*E*
Torture.
That's the only possible word for what this was. Literally watching as my Pip accepted going out with Luca and knowing I couldn't say a damn thing about it.
I was going to scream.
I managed a shaky deep breath and looked at Pip as she smiled hugely at fucking Luca. She thanked him and dug straight into the pizza, all her attention now on it. I grabbed a slice too, but suddenly Alfonzo's didn't sound so good anymore.
After a few minutes of silent eating, I couldn't take it anymore. "Right," I said aloud, bringing Cora's beaming face around to look at me, the stupid smile she gave Luca was still on her face even though she was completely involved with the pizza. For a second, I let myself believe that smile was aimed at me from the start and I felt better momentarily. "I think I'm gonna get going."
Immediately, her smile dropped and her eyes became intently focused on me.
Ahhh, so that's what it takes to get her attention away from pizza. Good to know.
"What? Why?" she asked urgently.
I just shrugged. I couldn't tell her the truth because the truth was knowing she was going out on a date with Luca made me furious at the world. I liked Luca before he made eyes at my Pip and now everything he did pretty much pissed me off. I was mad at Daniel for joining those damn gangs and for making me see sense about the situation with Cora and for making me promise to stay away from her. Mostly, I was mad at Cora.
Why?
Because the damn girl had to go and make me start falling for her without even trying and then have to be the reason I have to keep her at arms distance.
I met her green eyes. I couldn't lie to her either. I just couldn't. "Not feeling Alfonzo's anymore. I think I'm gonna go home and train."
That's not at all what I wanted to do, but it was probably better and less illegal then putting a sizable dent in Luca's face.
Pip's reaction was not what I was expecting. Her eyes lit up and she sat up, leaning towards me. "Can I come with?" Her voice was excited, and I knew I wasn't going to say no.
I raised an eyebrow at her. "Do you want to?"
"DUH." She looked at me like I was stupid, and I chuckled.
"Alright." I shrugged and stood up. "I don't know why you'd want to, but by all means, come along. Let me pay first and we can get out of here." I turned to walk up to the counter and her voice stopped me dead before I made it two steps.
"No."
I spun around. "No what?"
She gave me a grumpy pouty look. "No, you're not paying."
I just laughed. This again? "Guess again, Cora. Yes I am."
She moved faster than I thought she could, and she snatched the check from my hand and... burst out giggling. "How did you not see that coming?" she teased as she dashed off to the counter to pay.
I rolled my eyes at her, amusingly frustrated with her.
The second we were outside and not in front of the door, I grabbed her wrist and spun her into me until her back bumped into my chest and I wrapped my other arm around her waist, pinning her to me. I lowered my head to her ear and brushed the hair behind her ear. I didn't miss the little shiver she gave when I whispered lowly, "You should know that I'm planning revenge for that little stunt you pulled back there, Pip."
I heard her suck in a breath at the name and without thinking, I pulled her hair over her shoulder and bent my head down to hers again, placing a kiss on the soft skin behind her ear. I knew I shouldn't have, but I blame the nearness of her to me, it completely destroys any self-control I have. I heard a low hiss of breath leave her lips as my lips found her neck again.
I should stop. I should stop. I should... I can't stop. Who the hell am I kidding?
I spun her around and pushed her up against the wall beside us, caging her between my arms that rested on either side of her head. I really hadn't been kidding when I said that she was addicting. She really was. I took a step closer and pressed my hips to hers. Surely, she wants this as much as me. Otherwise, she be pushing me away or screaming for help by now, instead her breathing's just getting more rapid and the more I touch her, the more she moves into me.
"Theo," I heard her sigh and I buried my head in her neck. If she kept talking like that, I was never going to stop. I'd told her once that I wasn't fond of that name, but coming from her sensual, pink lips, I loved it. She was the first only person in the world I wanted to call me Theo. "Theo... your promise..."
Shit.
I pulled away, standing barely a step from Cora. I was breathing heavy and I had to look like a lunatic. "I know. Dammit, I know. I just... I can't help myself, Cora. Especially after I had to just watch you set up a date with a guy that's been trying to win you over while I do the same. I don't like losing normally and I definitely don't like losing if it means losing you."
She sucked in a breath and I knew my words affected her. "I know I promised to stay away from you and I'll really try to, but that means I can't touch you anymore. See, if I touch you, I lose all self-control and I can't stop touching you after that."
She nodded. "Ok. As long as you don't completely avoid me, I can live with that until you and Daniel get whatever the hell this is sorted out."
I cocked my head. "What do you mean?"
"Well, I know this has to be something you and Daniel talked about because he's the one that made you promise to stay away from me and you said that you'd only stay away from me until it was ok. And, because I know the both of you, I trust that you'll figure out whatever the heck this is and everything will be ok and we can go back to how it was. You know, before my stupid brother got involved and messed up my life again." Pip shrugged like it was all sorted out.
I just sort of stared at her. I was going to have to remember how much thought this girl puts into everything if I wanted to keep her safe from mine and Daniel's world.
I smiled at her. "Your faith in me is astounding, Pip."
She laughed. "That may be, but I think you'll find I'm right."
I just rolled my eyes at her. "Alright, let's go, goofball." I moved to grab her hand out of habit and stopped. This was going to be a lot harder than I thought. Instead, I just looked at her while she looked at me while we were both just awkwardly waiting for each other to start walking.
Eventually, she started for my car and I followed quickly, catching up to her.
I opened her door for her, and I didn't realize when I got in how difficult it was going to be to not stare at her gorgeous legs the whole ride to my house.
Ten excruciating minutes later, I pulled into the drive and immediately got out. One more second in a confined car with her and, touching or not, I wouldn't have much more self-control.
She got out too and looked at me curiously, but she didn't say anything and followed me into the house.
"So where do you guys train?" she asked as we walked into the kitchen.
I stopped at the fridge and pulled out a couple water bottles. She leaned against the counter and accepted the bottle I offered as I answered. "The basement. We've put all of our equipment down there." I took a sip of water. "Alright, I'm going to go change because I'm not training in this." I pointed at my shorts and button down.
I saw her grin and nod again and she climbed up and perched herself on the bar stools at our counter as I started up the stairs to my room.
A minute or two later, I made it back down to the kitchen, but Pip was gone. I rolled my eyes. "Pip!" I yelled.
Nothing.
"Pip?" I tried again. When I was met with silence again, I tried not to panic. Where could she have gone in two minutes? "Pip, where you at?" Still nothing.
I ran into the living room, nothing. Bathroom, nothing.
Heading back into the kitchen, I grabbed my phone off the counter to call her. Maybe if I could hear her phone ringing...?
"AHHHHH!"
"Shit! What the fuck?" I jumped and nearly dropped my phone as Cora came racing out from behind the open kitchen door and jumped on my back in an impromptu piggy-back ride.
She busted into laughter and choked out between laughs, "Your face! Oh, my God. No regrets even though you look like you're gonna kill me!"
I was stuck somewhere between wanting to laugh with her, kiss the hell out of her, and smack her (not that I ever would, but still). I settled on grinning and rolling my eyes. "Get offa me, Pip."
She tightened her legs around my waist and cackled, trying to be menacing and falling way short of the mark. "NEVER!"
Now I did laugh, but still rolled my eyes again. "Fine, I'll just carry you. You only weigh like 10 pounds anyway." I wrapped my arms under her legs and started for the basement. "What's with the sudden energy anyway?"
I felt her shift against my back, and I pretended I couldn't feel everything I could as she pressed herself into my back. The grin on her lips was clear as she spoke lowly in my ear, "Well, you training means you'll be more Sebastian than Theo and you know how I feel about Sebastian."
My arms stiffened around her legs and I started walking stiffly down the stairs. Yes, I knew. I remembered kissing her after my fight all those weeks ago.
"I like Sebastian." She'd said as she'd touched my bruised face. "This is sexy." I don't remember being sexy, but I remember her swollen lips and flushed cheeks oh so well.
Oh, she was out to kill me.
I flicked on the light in the basement and deposited Pip on a bench. I turned to face her. "You're out to destroy me, aren't you? You're saying stuff like that because you know I'm trying to stay away from you."
She bit her lip thoughtfully (and purposefully, I'm sure). "Oooor maybe, I just don't want you to stay away from me." Her head was tilted towards the floor, but now she flicked only her eyes up at me and I swear to God, she knew just how to affect me.
I groaned. "No, Cora. Only when it's ok, you know that. Besides, you have a date anyway."
A look of boredom flashed across her features, so quick I might have imagined it, but then she was biting her lip again, so seductively, and she ran her tongue over her bottom lip. I was tracking her every movement now, hyper-aware of her whole being. "That is true..." she said, running her bottom lip through her teeth again. "Luca really is something..."
I knew she was serious about that, but I also knew she wasn't serious about what she was implying. Bad as it was, her talking like this just made me want to kiss her even more. I knew I affected her in a way he never could, and I wanted to show her that. Still though, I'd heard enough, joking or not. I turned and walked over to my gloves laying near the punching bag and I heard her soft laughter behind me.
Knowing what would happen, I pulled my t-shirt over my head and, sure enough, I heard her laughter turn into a small gasp. I smiled at the punching bag. Luca could never.
I threw a few easy punches at the bag, trying to get warm. I hated to start with the bag, but I wasn't about to make Pip sit around watching me run on a treadmill.
A few minutes later, I was already sweaty and was really starting to get into it. I'd almost, almost, forgotten Pip was there.
At the thought of her, my next punch was messy and almost missed the entire bag completely. She really did distract me.
I paused for a moment, staring at the bag, chest slightly heaving, and willing myself to focus on the bag and not her.
That was never going to happen though, and I rolled my eyes, about to start back in, when a small hand touched my spine on my lower back. I stiffened immediately from her touch, more like I'd been touched by an ice cube than a hand because hers were that cold against my sweaty skin.
I didn't move for a second, because my dying heart rate had spiked again from her touch and my quieting breaths were starting to come in ragged pants again.
For Christ's sake, she was barely touching me!
After a pause, I turned around to face her, trying (and failing) to not look (read: stare) at her lips. I watched them as they traced the words, "I wanna learn."
I blinked. Huh? "Learn what?"
She waved a hand at the punching bag but was still looking at me. "That. I wanna learn how to fight like you and Jay do."
I felt my lips pull up into a smile. I couldn't decide if my kitten-impersonating-a-lion wanting to fight was funnier than how sexy it would be to see her beautiful body throwing itself into a fight. "Now why would you to do that?"
She shrugged but matched my smile. "Well, I think it's sexy, so who knows maybe Luca would find it sexy too..."
I scowled.
"Aww," Pip cooed and reached up to pinch my cheek like a toddler. "Don't pout E. Maybe you think it's sexy."
I resisted nodding furiously. I already felt like a toddler from the pinch, I didn't need to make it worse by looking like a toddler that was just offered a free lifetime supply of candy.
"Besides," she continued, her voice now serious, "if something happens with Daniel or you or the gangs... I want to at least have the option to try and protect myself."
Now I did nod. That's actually a good idea. "Yeah. Yeah alright. I don't have any gloves for you though..." I held my hands up for her to see. From experience, I knew that she wouldn't want to start this barehanded. That would just lead to a lot of bruised and hurting knuckles.
Even as I stood there though, I remembered something from many weeks ago. "Actually, no. Hang on." I held up a "wait a minute" finger.
She nodded and I walked over to the cabinet where Jay and I usually stored our extra equipment. I rooted around in the bottom of before I found what I was looking for.
I grinned and spun back to Pip, tossing her the gloves. "Here." I basked in the irony that she's ending up using the girl's gloves I'd mistakenly bought the day I met her.
She examined the gloves in her hands and then quirked an eyebrow at me. "Whose are these?"
I gave her a blank look. "Yours."
Her eyebrow quirked more. "Alright. Whose did they belong to before me?"
Ohhhh. I rolled my eyes. "No one, Pip. You're the original owner. I got them by accident the day I met you. I was... ahh... distracted... that day. I needed new gloves and I was at the mall so after meeting and watching you in the food court," I cringed at the creepiness of that statement, but continued anyway, "I went to Dick's and got a couple pairs. I didn't realize I'd gotten those until I got home, and Jay mentioned it. We tossed them in the cabinet, and I'd forgotten about them until just now."
Pip giggled and I narrowed my eyes at her. "You're cute when you're flustered, Theo. You talk like Jay."
I rolled my eyes, but chuckled. "C'mon then, tough girl. If youreally want to fight, let's get started."