Mia’s pov
As soon as I sighted the familiar building which is Lorenzo’s apartment, immense fear instantly lodged itself in my throat, just as his motorbike slowed down to a stop.
The door slid open almost immediately and Lorenzo smoothly droved in, and my heart lodged further up my throat.
Once the engine got killed, I let out a long, stuttered breath and tried to stop my heart from speeding erratically. It took a few seconds for me to realize that my arms were still wrapped around his waist. With a startled sound, I yanked my hands away and almost fell off the bike if he hadn’t reached behind himself to grasp my arm.
That sent a wave of embarrassment through my veins as I carefully alighted the bike.
I knew I was in deep trouble. I didn’t need a soothsayer to point that out to me. If the blank look on Lorenzo’s face wasn’t indication enough then the way he was gripping the handles of the bike should do.
I awkwardly took the helmet off and smoothed my hair down with my sweaty palms. My heart was still racing and I wished the ground would swallow me up right now. I remained in the same spot, not knowing how to hand the helmet to him knowing that he wasn’t happy with me.
He alighted the bike after about a minute and smoothed his hair. The top he currently had on made everything about him appear even hotter, which is ridiculous because something as simple as this shouldn’t look this appealing.
When his gaze landed on me, I let out a startled sequel and blocked my face with the helmet without thinking. When I pulled the helmet away after a few seconds, he was still staring at me and so I gulped nervously while sending a silent prayer to the heavens.
He held his hand out without uttering a word and I diligently handed him the helmet which he hooked on the handle of the bike. Once he was done, his gaze returned back to me and I fidgeted in his suffocating presence.
His gaze was unwavering and it made my throat go dry almost immediately. As his gaze raked over every inch of my built, I could do nothing but shift my weight from foot to foot. His head got cocked sideways and a scoff mixed with a laugh escaped his mouth.
“So…” he trailed off and my breath stopped for a few seconds. “You tried to run away, huh?”
The fear floating at the sidelines of my mind a few seconds ago rushed to the top part of my mind as I hastily shook my head while frantically searching for an answer in my muddled mind.
“Uh… no–”
He arched a brow and let out another scoff.
“No?” He echoed out and once again, I shook my head in response.
He regarded me silently for a few more moments before tilting his head sideways to the duplex looming at the left side of the building.
“Go on in.” He murmured, voice husky and lacking any trace of emotion. That made fright climb into my throat at once. It felt like he was asking me to walk right into my doom and that rendered me extremely unnerved. I let out a choppy breath and gave a tense nod of my head before carefully walking past him, towards the house.
I had run away from him because I thought he was about to kill me. He had been the one to come rescue me from a faux danger. And now that he has brought me home, he’s definitely gonna kill me now, there’s no point in me deluding myself.
Because I know he was extremely pissed at me, I swallowed the protests bubbling in my throat and obediently made my way up the house and into the house because the door was unlocked.
I inched into the sitting room, eyes trailing over the interior, a place which I had thought I won’t ever see again after this morning.
I remained perched against the edge of one of the couches, not knowing if I was supposed to be sitting or standing my feet right now.
The sound of the door clicking close and then the key being turned into place made me instantly bolt to my feet while my heart hammered fast against the side of my ribs. With bated breath, I watched as Lorenzo walked into the sitting room. His hands combed through his hair as he crossed the room, headed towards the bar which was stocked with all kinds of drinks.
He was yet to acknowledge me, he didn’t even spare me a glance as he walked in, and I wasn’t sure on how to interpret that, either as a good or a bad sign.
Everything in me was stretched taut with nervousness as I watched him pour himself a drink which he took a couple of gulps from almost immediately.
I had been watching him from the side of my eyes the entire time, so when his gaze suddenly panned in my direction, I quickly averted my gaze, choosing to stare at my clammy fingers instead.
The silence in the atmosphere was so tense that I could barely breathe in properly. When Lorenzo’s voice pierced through the silence, I almost had a heart attack.
“Why did you run away?”
I contemplated telling a lie, but because I was already deep in this mess, I decided to come clean instead.
And so I proceeded to tell the truth, about how I overheard a bit of his call last night and how I had been planning this since we got home last night, all the way till he left the house.
He let out an amused laugh then remained silent once I had nervously stuttered my way through that response, prompting me to get consumed by my fear till he spoke up again, but this time, what came forth was an order.
“Come here.”
I summoned all my willpower and slowly inched towards him. My hands were trembling so I tried to hide it by gluing my hands to my side, but it was of no use. I couldn’t meet his face as I finally stood in front of him and so I chose to instead send another prayer to the heavens.
His hand moved upwards and for a moment, I thought he was gonna slap me, and got the biggest shock of today when his hand cupped my cheek, which he used to tilt my head till I was staring up at him.
His face was still blank and I had no idea of what to make of what’s currently happening. My heart felt like it was about to burst out of my chest.
Moments later, his other hand appeared and settled on my chin, and then his thumb swiped over my bottom lip which I had no idea was parted.
A tremor wracked through my limbs as I blinked up at him a few times but before I could formulate a word, he was dropping his hands from my face and nodding his head at the stairs.
“Go take a shower. Come down once you’re done.”