
I had hoped that her apology would end the argument, but it was obvious that she wouldn’t be happy until I admitted that she was right to confront Bianca, and I just couldn’t do that.
“Bianca is meaningless. There’s a reason why I’m not with her anymore. You’re so much better than her and you need to let this go.” I started to walk away, heading in the direction of my office. I would find something to work on until late in the night so that she could go to sleep before I got back to our room.
“Don’t you dare walk away from me, Tallon!” she spat, following behind me and grabbing my hand until I turned around.
“I’m sick of having this argument. I don’t know what more I can tell you to make you stop being so fucking insecure about Bianca. It’s not my fault I have exes, and I’m tired of being treated like some sort of villain just because of Bianca’s idiotic behavior.”
I tried to pull my hand away, but she clung to it, clearly not ready to let this go. I took a deep breath, steeling myself for whatever she was going to say next.
“You think you’re sick of this? Imagine how I feel, knowing that my own fiance doesn’t care about my feelings. You’re acting like you care more about what Bianca thinks. Is that why you’re so worried about the fact that I confronted her?”
“No, of course not, Natalia! I don’t give a flying fuck what Bianca thinks. But I care a lot about what you think, and the fact that you didn’t trust me enough to just fucking talk to me about this makes me feel like shit. In case you weren’t aware, I have a bit of a complex about you keeping shit from me.”
I worked hard to keep from yelling at her, but I could hear the way my voice was rising. I hated myself for trying to cover up my hurt with anger, but I couldn’t help it.
Her face softened slightly. “Is that why you’re upset, Tallon? Because you think I’m lying to you again?”
“It’s not just that,” I grunted.
“Alright, if you say so. Look, I already said I was sorry for going behind your back, and I meant it. But we can’t keep having this argument over and over. What’s done is done.”
My heart squeezed at her words. It was easy for her to say, “What’s done is done,” when I had been the one who had suffered the consequences of her lies when we first met.
“Yeah, I guess so. I don’t know why we’re getting so worked up over this anyway, it’s just a wedding. It’s not like it’s that big of a deal,” I mumbled.
Her mouth fell open and I immediately regretted my words as her face paled slightly and tears sprang to her eyes. She ran out of the kitchen before I could say another word.
I felt like such a fucking idiot.
*Tallon*
I watched Natalia leave but didn’t even try to stop her.
I had no idea what had possessed me to blurt out something so hurtful to her. As soon as she turned away from me, I felt my entire body deflate, and all the anger that I had been feeling turned to regret.
I was such a fucking idiot. How could I say that our wedding wasn’t important? Of course, it was. Falling in love with Natalia was the best thing that had ever happened to me, and finally being able to call her my wife was going to be even better.
I knew she had been getting stressed out with the wedding planning, but instead of stepping up to help her, I ignored the problem until it became too big for her to solve by herself. Then I had the audacity to get mad at her for the way she had chosen to handle it.
I shook my head and ran my hand anxiously through my hair, then pulled my phone out and tried to call her. She had only left a few minutes ago, and I hoped to catch her before she left the compound.
The phone rang and I waited anxiously for her to pick up, trying to think through how I would apologize. I had to reassure her that I cared deeply about marrying her. I wasn’t sure if she would be ready to forgive me yet, but I would figure out a way to make her feel better.
On the eighth ring, the call went to voicemail. I sighed as the robotic voice encouraged me to leave a message.
“Sweetheart, it’s me. I’m so sorry. Please, come back to the kitchen and let me apologize to your face. I know that I really fucked up. Let me make it up to you,” I pleaded. “I love you. Call me back when you get this.”
I hung up quickly and went straight to texting her. “I’m so sorry. Come back and I will get on my knees so you can see how sorry I am.”
I hoped that would at least make her smile. Maybe it wasn’t the right time to try to be funny, but that was always my go-to when things got tense. Before this argument, I would have said that was something Natalia loved about me, but now I wasn’t so sure.
This was the first time I felt like I had said something to her that would be extremely difficult to forgive. Even when we had found ourselves on opposite sides of our family feud, there had always been something inside me that knew that we would be okay. But now I wasn’t so sure.
I decided to text her again, just in case. “Okay, that was a stupid joke. Except I’m not really joking. I really am that sorry. Please come back.”
I shoved my phone in my pocket and ran outside, hoping I could catch her before she left. I looked around frantically, but she was gone. She had managed to leave so quickly that she must have driven herself. I hated knowing that she was out driving alone while upset. I knew that she was a better driver than me, considering I had grown up with drivers while she had grown up driving herself, but she was still relatively new to living here.
I pulled out my phone again and stared at it, willing it to ring. I didn’t want to call her again and risk distracting her from driving even more, so I decided to call Vinny and ask for his help.
Unlike Natalia, Vinny picked up quickly. “Hey, Tallon, I’m glad you called–” he started, but I interrupted him. We didn’t have time to hash out our last conversation.
“Natalia’s missing,” I blurted out.
“What? When did you last see her?” I could hear the panic in his voice as he thought about the last time Natalia had gone missing.
“Sorry, not really missing. She left.”
I hated to even say the words. The last thing I wanted to do was rehash our argument with Vinny, but I knew that I would at least need to explain to him why she had left and was now avoiding my calls.
“What happened, Tallon?” Vinny prompted.
“I confronted her about the Bianca thing, and let’s just say it went horribly wrong. I completely fucked up. I just got so pissed off and I said something I shouldn’t have,” I explained, avoiding telling him what I had said.
“What the hell did you say that made her want to run away?” he asked.
That was what made Vinny such a good second for me. He never let me get away with my bullshit. Although I hated it at times, I knew it was good for me.
“I told her the wedding wasn’t that important.” I ran my hand through my hair, waiting to hear his response.
“You are a fucking idiot,” he said. “Why would you say something like that?”
“I don’t know. It came out wrong. I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant that we shouldn’t be so worried about all this stuff.”
“Well damn, you sure found the absolute worst way to tell her,” he chuckled darkly.
“I know. Can you please just get over here and help me look for her? She drove off on her own and I’m worried for her. Who knows where she might have gone?”
“Alright, alright. I’ll be there in five.”
He hung up without saying goodbye. I wondered if Vinny was mad at me now too. I knew that he and Natalia had developed a bit of a friendship since she had come to live in the compound. They loved to play chess together, and I could tell that he had started to view her as a little sister. He probably hated the fact that she was out on her own almost as much as I did.
I decided to risk texting her one more time, just to see if maybe she had gone somewhere and calmed down enough to answer.
“Baby? Please will you just text me back and let me know you’re okay?” I typed it out and hit send. I was fully begging now and I didn’t care. I just wanted her back in my arms where I knew she was safe.
Vinny pulled up in a black sedan and rolled down the driver’s side window.
