He looks over his shoulder at me, his eyes already rolling away, before he stops mid stride. “You’re making me forget myself,” He growls, like he’s pissed at me. Like seriously annoyed. Barely a second later, I’m not walking again. I’m being carried, and I’m learning more about the enigma that is Darius; he’s as thrown as I am.
“I’m going to have to take a star off when I do my review of Pack Alastor, for having to walk the first twenty steps myself,” I smart up at him.
“You keep talking like that, I’ll be leaving a galaxy of stars on your ass,” he shoots back.
Before I have another witty comeback, we’re standing in front of three cars. “Which one do you want to try? Nah, actually that’s a stupid fucking thing to ask. We’re taking mine,” he looks at me in challenge. “Get your ass in my car, Heidi.”
He guides me to my feet, feeling up my ass again before he takes an obvious step back. It’s a complete set up; he’s testing me out because he doesn’t think I’m going to be able to pick which car’s his, but the jokes on him. I open the driver’s door of the newish white Kia Sportage and get a face full of his chai scent and a slow clap from him.
“How’d you guess, little moon?” He asks as he climbs into the passenger seat.
“Impressed?” I tease.
“I was a fan the minute I saw you. Just like you are of me.” He winks. It’s conceited, it’s cheeky as hell, and it’s undeniably him.
He clicks his fingers in front of my face when I go to say something. “Seat belt on. Any idea what to do next?”
“Yeah, that would be a nope,” I offer back. “I have no idea, Darius. Since the day I was born, I’ve been driven around. There was a time there where I asked if I could get my learners permit but the Board decided it was too risky in case I got in a crash.”
His mood darkens in a flash, but he doesn’t hide it. He keeps his eyes locked on mine. “I’m with Kai, it makes me pretty unhappy, Heidi, they’ve left you so defenceless.”
I reach out and squeeze his leg. “You wait until you see me fight.” I laugh it off, but we both know the truth, my security team made me reliant not independent.
“Ramses will help with any finessing needed there.”
“Not you?” I ask him, genuinely surprised.
“Nah, I’d just bend you over the weight bench and fuck the fight into you.”
I laugh. Honestly, what do you say to that?
“Now, once again you’re trying to feel me up when we should be concentrating.” Darius smirks as he lifts my hand off his body like it’s offending him before he drops it onto the steering wheel. “Hands at ten and two. Always. We’re going old school driving techniques because they work. Now hands stay on there most of the time.”
I spend the next few hours either bunny hopping or alternating between driving like a snail and a race driver around the yard. And he spends the time giving me shit and laughing up a storm. Although when he stops being a dick, he’s actually a really good teacher.
Darius talks me through each step over and over again. He does it without getting frustrated and losing his calm, but more importantly he does it without being condescending and impatient.
It’s me that’s the issue. I’m having a problem putting instruction into action although it’s kind of his fault too. When he tells me what to do, even providing visual prompts like he’s the one driving, I lose focus. My logic disappears because I get caught up watching the way his lips lift up at the end of every sentence. And since he’s a good instructor his eyes are super glittery with his enthusiasm, they’re bewitching and his scent is everywhere. It’s in the car, but he’s also filling the car up with every breath he takes, every word he speaks. It’s him. Everything is him and the last thing I feel like doing is learning to drive.
The car lurches forward, snapping my seatbelt to a stop. Again. Making him howl in laughter. Again.
One second I’m all heart-eyes at him, and the next it’s way too much. I know Darius is not laughing at me, I’ve been laughing too. But all of sudden, it’s not about driving, it’s about me being a failure at life.
I hop out of the car without turning it off, making it do one giant bunny hop until the fucking thing finally putters to a stop. “I hate it! I’m not doing it again. I have people that can drive me around!” I spit over my shoulder without turning around.
The frustration of years of being told I wasn’t enough has me ready to fight. After putting some space between us, I look back at Darius. He hasn’t moved. He’s standing with his arms over the door frame and the roof, looking smug and hot as fuck.
Not what I need. I need compassion, I need understanding.
I go to give him a couple of life pointers, but he beats me to it. “Don’t you pull a princess on me. Get your ass back in the car, Heidi. We haven’t finished our lesson. And we’re not finishing until you drive my car back to the house.”
He gets my middle finger in response before I take my tantrum to the next level and stomp away. Seriously, I think I get half a step before I’m walking on air and being spun in the opposite direction of where I was going. Darius stops us in front of the car.
“Two options. You get in and drive back like I said, or I bend you over the bonnet of my car and I teach you another survival skill.”
I laugh at how stupid he is. “A survival skill? Where?”
He growls. Darius flipping growls in my face before he spins me with one hand, pushes me forward with the other, bending me in half. And then he’s pressing against me so there’s no space between us.
