A Slave to Love

Chapter 18: Late Night Dates

"Nothing," he said before he pulled away, folding his arms over his chest as he studied  me. I lamented the loss of his touch, but at least those few moments had helped bring me to a more bearable level of warm.

I put my hands on my hips, more awake now. "We're not going out."

"Not with you dressed like that we're not," he snorted before he disappeared.

"What the—" before I could finish my sentence he was back, closing the door quietly with clothes in his other hand.

He tossed them at me. "Here." 

I caught the red thing he tossed at me and examined it, horrified that he'd found the one item I would never wear. "No," I said firmly, tossing it back.

"You have it in your closet," he said, throwing it at me again, "Wear it."

"I'm not wearing a dress and I'm not going out with you," I said, scrunching the dress up into a ball in annoyance.

"Stop being such a good girl. Live a little."

"No thanks."

He sighed dramatically, "Don't make me dress you myself."

"You'd never." Even as I said it, I doubted it.

"I would," he said, smirking as he looked me up and down, "I most definitely would."

"Pervert."  

"Why thank you," he said cheekily, "But if you don't go out with me I'll have to take drastic measures."

"I'm shaking in my shorts."

He pushed me against the door, leaning his head down so we were just inches apart, "Kiana, will you go out with me tonight?" he asked in his Australian accent, giving me a warm look that looked almost sincere....

"No."

"Why not?" he asked, still using that accent, which was starting to distract me. More distracting though? The extreme heat we were having and lack of sleep that was giving me a headache.

"I explained it before," I said, struggling to remain unaffected. "Where have you been all week anyways? You expect me to just sit and wait around for you to come see me whenever you feel like it? And that I have to drop what I'm doing just because you decided we were going out?"

"Stop being so dramatic. I was with Mona," he said, as if I was the one being ridiculous here. "She left again so I'll be seeing you more often."

"Is that supposed to make me feel better? That after your girlfriend leaves then you come to me?"

"No, I was just—"

"Shut up," I said, holding a hand up to quiet him, "I don't want to hear it. We're not going out tonight, and not any other night. Now I'm going back to bed."

I spun on my heel and grabbed the doorknob only to have him grab me by my wrist and spin me around, pinning me against the door again with a thud that made my heart jump. He didn't hurt me, but what if Katie or Jill woke up and heard? After the whole bite mark incident, I really didn't need anymore suspicious things happening.

"Go out with me," he insisted, eyes locked on mine with an intensity I wasn't used too.

"Why should I?"

"Because you need to get out of here for a bit and we need to spend some time with each other."

"No," I said, though I could feel some of my resolve cracking under how seriously he was taking this. "You want to hang out? We do it here and at a proper hour. I'm not leaving when I don't know where I'm going or when I'm coming back, especially when I have to be up early."