Page 44 of Scarred King
“Don’t touch me!” I move away. “We had sex once and you think that you can take charge of my life.” He chuckles again, and I'm so angry that I want to hit him.
He sits on the motorcycle and I climb on behind him. He starts the motor and turns his head toward me. “I always get what I want.” He winks at me and starts driving.
This is the first time in my life that I’m so angry that I can see stars. How the hell can he think he can talk to me this way? Who does he think he is? He must be living in some kind of a fantasy world. I won’t let him rattle me. He’s playing with my head and checking my boundaries. “Disgusting creature,” I mumble. As soon as the motorcycle stops in front of the bar, I hit him on the back and he turns his head to me.
“Remember I told you that the brain will always overcome emotion?” I ask meanly.
“No,” he shrugs and smiles.
“Then imagine I did!” I get off the motorcycle and push the helmet into his arms. “Because right now my brain destroyed the emotion.” My eyes are shooting poisonous darts. “And I’m done with you.” I spin to face the amused bouncer, swearing under my breath and walk inside.
21
The bar is empty, and I sigh in relief. If one of the girls or one of his stupid partners would say the wrong thing to me, I’ll explode. He comes in after me, places his file on the round table and goes behind the bar to help himself to a bottle of beer.
“Want one?” he asks, tapping on the bottle.
“I don’t want anything from you.” I snap at him and he rolls his eyes and walks off to his regular seat.
I sweep the floor and fume to myself. I take the chairs off the tables and fume to myself. I arrange the napkins and still fume to myself. The anger is bubbling inside me, and I can’t focus on anything else.
The girls enter one at a time, chatting loudly. Charlie takes his place behind the bar and within half an hour, I have no time to fume anymore because the bar is full of perverted and annoying customers. I'm on automated mode, repeating the same sentences over and over again. I gasp in surprise when I see Johanna enter the bar, Tommy has his hand around her and she’s wearing the same clothes she wore yesterday. She goes with him to the round table quite naturally and Ralph enters with two bodyguards and sits down with them.
“Hi Elena,” Johanna is waving at me and I realize that I have no choice but to go over to the damn table.
“Didn’t you go to class today?” I ask, concerned.
“Of course I did,” she giggles, “although I didn’t get much sleep last night.” She runs her fingers through her pimp boyfriend’s bleached hair and I roll my eyes. “I am not tired at all thanks to the magic powder.” She rubs her upturned nose and I send a furious look in Tommy’s direction. “Don’t worry, I took notes for you.” She giggles again and then grows serious. “But you should stop missing classes. Two professors already asked about you.” She sniffs and stops blinking. “Anyway, you have to come help me stop the crazy rumors about you. They were out of control after class today.”
“What rumors?” I ask, surprised and notice that everyone at the table is listening on our conversation. “Professor Sawyer talked about you for a whole hour,” she says excitedly and finally blinks again. “About your commitment to school and the project, about the smart questions you asked at the conference, the good impression you made on our colleagues and your passion for the field.” She starts moving in her seat restlessly and adds, “It’s as if you put a spell on him.”
“Oh, that’s nonsense,” I reply, embarrassed.
“Nonsense that’s causing a wave of rumors,” she says seriously. “Especially because this is the first time you’ve ever missed one of his classes.”
“He told me not to come,” I say angrily.
“Exactly,” she nods as if I 've just proved her point.
I shake my head in frustration. “I can’t deal with this nonsense right now. And you really have to stop coming here.” I turn my back to them, and Ralph takes hold of my elbow gently.
“What do you want to drink?” I ask irritably and he signals one of his bodyguards to come closer. The overgrown baboon respectfully hands him a red rose, and Ralph gives it to me.
“What’s this?” I ask, amazed.
“Elena,” he says to me formally, “I've decided to take you on our date tomorrow.”
This is all I need. “You’ve decided?” I burst out laughing and I can feel the day’s tension gnawing at my bones. “You can't decide. You ask.”
“But I already asked you,” he says, his tone hurt. “And you agreed.”
“Did I?” I wrinkle my forehead, trying to remember when I agreed to something so horrific.
“Yes,” he says with a smile that bears his white teeth and once again I think that he must be the most handsome man I’ve ever seen.
“Ermmm,” I take my time to try and figure out how I can get out of this, but a quick glance at Scarface, who looks shocked, reminds me why I should agree happily.
“If I agreed, I’ll keep my word.” I bring the flower up to my nose and smell it.