29
As soon as I was free of his menacing aura, suffocating the lifeblood from me, I could think clearly about the situation. I slumped down into the seat of the bus and stared out the window, wondering what he had in store for me tonight. I didn’t like him. I mean…I had eyes so I could see he was an impressive-looking man, tall, broad, with big hands, and charming, but I didn’t like him.
Lev, I liked. Ezrah, I did not.
Everything boiled down to who his father was. I couldn’t separate Ezrah from the man who hired a contract killer to kill my father. If he had succeeded, I would be an orphan. I wonderwhere I would be now if both my parents had died—especially without my mother, who died of cancer, and my father, whose absence I can’t imagine. I also think it was dangerous to attempt to disconnect Ezrah Warwick from Leon Warwick, as they are one in the same.
6 PM was creeping up on me, so I decided to make an effort for my date, but not in the way he might like. I threw on several layers of clothing, three t-shirts, a pair of jeans, with a pair of baggy, unflattering sweatpants over the top, then I topped it all off with a big, oversized sweater. No makeup. I didn’t bother brushing my hair and tied it up in the usual ponytail, then put my baseball cap on.
The upside was that I looked scruffy, but on the downside, I was really hot, and my limbs didn’t move freely, and sitting down was extremely uncomfortable. However, if my plan worked out, he won’t be hanging around for long.
At 5.50 PM, there was a knock at my door, and I was annoyed that he had arrived ten minutes early. Skirting around the hanging fish hooks, I opened the door to find Lev standing there.
“Oh, hi.” My cheeks burned remembering the kiss in the library.
“Hi, Adina, you promised your notes from class,” he said, and it took me a few moments to realize what he was talking about.
“Yes. Did I? Did I promise?” I was racking my brains trying to remember what was said in that conversation, as it was a bit of a blur. “Sure.” I backed into my room, found my Digital Transformation folder and took the notes out, and handed them to him. “I hope you can read my writing.”
“It looks good,” he grunts, perusing the notes. I think I heard ‘thank you’ underneath his sullen mumbling tone, or maybe it was ‘Fankya.’ His phone vibrated, and his eyes pulled away from my notes to read the message, then he turned away and headed down the stairs. “Ezrah.”
“Oh? Damn, I was hoping he wouldn’t turn up,” I said under my breath, then shut the door, trying to come up with excuses as to how to cut this dinner date short.
My nerves coiled sickly in my stomach, and the only way to relieve them was to pace back and forth like a caged lion, although it had crossed my mind to jump out the window, since it was only on the first floor and it wasn’t too far to jump.
The solid knock at my door made me jump, and I calmed my rapidly beating heart as I was so hot in several layers of clothing that a film of sweat appeared on my forehead. I wiped it clear with the back of my forearm, but little could help cool my body, unless I shed a few layers of clothing.
I open the door a crack, peering up at that handsome face, twinkling eyes, dark blond hair swept back, dressed in nice black jeans and a white short-sleeved buttoned shirt, hugging that body, bulging arm muscles flexing. He looked gorgeous and smelled delicious, and my entire body turned to rubber, like a pathetic, gushing girl.
“Great to see you dressed up,” he said, raking his eyes over my baggy sweatpants, then frowned as his eyes traveled over the thickness of my upper body.
“Where are we going?” I asked him, refusing to let him step into my room.
He held up two paper bags, “I’ve got the food, so you can provide the entertainment,” he said, locking his eyes onto mine, and my breath hitched.
I didn’t expect to be so nervous because I didn’t like him. We spent an hour at the gym together, and I never once felt an ounce of attraction for him…actually, that’s a lie, I did feel a tiny, weeny attraction to him in the gym in his firm-fitting t-shirt, but it was instantly killed as soon as he started throwing his weight around.
I swallowed over the lump in my throat. “What entertainment?”
He shrugged, “Whatever you want,” his answer was deliberately vague as if he had a clear idea of what he wanted, but didn’t want to say it aloud. “Garden or bedroom?”
“Huh?” My brain was mush due to the vast amount of nervous activity darting about in my weakening body.
“Due you want to have dinner in the college garden or in your bedroom?” he glanced past me, then frowned when he noticed something. “Are those fish hooks?”
“Yes, Lev met one when he broke into my room to leave the rubber snake in my bed, do you remember that?” I mocked, flaring my nostrils while grilling him, tapping my cheek, “That gash on his cheek was because he walked into one.”
“That snake you flung is still lying in the grass. Someone will come across it one day, in fact, and you’ll probably hear them scream when they stand on it. It’s a good likeness,” he stated evenly without letting on that he knew about Lev planting the snake in my bed.
“Didn’t scare me,” I lied, drawing a scoff out of him.
“So, the garden is it?” he pressed, slightly impatiently, like he was done standing there holding bags of food.
“Um,” I glanced back at the window as night was slowly falling faster than in the city because the sun disappeared behind the mountains first. But it was better to be outside so I could easily flee than be stuck in my bedroom with a man who easily filled that space. Not to mention the giant elephant in the room called the bed. “Okay.”
I grabbed the shoulder bag that I had already packed with my essentials inside and followed him down the stairs, then spotted Mila and Erin chatting in the kitchen as they were eating plates of food from the dining hall. I waved and made a ‘help me’ look,but their eyes gaped at Ezrah looking hot in his nice clothes, so I think my silent cry for help went straight over the top of them.
“Got your knife, Stabby?” Ez asked as he opened the door for me like a gentleman, and I ignored the flutter in my chest at his graciousness. What was he thinking, acting nice and opening the door for me?
