A Little Bit Married

Consent

I gave a small laugh as he opened the door and let me in before closing it behind us as he casually gained the lead again and ushered me to the bed.

I sat across from him, but he moved, so he would be sitting next to me instead, the tray in front of us. I looked between him and the carefully plated pasta while he gently poured a glass of wine for me.

"I was so terrified of this bed the night we got married," I said as he handed me the glass cup, laughing at the image of that night.

Things had been so different back then, and of anyone had hinted at me the possibility of being right here with Gray and sop comfortably at that, I probably would have had a name for them, and it wouldn't be mentally stable.

"Terrified?"

"I mean. There was no way to know what you would do. You seemed so... angry, yet restricted, and I couldn't exactly vouch for you, then."

He chuckled as he sprayed a bit of parmesan over my pasta. "More?"

"A lot."

He added a lot more before pulling away. "I wouldn't have touched you without consent."

I nodded, sipping from my glass. "That wasn't the first thing I thought about."

"Oh?"

"Yeah," I said, dropping the glass as I watched him slowly eat. He seemed satisfied with the taste, and it just made me smile. "The first thing I wondered about was if you would even want to touch me at all."

His brows furrowed, and he turned to me. "As I said..."

"I know that now. But what if you have consent?"

He didn't reply for the longest time before I slowly moved to him, my eyes darting across both of his. My hand rested gently on his cheek, the wedding ring heavy on my finger. It wasn't meant for me back then, but it belonged to me now.

"There are a few things I want to say, Gray. A belated vow if you will. I am not dying on you. I am never putting you through that. I am never going to cheat. Not even if Kevin was to come back alive."

He slowly held my hand and kissed my inner palm. "Let's..."

"And I want to give you consent."