by Lannah Smith
"You may remove yourself from my bedroom,” she muttered, pounding a pillow, blasting her angry little fist onto it like she was pretending it was him.
Ridiculous.
They weren’t even done talking yet. He still hasn’t gotten her promise.
Despite her thick coat, April was still trembling from the cold though he’d made sure to crank up the heat every time she left. She'd always been sensitive to cold temperatures. And this reminder made his anger flare up again.
"You have to give me your word that you won't do stupid shit like this again, April.”
“Go to hell,” he heard her say.
“Think about Alec. I might have to kill him the next time you run away."
Sliding her gaze to him, she scowled. "Why on earth would you think that I’d care?"
"You hear that?" Christopher glanced at the doorway. "She doesn't care if I kill you, Alec."
He felt her pinch his arm and he looked at her. She looked startled as she stared at Alec. She hadn't realized that he had entered the room until then.
A steaming mug of hot chocolate in hand, Alec merely arched a brow at them. Then he placed the mug on the bedside table and when he did, if Christopher wasn’t looking at April closely, Christopher wouldn’t have seen her flinch.
"You're welcome to try, sir," Alec invited in a low murmur.
April gave Christopher another pinch on his hand and this time, it was so painful he was sure she'd leave a mark.
"I can take you, you know," he told Alec, ignoring April and her pinching.
"If you don't need me for anything else, I'm leaving," Alec said in a bored tone, as if Christopher hadn’t opened his mouth.
"Take your boss with you when you go,” April immediately suggested.
Christopher swung his gaze back to her. "We haven't finished our conversation, honey," he told her.
"You mean you haven't finished with your lectures and threats." April rolled her eyes. "Just go. I'm tired and I want to sleep. Do bring this asshole with you when you go, Jackman."
They watched her wave her hand in a regal gesture indicating that she was dismissing them. Christopher grinned over the show of authority while Alec's face darkened. He knew what his right-hand was thinking. Now there was going to be two people bossing him around in this house and he wasn't liking it.
“You do have calls to make,” Alec reminded Christopher in a mutter when April laid down on her bed.
Christopher raised a brow. “But I’m not done lecturing and threatening her.”
A muscle jumped out of Alec's cheek. Turning to April, he told her, "You know he's letting you escape just so he can hold you right?"
"fucking hell, Alec," Christopher groaned just as April bolted upright with a look of thunder on her face, shouting, “What?”
"You said I have important calls to make right?" Christopher pushed Alec to the door. "To the study we go, then."
"You sick fuck!"
"We’ll continue our conversation later then, honey, because I have a business to run."
Christopher closed the door just as a slipper flew towards him.
My attempts at escape may have failed but it certainly had impressed both Christopher and Alec. It was a matter of pride with me that I could undo any lock ever made. I succeeded in getting out of the house after all. The broken window had been a diversion to this skill. That and because Christopher made me so angry, I wanted to break something.
It was a shame, however, that I had no sense of direction. And that he was good at tracking. But it was imperative for him to know that I wasn’t going to take his inane threats disguised as suggestions lying down. In the meantime, while he was careful with me, I had to put a stop on my escape attempts. Lord knows he’d only enjoy carrying me back to this stupid house.
Christopher glanced at me for the ninth time and I tried not to show my irritation. I was, at the moment, trying to ignore him while I read a novel. He'd succeeded in making me come out of my bedroom again with the excuse that I was missing a good show on TV. I was sure he had already looked into me and I was sure he definitely knew that I hardly watched any television because novels interested me more. Still, he was stubborn and had me planted on a chair at the end of the long couch where he sat.
At least he had let me take a book down with me.
I wished Alec had stayed in the great room but I had irritated him with my constant side-glares that he excused himself. It would have been easier and less uncomfortable to ignore and hide away from Christopher if he hadn’t left us alone.
Christopher had changed so much. But I haven't at all. So much time had passed but he was still messing with my head. I didn't like looking into his gaze. It felt like they were trapping me and I couldn't move at all. This was not the time for these strange feelings. Which was why I desperately needed to get out of here.
I had to pull myself together.
If this went on the one who would get the worst of it again would be me.
"Are you watching the show or not?" I snapped at Christopher in vexation when he glanced at me again.
He grinned. "I can't help it," he said with no apology in his tone whatsoever. "You look beautiful today."
He must be blind.
I was wearing a thick cable button up cardigan and a pair of jeans. My hair was a messy knot on top of my head. I had no make-up. Not to mention the bruises that were on my face. Simply put, I looked hideous.
He, on the other hand, looked gorgeous sitting there in a plain black t-shirt and blue jeans. His brown hair was messy and falling over his forehead. And his beard had grown just a bit thicker, his cheeks were a couple days passed of needing a shave. Still, it looked good on him too.
As he kept staring at me, the look in his eyes changed.
Mine, it said.
A shaky sigh escaped from my lips then. His gaze dropped to them. I lifted the book to cover my face and I heard him chuckle.
"Stop laughing at me," I gritted out.
"Stop making me laugh then."
"I'm not making you laugh,” I bit out. “I'm not being funny or amusing. It's your own delusions that's making me seem so."
I stopped talking when he smiled. Immediately, I regretted bitching at him.
Damn. Did I say something wrong?
"Now why are you smiling—?"
He didn't let me finish. "Do you know that the expression in your eyes change whenever you see me?"
I closed my mouth.
"Yes. That look." He went silent for a few seconds, observing me. "You look like you want me to love you."
"You're insane," I replied coldly.
He kept smiling. "Insane for you."
"Stop smiling," I demanded.
"Why? Are you worried you'll fall in love with my good lucks?" he was chuckling when he asked that outrageous question.
I stiffened. "Don't make me laugh. Why would I worry?"
Ah, seriously. I can't find a single hint of his past adorable self from this annoying asshole.
"Then stop being angry with me," he suggested.
"I will if you stop making me angry."
"I'm not making you angry. You're reacting negatively to me because you're afraid of being loved. All you ever knew from your past were emotional pain and rejection. And you're afraid of being vulnerable. Of being hurt again."
My body gave a small jolt and he watched my fingers curl tight around the pages of my book.
"Are you done dissecting me?" I asked him quietly, narrowing my eyes on him. "Because if you aren't, you can stop analyzing me from your puny perspective."
He grinned at me, unrepentant. "But I'm not even close, honey."
"Screw this," I muttered, snapping my book close.
Fed up with him, his riddles and make-belief, I knifed out of the chair and stormed past him. Marching up the stairs and down the hall, I was about to slam the door close to my room when his quick hand caught it.
He had followed me.
Pushing the door open, Christopher
took a step inside and I backed away, watching him closely. My gut twisted in panic, sharp and vicious.
"I've been thinking about this since you kidnapped me," I took a deep breath to calm my nerves and went on, "Do you know you're acting really strange to me right now? You weren't like this back when we were in school. It's disgusting so please just act like you normally did."
"Try to get used to it, April." He was grinning again, smirking rather, and it was grating on my nerves. "Because I've been waiting for this day all my life."
God, God, after all the things I had done to him he should be hating me. Loathing me. This love and adoration crap were bullshit. This was his revenge. This... this obsession. He wasn't in love with me. He was just toying with me.
As these thoughts raced through my head, he stared at my face, like he was reading them too.
"Why are you worried, April?" It hit me that he was getting close. "I'm being thoughtful to you, aren't I?"
I inhaled sharply and started retreating. "You crazy - Does this look like you're being thoughtful of me?"
"Definitely. If I acted on my own desires," he kept coming at me and I hit the table as he kept coming and talking, "you'd be on my bed. And you won't just be sleeping this time."
He was doing it again. Did he not even realize it? Was being an asshole who always spoke thoughtlessly so ingrained in him that it was the only way he knew how to be? And he wondered why I tried to escape.
Retreating around the table to create some distance between us, cursing myself all the while for being a coward, I glared at him. Fortunately, he stopped coming but this didn't give me relief.
"I may have a lot of patience but stop pushing me like this," he warned, setting his hands on the table. "Contrary to popular belief, my personality isn't good enough to keep letting this side."
My heart, already beating fast, began to pound. "Do your friends know about this side of you?"
"Oh, they know." He smirked and straightened from the table. "But they think that it's just me being Skull. Their irresponsible and reckless friend who loves fighting a little too much."
I stared into his glittering, brown eyes, not knowing what to say to that.
"I've already given a big piece of me to them. I'm not going to give this piece of me too."
"Are you afraid they'll see you for who you really are and leave you?" I asked with some genuine curiosity, finding my voice.
"No." He shook his head. "After all the shit I pulled, I know they'll never leave me. And I'll never betray them. They know that."
I didn't know why but somehow, I found myself relaxing. Because this was the Christopher I knew. The Christopher who'd do everything for his friends. And this Christopher did not worry me as much as the Christopher who was obsessed with me.
"Do you really hate me that much?" he asked after a while, tilting his head to the side.
"Yes," I burst out.
He didn't look like he believed me when he smiled. "If you want to fool me properly, how about you do something with that expression of yours first?"
Calm down.
My body that had gone completely still at his observation slackened at my command.
Calm down.
He was just trying to bait me.
"Do you want to make a bet?"
Suddenly, he was right there in front of me. So close that I had to tip my head way back to look up at him. He did not touch me. So I didn't try to push away knowing it was futile. The window was directly behind me. I had nowhere to go.
"If I fail to make you love me until the end, you win. You'll be free to walk away with your secrets. It will be painful, it will kill me but I'll let you go."
I glared at his brown eyes and said nothing.
"But you're not allowed to escape from me again. If you do," his voice got lower, his face got closer and I held my breath, "I'll never let you go. So don't even think about running away ever again."
He was nuts.
My eyes widened as I stared at him.
He couldn't mean what he just said.
Love him?
My throat closed at the thought and struggled not to scream.
Ridiculous.
I was never going to love him.
Christopher's cellphone started to ring and I let out the breath I was holding. He saw that, he chuckled at that but he fortunately took a step back, fishing his phone out from his pocket, and answered it.
"Yes?" He turned away and listened for a moment then said, "Yes, Alec has just informed me about the matter." A pause. "Alright. I'll call you later. I need to go to the study because of work," he told me, taking his phone from his ear to disconnect the call, moving for the door. "You also need time to think about my offer so think carefully about it before I return. I'll listen to your answer then."
"Answer?" I clenched my teeth. "I have no answer for you."
He was grinning again while he glanced at me over his shoulder. "I don't really need your answer, April. Regardless of what you say, I don't really plan to let you go so you might as well take the bet."
"You're really crazy," I was so angry I trembled with it.
"I couldn't protect you before. But I'm different now. So just take everything I offer you. Take it and ask for more. Because I would move fucking heaven and earth for you, April."
Then he was gone.
Chapter 24
All afternoon, all I could think about was the condescending asshole.
Christopher pissed me off so much I cleaned the bathroom to try to get myself to calm, cleaning the toilet, the sink, the mirror and tub until all were spotlessly clean, as clean as though I’ve never used them.
I was tucking and smoothing the bedclothes when I heard footsteps stop outside my door. I thought it was Christopher come to continue threatening me. Grabbing a heavy novel, I tested its weight and when the door opened, I pulled my arm back to throw it.
But it wasn't Christopher who entered the room.
It was Alec.
Too late, I had already released my hold on the book and I watched with horror as it sailed towards him. But Alec simply dodged it with a tilt of his head and continued moving towards me.
I couldn't even manage to be even slightly impressed at his quickness. My gaze was on the steaming mug that he was holding.
Putting the mug down on the table, Alec asked, "Do you want to explain why you almost nailed me with a book?"
Heaving a long sigh to calm myself before I give in to the urge of finding Christopher and killing him, I slowly shook my head. "Not really, no," I mumbled.
"What if it was Martha who'd come?"
"I know she's gone. She usually is all over me in the morning but now she's not." Frowning, I asked him, "Where is she?"
"She has business elsewhere." Pointing down at the mug, he then informed me. "There's more in the kitchen. Feel free to make it yourself."
In short, he was telling me to stop treating him like a slave and to do things myself.
Folding my arms, I glowered at him. "You have to help me, Jackman."
He turned around to leave but I was faster, blocking his way with my body.
"You have to help me leave," I repeated in earnest, working myself up in a rage when I thought about asshole Christopher again.
He shook his head. "I can't do that."
"You're supposed to sympathize with my feelings," I told him. "I know you don't want me here. I know you want to take Christopher away from me. So you should help me."
He shrugged. "I'm just doing a job for him. Any residual feelings will cool off."
I wanted to throttle him. "Aren't you afraid of my father's wrath? And not as Christopher's employee but as his friend, aren't you afraid that something terrible will happen to him?"
"Nah." He appeared unconcerned.
"Alec, you're all stupid."
"No, you're stupid." He took a step towards me but I held my ground, refusing to be cowered. "Stop denying your feelings for him. It would make things easier for
me. And for him."
"I have no feelings to deny for him," I urged. "You have to tell him to let me go."
"I've warned him countless times already. I'm done with that shit. It's too burdensome to deal."
"Try harder."
His dark eyes mirrored his contempt for me when he replied, "Did you think I didn't? Spoiled rotten growing up, selfish to the core, you were a rich useless bitch who acted like the world revolved around her, the kind of girl who evoked hatred from other people. As his friend, did you think I'd want you for him?"