FLOWER

A kiss?!

Such an outrageous comment!

Halle grabbed the glass of orange juice in front of her and chugged like her life depended on it, maybe it did in a way.

His smile broadened and his chuckle slowly morphed into a hearty laughter. The sound was like bells from her grandfather’s church in her ears. It was melodic and as much as she didn’t want him to stop, she couldn’t help the annoyance slowly turning into anger.

No, she wasn’t angry at him but at herself for imagining a well-detailed occurrence of those full pink lips pressing over hers, their softness rubbing against her skin and that pink tongue that made an appearance every now and then, she pictured how it would feel when it slipped past her lips and tangled with her tongue.

Fuck!

Now she was quiet, looking at him like he was a steaming hot meal on a cold winter night.

His laughter slowly died down when his eyes met hers, could he see the emotions in them?

That would be embarrassing if he could see through her thoughts.

Halle brought her fingers to her head and massaged her temples.

She had spent her entire life staying away from men, being cautioned by her mother so many times not to get too close to the opposite sex and sometimes even punished for the littlest mistakes she made with them, being this close to this man felt like a taboo, something that was wrong.

She felt her mother would burst out from the corner and condemn her for her thoughts even though the woman was at least two continents away.

She had to stop thinking dirty. Just because she had the freedom didn’t mean she should be attracted to every Tom, Dick, and Hottie that lands on her doorstep.

“How’s your breakfast?” He changed the topic, his expression shielded again, almost like he never uttered those words in the first place.

“When are you going to leave?”

“You haven’t even thanked me for making you breakfast,” He pouted with mock offense. Halle caught herself staring at his lips again, that faint pout looked like an invitation.

Focus!

She grabbed the glass of orange juice and emptied its contents, then shoved the rest of her food into her mouth and swallowed with much difficulty.

“Thank you for the food,” She said hurriedly, “When are you leaving?”

He chuckled and took both their plates to the sink, the action momentarily catching her off guard.

“I will be out of your hair as soon as I’m sure you’ll keep your mouth shut,”

“ I will!” Halle replied immediately.

He shook his head and turned on the tap.

He was doing the dishes.

He was doing the freaking dishes!

Halle quickly made her way to the sink, her hand brushed against his as she tried to take the sponge from his hand yet, her whole body stiffened from the contact.

“I’ll do it,” Halle said in a breathless rush, her heart was beating so fast she felt like it would explode from her chest.

He turned his head to look at her, he still had on that serious expression as his eyes threatened to drown her in their brown depths.

“You can dry the dishes, I’ve already started,” He replied, his voice low, his eyes never leaving hers, he wasn’t going to back down, Halle realized.

Everything in her went against watching a man do the dishes. She had to endure watching him cook.

The ghosts of her past were haunting her again, she kept feeling like her mother would just jump out of any corner and whack the living daylights out of her for letting a man do work in the kitchen when both her hands were working just fine.

Halle begrudgingly took the drying rag from the plates’ rack and began drying the dishes he’d cleaned up.

The dishes weren’t much and weirdly enough, they both stood in comfortable silence as they worked. Halle’s eyes occasionally drifted to his face whenever his hand brushed against hers. He didn’t say a word though and neither did she.

Once they were done, he turned to her and smiled.

“I’ll be out of your hair before your boyfriend comes and starts to think we’re doing something else,”

I don’t have a boyfriend.

Halle wanted to reply but instead found herself pursing her lips and nodding. She just wanted him out, she hated how hesitant she was to voice it out though.

“First, I’ll take a shower,” He stated, “Then you’ll check your stitches, then I’ll leave,”

“I don’t have any clothes you can change into,” Another lie but she wanted him out as soon as possible.

Right?

“I’ll wear what I wore last night,” He grinned, looking like he’d just won a battle.

One day, Halle thought, she would that grin off his face for good!

“But you—”

“I won’t hurt you, Halle, you have my word,”

He knew her name from her student ID but hearing her name on his lips stirred things in her that she didn’t think existed.

“I just need to clean all of last night’s grime off me…” He looked down at his feet, the sincerity in his voice clawed at her heart, she didn’t want to believe him, she didn’t want to feel anything other than hate and disgust towards the man but yet here she was asking herself what was his reason for killing the other man last night.

And if he deserved it.

“Then I’ll leave your life and you won’t ever have to see me again,” When he lifted his head, his jaw was hardened and his gaze steely. He wasn’t lying and Halle wished she dared to ask him the questions that ran through her mind at that moment but instead…

“I have spare toothbrushes in the medicine cabinet next to the mirror,” She heard herself say.

His shit-eating grin returned, “Thanks Flower,” He said with a nod and then walked out of the kitchen and made his way to the bathroom, the phone still in his pocket and the butt of his gun showing from his waistband.

As Halle watched his retreating back, she couldn’t help but feel that intimidating aura around him dissipate and turn into one of loneliness.

A man with a past.

A mysterious man.

Get it together Halle! You don’t even know his fucking name?

Halle ran her palms down her face and let out a frustrated growl.

“What are you doing...Fuck!”

She rambled warnings to herself as she made her way to her wardrobe, putting on underwear and a bra.

Then she went into her suitcase and brought out some of her father’s old clothes she had brought with her. She sometimes wore them and lay on the bed just reminiscing the happy parts of her childhood before everything went to shit.

Now they had lost their scent but she was sure they were big enough to fit the man in the bathroom.

Was she ready to let her father’s clothes go?

Halle fought back tears as she placed the black t-shirt and grey pants she had brought with her on the bed.

Then she closed her and slowly made her way to the front door.

He would come outside, put on the clothes, and leave...She will be in class by then

She has so many classes and shifts to cover today, she could not afford a day off.

She won’t report him to the police, Halle decided.

Although it played on her conscience. She would let him leave and push this occurrence to the back of her mind and continue with her life. Halle held the door handle and pushed it down.

It didn’t open.

She pushed down again, this time harder than the last. The door didn’t budge, it was locked from the inside.

Where were her keys?

She had brought them inside with her even with the pressure she was under. The door had to be open unless...

Halle’s heart rate kicked up again as she began to wonder just how many things the man had done while she was unconscious. He had even brought her to the bed.

The bathroom door opened and he walked out leisurely, a white towel around his waist and his folded pants in his hands, Halle’s phone and his gun placed on top of it.

He looked up at her and then at the door, he smirked and shook his head.

“And here I was thinking we had made a connection,” He tutted, sounding like a disappointed father ready to disown his kid.

Then he turned from her, she wasn’t going to be a problem to him because the door was locked.

“Where are my keys?”

“In my jacket pocket,” He said and pointed at the bloody jacket that had been on the bedside table the entire time.

Are you fucking kidding me?!

Halle glared at the man as he made his way to the bed, he looked down and smiled when he saw the clothes she had set down for him.

An action Halle was now regretting.

“I was right,” He looked back up with a smile, “We did make a connection,”

That smile made her heart almost stutter to a stop, two dimples appeared at the sides of his cheeks and white teeth were on full display.

If he wasn’t handsome, maybe she would’ve felt disgusted as she ought to but damn it! It was hard to hate a man with this sort of smile.

“How long do you intend to keep me locked up?” Halle asked angrily, her finger pointing out.

“I’ve already told you Flower, I don’t like repeating myself,” He dismissed and then dropped the towel.

Halle’s eyes widened with shock and she gasped.

She turned around immediately, the image of his tattoo-covered ass ingrained in her memories for what she feared would be the rest of her life.

“What the fuck!” She exclaimed, her annoyance increasing as she heard his humorous laughter.

“You know for a woman who seems so innocent, you sure do cuss a lot,” He said.

“Are you mentally okay?” Halle rolled her eyes, she still had her back turned to the crazy man.

“My therapist has asked me that so many times,” He laughed, “We end up naked in her office after that,”

Oh. My. God.

He was insane.

Halle heard the shuffling of clothes and then a zip.

“I’m done flower, you can turn around now,”

Why did he keep calling her that?

“For some reason, I can’t trust you,” Halle retorted and bit her bottom lip.

She still turned around though, and sure enough, he had put on the clothes she left for him.

The shirt hugged him like a second skin, something that she had half expected to be loose, the pants were a good fit though.

Halle remembered her father had long legs, he was almost seven feet tall, just like the man in front of her.

“Your boyfriend has nice tastes in clothes,” He sounded a bit annoyed by it but his eyes gave nothing away.

“They belonged to my father,” Halle said in a low voice, her eyes soaking in his appearance.

The clothes were a perfect fit. Like they were made for him unlike when she wore them and looked like they were borrowed.

They finally found their owner.

She felt a pang in her chest. Was it relief?

“Oh,” He simply replied, “Thank you,” he nodded in appreciation.

“You’ll have to take the shirt off, I have to make sure your stitches are still intact,” Halle quickly explained before he read a different meaning to her words.

He nodded and took the shirt off immediately. He sat down in the same position he was on last night.

Ignore the body! She chanted in her head as she brought out her first aid kit and then soaked the wool in spirit.

While she cleaned the wound, a shrill sound came from their side, disrupting the heavy silence that sunk both of them.

It was her ringing tone.

He turned to look at her with narrowed eyes then he reached for the phone and brought it closer.

Halle looked down at the screen.

Her friend Greta was calling, she’s probably noticed her absence in class.

“Try anything stupid...” He set the phone between them and then carried his gun and turned off the safety, “Say anything stupid and the next bullet goes in your head,”

The warmth around him and the smile he had was suddenly gone, replaced with a dangerous man with dark eyes.

He answered the call and put it on speaker.

“Hello?” Came Greta’s worried voice, “Halle?”