"He looked my demons in the eye and smiled. He fell for the thing I thought he'd fear"
Arabella Karve
"Bella, you are going to be late if you don't wake the hell up." I slowly open my eyes and immediately close them after being met with Eros glaring down at me.
"Fine, I don't fucking care if you fail collage"
I groan while reluctantly sitting up and running my hand over my face.
I sit there for a minute unmoving waiting for the feeling of road kill to fade away.
After a while I look around Eros's room now that there is a soft ray of light casting into the room.
The entire theme consists of dark brown and black. The only furniture is a plain bed pressed up against the wall and a boring desk on the opposite side. There are a couple books stacked on it along with a large computer.
To say it doesn't look homey would be an understatement.
"What time is it?" I ask tiredly while swinging my legs over the bed, "Eleven."
"Fuck, I have class soon."
"I am aware, I have been trying to wake your ass up for half an hour." Eros crosses his arms.
"Being on time is overrated" I shrug with a yawn.
I reluctantly stand up while stretching out my arms. I tuck my hair behind my ear while looking over at Eros who is observing me curiously.
I glance down at his chest where a black compression shirt displays every beautiful detail of his torso. Light grey sweatpants hang lossy on his waist and it takes everything in me to pull my eyes away.
"Sorry for um-, you know waking you up so late" I say with a sheepish grin. I feel heat spread across my face thinking about the fact that I slept in my bodyguards bed.
Slight amusement shines in Eros's frozen eyes before it quickly disappears again.
"It's fine, I couldn't sleep anyway" His deep voice rumbles, "you should go get ready."
"Oh yeah, shit" I say while quickly walking across the room and pulling open the door.
I step out of the wooden door and immediately miss the warmth of Eros's gaze and addictive smell.
I take a step up the stairs before turning back around. Eros still stands in the doorway with one arm bent against the frame, watching my every move.
Oh lord.
"Thank you Eros" I say softly before turning around and quickly making my way up the steps.
************************
"I'm actually turn twenty this week" I say with a smile as Hazel squeals excitedly.
The librarian glares over at us and Hazel immediately shrinks in her chair with a wide smile.
Since next Thursday we have our semester final for business class, we decided to go study for a while at the quiet library downtown.
"What are you doing for your birthday?" Briar asks quietly while closing her book she was vaguely glancing at.
"Sit in my room, eat cake, and binge a bad teen drama show" I say simply.
I hate my birthday.
"That's fucking lame" Hazel narrows her eyes at me.
"Its a birthday tradition" I laugh quietly while tucking a fallen piece of hair behind my ear.
"Maybe we could all celebrate over dinner" Atlas shrugs.
"That would be so much fun!" Hazel claps before she is hushed violently by the scowling librarian.
"I would love too" I smile blissfully.
My phone suddenly rings and my eyes fly open in surprise as the loud noise echos across the quiet library.
I quickly answer the phone and hold it up to my ear while rolling my eyes at the many glares that are shot in my direction.
"Hey gorgeous, how are you?" I hear the Russian accent roll through the phone.
"Oh hey Dimitri, I am doing wonderful as always" I say quietly with a small smile, "but I am with friends right now so can I call you later?"
"I really wanted to speak to you, but I suppose that works." He chuckles.
"Okay thank you, bye" I quickly hang up the phone and place it down on the table. I glance up and jump in surprise when I am met with the fuming librarian standing beside my table with a glare.
"You need to get out of the library right now. You have been creating too many issues and interrupting everyone who is actually working." The woman sneers while slamming my book shut that was open on the table.
"I haven't done anything to interrupt anyone besides my phone ringing for a few seconds." I say defensively, shocked by her sudden outburst.
"Well everyone here is actually trying to do something with their life, while you screw around with your trashy friends. So get out of my library."
"I haven't even been loud" I bite out while opening my book again.
The woman grabs my book again and is about to shut it, before a sudden presence behind me silences her.
I feel two hands brace themselves against the back of my chair and I am met with the familiar smell. I watch as the librarian's expression contort to intimidation.
"Don't touch her fucking book again." The deep voice says threateningly. "She hasn't done anything to you or your fucking library that you believe you own," Eros snarls, "maybe focus on the teenage boys smoking weed in the back corner before you attack her just because your life is so pathetic it revolves around persecuting people in a public library."
The woman nervously turns around and glances towards a corner where a bunch of boys are hunched together while snickering.
"I- um well, she has been loud and disrespectful the entire time she has been here." The woman says turning back around and pushing up her glasses.
What the fuck did I do to her?
"Then give me one thing that she has said loud enough that you heard" Eros says menacingly.
A chill softly runs through my body when I feel Eros's warm thumb lightly brush against my upper back in a swift, comforting motion.
"Well I- I can't remember now but she-" She is cut off while nervously glancing around the room, "was she bothering you?" Eros says angrily.
"I mean not me specifically-"
"I asked was she fucking bothering you?" Eros asks again slowly.
"No, but her phone went off and-"
"So you are kicking her out of the library for a mistake, that sounds pretty fucked up."
"I- I apologize" She mumbled before swiftly turning around and walking away.
I try to hide my smile as I turn around and look up at Eros who is still glaring at the defeated librarian that is shuffling away.
"That was intense." I grin.
"She was a fucking bitch" He grumbles.
"Well thank you for using your skills of being an ass on someone other then me." For the first time ever.
"Certo che è stato il fottuto Dimitri a terti mere nei guai" Eros says while tightening his jaw and looking down straight at me.
I hear a soft chuckle from across the table and look over to see Atlas looking amused at whatever Eros said.
Eros rolls his eyes annoyed, while brushing his thumb across my back one last time.
He pushes off of my chair before turning around and walking back to where he was standing against the wall.
I immediately miss the warmth of him behind me, and the feeling of his skin on mine.
I smile softly at him before turning back around only to see Hazel looking like she is about to burst.
"Can I be a bridesmaid at your wedding!" She giggles excitedly.
"No, what the fuck?" I narrow my eyes at her.
"I hate to agree with hazel but..." Briar says with a knowing smile.
"I hate him." I say while rolling my eyes and crossing my arms.
"Bullshit" Hazel fake coughs with a large smile, "I could cut the tension with a knife, and I think the mirrors are fogging up from all the condensation in y'all's pants."
I'm going to kill myself.
"Hazel" Briar says while covering her embarrassed face.
"That's it I'm leaving" I say as I feel my face heat up drastically.
"Atlas, briar lovely seeing you. Hazel I am never speaking to you again" I try to hide my smile while grabbing my books.
"Bye gorgeous!" I hear Hazel yell from behind me. I throw up my middle finger behind my back and I immediately hear her and Briar break into hysterical laughter.
**********************
"Much Ado about nothing" I say proudly while holding up the book sitting on my bed.
I sit down crossed leg on my bed and grab the box of cheese pizza that I made Eros pick up on the way back to the manor.
I fucking love pizza.
"Let me guess a romance." Eros says while sitting down on my bed unamused.
"Did the Italian man with unmedicated anger issues just make a joke?" I grin while taking a bite and instantly groaning at magical taste.
"Sei un idiota" He says while leaning back against the wall my bed is pressed up against.
"I hate when you speak that stupid language and I can't understand anything you are saying. Just say what you want to say in English you pussy."
"Se dico tutto in fottuto inglese saprai quanto ti odio e quanto odio che non posso fare a meno di essere completamente infatuato di te Arabella Karve".
Fucking asshole.
I grab a pillow and angrily throw it at his head. Eros flawlessly raises up one of his muscular arms and catches the pillow without even blinking.
"Do you have human emotions?" I say sarcastically.
"No."
"I figured."
Eros just hums in response and I softly close my eyes while leaning back against my headboard.
We sit for a while in peaceful silence, "What's your favorite animal?"
"A raven" Eros answers back dryly as he slowly flips through my annotated pages of Romeo and Juliet. So basically my deepest thoughts poured out next to Shakespeares.
Where the fuck did he get that?
"Give me my book Eros" I say while glaring at him and opening my hand in his direction.
"No" Eros mumbles. He keeps his eyes on the book while
I roll my eyes while leaning towards him to try and grab my book from his large hands.
Eros switches the book to one hand and stretches it away from me. A small smirk spreads across his face and I feel my heart skip a beat at the gorgeous sight.
How in gods name can one man be so breathtaking?
"You've let me read it before" He says arrogantly while taunting me by holding the book farther away.
"Well your not right now."
I lean over him and stretch my arm out to try and get my tattered book back.
I lean forward again and finally strain enough to reach the book. I smile proudly as I grasp it in my hands until I turn my head slowly towards Eros and suddenly realize how close together our faces are.
I instantly freeze and don't pull my hand away from the raised up book, and neither does Eros.
He stares at me with alluring eyes as his warm breath gently fans my face.
I feel his other hand softly brush against my bare waist where my shirt slightly rose up. Tingles spark across my body from his gentle touch and I slightly shiver at the warm touch.
My breath hitches as I watch his eyes glance down to my lips and then back up to my eyes.
"Give me the book Eros" I whisper breathlessly, but don't make any move to take the book.
"You know I'm not going to" He whispers back, his minty breath warming my face.
I feel a weird pull to him clouding my mind as his fingers brush against my waist again.
A sudden ring from my phone shatters the tension and I immediately grab the book and pull away from him.
What the fuck just happened?
I sit down on my heels while glancing over at my phone sitting next to me, only to see Dimitri's name upon the screen.
I glance up at Eros and study him as he slightly grinds his strong jaw in frustration... but not at me. He runs his veiny hand with the snake tattoo crawling up it through his dark hair while he glances down at my ringing phone.
His eyes immediately cloud with a weird look as he sees Dimitris name. He looks back up and his cold eyes meet mine, "you should probably answer that."
I take a deep breath before grabbing the phone and answering it.
I watch in disappointment as Eros stands up to his full height and walks toward the door with a dark demeanor.
Eros smoothly pulls open the door but doesn't walk out right away.
Dimitris talking from the other side of the phone just sounds like a muffled mess, as I can't help but only focus on the menacing man standing in my bedroom.
"Goodnight Bella" Is the last thing Eros says without turning around. And then he powerfully walks out of the room, leaving me with a feeling of disappointment.
Goodnight Eros.
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