Chapter 40
JOJO:
I stood at the bathroom door, shivering while waiting for the clothes. Deep down, I knew his six-foot presence made me shiver more than the cold.
He sauntered towards me, the clothes in his hands. I tried not to let my eyes linger on his toned body, but I could not help stealing a few glances. His upper body was bare and his well-defined abs and chest were slick with sweat. His trousers hung dangerously low on his waist. It exposed the v-shaped line that led to…
My eyes jerked up when he got very close to me. I could swear that I saw him smirk, but it was gone immediately it came.
“Thank you,” I mumbled against the sound of my own heart pounding against my chest. I slipped into the bathroom and placed my ear against the door, waiting to hear his footsteps go away. When he finally did, I heaved a sigh and slipped into the pajamas. I had tried to black out earlier events from my mind, but it was impossible to do so. The steam-covered, foggy mirror stared back at me. I could still see how troubled and afraid my green eyes looked. Was I ever going to stop being afraid?
Yes, I had the right to be. But, I wanted more than anything for the bad thoughts to go away. I hated men, I wanted to hate them, but all this fear was tugging at my chest, clawing my subconscious. That was what I didn’t want. Still, with the alpha, everything was different.
Maybe it was the guilt that came from how to repay him for my mother’s debt which he had cleared, but I was sure of one thing. I could give him my body, but never my heart.
I had no heart to give. And he did not need my heart, not when he seemed not to have his.
After putting my hair in a messy bun, I came out of the bathroom fully dressed. The shirt I wore traveled down to my mid-thigh but I still wore the trousers. I folded the waist three times so that it fits on mine. I knew that I looked very awkward, but I was used to it.
I walked to the edge of the bed and stood there, waiting for him to round up his call. He looked away from a synthetic flower pot and turned to me. I tore my eyes away from him and fixed them on the cobalt blue mattress.NôvelD(ram)a.ôrg owns this content.
The call ended and I cleared my throat, my eyes now on him. I hated that I had to crane my neck whenever I looked up at him, but I liked to watch him stare down at me.
“I was just wondering if I could… can I sleep on the couch?” I pointed at the black L-shaped luxury couch that sat opposite his bed, against a wall.
“The bed.” He did not hesitate.
“You would be sleeping on the bed.” He was not being nice; it was an order.
I was scared and nervous at the same time. It was hard to decipher why the Alpha would want me to sleep in his bed. He was not a man who forced himself on women, women threw themselves at him.
“But-” I started to say.
“Good night.” He cut in, disappearing into the bathroom. The door shut behind him and my gaze traveled back to the bed.
Did I need to lay there?
I cursed at the stupid air conditioner. It was so cold in here, even though I had just had a bath in the scalding hot temperature of the water. I started to search for the remote on every table in the room, careful not to ruin anything. Still, I couldn’t find it. I wasn’t sure at first about opening the drawers but then I opened the first one and couldn’t stop myself from opening the others. The first two was empty and the third had documents that seemed important. The last contained the piece of gold I had been searching for.
I pointed it at the AC unit and pressed random buttons. I only managed to increase the chilly temperature of the room.
There it was again! Another lack of knowledge was going to embarrass me.
The thin fabric did nothing to protect me from the cold. Soon, I was wrapping my arms around myself in a bid to stop myself from freezing to death. I had suffered too much in life to die at the hands of an air-conditioner.
Then the next minute, the bathroom door was pushed open. HE walked out of it dripping wet His hair was curly from his fresh shower and a thick black towel hung loosely around his waist.
I had put words in my mouth, I swear on it. But, immediately after I saw him, I lost the ability to speak. His chiseled abs tied my tongue. When I forced words out, I merely stuttered. His eyes were on me. He had caught me drooling all over him.
“Please… it’s cold. Could you… turn… turn… off the… AC?” My teeth clasped against one another, shivering even more than I did.
As soon as I said it, he walked to me and took the remote from my hands, and turned the AC off.
“Thank you,” I muttered and climbed onto the bed.
His eyes dropped to my chest for a split second when I faced him. I became conscious of my now hard and pointed nipples. It was visible in the thin fabric. I pulled the duvet up to my shoulders even as he turned to walk into his closet. This was a bad idea. My heart had not been able to beat regularly since I stepped into this room.
I knew it would be worse if the alpha lay close to me.
He soon stepped out of his closet and stood facing me, while he buttoned the shirt of the pajamas on his body. He looked younger in it.
This man had to be hung, killed, and burned. How was it not a crime to be this sexy in everything you wore?
His dark eyes narrowed on my face.
“What’s that on your neck?”
My hand instinctively went to touch the scar on my neck. It was from the Band-Aid I had ripped off in the shower.
“It’s uh… I fell.” It was a lie, a necessary one.
“The truth, Red.” His tone was calm, dangerously calm.
“It’s… it’s the truth.” I muttered.
He only sighed and walked towards me. He ended up at the edge of the left side of the bed. Then he lowered himself to my height, his arms rooted on the bed on either side of my body. His face was directly against mine, our noses barely inches away from each other, and our lips… If I leaned in a little bit more, I could…
“If it’s him, I’ll be happy to end him.” His icy tone echoed in the pit of my ears.
He didn’t look like he jokes with such words. When alpha Lake said a man would die, the man always died.
“It’s not him, it’s Zita Lowe. Don’t kill him, please.”
His forehead creased as he moved away from me. I could finally breathe without taking all of him in with me.
I realized I had ratted Zita Lowe out. What if he did something to her? What could I say to nullify what I had already said? My mind was racing at an unbelievable pace, but no sensible thoughts formed in it.
“Go to sleep.” He snapped at me. His eyes did not leave the book they were buried in.
I doubted I was going to have any sleep. However, I must have been very tired because before I knew it, I was waking up to a slice of sunshine peeking at me through the half-closed curtains. It was by far the most peaceful sleep I’d ever had.
I was ready to snuggle back into bed when I heard a familiar muffled voice.
“No. The strippers won’t be training this night as well… yes, they’re training as warrior wolves. The rogues are threatening to outnumber us. We need more soldiers to-”
I stirred and the conversation stopped at once.