Your Jacket.
Your Jacket.
How could she just let him pay it all up like that?
It made her feel small. Too small before him. She imagined Chloe. His sister wasn't only a goddess, she had everything and wasn't sure she would ever depend on someone to help pay up her debt. How would Leo ever look at a girl like her after helping her with it?
"You should at least say something. I want you to be free Mia. I want you to live freely and stop slaving yourself away because of your family. This is not about me pitying you. I would have also done same for someone else and I know if you were in my shoes, you would do same." He tried to convince her as he kept looking between her and the road.
He sighed when she still didn't say a word.
"Okay, I am lending you the money. You can pay me back in bits." He offered.
She turned to look at him. She didn't know what to say or do. Should she accept it? Was it wise to accept it?
"You are making me uncomfortable." She confessed as he pulled up in front of his apartment.
He turned to look at her as he turned off the engine. She didn't get down and neither did he.
She looked at Leo who was looking at her and her eyes strayed down to look at Tara who was just lying on her laps with her eyes wide open.
Leo smiled at her before carrying Tara from her laps.
"We are home baby." He said to the dog before getting down.
Mia sighed in relief and got down also. For a moment, she had totally forgotten about Tara.
"I really hope you see that I am only trying to help." He said when they entered inside the house.
"I know."
"So you do not have to feel uncomfortable about it. And do not think I am doing this because i expect something in return from you. This is purely from my heart." He remembered to add.
"Thanks." She said with a small smile and turned towards her room but remembered the jacket was still around her waist.
She untied it, giving him a full view to her pretty and slender legs causing his Adam's apple to bob up and down.
His eyes were stuck to her legs and no matter how much he tried, he couldn't look back up.
Mia was always making him lose control and it was bad. Bad for the both of them.
'It's just a leg Goddamnit!' He had seen much more in other women. Sometimes, he wasn't even aroused even when they were stark naked but he just slept with them because he wanted to get his mind away from some thoughts.
But just Mia's scent alone always made his head spin. Just her being there was trouble for him.
"Your jacket." She reminded him and tried to conceal her blush when she noticed how he was staring at her.
He cleared his throat before taking it from her. "Thanks. And sorry." He said with an embarrassed smile having been caught ogling her.
"Uhm... I'll be going out tonight." She said changing the topic.
"To where?" He asked curiously as he looked at the wall clock. It was already past 9pm so where was she going to?
"Just somewhere. I'll return pretty late." She said before hurrying to her room.
She didn't know why she felt embarrassed about telling him she was going for her dance rehearsals.
Leo watched her back with a frown. Where was she going to and why couldn't she tell him? Was the loan shark disturbing her again? He wondered as he went inside his room with a worried frown.
He slowly dropped Tara on the ground and after feeding her some milk, he decided to take his bath first to freshen up.
When he came out of the bathroom wearing just a boxer brief, his eyes landed on the picture of the mystery dancer on his wall.
He walked closer to it and began to run his hand around it.
"You were always the first and last person on my mind for the past two years..." He said with a small smile.
"But now... things are slowly changing. You are probably jealous aren't you?" He said with a small laugh and heard the sound of Mia's closing door. Without thinking, he quickly hurried back to the sitting room.
His eyes slightly widened in surprise when he saw her. This was the Mia he saw on the first day he saw her.
Her hair was styled in a two french braids with a low messy pigtail.. She wore a black ripped jean, black polo and a boot and she carried a black backpack on her back.
"I'm going out." She said to him with her fingers locked together. She tried not to show any reaction seeing him in just his boxer briefs with his upper body exposed. It was the first time she was actually seeing him topless and oh boy! Was this what it meant when they said someone looked sexy?
"Where are you going to?" He asked again as his eyes scanned her.
"Well, actually... there is this class I take..." Her phone began to ring and she saw it was a call from Mr B. She was already late and had to hurry.
"I have to leave now. But I'm okay." She assured him since she could vaguely guess he thought something was up with her again.
She tried to walk past but he just stood there blocking her path.
She stood in front of him nervously as she tried to remind him he had to move for her to move.
"You look pretty." He said as he brushed some hair away from her face.
Mia instantly had goosebumps all over her body and her heart began to thump wildly.
This was weird. Louis had also told her she looked pretty but she hadn't felt this way.
He took a step closer to her with his eyes never leaving her face. Her instincts told her to move backwards but she remained there.
He stood so close to her that she could no longer see his face since he was taller. Surprisingly, he pulled her into a gentle hug with his chin resting on her head.
I want you to be safe Mia.." He said in a quiet voice as his hands wrapped around her.
Once again, her heart began to thump wildly.
*************
It was almost 10 O'clock. Chloe stood up to leave the office. Although she didnt have any early classes to attend the next day which was a Friday, she needed long hours of sleep else she was going to suffer from a terrible headache the next day.
She strode with her chin high out of the mall and down to the staff's parking lot. As she walked over to the VIP area where her car was parked, she couldn't help the feeling that someone was following her. First person who came into her mind was David and her heart began to race.
She looked at her sides through the corner of her eyes trying not to make it obvious that she could sense the person.
Her footsteps increased as she tried to hurry towards her car and now she could clearly hear the person's footsteps behind her.
Just as she was about to open her car's door with fidgeting hands, the person lunged towards her but she was quick to move out of the way, causing the person to hit her car's bonnet which caused the car's security alarm to set off and began to blare loudly.
It wasn't David. In fact, it wasn't a man. It was a crazy looking lady dressed in a man's overall and had even wore a baseball cap to hide her face but when her body hit the car, the cap fell off her head.
Chloe's breath was hitched up but she was slightly surprised to see the lady who looked a few years older than her.
"Who are you?" Chloe asked nervously as she moved a few steps backwards. The lady turned around to give her a full view of her face and smirked.
"What? You don't recognize me?" She asked walking closer to her.
"Am I supposed to?" Chloe asked trying to sound bold even though she was scared.
"My name is Mabel. Remember me now?" The lady asked eyeing her. With every step she took forward, Chloe took two steps backwards.
"I still don't know you."
The lady suddenly stopped walking and looked at her with angry eyes.
"You fired me! How can you not remember me when you fired me just less than a month ago? And for something so trivial, you let me stop working after all my services here! I became a laughing stock and even till now, those laughs still haunt me." She began to raise her voice loudly like she was going berserk.
Chloe kept her eyes fixed on one of the CCTV cameras above. She could only hope that the security came on time to save her from this crazy lady.
"I've fired more people than I could count. How am I supposed to remember you?" Chloe asked sounding annoyed. She couldn't believe this crazy lady was whining and trying to harm her because she fired her.
"Well, since you are such a bitch who believes is better than everyone, I'm going to be giving you a pretty little gift." She said and laughed hysterically before pulling out a small dagger from her pocket.
"Stop it! I'm going to kill you if you come closer to me!" Chloe said as he reached inside her bag for something.
"Really? Then kill me! Why not kill me?" She said in a challenging manner as she charged towards her again.
Chloe tried to get something from her bag but before she could use it, a sudden force pulled Mabel who was almost attacking her away from her.
She saw a hand wrapped around Mabel's waist dragging her backwards while she wailed and flailed and asked whoever it was to put her down else she was going to kill him.
When the person threw her on the floor with a loud thud, Jeremy's face came into view as he sighed deeply.
"How much do you weigh young lady?" He asked Mabel who was currently lying on the floor.