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Gif on the side of Zayn :)
Chapter 77_
The low watt lights above our heads flickered and buzzed as our footsteps echoed off the concrete surroundings.
The Malik Building was officially closed for the night and Zayn and I were walking down in the car lots beneath the skyscraper.
“I’ll talk to you tomorrow,” I told him as he pulled out the keys to his vehicle. My— or should I say his— car was still a few meters away.
“Do you need a ride?” he asks, setting his briefcase down. The lights flashed as a high pitched sound rang out indicating that the doors were now unlocked.
“Nope,” I shook my head. “I took one of your cars this morning… I’ll drop it by tomorrow and have Brendon pick me up or something. Is that ok?”
By this time I was halfway to my vehicle before Zayn beckoned me to come back. I sighed and walked over to him.
“What?” I asked, placing my hand on the newly washed sportscar. I purposely let my natural finger oils leave a print. I then made a happy face on the shiny surface before looking up to meet Zayn’s gaze.
“How come you never ask me to take you home?” he asked me.
I shrugged, “I don’t know… Because I don’t want to bother you or be a burden?”
I looked down awkwardly at my shoes. When I look back up again Zayn is noticeably closer and is in touching distance of me.
My chilled skin reacted once his warm fingertips touched my hands, sending a trail of goosebumps all throughout my body.
My lips longed to feel his warm ones but I kept on looking down, refusing to let my needs take over.
“You know I would take you home in a heartbeat, Mia,” he whispers, his voice slightly gravely.
I could sense him getting closer to my face but I still refused to look upwards.
“I can’t stand the thought of you with other men… I’m just relieved that Brendon isn’t straight,” he breathed.
I chuckled, “Do you say that to all the girls?” I asked him.
“No,” he shook his head. “And to be honest you’re the only one I ever care to be around anymore.”
This overwhelming feeling came over me. He sped up my heart with every single little thing he did, but at the same time my breathing couldn’t have been more steady. The friction between my breathing and my heartbeat made me physically hurt because I couldn’t give in to either one. And the fact that Zayn’s hands stayed put on my own drove me even more crazy. I wanted them to be everywhere at once. Both making me smile and making me feel safe and warm in his embrace. I wanted to be close enough to him so I couldn’t just smell his cologne, but I could place the difference between the smell of the cologne and his own natural body scent. I wanted to feel each curve of the muscles that sculpted his back, and the smooth skin that clothed him. I wanted to feel the tickle of his eyelashes that touched my neck or cheek whenever he felt the need to kiss a piece of my exposed skin.
I tilted my chin upwards and sure enough he was right there.
I grabbed his open jacket that hung on his body as I kissed him. Relief flooded over me as his hands finally left my own and traveled to a new destination that was just above my hip bones.
My hands as well found a new place to rest as I held his cheeks in my hands.
We pulled apart only to kiss again and again.
“Are you sure you need to go home?” he mumbled. “Because your welcome to come back with me.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at his open invitation which I declined. “Sorry.”
He groaned but kissed my forehead gently.
“I’ll see you tomorrow Miss Soderstrom. Have a good night. Drive safe and call me when you get home.”
I rolled my eyes at how much he was overdoing it but I didn’t speak up against it.
“Okay,” I nodded.
***
The next morning I found myself entering the gates that led to the Malik Mansion. I figured that maybe I could drop off the car in the morning and then he could give me a ride to work. That was easy enough, right?
As I turned to the little driveway that led to the garage, I was surprised to see another car parked in the roundabout that was near the front door (whereas the garage was off to the side of the house rather than going straight up the main gravel way to the front of the house).
I parked and got out, hurried up the steps and then entered the house.
Hushed voices could be heard mumbling things to each other.
I recognized them as I put the key back on it’s proper hook.
One of obviously Zayn’s and the other, oddly enough, was Harry’s.
I didn’t fully believe it until I actually saw him once I stepped into the living room.
They weren’t alone though, Niall was sitting in a plush chair not to far away, staring idly into the burning fire that heated the room on this chilly morning.
Niall must have heard my footsteps since he wasn’t completely engulfed into a conversation since he was the first one to notice that I had walked in.
“Lads,” he called out, shutting the both of them up. “Mia’s here,” he said before turning his gaze back towards the fire.
Both Zayn and Harry looked at me and I mentally sighed knowing that I now had to explain why the hell I was here.
“Sorry,” I apologized. “I rem… was just returning the car. What’s going on?” I asked, hoping to change the subject. Plus I was curious at why both Niall and Harry were here. They aren’t exactly invited guests.
“After you called me last night telling me what happened I wanted to come down and discuss it… See if we could think of anything we could do in the meantime or maybe figure out missing pieces.”
“And him?” I asked, referring to Niall.
“Can everyone please just stop asking why I’m here. Your actually hurting my feelings,” Niall asks, over acting as he places his hand over his “pained” heart, complete with a pouty face and all.
“Any news from Louis?” I spoke, ignoring the blonde fellow.
“No… His phone is off. We’ll probably hear from him by noon, though. I wouldn’t be worried about it,” Harry answered.
“Do you need a ride, love?” Zayn asked.
It took me a while to figure out what he was talking about because I’m really slow but then said yes one I realized he was asking about a ride to work.
“Okay,” he nodded, “We’ll leave in a little while. Coffee is in the kitchen if you need any.”
“What I don’t understand,” I heard Harry speak as I grabbed a mug once I was in the cooking area, “Is how they even got the information. Louis is good at what he does, I don’t understand how someone can bypass all of his security on top of your security.”
I walked out just in time to hear Niall laugh at the two of them. “Have neither of you been listening? Technology always has a loophole.”
The three of us looked at him expectantly, which he responded with a roll of his eyes.
“Why go through your security when you can get in the easy way. So obviously they got in through a search engine.”
“What do you mean? How is that even possible?” I questioned, sipping on my steaming cup.
“You know on your email or on random website there are ads? Ever notice how… Say you look for a new suitcase, right?” he asks us, beginning his explanation. “Well, more than likely when you go back to your email or website with ads, the ad is the website you were just on looking for suitcases, and if there’s a photo, it’s the exact same suitcase you clicked on multiple times.”
“So they track what we look at?”
“Kind of,” he said, standing up, “It’s more for sales reasons that creep reasons. The search engines pick up on what your looking at and think they can sell it to you, so they transfer it to an ad. They even read your emails. Once I was discussing going on a vacation to the Bahama’s and next thing i know all the ads surrounding my email was all things concerning the Bahama’s. You can’t exactly block them from reading your emails because it’s the own search engine that is gathering the information. The hackers could have easily gotten in through broken coding or something.”
“How would Louis miss something like that?” I said.
Harry shrugged, “Most likely because it’s such a common and not to mention absolutely legal thing, it probably didn’t even cross his mind. Understandable.”
Niall looked his watch and stated that it was time to go.
Harry said “okay” and got up as well.
They all exchanged quick goodbyes complete with the confirmation of meeting up if any further information was discovered.