Chapter Four
Emerson
O rion De Luca.
I hated him. Ori-ass would suit him better.
Looking at him would have your deepest, darkest fantasies swirling around in your mind, rustling along your skin, furrowing in your blood like a red-hot fever, but then he’d ruin it by opening his mouth.
Between his grunts, his taunting facial expressions, and cocky remarks, I wish Orion De Luca had stayed a ghost of the past. You’d think ten years would make him less of an ass, yet somehow it only seemed to have the opposite effect.
Seeing him again was like being transported into a really good dream, only to be woken up by someone throwing a bucket of ice over your head. Did I mention I hated him?
After waltzing in like he owned the place, insinuating I was a little girl who needed my brother to hold my hand, blatantly ignoring anything I said thereafter, demanding Atlas leave for work that night, speaking like his word was gospel, and offering me a basic grunt as an alternative to ‘goodbye’, he was at the top of my list should there ever be a Purge .
Now Atlas had left, and when I wasn’t stewing on how much I disliked his arrogant asshole of a best friend, I had actually managed to get all my applications completed and sent off over the last four days. My heart was set on White I just wanted my phone and keys. The figure turned a corner, heading down an alleyway far quicker than I could keep up with, but I didn’t let up, I fought through my wheezing lungs and sprinted after them, taking the same turn.
Wait what?
I came to a sudden halt, my thief now firmly pressed against the side of a building with his hands raised on either side of his head and his eyes wide with fear. Orion De Luca towered over him, with his palm wrapped around the thief’s throat, looking nothing less than the sleek, powerful figure he was in his all-black outfit – black coat, black pants, black shoes, black leather gloves.
I sucked in a sharp breath, the man was the epitome of power and danger, causing the silky tips of butterfly wings to brush against my heart.
He was furious. The air was vibrating with it, pulsing with it. One hand gripped the thief’s neck, his other flexing at his side as if he was contemplating strangling the guy spluttering beneath him.
My bag now laid on the ground with its contents spilled out, and I stood all but a meter away, my mouth hanging open in sheer disbelief.
“Hope you don’t mind me joining in on the fun, Tesoro,” he said in a tight, controlled voice. Orion’s presence crackled with deadly energy, the kind that had fear clawing up my spine. “I was just getting acquainted with your—” he tilted his head to the side slightly, studying the stranger unnervingly, “— friend , here.”
On closer inspection, after I reluctantly forced my eyes away from the man who tended to bring my darkest desires to the forefront of my mind, I saw metallic crimson trickling beneath the man’s hood. My eyes dropped to Orion’s flexing fist, and to my horror, I saw droplets of blood leaking against the leather. Christ .
“Orion, let him go,” I demanded, scooping up my bag and its contents.
He didn’t budge. “Not happening.” His voice sliced through the air like a whip. “But you should go home,” he added. “You won’t like what happens next.”
I didn’t need to see the look on his face to know his eyes were ablaze with a furious spark, the kind that had my mugger suddenly trembling beneath Orion’s hold, more than he was already. His lack of affection bled through everything he did and said, the sharp glare of his eyes, the danger edged in the precision of his words, the icy detachment in the words he said.
“I have my bag, that’s all that matters.”
“I’m sorry, man, please—” the mugger urged, out of breath and panicking.
“No,” Orion bit back, cutting him off. “What would have happened if she caught up with you, hmm?” His glare intensified, and this time, even I shuddered as goosebumps raised along the back of my neck.
“But—” I tried to interject, despite knowing if I had by some miracle caught the stranger, he would definitely not have just willingly given me back my bag.
It wasn’t that I felt sorry for the mugger per se , it was just that being present for two crimes wasn’t on my list of things to do today, and frankly, I wanted to keep it that way.
“No.” His jaw ticked, and I realized reasoning with him was now out of the question. Plan B, it is.
I tugged on his arm, trying—and failing—not to notice the sculptured contours of his muscles. I didn’t plan on ever seeing Orion shirtless, but I imagined the sight was magnificent.
I tugged again, attempting to pull him away and prevent a potential murder from happening in broad daylight. Being an accessory to a crime isn’t something I want to put on my job applications.
A third tug, but to no avail.
“Orion, for crying out loud, let’s go!” I snapped, this time slapping his arm with force. Was this man made of steel? No grunt, no flinch, nothing .
“Stop it, Emmy,” he whipped his head toward me. Our faces were inches apart, so close I could hear his breathing coming out in short, controlled breaths. My heart thumped at the proximity between us. Our eyes locked, his stony glare enough to leave me completely immobilized. “I said, go home. ”
I narrowed my eyes. “Yes, but I want to go home with you.”
He arched his brow, and I suddenly registered how that sounded. I did not just say that. Heat scorched my cheeks, and my pulse beat in double time. Great, he thought I wanted to take him home.
Nice going, Emmy.
His lips pressed together, and if he was anyone else, I would have thought he was trying to conceal a laugh. “I didn’t— I meant—” I blew out a flustered breath as the ghost of a smirk touched his lips. “I’ll go to my home when you go to your home.”
“ I’m not going home.”
My nostrils flared and I crossed my arms over my chest, firmly standing my ground. “Then neither am I.”
We stood in a challenging silence for a second. Two seconds. Three seconds.
His sunburst eyes darkened with each moment, flickering to my hoisted cleavage and setting my skin alight, before returning to meet my unwavering glare with his own. It felt like thousands of tiny blades were prickling at my skin with each heated second that passed, but I endured. Half because I intended to see this through, but also because I couldn’t will myself to look away.
“You’re too stubborn for your own good,” he finally ground out, before reluctantly releasing his grip on the thief with an irritated sigh. The stranger, not wasting any time, ran like the wind the moment Orion loosened his grip.
Probably a wise move.
His fingers grazed the small of my back when I turned towards the way I came, and I almost jumped out of my skin. The simple act did nothing to stop the butterflies stirring to life in my stomach, despite how unwelcome they were. “Come on, I’ll take you home.”