by Alicia Banks
“Sorry, I don't mean to be a dick.”
“Well, for something that you don't mean to do, you're pretty good at it.”
Antoine just shook his head and smiled. He couldn’t help but agree. He was quite good at it. He had been told that many times before, so it had to be true.
“Really, I am sorry. I'm just not used to having someone in my house.”
“You live here by yourself?”
Antoine agreed and she looked around the place. It was pretty big for just him.
“It seems pretty big for just you to live here all alone.”
“I don't like confined places. This seemed like the best of both worlds. It’s not too big, but there is plenty of room for me to move around. Have you seen the rest of the house?”
“Well, I tried to be good and sit still and just wait for you to get back, but it took you awhile, so I started to snoop around. I hope you don't mind too much.”
Obviously, he minded, but Antoine told her that he didn't. Antoine was already saying that he was being a bit of a jerk and was trying to temper it down. After the day she’d had because of him, Antoine didn't want to make it any worse.
“Anyway, I didn't get past your room before you saw me.”
“Well, let me show you the rest of it then.”
Cassandra looked at him surprised, like she thought he was going to yell at her some more, and Antoine felt guilty for that. He really needed to learn to temper his emotions and his tone of voice. Human women were so much more sensitive to that. He thought if she had been a shifter, Cassandra would have just yelled back at him and that would have been that. There wouldn't have been this fear present in her eyes, and she didn't even know who he really was. Antoine didn’t want to think about how she would look if she knew the truth.
That reminder, that she would turn away from him as soon as she realized what he really was, was enough to push him away. Whatever was going through his mind, possibilities and desires, didn't really matter. None of them would actually happen and the sooner he reminded himself of that, the better off it would be. Antoine knew that there was no future with the human. He had no future with any human, so getting mixed up with one was only going to complicate things further.
He walked to another hallway that she hadn't even noticed.
“I thought that this was the end of it.”
“It is a bit of an illusion. It makes it look a little less rolling. I wanted the room, but I don't always want to be reminded of it.”
“It is quite big here. It would be hard not to notice.”
She made a comment about how empty it all was, and he just shrugged. “I just don't see the point of decorating. I certainly don't see the point of decorating rooms that I’m barely ever in. My bedroom, that's where I sleep and that's probably where I spend most of the time when I’m here. Usually, I'm gone from sunup to sundown. I have what is necessary; there isn't a lot of excess that is needed.”
“You sound very different than pretty much everybody I've ever met before.”
“The culture of consumption is interesting. I just don't have time for it.”
“Well, you wouldn’t want to see my place. It is full of knickknacks. Every time I travel, I can’t help but pick something up to remind me of the trip.”
“I would like to see it sometime.”
Cassandra glanced up surprised, then she walked away quickly, passing him to get out of the room that she now appeared to feel claustrophobic in. Antoine couldn’t help but pick up on all of the unsaid cues that she was sending out. It wasn't just because he was a shifter, either. It had a lot to do with the fact that he was a man, and she was a beautiful woman that called to every fiber of his being.
Antoine didn't know if he was ever going to understand the woman in front of him. Nathan, for some reason, had dropped her off on his lap and he wasn't quite sure why. Maybe he did know. When he had seen the office burning and thought that she was in it, he had probably gotten more truth than he cared to admit. The truth was that Antoine did care about her. Cassandra had wormed her way into his heart in just a couple of weeks, a heart that had sworn he would never fall for any woman, let alone a human. It was so impossible, but it was the situation that Antoine was facing at the moment.
It couldn't be, though. He kept reminding himself of that, while he watched her hips sway from side to side. He had gotten in behind her and she poked her head into another room. It just had more storage, and she did not look impressed at all.
“It all looks pretty much the same.”
“Yeah, I like to keep things simple.”
“I'm starting to see that. I have a feeling that you're not a very simple guy, though.”
Antoine did ask what she meant by that. He was starting to question why he had given her a tour at all. What was he going to gain out of it, besides getting her mind off of the room full of pictures? Or the fact that he had been drawing her as well. She was admittedly always on his mind, so of course she was going to become part of his art. Drawing was how he relaxed, and though he would never sell one, sometimes it felt like it was what he was truly supposed to be doing.
They were walking back to the kitchen when she brought up the picture from the bedroom. It was not at all what Antoine wanted, and he wanted to steer the conversation back to something else, but instead he just nodded his head.
“You are quite good at it, you know. I never could draw much more than a stick figure. It kind of used to bug me because I had a friend that was really good at it. You are, too.”
He thanked her for it, but Antoine did not know why he said anything. It wasn't like he wanted other people to see it. Those were for him to enjoy, and for him to make and enjoy the making of it. That's why he did it, not for anyone else.
“I just do it all once in a while.”
“It seems like you do that more than just once in a while.”
“It keeps me busy at night. I don't have a TV here. I don't know if you noticed that.”
“No, but I guess it makes sense. You probably wouldn't get much reception out here anyway. I barely get any at my place, and you’re way further out than I am.”
“Well, I don't watch it, so I draw at night.”
It sounded pretty lame to Antoine and he wanted to add something to it, but that's all there was. It was just something he did to pass the time and to relax himself. There was really no hidden reason or anything else like that. He drew because something inside of him said that he needed to.
“I really liked the picture of me.”
Antoine was a bit embarrassed that she had seen it, but he was thankful that she had said picture instead of pictures, meaning she didn’t know it was plural. He had certainly drawn more than one picture of her. She had been on his mind for a couple of weeks now, ever since he crashed into her car. Of course, that was all he could draw. Cassandra was the only thing on his mind.
“You are just someone new to draw. I hope you don't mind. You should see it as a compliment.”
“No, I don’t mind at all. Like I said, it's a very good likeness. I think you made me look better than I actually am, though. I appreciate that, or I should say my vanity does.”
Antoine knew that it wasn't true at all. If anything, he had been so frustrated because he was unable to capture her beauty in the picture. It wasn't something that he usually had trouble with, but there was something that just didn't translate. Maybe it was her aura, or maybe it was a twinkle in her eyes, but he didn't think that the picture did her justice at all.
“Maybe you will do a proper one of me one day.”
“A proper one?”
“You know, where I sit for you and don't move or anything, and you can do a portrait or something. You know, all proper like.”
Antoine had never done anything like that, but he made a noncommittal sound about it. She had a lot of ideas that were bouncing around in her head, but that didn't mean that he was going to relate. Antoine couldn’t imagine sitting there drawing he
r, right in front of her. It was always something that he did in solitude.
“So, would you be able to?”
“Be able to what?”
She sighed and slapped him on the shoulder.
“Geez, you really must be tired or something.”
“Yeah, that's what it is. I'm tired.”
Antoine didn’t want to tell her the truth, that he couldn't think straight when she was around. How the hell was he going to stay with her?
“I'm surprised you haven't asked me about the explosion. I figured that would be on your mind, far more than my drawings.”
“Maybe it would be, if I hadn’t found such a good drawing of me in your bedroom. It leads me to believe all kinds of things.”
“Well, you shouldn't. You know what they say about assumptions.”
Antoine was being abrupt again and he could feel himself losing control. Why did she do that to him? He wanted to be nice to her, really he did, especially when she gave him this pouty look like he had screamed bloody murder at her. It seemed impossible. He got so flustered and things just came out in a burst. His tone was harsh, and she looked like she was ready to crumble. It was not at all what he would have expected, and it certainly wasn't what he wanted.
Cassandra went to the fridge and looked in there to see if there was anything to make for dinner. She asked Antoine if he wanted her to cook anything and he disagreed.
“I already had some chicken out. I'll just make that.”
“You cook?”
“There's no one else around here, is there?”
Antoine pressed his lips together. He really needed to shut his mouth. It was doing nothing but making everything worse. Why was it coming out so badly?
Cassandra walked away and Antoine couldn't blame her. He didn't know why he was being such a jerk, but it was hard for him sometimes. He wasn't very social because he had pretty much given up on humans and shifters alike. The people that he did hang out with knew him for how he was and accepted it. It had been a long time since someone new came around and made him question his social skills completely.
Chapter 7
Cassandra
While doing the tour, Antoine showed her where she would be sleeping and even though Cassandra didn't have anything in the room, she felt like that was the only place she could really be without Antoine around. He wasn’t pleasant, which wasn't much of a surprise, because when she worked for him, he wasn't very pleasant there, either. He was just so gruff, though things were different now. She wasn't just around him because she needed a job. Now, she was with him to keep her safe, as well. It was just a lot to put on someone that she didn’t really know all that well.
He came later to tell her that dinner was ready, and Cassandra realized that she had been sleeping. Her hair was all messed up and she wished that she had brought something with her. She had a brush in her purse, though, so she was able to run it through her hair and feel at least halfway presentable before she went down the hall to the kitchen.
“It smells good.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
He was still in a weird mood and she just kind of kept her distance a little bit, without being too obvious about it. Antoine was up and down and really short with her. She had a feeling that it had to do with the fact that she had seen his drawings, especially the one of her.
Antoine made them both a plate and Cassandra sat down across from him. Surprisingly enough, talking about the office being blown up and people chasing him was easier to talk about than a simple drawing. Cassandra had a bunch of questions, but she didn't get very many answers. It was pretty clear that he was trying not to lie to her, but at the same time, he wasn't trying to tell her anything, either. It ended with a whole lot of ambiguous answers that could have been taken in multiple ways. Cassandra had a feeling that's what he wanted.
“So, basically, you're not going to tell me what's really going on.”
“Yeah, I guess you could say something like that.”
“Alright, so I guess there's really no point in me asking any more questions if you're not going to tell me anything. Do you at least know how long I will be here? I don't have any clothes to wear and as much as I like this outfit, I can't run around here naked while I'm washing it because it’s the only one.”
He gave her this surprising look for a moment, and she saw lust fill his eyes. It was rather clear that his mind went immediately to her nakedness and Cassandra's face was red from even saying it out loud. Sometimes she really didn't have a filter and she wished she did. That was definitely one of those times that she wished she’d worded something a little differently, or maybe it would have been better if she would have omitted it altogether.
“Well, I'm sure that I can pick you up a few things.”
“Can you get me some things from my house?”
“No, I really can't.”
“Why not?”
“Because they might trail me from your house to my house. It will be harder to find my house, but yours may already be on the watch list. We can’t take that chance for clothes.”
“What harm could it do if no one is following you?”
He just shook his head like she didn't understand and that was pretty possible, because Cassandra did not know what the big deal was. Cassandra didn’t get why he was so sure they would track them there.
“Let's just say that these people are very good trackers and if we leave any crumb for them to follow, they will. As you have seen before, you really don't want them coming after you. You definitely don't want them finding us.”
Cassandra could certainly agree to that. She wanted to ask why the people were such great trackers that they would be able to do such a thing, but there was no point in pressing an issue. It was going to be much of the same. Cassandra wasn't going to get any real answers. He obviously didn't want to give them.
“So, I'm basically stuck here with one outfit?”
“You almost got burned alive in an inferno earlier today, just a few hours ago, and your chief complaint is that you only have one outfit?”
Cassandra slumped down in her chair a little bit. “When you say it like that, it seems pretty ridiculous, doesn't it?”
“No, just amusing. You are turning out to be nothing like I thought you would be.”
Cassandra didn't know how to take it, but she was going to take it as a compliment. It was certainly the first one of its kind from him and she was going to take what she could get. Cassandra changed her mind about him left and right. When she first met him, she hated him. When she went to work for him, she disliked him. As time went on, though, other feelings started to take over and they were the complete opposite of where it had all started. Cassandra didn't know if she was coming or going basically. She had no clue what was going to come next. Add in a little bit of danger, and it was like every single nerve-ending in her body was coming to life for the first time. She was afraid of it, the unknown feelings that it caused, but she was also exhilarated to no end.
***
That evening she went to bed pretty early. Cassandra had so much on her mind, so many questions that needed answers, and she knew that they probably wouldn't be answered for at least a while. Her new savior was a very confusing man. She had no idea what was going through his mind, even those she so desperately wanted to know. It was important, she knew that much. He was to play an important part in her life. She knew that for sure, but exactly what he was there for, she had no idea.
Cassandra tried her best to sleep, but it felt futile. Her mind was going a mile a minute, and nothing was going to stop it but real answers. Answers that she just wasn't going to get. Why did that bother her so much? He had come into her life, literally wrecked her life, as well as her car, and now he was messing with her in ways that she had not even thought were possible.
When Cassandra finally did fall asleep, she had another one of her disturbing dreams about dragons and mystery men. It was another hot one, and she woke up breathing a little faste
r and concerned with her sanity. Why did she keep having such dreams? It made no sense to her, but it worried her. Cassandra knew that it wasn't normal.
Because she couldn't sleep, and because she was so worked up by the dream that she had, Cassandra went to the kitchen and made herself a cup of tea. She had seen it earlier when he was giving her a tour of the place and although she didn't drink tea very much, she knew that chamomile was good for calming. That was certainly what she needed right then. Her life was unbelievable and hard to deal with. She’d been thrown into danger and there was no end in sight.
“Can't sleep?”
His voice was gruff, and she jumped when she heard it. Cassandra had been in her own little world, thinking about the crazy dragon in her dream. She probably needed to see somebody about it. It couldn't be normal to have such dreams. Cassandra almost felt embarrassed about it and had to look away from him. It wasn't like he could read her mind or anything, but in that moment, she was certainly afraid of it.
“I wish you could see your face right now. You have the strangest look on it.”
She waved him off. “Just having some crazy dreams, that’s all.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. Like ones that are just way out there. I think it's probably just everything going on. My head is trying to work it out, and it is coming up with some crazy stuff.”
“Sometimes it helps to tell people about your dreams. Maybe I'll be able to help you figure out what it means.”
Cassandra said no to his offer quite quickly and it was quick enough that he looked at her twice.
“That kind of dream, huh?”
He had a grin on his face and again, Cassandra worried that he could somehow read her mind. What he would think of her, if he could?
“I don't know what you mean by that kind of dream. It was just a weird dream. Don't you ever have those?”
“People I know take dreams a bit more seriously. They would probably believe that you were having them for a reason. Everything has a reason, if you look for it.”