Chapter 506
0506
Stepping back into the lounge, I sit down on the sofa facing the glass doors that look out onto the backyard of the packhouse and place my feet on the table, crossing them at the ankle before I pick up my laptop and return to work.
Frowning, I see my usual screen gone. Instead, there’s a black window, with the words “DON’T EVER LEAVE YOUR LAPTOP ON FOR ANYONE TO GAIN ACCESS TO YOU IDIOT. In a big lilac font.
Adriana.
I don’t think I’ve been called that anywhere near as many times as she has called me an idiot in the short period of time that I’ve known her. I’m about to snap my laptop shut when I pause and click on the screen, seeing the cursor blink and type the following words.
“Using the Wi-Fi here is also risky, so that’s proof enough that I genuinely have nothing to hide. I hit enter and see the words appear under the now much smaller first sentence.
‘Awe, how cute, actually you have this laptop connected to the same drive and email account as your phone. Thank you for the access. You have a lot of pictures on here. I never took you for the conceited type. I mean, idiotic, posh, dumb, annoying? Yeah? Conceited, no, not really.”
I smirk as I raise an eyebrow. ‘Idiotic and dumb are pretty much the same thing’
“Hmm, one use of the word idiot doesn’t suffice for you. LOL’
I’m about to reply when one big word appears on the screen ‘BAKA’
Baka? Isn’t that some insult they use in anime? I’m sure I’ve heard it in the shows Zion and Sia watch… before 1 can reply, the screen shuts off and I’m taken back to my own welcoming screen. Only the background is now a picture of me in my gym, with a cap on backwards, pushing my sweatpants down enough to reveal my adonis belt, sweat trickling down my chest.
I internally cringe at my stupid post-work-out selfie and snap the laptop shut.
I’m done.
I’m going to bed.
This woman needs to- wait, did she say she can access everything on my phone? There are pictures of me in there. I don’t need her or anyone else to see. Great.
Unplugging the charger, I pick up my belongings and head upstairs to the room Valerie had given me, deciding to find Adriana and tell her there is a line she shouldn’t cross. Exiting the room, I sniff the air, frowning when I pick up her scent immediately and follow it down the hall. It’s only two doors away and my frown only deepens. Why does this feel a little too coincidental?
Valerie…
Fixing my shirt, I knock on the door. It’s opened almost immediately, as if she knew I would come. She rests her arm on the door frame, blocking me from even attempting to enter, and I’m about to speak when my attention falls on something else.
Burns
My heart skips a beat as for the first time I look past her sexy physique, realising those toned arms are mapped with burn marks my stomach twists as rage flashes through me. The urge to know how she got them intensifies within me. I remember Valerie once mentioned something in passing, but seeing these makes my aura surge forward.
“What do you want?” she snaps, making me blink as I turn my attention to her face
It takes me a second to remember as I try not to look at her arms. She now drops them, crossing them as if uncomfortable with my gaze. “Stay out of my private property…” I murmur. There’s no anger in my words, and they don’t even sound like a firm warning to me.
“Then accept my rejection and stay out of my life,” she replies quietly, making my eyes snap to those pale green ones, her words taking me by surprise.
“I don’t-”
“I don’t care what you’re thinking. Accept my rejection so I can move on.”
Move on with who?
1 clench my jaw. There’s no way in hell I am going to reject her. Besides, right now, I just want to know how that happened.
“Reject me Payne!” she snarls.
“No.”
A powerful silence falls between us as she stares up at me, her eyes becoming sharper. “What did you just say?” she whispers, her heart pounding like a drum.
“I said no.”
A/N: Bonus for Zade getting back on his feet will be up on Ream later. Follow me on Ins ta & F B author.muse for more details