Raw(29)
Author: Belle Aurora

The more he looks, the more irritated he seems to become. And suddenly, I’m petrified that I made the wrong choice. Trying to take attention off of me, I ask, “What are you meant to be?”

His gaze roams my body once more. His hooded eyes finally reach mine. Searching my face a long time, he finally turns away, looking into the crowd. “Love.”

My entire body breaks out in goosebumps and I visibly shudder.

Love? He’s love? What the heck? He and I have very different views of love. That’s sad. Just…sad.

Catching my eyes, he scowls, “Don’t do that.” My face falls, and as I go to ask him what he means, he adds, “Don’t feel sorry for me. And don’t assume you know me. You don’t know shit about me.”

Face flaming, wanting to avoid an argument, I let go of his sleeve and start to walk away. He catches my hand and holds it tight, leading me in the opposite direction. Confused, I ask quietly, “Where are we going?”

He walks me a long while before he answers, “Taking you on a tour of my home.”

Chapter Eleven

Did he just say his home? This is his home?

Mouth gaping in disbelief, he leads me out of the ballroom, down a short hall, and up a flight of narrow stairs. As we reach the top of the stairs, he turns to glance at me and does a double-take at my extremely obvious expression. “Don’t look so shocked, Lexi. You know what I do for a living. Money comes easy. Spending it comes easier. And I don’t have many outlets.” The bored tone of his voice is starting to become irritating.

As he pulls me closer to him, I blurt out, “Is Ling your girlfriend?”

Sneakily side-eyeing him, I watch his lips tilt in the corners. “Does it matter?”

Yes!

Adapting his bored tone, I lie through my teeth, “Not really. As long as it doesn’t affect me or the men I…” Ahem, “…see.”

His grip tightens on my hand, and suddenly I’m pushed into the hall wall. Breathing heavily, I watch him transform from a dark prince to something demonic. His eyes flash and his face contorts in rage; reaching down, he paws my mound through my dress and says through gritted teeth, “No one touches you. You got that? As long as I want you, no one else gets you, and after I’m done with you…” He licks my jawline. My eyes flutter. He presses his erection into my thigh. “…you’ll be forever unsatisfied. No one will ever take care of you the way I can. The way I know you want it. I know what you need, Lexi, even if you don’t know it yourself. But I’ll teach you.”

My heart practically beats out of my chest. I’m a little frightened and not sure what to do with what he just said to me. Apart from the fact that he said he will leave me. Not a maybe. A fact. This is why I should just walk away. And I need to voice this. So I do.

I whisper shakily, “I need to walk away from you.”

His nose runs up the length of mine and my eyes flutter closed. His bottom lip barely touches my top one as he whispers back, “What makes you think I’ll let you, Alexa?”

My stomach dips. Opening my eyes, I ask seriously, "Why do you watch me? I need to know.”

My stomach dips a second time when he inhales, looks over my face as if it were a work of art, then leans forward and kisses the tip of my nose. And he does this so gently, so sweetly, that my heart aches. “All in good time. You don’t know me. Yet.”

That almost sounds like a promise. My heart kick-starts again. I can live with that. A small promise is good for now. I wasn’t expecting much, so I guess I’m getting exactly what I expected.

Taking in a deep breath, I look at his soot-stained face and change the subject. “You’re going to get me dirty.”

His eyes darken a shade. “Already have, baby.” And I know what he just said has nothing to do with soot.

Reaching by my left side, the squeak of a doorknob sounds and he pushes the door open. We stare at each other a second longer before he takes my elbow and leads me into a huge bedroom. My core clenches in excitement at the sight of the king-sized sleigh bed against the right side of the room, but I do an excellent job holding myself together.

Twitch stands by my side playing with his cufflinks which, upon closer inspection, tonight are black onyx skulls and crossbones. He states, “This is your room whenever you’re here. You’ll get a key and your own set of entry codes. You’ll have access to the entire house, and I’d prefer it if you were here at least three nights a week.”

As soon as I hear the words your room, my mind leans over and whisper-hisses, “This boy has lost his mind. We best be leavin’ now.”

Unable to process what exactly we’re discussing here, I take this opportunity to walk around the room. Reaching a solid antique dresser, I lift the lids on the two glass decorative pieces that sit atop it, making myself at home in what is apparently my freaking room. One is filled to the brim with colorful milk chocolate buttons, and the other has cuff links of all sorts inside.

My brow furrows. “But this is your room.”

A tattooed hand reaches around me to take a handful of chocolate. Without turning, I hear him shove the lot into his mouth. He says sarcastically, “And she’s smart too.”

Spinning around, my face bunches in annoyance. “I really don’t understand why I would be spending three nights a week here.”

Chewing the chocolate, he reaches for another handful while looking lost in thought. Finally, he shrugs, “Why not?”

Leaning back into the dresser, I lift my hand and point to my index finger. “Number one, I don’t even know you, Twitch.” Pointing to my middle finger, “Number two, this place is really far from where I work, as you know.” Pointing back to my index finger, “And number three, I have absolutely nothing here that is mine. So, it’s weird for me.”

Shoving the second handful of candy into his mouth, he chews, takes my hand, and leads me to a door by the bathroom. When he opens it, my mouth gapes.

This is ridiculous!

I’m panicked. And sweaty. I don’t feel good. I think I’m going to be ill.

Bending forward at the waist, I reach back with shaky hands to hold my hair out of the way as I begin to hyperventilate. I really wish I had a paper bag to breathe into right now. This is where Twitch asks in dead calm, “Too much?”

Standing straight, I blink at him for half a minute before I point to the open walk-in closet filled to the brim with women’s clothes, which all look to be in my size and screech, “Oh, because that isn’t weird! Not at all, Twitch!”