HIS STRIPPER, HIS WIFE novel Chapter 2

Chapter 2

I had never felt this awful before. I’d had a biting dependency since I was little. It was something left over from when I was a young pup losing my baby teeth, and Adrian discovered it before I ever got the chance to tell my parents.

Back when we were still in preschool at Seattle Waldorf School, he grabbed my chubby little wrist and started pulling me toward the teacher.

“Elena, who bit you? Tell the teacher. I’ll get them.”

I stared at my wrist, which was covered in bite marks, and kept backing away.

“I did it myself.”

I didn’t know why, but my teeth were always itching. The sensation seemed to spread from my teeth all the way into my chest, so unbearable that sometimes it made me want to cry. But I was too scared to tell my parents.

The day before, I’d watched a movie about hunters chasing down werewolves who had lost control. The ones who went around biting people were eventually subdued with silver weapons. The more I thought about it, the more terrified I became.

Adrian stared at my wrist in silence for a few seconds before holding out his own.

“You’ve already bitten yourself hard enough to bleed. That hurts.”

“Next time it gets bad, bite me instead, Elena. I’m an Alpha. I can take it.”

And just like that, I kept biting him from preschool all the way through high school. Then one winter, Adrian injured his arm during hockey practice and had to wear a hard cast. I ran my fingers over the solid plaster and asked him,

“Does it hurt?”

Adrian didn’t answer. Instead, he pulled down the zipper of his turtleneck and exposed his slim, pale neck. By then, Adrian already had a sharp, defined Adam’s apple.

He was much, much taller than me, but his skin was still that same cool, pale shade.

“Elena, bite here when your teeth start itching from now on. I wear turtlenecks anyway. No one will see.”

I jumped in surprise. The tips of Adrian’s ears were bright red, and I immediately shook my head.

“Biting your neck looks way too much like marking. No way.”

“Don’t you still have another arm?”

Silence fell between us for a few seconds. Adrian cleared his throat.

“I need my right hand to write. Exams are coming up…”

That winter was when Adrian first started letting me bite his neck. There was less to bite at his neck than at his arms, but the skin there was softer. His arms weren’t soft like they’d been when we were little anymore.

They were all hard muscle now, and more than once, biting him had actually made my teeth ache. Besides, Adrian had a tiny mole beneath his ear, close to his scent gland. Whenever I gently bit that spot, the skin around it would turn pink, making the mole stand out even more.

So I accepted his solution. Eventually, I even grew to love it. That lasted until Adrian’s mother noticed he was still wearing turtlenecks in the summer.

After that, he stopped letting me bite his neck and had me bite his shoulder instead.

[Do you know why he stopped letting you bite his arm all the time?]

The system suddenly asked. I already felt miserable enough and didn’t want to answer. The system clearly didn’t care whether I responded.

[Because later, the real female lead is going to give him a leather partner bracelet symbolizing their relationship.]

[If you keep leaving bite marks all over his wrist, wouldn’t that get in the way?]

I irritably covered my ears.

[I don’t know. Just shut up!]

The system seemed startled by how sharply I snapped.

[You’re just a side character who grew up with the male lead. Don’t tell me you’re actually going to turn into the villainess.]

It had just started listing all the miserable endings waiting for villainesses when the doorbell rang. Adrian stood outside holding a tray. As we’d gotten older, Adrian had become quieter and quieter.

He rarely talked much anymore, but he had always been gentle enough with me. His mother loved baking. Ever since eighth grade, he had brought over whatever dessert she made almost every day.

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