CYRUS
I said I wasn’t going to come back. I said I was going to stay away from her, I know. But damn it, I couldn’t help myself.
The urge to see her had been so strong that I almost went mad from fighting it. It wasn’t possible to deny. Succumbing to it seemed much more doable than fighting it, so why not go with the simpler option? So I got dressed, left the hotel and came to the bar.
And now I was sitting in front of her.
I didnt know what had prompted me to tell her that she had beautiful eyes. Maybe it was the fact that she was trying her best to come up with a conversation. Maybe it was because her eyes were in fact, beautiful. Or maybe it was because I just couldn’t help myself where she was concerned.
She seemed shocked at first, her eyes wide and all she could do was stare at me for a bit. I couldn’t blame her. I had gone from straight up ignoring her to complimenting her eyes. Eyes that had been haunting me, both in and out of my dreams.
“I-” she swallowed visibly, her eyes darting between mine, “Thank you.”
She stared at me for a while before turning to attend to another customer. As she turned, my eyes fell on the top two undone buttons of her top. Those buttons that had been undone for the main purpose of driving a man crazy. I hated it that I wasn’t the only one that could see it. Hated it that every other loser that came here with the intention of buying drinks, lingered and stared like they’re the eight wonder of the wold. And they just might be because hell, I couldn’t pull my eyes away.
The asshole kept on leering at her and that was when I noticed the tense lines of her shoulders and the angry set of her lips. She was uncomfortable. The bastard was making her uncomfortable. She was just as pissed about the whole thing as I was.
I felt my beast stirring inside me, and I fought to push it down. I couldn’t create a scene in a human bar. I couldn’t fight in a bar and bring attention to myself. For one, I couldn’t risk it, because if word got out then the Alpha would know where I was. And two, I couldn’t fight the human. I would simply break him into pieces. He wasn’t worth the trouble.
He finally took the hint and walked off, but not before turning around to stare at her several times. What the hell was his issue?
“God, I hate them.” She muttered.
“Who?” I asked, curious, and she turned to me in shock. Had she forgotten I was here? Or maybe she hadnt been expecting me to ask.
“Guys like him.” She said finally. “They’re… creepy. And frustrating.”
I nodded, seeing how the whole thing had to be very uncomfortable for her. The way she said ‘them’ told me that it wasn’t the first time. My blood boiled as I imagined how hard it probably was for her. Having to endure the sexual looks guys threw at her while never being able to do anything about it because this was where she worked and couldn’t risk doing anything that would get her fired. Customers were always right after all.
“You asked for the same drink as last time.” She said instead, abruptly changing the topic, “Is it because you liked the first one?”
I nodded and she smiled. It wasn’t a big smile, just a tiny little private smile that made my stomach feel warm and make my heart beat faster. What the hell was happening to me? The Lykae never got sick, unless we were cursed by a witch or poisoned. And most times, our bodies underwent a process to push the poison out. It would take days or a week tops, but we always did.
So what the actual fuck was happing to me?
“I’ll take that as you saying I’m good at what I do.” She said, “Thanks.”
Curious, I asked. “What made you pick out that drink? What made you decide that I was going to like it?”
“It was a lucky guess.” She shrugged, that small smile still on her lips. “You seem like the type of guy to stay away from the crowd, although naturally, the crowd would flock around you.” She glanced down at my hand before continuing, “You also seem to dress in an understated style. And you seem to love the coloraturas black.” She shrugged again, “So I added all that together and thought about the drink that came to mind. It was whiskey. If you didnt like it, I was going to give you Hennessy. Whiskey won out.”
That had my brows lifting in shock, “I drink Hennessy too.”
“Well,” she smiled a full smile this time, “I guess I actually am good at what I do.”
I couldn’t help but smile along with her. “I guess you are.”
Her eyes fell to my lips-to my smile to be exact-and her chocolate brown eyes became heated. Melted chocolate. She leaned closer to me and I wasn’t sure she even knew she was doing it. She seemed to be locked in some kind of trance. And she was dragging me under the spell right along with her.
Everyone faded into the background. The crowd, the people behind me, the other bartenders, and even the ones that seemed to be eavesdropping on our conversation. None of them mattered anymore. The only thing I could see was her.
I think I was leaning towards her too because before I knew it, I was at the edge of my seat, straining to get closer to her, to eradicate all space between us. I caught a whiff of her delicious scent. Apple and grapes. She smelled like fruits, like a beautiful green meadow with all sorts of trees.
She was so close to me now, I was halfway across the bar-top already. All she had to do was lean a little bit closer to me and our lips would be touching. I could already imagine how they would feel on mine. Soft, full, pillowy, pink lips that promised to ruin me every single time she opened her mouth to talk.
I would finally know what it was like to taste them. Just a little bit closer…
A phone rang causing us to fly apart. Talk about a dose of reality.
It felt like a bucket of cold water had been dumped on me and I suddenly couldn’t find my bearings anymore. She wasn’t faring better off either.
Her eyes were flying around, looking everywhere but at me. She even looked apologetic. For what? Almost kissing me?
If only she knew.
The phone rang again and she realised that it was coming from somewhere close to her under the bar.
She pulled a purse out from under the bar, plucked her phone out and dashed out through the back door to go answer the call. She couldn’t even look at me. It was pretty obvious that she was attracted to me, but I didnt understand why she suddenly couldn’t look at me after our near kiss. She was probably berating herself right now, over thinking the whole thing to death.
I was one to talk.
What the fuck had I been doing almost kissing her?
For fucks sake, I needed to stay away from this girl. What was it about her that made me forget my plan, problems and worries and focus only on her? What the fuck was it about her that made me come back even when I already said I didnt want to? What the fuck was it about her that made me want to chase after her right this very moment?
Was she not human? Was she a witch? Or had a witch cursed me to become infatuated with a human?
The latter could be highly likely, but at the same time, we and the witches were cool. We didnt have beef with them. But there was also nothing else to explain the infatuation that I had developed for this human.
Fuck.
I was on the run for my life because of a conversation I had walked in on that I should never have heard.
Marcus was the acting leader of our clan in my absence and was struggling to juggle all the responsibilities placed on him.
Mariam’s little boy had been abducted by the Alpha’s men, whereabouts unknown.
All because of me.
Everything that was happening was all because of me. To think I had the guts to sit here, obsessing over a human girl when I should be plotting on how to go back home. On how to right my wrongs.
When I should be thinking about how to get that little boy back to his mother.
Filled with anger and utterly disgusted with myself, I pulled out my wallet from my back pocket, fetched out a hundred dollar bill and placed it under my unfinished drink. Then I stormed out, never looking back as I did.