DUSK TILL DAWN ✔️ (Preview)

18- Ephemeral

Deep into her bottle of wine, she heard a movement from beside her and turned around to investigate where it came from. Her tired lackadaisical eyes landed on Bilal's massive figure sitting on the other side of the balcony and it seems like he's been there for quite a while.

Narrowing her eyes at the sight, she took a long gurgle of her wine and continued to watch him. His back was facing her but she could see the orange light that's probably from a cigar in his hand. Apart from not being the gentleman he's made everyone believed he was. He also smokes? Good Lord.

"A gentleman that smokes, huh?" She called out, not able to keep her mouth shut. Why should she even do that?

Bilal wasn't startled at the sound of her thin voice piercing the night to his ear which means he knew she was there. Who came first? Well, it doesn't matter. What matters is that she's caught him smoking in a hotel that has the policy of not smoking in its premises.

He pivoted his chair slightly to face her, the cigarette now in his mouth as he took a long drag. "Any problem?"

"None, boss. Gentlemen don't smoke and hide it away from the public. I always knew you get high on cheap fifty naira weed." She yawed her attention back to the horizon tuning him out but he wasn't done.

"I'm very sure that bottle is mine. What are you doing with it?" Bilal inquired, one last drag at the cigarette and he's over it. He removed another one from the packet and light his zippo.

"What if it is yours?" She slurred, her words crashing against one another as they fought for exit from her lips.

Am I drunk already?

"You stole my wine and that is against the rules of my company." He stated simply as though he was explaining it to a three year old kid.

"Stealing or stealing your wine?" She murmured in a thick voice, her neck lolling from side to side. She's definitely very much drunk now.

"Both."

She whipped her head around to glare at him with defiance, eyes shining with dormant fire that fought its way forth. "And so what? You stole my chicken but did I say anything? Noooo, because I know when not to start unnecessary drama and clearly you don't."

"You're drunk?" Bilal wasn't that surprised that she knew about the chicken. He's suspected that she does since that day at the Rainbow Mountain.

"Nah! There is zero alcohol in this wine, unfortunately. I do want to get high though. Can I have a dwaag from your cigar? I won't finish it, I pwomise." She set her thin lips into a moue that did great deal malicious things to his body.

"That wine has eighty percent of alcohol in it." In a loud voice, Bilal exclaimed while unfolding his height from the chair tossing the rest of his cigarette away.

She could hear the bewilderment, amusement and concern in his voice but it might be the alcohol doing her anyhow. Slowly blinking indolent eyes at him, she gave him a smile that managed to knock him off his equilibrium. Bilal had to hold the rail behind him to steady his weakened knees.

It was the kind of smile a woman might wear in the sultry aftermath of lovemaking. Very few women possessed such effortless sensuality, a natural warmth that made a man feel like a prize stallion on a stud farm.

As though she didn't know what she's done to his mental state and somewhere down south where a certain anatomy is spasmodic, Madina stared at the bottle of Domaine de la Romanée-Conti with a dainty frown between her brows.

In an equally adorable almost angelic tone, she wrinkled her nose and said. "Really? Let me finish it quickly then. I cannot feel the alcohol in my body yet."