InsaneJournal

Last week hadn't been great for Will. An awful fight with his sister had left him feeling angry, betrayed, and more hurt than he could remember feeling in a long time. He'd buried himself in work and weekend partying as much as possible, which had unfortunately meant he had postponed his usual Saturday with Bina and had been less than his best when they'd talked over the journals Sunday night. Apologies were owed of course, manners and upbringing dictated it at the very least, and they clearly had practical matters to talk about too.

So armed with a bottle of scotch and takeout curry (specifically the one he knew was her favourite), Will gave two short firm knocks on Bina's door and waited to be let in.

Bina had taken double shifts Monday, wanting to immerse herself in anything. She was still in a bit of a mood after her last conversation with her mother. She'd wanted someone to talk to, to plan this out with, and instead, well, she didn't want to dwell on it. At least her conversation with Uncle Perseus had gone better, despite the realization of how much her life was likely to suck if she continued on with this.

The house elf opened the door to the flat and smiled up at William. "Mistress is in the living room."

Bina looked up from the glass of scotch she was drinking. It was obvious she'd come straight from work as she hadn't even unlaced her boots. She smiled at him. "Evening."

The elf was still something to get used to, in the past she'd come to his place or it had been her opening the door whenever he'd come over. But an elf was a useful thing, though hardly one that deserved much more than a nod of acknowledgement before he stepped inside to shoot a smile at Bina.

Will had been at work late, as usual really, but he had somehow shown up looking fresh and neat, smiling lightly back at her with no trace of his troubles from the last week on his face. They weren't gone, but he could cover them up well. "Evening to you. Mind company for dinner?" He held up the bag with the curry for them both.

"It is Tuesday," was all Bina said. "Zinny, that will be all for tonight. You can continue going on prepping Kiki's flat."
Bina got to her feet and led the way to a table in the kitchen, pulling out plates and glasses. "Is there still alcohol left in Britain? Or did you and your mates drink it all?" Bina teased.

Once Bina had dismissed her house elf, Will followed her lead and strode over to the kitchen table and put the curry down on it. "Clearly," Will smiled back as he held up the bottle of scotch he brought, taking the teasing as a good sign. Not, and quite obviously so, from the case she'd bought for them both but a different brand. "Since I did bring you a top up as an apology." His smile faded a bit as he put that down on the counter next to where she was pulling out plates and glasses. "Though I still want to say I'm sorry for both my behaviour and tone before, it was inappropriate of me. As was Saturday and skipping out on you."

Bina waved her hand dismissively. "You were drunk. It happens." What bothered her is that he wouldn't tell her what had caused the multiday bender. She closed her eyes at the smell of her favourite curry. "Although if you show up with my favourite curry, I'm wondering if there's more you're trying to make up for."

Will raised an eyebrow, vaguely amused, and shook his head at her. "I think I have more than enough to make up for with just this past weekend, if there's anything more then I better deliver more than just curry." Will needed to get the past week behind him, Gwennie was back in town and he needed to hash things out with her before Izzie's birthday (well actually what he needed was an apology from her but that was another issue). He couldn't be in the mood he'd been in if he wanted to be successful at that, being at odds with his sister like that was the worst feeling. Honestly, he wanted to just hug her and pretend they were getting along as usual, that things were fine, but he wasn't that delusional.

"Happens or not, I still expect better of myself. But thank you," William added and leaned over to kiss her cheek before he turned away to shrug off his suit jacket and pull the takeout from its bag.

"Want to talk about it?" she asked as she scooped rice and curry onto each of their plates, motioning for him to pour the scotch before carrying the plates to the table and sitting down.

Will smiled down a little and shook his head as he opened the bottle and poured them each a glass. "Thank you but no, it's just that I'm more disappointed in my reaction. I should be more controlled than that is all." He brought the glasses to the table and set one in front of her, then one in front of himself and sat down too. "Evaluate, fix your mistakes, and move on. Best way to do it."

She picked up the scotch, swirling it in her glass before taking a sip. "And this, was this a mistake that needs fixing?" she asked, motioning to the two of them. Serious discussion, however, did not dissuade her from her food as she couldn't remember if she'd eaten breakfast or lunch and she dug into the curry eagerly.

Again, a smile and shake of the head, but this time Will was looking her in the eye. "No, I'm sorry I should've been clear, you had nothing to do with my...most of last week. So no, this isn't a mistake that needs fixing, how I acted towards you this weekend was something that needed fixing but that's a different matter." He let her dig in first, quietly glad the food had gone over well even though he knew it would, before starting himself. Queasy mornings meant he'd altogether skipped breakfast and that lunch had been replaced with a small snack as he'd hit a productive streak around then.

"Most of are asses when we're plastered," Bina said with a shrug. "Wasn't sure if this was some sort of cold feet or something regarding the engagement. There's still time to get out it, if you want. I won't hold it against you if you've changed your mind."

"No no, nothing to do with the engagement," Will insisted. He was, inwardly, a little surprised at her offer but then again it made sense. If not him then she could use someone else, someone more pliable or she could keep rejecting proposals to buy herself time. No, he wasn't going to be allowing that. "Not at all, if I had doubts or was going to change my mind I'd tell you as much. You?"

Bina had doubts - both her own and her mother's voice - but she refused to listen to them. She was confident in the plan she'd devised with Rufus' help. "No. My mother will either get on board or she won't, but I'll deal with that. She won't stand in the way." The benefit of being thirty meant that the money was already all in Bina's control.
"It seems you and Narcissa are in agreement though about courtship starting soon. We should probably come with a game plan."

Will nodded along, quietly impressed by her dedication to whatever plan she had in her head. But then again, he expected nothing less. Though Dulcinea Doge was a slight worry, she certainly wasn't someone to be discounted and he wondered what moves she'd make to stop or slow this down. He half expected her to contact him, though she hadn't yet and it made him curious. Perhaps she thought he wasn't the one to go to if she wanted to stop this, which was fair enough. Still, she was a worry. "I'm glad her and I have some overlap there, if we do this then we do this by the process or as close to it as reasonable. But we need a game plan as a whole, not just for the courtship. That part is frankly the more straightforward part in many ways."

"I wasn't just thinking for the courtship. That's easy enough. There was a poor sod who tried back in the day - but I know what's expected in that. Just because I've ignored most of my upbringing, doesn't mean I don't remember it." She took a sip of scotch and looked at him, her tone matter of fact. "So, we come up for a plan for the whole thing - courtship, engagement, marriage." Start to finish. Like a mission, she thought to herself. "We let Narcissa help where it's advantageous - staying in her good graces is beneficial for both of us."

Will smiled slightly but opted to keep a usual light comment about the poor sod to himself. "Well more like being in her good graces at all, you might've had more interaction with her than I have at this point," he pointed out. "But good, I'm glad we're on the same page about planning. First thing I want to say though is that it's premature for announcements, regardless of what Mrs. Malfoy has said to you. We'll get enough questioning looks as is, we don't need to give them fuel to work with by making it seem like I knocked you up." He was sure Narcissa would want to push things along faster, and he was fine with that to an extent, but he wanted more control over the pace. After all, he was the one doing most of the work on this project.

"Same result," Bina said. There was a bit of a wry smile. "Narcissa said there could be a gathering to mark the courtship, not necessary to announce the engagement. Or both. But that woman throws events for a living. What's your timeline for this?"

Because she has enough money that she doesn't have to make a living, was Will's first thought. But obviously he wasn't going to say as much. "I wasn't planning on any...courtship marking events. That too seems premature and essentially an engagement party. Having both would be...a bit much." He could explain it to Mrs. Malfoy, if there was a courtship party there'd need to be a certain amount of time before the engagement party otherwise it'd be obviously fast progression that they could mark on calendars. Skip the courtship party and they could do the engagement one earlier instead. Which he knew was part of Narcissa's plan, move things faster.

"I'm less concerned with a specific timeline and more making sure we have some time to get affairs in order, manage impressions and essentially tick all our boxes. I don't have any reason to put it off, nor do I imagine you do, so we don't need to draw it out unduly. Formal courtship is not usually the most thrilling thing, though I'll certainly make sure we find our own fun to offset it." Will glanced up from his food to smile at her at the last bit.

To her, it seemed like Will was incredibly concerned with things seeming premature. Bina didn't know what his end game was, but as long as it didn't interfere with hers, she supposed it didn't much matter in the end. She shrugged and took another bite of curry. "Tell me when to be where, and the dress code, and I'll make sure to be there and respectable. Are we going to do this traditionally where you ask my parents before beginning to court me? Because I think my age makes that irrelevant."

"Well I certainly planned to, traditional is the best way to go. Naturally this was before your mother's...objections." Which Bina hadn't quite elaborated on what those specifically were. "But you said you wanted to mend things with your father, and I think if we want to do that then introducing me to him at the very least before we start too much is in order." She had used getting closer to her father as a reason behind wanting to get married, on the surface, and it was worth using here. "I find it best to err on the side of tradition with the older generation."

Bina nodded, sipping her scotch. "That's easy enough to do. He and I have dinner weekly, I'm sure he'd love to meet you. Unless you'd prefer to be very traditional and not have me there?" she quipped, raising an eyebrow. "We'll probably need to do dinner with my mother as well, no matter how awkward that might be. Though it's best not to put the two of them in the same room if we can avoid it."

A wry smile back from Will. "No, I'd rather you be there actually. But 'love' to meet me? Do I have a reputation to live up to that I don't know about? Either way, you'll have to give me a rundown on him and what to do to impress him." As if he hadn't met Mr. Bulstrode before. "I'll let you decide what's best when it comes to your mother, I don't expect to win her over if she's dead set against it all, but it'd be inappropriate to ignore her in the proceedings."

Bina chuckled. "I have mentioned you in passing to him," she said with a shrug. "And I meant more, he'd love to meet anyone I plan on marrying. Just let me know when you're free and I'll set something up."

She laughed and smiled over the rim of her scotch glass, refilling it. "Like you need my help impressing anyone. You seem to do just fine with that on your own. Give my mother some time to cool off and we'll have dinner with her before the engagement gets announced. What about your family?"

Apparently mentioned enough that it caused Mr. Bulstrode to seek him out. But William had no intentions of ever telling her that. "Next week sometime? If that works for you both." Will couldn't help a chuckle back about his ability to impress people. "If I was that stellar at it, you wouldn't have as much of an issue with your mother. But if it's just down to 'before the announcement' then she has some time." He took a drink of his scotch while she asked her last question, giving himself a moment before he answered.

"My sisters I still have yet to speak to, mostly timing because Gwen left for vacation and Iz's seventeenth is coming up and I didn't want to upstage or draw their focus away from those things. But next week I'll be talking to them. My mother isn't against it, though I won't pretend she's entirely comfortable with...certain things." Only one bit of all that was true. Will continued and had an awkward look on his face as he added the last bit, looking like it was difficult to bring this up but it had to be pointed out. "Not you specifically just...the DMLE and old wounds you understand. But she's not objecting as a whole."

Bina nodded. "Fair. Although who knows, I may end up a cursebreaker yet," she said with a shrug. The mission for Rufus would continue whether or not she was within the DMLE, that much had been determined.

She smirked. "And that would be why you panic everytime someone hints at speeding up the timeline. Don't worry, we don't have to start anything until you've talked to your sisters. I know how much they mean to you."

Will smiled back, a genuine looking one. "Thank you, I didn't want to spring it on them or have them hear it from someone else. They deserve to hear the news from me." But he leaned back in his chair and tilted his head at her, surveying her, as he came back around to the cursebreaking issue. "Bina...I thought you were serious about this? You can't exactly plan on getting married if you expect to be heading off to Egypt. I can't do Egypt, and I doubt Mrs. Malfoy would want to find people in egypt for you." Will looked a little confused if anything, not sure how this tied into her plans at all. She couldn't continue this plan as part of the DMLE if she was planning on changing jobs, so why commit to a marriage plan? If she was serious about this, something would need to be done.

Bina leveled her gaze at him. "I am. And I've been frustrated at the DMLE, you know that. I know how much society doesn't care for my choice of career. I'm sure it would help relations with my father and others if I was no longer a damn bloody Auror." A slow sip of scotch as she studied him. "There are options for being a cursebreaker in London. Or short trips. I'd probably be training the little ones anyway. Narcissa chose you as a suitable choice and I'm content with that. I'm not backing out. I should think I'm a more attractive prospect if I'm not an Auror."

There was a smile and shake of his head, as if he thought she was missing something big. "And you'll be more attractive a prospect and more accepted as a cursebreaker? I hate to break it to you Bina but...it may be the opposite. Cursebreakers have a rather...unsavoury and unruly reputation. Look at who was doing the advertising for it, the Weasley bloke? No, cursebreaking won't do you any favours on that front. As much as your father and others don't care for aurors, you are still the officially the law and there's benefits to that that even they can see. I suspect part of their objection to you being an auror is also because it's considered...unladylike. If anything cursebreaking would be considered worse for that." Will gave her an apologetic shrug. "As much as they object to your job, I think most of society would rather have it known they're perfectly kind and friendly to an auror than...well, a cursebreaker."

"Well, I'm sure I'd be more attractive as a debutante or a homemaker, but I'm past the former and still a few years away from the latter," she said as she downed her glass. "And I thought you prefered me unladylike."

"In bed," Will shot back with a wry smile and no hesitation. "An auror would be considered unladylike, cursebreakers are a different category as a whole. Generally the term used is...unsuitable. I'd rather you don't plunge yourself into that if you want to keep on your father's good side." At least he didn't have to use the Weasley card yet, nobody wanted to touch people associated with that family. "So theoretically, let's say you don't change your job, what else do you want or need done during this engagement track? I gave you part of my list, do you have one?"

Bina shook her head as she started clearing the table, leaving the dishes in the sink for the elf and putting the leftover curry away for tomorrow. "Not really, as long as we get all the obligations taken care of, I'm content," she said as though they were discussing a chore list and not an engagement. She wasn't surprised at how important it seemed that she remained an Auror. Unsuitability of being a cursebreaker or not. It was good to confirm anyway.

Will got to his feet to help and put his own dish in the sink to get a chance to stand beside her. He paused and bit his lip, looking like he wanted to say something but was unsure for a moment. When he finally seemed to decide to speak, it was quietly like he didn't even want to be overheard by passing houselves. "Bina...I don't know if this was a concern for you but...quitting as an auror won't change my mother's discomfort. It's not about what job you currently have as much as that you were ever an auror and...things were very difficult for her after the war. She won't cause problems, and she will be perfectly pleasant, but quitting won't improve things if that's a positive side effect you were thinking of. It's your job and your choice, but I don't want you quitting with the thought that it'll improve some things that it won't."

Discomfort. Bina knew quite a bit about discomfort because of the war. The war that had torn her family about and ruined her child. Bina's hands stilled for a brief moment before she recovered and gave Will a smile and a bit of an eyeroll. "Look, I want to have a good relationship with your mother, but the possibility of changing jobs is more about my career and doing something I enjoy that doesn't feel like banging my head against the wall."

She kissed him on the cheek. "Don't worry about it."

Will gave her a small smile back, glad he didn't need to go into that more. The war was an uncomfortable topic, and the fallout from it still defined his life and everything he did. "Good. It was sounding like you wanted a change to get society to approve of you more. If it's about your own interests, that's different." And also something that could be fixed to an extent. He just needed to orchestrate something.

Before she could turn away, he reached out to put a hand on her arm and leaned in to kiss her on the lips. "I won't then. So...dinner with your father sometime next week. I'll leave the timing when it comes to your mother to you, and I'll introduce you to my sisters this summer. Engagement party over courtship party and we'll let Mrs. Malfoy contribute where appropriate. Good start? And you haven't commented on the curry." He smirked a bit, tone lighter now that the heavier topics were out of the way.

She simply arched an eyebrow at him. "Have you ever known me to completely change something about me just to get someone to like me? I'm not an idiot, Will and I'm willing to tweak things to maximize the benefits but I'm not going to do a complete 180 for the simple chance of impressing someone."

She nodded as she processed what he said. "Sounds good. And when do I meet your mother?"

"Of course not, but it was interesting you were focusing on the theoretical social benefits there is all." Not to mention he was curious to how far she was willing to change herself. Her father seemed to think it possible to bring her over, but that required a near 180 if it was going to happen.

"After my sisters." Will smirked a little. "My mother isn't the one it's important you win over."

Bina rolled her eyes before giving him one of her feral looks. "Just examining all the options. Always best to be as prepared as possible. No Slytherin worth their salt is unprepared for something like this."

She'd have to ask Kiki what she knew about Will's sister, because getting them on her good side would be important.

Will grinned back, as always matching one of her feral looks with a predatory one of his own. "I'd say be prepared for my sisters but they really aren't much of a handful truthfully." Not to mention he didn't see it as being a significant problem, despite his fight with Gwennie, as long as he got them both on board even if neither of them liked Bina it wasn't important. What was important was they gave her a chance to try and win them over and that they acted like they liked her.

He held up the bottle of scotch and grinned at her. "So my fellow prepared Slytherin, top up?"

"Do you need to ask?" she asked, holding her glass out to him. It was just another mission. A mission where she would need to be cunning and ruthless, but she was good at that.

"I say next round not in the glass," Will smirked as he poured her more scotch. He had his own mission and list of things to do still, including telling Izzie and his mother still, figure out some finances and get the Manor back before any announcements. If at the end of the day this didn't work out, he wanted to have gained something out of this still. However it ended.

"And I say you are completely predictable," she teased, pulling him close for a kiss. She still wasn't completely on her game, but it was to her advantage to make everything seem like normal. She couldn't go to Gwenog about this, not now, and she wasn't sure there was anyone else she could confide in. But she was good at playing the role. Bina nipped at Will's lower lip. "Living room or bedroom?"

"If your elf doesn't walk in, I'd say living room and move from there," Will responded in between kissing her back. "You do have an IOU from me to collect from Saturday."

"Zinny is gone unless I call her again. I've been very explicit about my instructions," Bina said, sliding a hand around his waist. He was familiar and yet not, now that they were more business partners than friends with benefits. "Ah, but I can't collect an IOU on a normally scheduled day. It has to be on a day we're not normally scheduled."

Familiar and yet not was about how Will was feeling about this moment right now. Something felt off and he couldn't quite put his finger on what was causing it. Whatever it was would need to be fixed, but not now. He still wasn't fully himself because of the mess with his sister and couldn't be sure that what felt different wasn't because of him. "Such a stickler for rules Miss Bulstrode, here I thought I'd been sleeping with the more rebellious sort."

"Just trying to be ladylike," she teased as she led the way to the living room and settled down on the couch. "I save the rule breaking for the Ministry."

Will followed, shooting her a grin and a wink. "Save some for personal use. Ladylike should stop at the door."

"All these rules," Bina teased with a laugh as she took a long sip of scotch before finally starting to unlace the boots she'd worn to work, wiggling her toes once she kicked them off. "Is there a handbook for being your fiance and wife that I should read up on and study?"

"Please," Will chuckled as he approached the couch and loosened his tie. "Be yourself in private and blast the handbook to bits." He grinned down at her with the feral look she usually liked. "You're at your best that way, Miss Bulstrode. It's also my favourite side of you..."

Bina laughed as she stripped out of the jacket and undid the wand holster on her arm, setting it on the end table. She rubbed at a knot in her shoulder as she tucked a leg under her, left in her trousers and tank top. "Well, I suppose as long as I'm not blasting your bits to bits," she teased with a feral smirk. She wasn't sure she knew what being herself was at the moment, but she was pretty sure she knew what Will wanted. She nudged him with her foot.
"No handbooks? Whatever would your head of house say?"

"The head of house often knows surprisingly little of what goes on in the house," Will smirked as he lowered himself next to Bina on the couch and raised his glass of scotch to her. "I say we keep to the spirit of that. Flats run with the spirit of slytherin hedonism?"

Bina smirked. "Can't argue with that. Like any flat of mine would be governed with anything less," she said, clinking her glass against his before taking a long sip. "So when are you due to find out about the job? I can't imagine Perseus stringing you along for too long."

That changed his mood in a moment. Will sighed with a look of annoyed frustration. "Theoretically this week, but it's bureaucracy so who knows. It's not up to your uncle or I'd imagine the paperwork would be more prompt. Apparently they wait for all the graduates to do their interviews before sending anything." He was starting to wonder if it was just the blood traitor Potter stringing him along and trying to have a bit of fun at his expense. It wouldn't be the first time his last name had been used against him. But it still pissed him off.

She raised an eyebrow, catching the change in his mood. Well, at least it seemed like a genuine emotion, which was a welcome change. "I imagine Perseus would have hired you on the spot." Of course, she wasn't sure how Perseus would feel once he knew the undercover operation she was so worried about involved marrying the man he'd hired. "The Ministry is notoriously slow on some things. Have you told Mulciber you're leaving yet?"

"If only he did the hiring," Will said dryly. "And I've told Mr. Mulciber about having an interview at the Ministry, but I wouldn't tell him I'm officially leaving unless I have an offer in my hands telling me I have a place to leave to." If the DMAC didn't work then he'd try a different department, perhaps it was just a matter of who the head was. "If it doesn't work then I thank your uncle, cut my losses, and find another in." He could be patient, but there was patience and being strung along and he had had enough experience with the latter happening because of a bias against his name.

"Well, they'd be idiots not to hire you. And you shouldn't be competing against the littles for jobs, that's an insult. Let the littles intern. There should be openings higher up for someone with your experience," Bina said, readjusting on the couch so she could put her bare feet in his lap. "Let me know if there's anyone I need to harass."

Will shrugged and rested his hands on her legs comfortably. "It is an insult, and unfortunately the Ministry sometimes has a tendency towards that." Of course there'd been a similar situation out of school where he'd applied to the IMC department and had surpassed every requirement and aced the interview only to have one of the higher ups notice his name and veto it because it'd look bad. A Death Eater's name wasn't something they wanted near them especially around a time appointments were being made. It still irked Will to think about. "But thanks, sadly the people who'd need harassing are a bit too high up for me to comfortable sic you on them, though I'd love to see you take them on."

Bina gave him a feral grin, the sort usually reserved for when she was going in for the kill on a mission or an interrogation. "You forget, my mother's a member of the Wizengamot. And despite her being an idiot about this, she still will do what she can to help me if I ask."
She laughed. "Besides, it's more fun to take down people who are higher up. More of a challenge." The look in her eyes made it seem there were people on her list who she wanted to take down, one cruciatus at a time.

Will did not think her mother would help her harass higher ups to get him a job, but he appreciated the thought and the predatory grin it brought out in her nonetheless. He turned in his seat on the couch to face her and tug her closer towards him by the legs, pulling them out to either side of him. "While I'm not advocating you take them down just yet, I would love to hear what you'd do to them hypothetically, Miss Bulstrode. Care to share the process?" He couldn't do anything to make job decisions go faster but listening to what might be revenge fantasies would certainly cheer him up in the meantime.

"Hmm.. I'd start by replacing their coffee with ours, since apparently DMLE coffee is an acquired taste - you should have seen McGonagall's face when he tried it. Then it would be a number of subtle pranks and hexes, making their office increasingly more uncomfortable," she said, shifting and climbing onto his hips, arms looped around his neck. "Of course, the coup de grace would depend on just how bad the offense."

Will smiled a bit at the thought and let his hands slide under her tank top and around her waist. "Let's say the highest offense, what would you reserve for that?"

"If they betrayed me? I'd make what Bellatrix did look like child's play," she growled. Slow revenge was good but Bina occasionally had her father's temper and she enjoyed the cruciatus. She would make them pay until they begged for mercy.

“I have no doubt her ghost would be asking you for tips,” Will responded with a wry smile. “But it is a tad attention-grabbing for a department slow with paperwork and quick with insults.”

Bina gave him a feral growl, a flash of something dangerous in her eyes. "If someone betrays me, I could care less about attention or not. Besides, it's not about showy and flashy, it's about making them regret crossing me."

Will grinned and leaned down to kiss her neck. "I should get the hiring department of the DMAC to cross you..."

Bina laughed, tangling a hand in Will's hair and tugging. "Then there might not be a DMAC to speak of.."

“Well I certainly wouldn’t mind unemployment in that case…”

She laughed again, the smile almost reaching her eyes this time. "What? Like you'd honestly be content to just be my personal cabana boy and house husband? Why'd I bother getting an elf if I could just have you cleaning my flat in an apron?"

He rolled his eyes but there was a smile. "I'd take temporary unemployment if you were taking down the DMAC offices. I'm not getting anywhere near an apron. Of course after the DMAC is gone they'll have to replace it so...I don't imagine I'll be unemployed too long in this hypothetical. Maybe I'll get a nice office out of it that I can thank you personally in," Will added lightly.

Bina sighed heavily. "Ruining my dreams of having you puttering around my house, catering to my every whim.. you're so cruel," she teased dramatically.

"My cruelty spares you," Will grinned and kissed her, his hands pushing her tank top up. "A house elf husband sounds like an absolute nightmare. Though we can discuss catering to your whims when it comes to the bedroom to make it up to you."

The comment stuck in her mind, wondering just how true it was and who would not be spared Will's cruelty. She helped him get the tank top out of the way and tangled her hands in his hair. "Will you still wear the apron?"

"I'm sure you can figure out the answer to that on your own."

"Depends how many IOUs I collect from you," she said with a smirk, leaning down and nipping his neck.