Chapter Four

Well, that went well than I expected. For a second I thought that'll be the end of me. I'm relieved that I found the courage to strike a deal with the hot, sexy devil in disguise.

Wait, I didn't even get his name.

I wonder when he would unbind me and let me use the comfort room because, in all honesty, the maggots inside my stomach were in a battle, fighting for the last of the food, making me uncomfortable and jittery. 

Damn that man. 

I closed my eyes while trying to calm myself as I started mentally counting. ‘One, two, three, four, four and one-half, five, five and one-half…’

Then in my foggy mind, I heard the all-to-familiar clicking sound of the gun. "Wake up or I will shoot you in the head." 

I yelped in shock, glaring at him reproachfully. He could just wake me up like a normal person.

He tucked away his gun and leaned his face close to mine. My breath hitched. Seriously, this guy would gonna kill me as a lump suddenly clogged my throat rendering me speechless. My eyes blurred as it unconsciously fluttered close to the point of no return and the only thing I could hear was the wild yet synchronized beating of our hearts. 

Surprisingly, every time he's near I felt safe. And my heart would start pounding hard against my chest not from fear, no, but from warm anticipation of what would happen next. 

He's going to kiss me.

I just knew it. 

And then all of the sudden, a white-hot-searing pain pierced through my very soul, rocking my body in pure agony. He didn't stop there. In the next instant, another agonizing pain pierced through on my left ear. 

Tears stream down my face without my consent. My eyes snapped open and glared at the emotionless culprit. If looks could kill this man would be anything but a living thing right at this moment.

"You could have warned me!" I yelled at his face.

He looked at my ears, admiring his handy work while I looked at his cold, hard, and emotionless face. 

I was seething in rage but I breathe out trying to act calm.

So this is what it feels to be in pain.

Mom warned me about this when I was still in the palace moping for my twenty-three years of isolation from the world outside. The view from my room was magnificent and breathtaking but that was all I had at that time. The tall glass window of my room separates me from the world I longed to be part of.

“You'll never be ready for the pain if I told you.” I heard him say, pulling me from the past.

I scoffed. 

Yeah. Yeah.

He crossed his arms flexing his muscles in the process.

It was as beautiful as the view outside my room at the palace.

"The whole apartment is jammed."

I nodded still glaring at him. By now the pain was replaced with a numbing ache that was much more uncomfortable than painful.

Then, he continued in his gruff voice. "The tracking device in your ears will decide if you would live or die. If you run away and the tracker picked up foreign signals it will explode, and you will die. If you removed the tracker you will die. If you-"

"Okay! I get. I get okay!" I shouted, cutting him off. 

"Stop. Just stop talking. I get it. I am not going to run or outsmart you." I said panting. I sucked a lungful of air before audibly releasing it. 

I huffed in annoyance, still glaring at the man who was glowering at me in return.

"Now will you stop mentally killing me and undo these freaking ropes?" 

He narrowed his eyes in my direction but acted to remove the complicated knots, untying me. I swear he was a pirate in another lifetime the way he tied these knots and those deliciously dark aura vibrating on him. I wonder if I was his captive in those many lifetimes ago or ever part of it.

Hmmm.

Will he kill me or let me live. But the idea of dying was already overrated on my part. I've grown to hear that a lot of times and the idea doesn't scare me anymore. They always said that if I got even a small cut it would never heal and I would bleed to death. That's why it takes me years to finally decide what would I do for myself and my future. And when I did, it also took a lot of time and a bundle of courage to sneak out and to run away from my prison. 

My home.

I was snapped back to reality when I felt the rope tied to me loosening.

When the last of the ropes fell on the floor I brought my hands in front of my face to inspect them. They had the ugly marks from being bound but the feeling of freedom empowers my discomfort. 

I sat up straight.

"Hi, I am Sarah. Sarah Brewer, it's so nice to meet you Mr.?" I extended my hand for a handshake.

Silence...

... and silence

and more silence.

"Hi-"

"I heard you the first time." He said in his deep, commanding voice.

Yum!

I unconsciously wet my lips while staring at his lips as I brought myself in front of him, hand extended for a handshake.

He just grunted looking at my hand in disgust.

I batted my eyelashes like I saw Lena did when we happened to have a handsome customer on the diner. 

With a displeased snarled he extended his hand to mine. "Alaric Mendez," 

Then very slowly our hands touched. As if hesitant or maybe he thinks that I would explode if our skin touched. But eventually, it did. And when it happened, sparks fly in the air and there's this buzzing electricity that travels through my veins leaving me breathless and weak. 

My knees buckle, unable to comprehend what's happening to me. Maybe I'm just exaggerating. Or probably hallucinating.

Suddenly he withdrew his hand as if burned. He looked at me one last time before walking out of the door.

Did it happened or it was just a product of my overactive imagination?

I looked at my hands. There are no burn marks but the tingling sensation still hovers over my exposed skin.

Did he felt it too?

Or he just doesn't like me?

•••