Morose ✔️

12

I put the finishing touches on my makeup, getting ready for my second date with Helix, as a text popped into my phone, startling me enough to almost stick the mascara wand into my eye. I glanced down to see it was from Jesse, but I didn't bother reading it yet. I had to finish first.

I'd dressed up a little more than last time, with a glittery, black top, but I still wore pants because I was pretty sure he'd want to drive his motorcycle to wherever we were going first. When I finally finished putting on my blush and looked in the mirror and a voice in my head started telling me I actually looked nice, there was a knock on my door.

I contemplated moving at that moment. There was so much traffic through that door that it almost drove me mad, and I picked up my phone on the way to open up, glancing at the text Jesse sent a few minutes earlier.

"Sorry, but he threatened me, I had no choice, please don't kill me, have a good night, love you"

My heartbeat picked up as I stared at the door in front of me.

Oh fuck.

No.

No, no, no, no...

I frantically looked around me to see if there was anything messy around, and picked up a few items of clothing and threw them into the bedroom while shouting, "Just a second!" I looked over the kitchen, but it wasn't as bad since I didn't really use it much anyway, and closed my eyes for a few seconds, before sucking in a breath and opened the door.

Helix stood leaned against the wall next to the door, and he started smiling when I opened up, his eyes scanning me from head to toe as I swallowed.

"Hi," he said, that deep voice already igniting a fire in my abdomen that I was afraid would probably become even worse. I realized it would probably be tamed later— since I noticed the bouquet of roses and bag of groceries in his hands and knew there had been a change of plans.

Shit.

I cleared my throat. "Hi."

He straightened up and offered me the bouquet, which I took with a small, giddy smile on my face and blushing cheeks, and stepped aside so he could come in as I thanked him. Reluctant as I was to have him know where I lived and be able to come whenever he wanted, my stomach filled with butterflies as he walked in.

He took a quick look around and sat the bag of groceries on the kitchen island, before coming back to me as I closed the door. His hand went up to push a strand of my hair away from my face, and he said, "You look more beautiful every time I see you," before leaning in, planting a soft kiss on my lips.

I shuddered.

I knew I wasn't going to survive this night, with him in my home, all alone, with no excuses and nowhere to hide..

"You look pretty handsome tonight," I whispered, reaching up to pull on the hair that fell down in front of his scar.

"I woke up like this." He grinned, and I didn't doubt that it was true, either. He took my hand and walked us back to the island, looking at me the whole time. "Do you have a vase?"

I bit my lip. "I have a pitcher?"

He chuckled and let my hand go so I could put the roses in some water. I fetched the pitcher from one of the open shelves on the wall, filled it with water and got to work on cutting the stems to a more suitable length as he took the groceries from the bag. I sat the roses on the coffee table with a smile on my face, thinking it made the whole apartment a little brighter, and the nervousness started to fade away.

"What happened to the movie we were gonna see?" I asked as I walked back towards him.

"I felt like staying in, so I took a chance," he said, winking at me. He held up two bottles of wine when I returned, one red and one white, and looked at me. "I didn't know which you preferred, but I thought you could drink, I could cook, then we could eat and... enjoy our night."