“What do you want, Darius? I’m getting sick of these little meetings, and the fact that you are stalking me. And, if I remember correctly, I was only supposed to see you again when I figured out some bullshit answers or something.”
“Well, that was before your house caught on fire, and I, well, I wanted to check and see if you were ok.”
His words rolled off his tongue so smoothly, and it made my stomach flutter slightly. I could feel the blush appear on my cheeks. He rubbed the back of his neck almost from embarrassment of his own confession.
It frustrated me as I didn’t like feeling any ounce of vulnerability, or even appearing to be interested in him, and yet here he was pretending, or maybe he wasn't pretending, to care about my wellbeing?
“That’s kind of you, but unneeded. I don’t need some knight in shining armour to protect me when I am perfectly capable of protecting myself.”
He stepped forward, closing the gap between us again, and I felt my breath halt in my throat as he looked me up and down, licking his lips again as if I were a meal of some kind.
I could feel my heart begin to race as my mind wandered at the possibility of closing the gap even more. He was certainly handsome, and if he didn’t piss me off as much as he did, or if circumstances were different, I’m sure I would have taken him to bed by now.
“That I have no doubt, but I am not here to just protect, as I told you before, I am here to also aid you, in whatever way that might be.”
“Well, I don’t need your help, and didn’t ask for it. Now, would you please leave so I may finish my patrol and head to bed?”
“You don’t wish for me to join you in that bed of yours? Keep you warm and maybe exhaust you even more?”
Our faces were just inches from each other, and I almost felt a little dizzy by the sudden blood rush that ran to my cheeks. He smiled a coy half smile, flashing his teeth and then lowered his lips to nip at my ear lobe, and then running his lips down the side of my neck. I felt as if I were wrapped in a bubble of heat as my stomach flutters moved further south.
“You are gravely mistaken if you think I want you in my bed.”
My mouth answered before my head and heart could catch up, and I felt the warmth of his breath on my neck as he laughed. Leaving a small peck on my collarbone before coming back up to meet my face again, he lifted my chin up to look him directly in the eyes.
“Shame, it would have been fun - until next time, Miss Helsing.” He winked, and then disappeared, just as he did before, confirming more of my suspicions. Witch.
Rubbing my hands across my face to shake off any of the blushing feelings, and to try and remove any thoughts that had run through my mind was pointless. Darius had made me feel that urge, and it bugged me to no end. I wasn’t someone who got worked up over anyone, guy, or girl, and here I was, standing in the darkness of the manor grounds thinking of what it would be like to have him in bed with me.
Imagining his arms around me while his hands explore every inch of me.Enough, Hayley, I thought as I put my dagger back in its sheath, and headed back to the campsite where the fire was starting to die out.
“Please tell me you’ve at least tried to sleep a little.”
I asked Jackson as I arrived back. He was sitting in a camping chair with a blanket thrown over his shoulders, holding a steaming hot drink of something.
“Tried, maybe managed for an hour or two.”
“Careful now, you’re starting to sound like me.”
I pulled up the chair next to him and grabbed the folded blanket off the back, tucking it around me as I brought my legs up, enjoying the sudden warmth. I hadn’t realised how cold I had become until I sat down.
Sighing, he held out his drink to me and I took it willingly, feeling the warm liquid hit the back of my throat, my insides started to feel as if they were melting into the heat.
“Do I even wanna know what’s in that?” I asked, handing it back.
“Just another concoction of my own making, it helps ease your nerves, and warms up your insides.”
“Ah, well it sounds helpful then,” I paused looking around the space as many recruits slept in what appeared to be peace. “So, why are you still awake?”
“I sent Eric to bed; he is bent out of shape over what happened tonight. I think it’s taken him back to that mission and therefore he is now blaming himself, even when no one got majorly hurt and clearly no one died other than a few house plants.”
“I should go in and check on him then,”
“Normally, I’d say yes but Hayley, he’s a fragile guy, it’s why you stopped bothering last time and you don’t want to give the guy false hope. Let him be tonight, I will give him something in the morning for his nerves and he will be right as rain by then. We can look around the house then as soon as it’s daylight we have more of a chance of finding any sort of evidence.”
“Maybe you’re right, I think he still feels there’s hope for us and I feel awful when I think about it. He caught feelings when I was ready to step away."
“No one blames you babe, your parents had just died and well, after everything that happened, you were both looking for companions and at the time it was working. These things just phase out.”