"Are you going to talk to me now?" I asked her eventually. We had both calmed down from last night and my resolve had broken in record time. I couldn't do this whole journey beside her in silence.
Mia shrugged in response and I felt my frustration grow. "Mia." I didn't have the time and energy to play with her. "If you want to talk about it then go ahead and if you don't then fine."
"Are you really going to turn this on me and make it seem like it's my fault?" Mia asked me, her own fury rising to the surface.
"You're the one behaving like a child and giving me the silent treatment," I told her.
"Because it's so mature to get drunk and punch a wall."
I knew she must have spoken with Dante. A little bit of privacy would be nice, but it was almost impossible with Dante in my life. He liked to think he knew what was best for me.
I undid my seatbelt and twisted in my chair to look at Mia. "I came to find you last night to apologize and you didn't want to hear it," I reminded her.
Mia followed my motions and undid her belt so she could turn to face me. "I didn't even want to look at you last night, Lucas," she told me honestly. "I told you to stop calling me a business arrangement. Do you know how it makes me feel?"
"You never gave me a chance to explain."
"It makes me feel dirty," Mia pushed on. "You can't kiss me and sleep in my bed and make comments about me if this is all business."
We’d had a good run without any arguments but here we were thousands of feet in the air and locking horns again. For someone so quiet, Mia had a bite when she wanted to. How could someone so small hold a rage that could rival my own once it had been stoked?
"Why would I give you a chance to talk yourself out of things again?" Mia asked me. "I'm an idiot for believing you in the first place!"
Her arms flailed around the place as she spoke and I caught both of her wrists and pulled her towards me, the armrest the only divider between us. "You really do have a problem with listening, don't you?"
"Maybe I'm tired of your bullshit, Lucas."
"I'M TRYING TO KEEP YOU SAFE!" I exploded. I’d reached my breaking point and she was currently the lone soldier in my firing line. Mia shrank back a little, but I still had a hold of her wrists.
"I never asked you to," she almost whispered.
"Okay, so I should have left you with Marco last night?" I asked. "You were dealing with that, were you?"
Mia fell quiet and I knew I had made my point. She was out of her depth last night and we could all see it. Mia had no idea who half the people around her were or what they were capable of, and I was mostly to blame for that.
"You don't know what Marco is like, Mia," I said, calming down. "I told you he doesn't treat women well."
"That still doesn't explain why you called me a business arrangement."
I could see the hurt in her large, brown eyes and the anger fizzled away. Any time that look crossed her face all I wanted was to put it right. I’d never felt responsible for someone’s happiness the way I did with Mia. "Princess, come here. Please." I tugged at her wrists, wanting to pull her onto my lap. "I need you."
Every time I said those words, they held more and more weight. Originally, I had just needed her body. I wanted no one else to look at her or to touch her until I had my fill. And while that remained true, there was more to it now. I needed her because Mia calmed me, and because I couldn't stop thinking of her. I needed her to need me.
Mia resisted the pull, so I stopped but didn't let go of her.
"No. You need to explain what's going on, Luc. I'm not doing this again."
"If you had let me in last night, I would have explained it all."
Mia gave me a look that could have rivaled Lydia's. I wasn't ready to tell her everything, not willing to let her into my world just yet. Seeing Marco with her last night had left me raging and I never wanted her to see me dealing with business in the flesh. She’d only ever seen the aftermath of it, and although she hadn’t run then, I still had no guarantee that she would accept every facet of this life. I never wanted Mia to truly know what I was capable of, in case we reached the point of no return.
"Mia, I had to," I told her.
"Why?" she asked, not willing to let it go.
"They'd use you if they thought you meant anything more to me," I explained. She chewed on her bottom lip, something I noticed that she did when she was unsure or nervous. “The way Amber treats you…”
At the mention of Amber, Mia's body stiffened.
