SEVENTEEN
M y mother always taught me to trust my intuition and that's something I carried with me into adulthood. Then a curly haired woman came along and I threw my intuition out of the window.
Now I sat in the movie theatre, watching trailers as we waited for Bad Boys: Ride or Die to start playing. I've never been a fan of the cinema, and what made it worse was that the woman I was currently on a date with was swooning over somebody named Armando.
I looked over at Gabriella, watching as she munched on butter flavoured popcorn. "We're never coming to the movie theatre ever again," I muttered.
She laughed, those deep dimples mocking me. "Why not? Are you jealous of Armando? He's a fictional character."
"Bullshit. You like the actor, too. I don't know who you think you're fooling, but I know better." Why was I upset over a man she'd never meet?
"I won't confirm or deny that."
"Your answer is all of the confirmation I require." I looked over at Gabriella's iced coffee, wondering how she even managed to finish all of that.
"How much iced coffee do you drink?"
"That's something I'd prefer not to answer." She laughed, holding her box of popcorn in front of me. "Have some."
"I've never tried that flavour before and I don't plan on starting now." She looked at me as if I grew two heads. "What?" I asked.
"Nicolas," the woman whispered. "You're joking, right? Please, for the love of God tell me you're joking."
"I'm not joking." I chuckled, brushing a curly strand of hair out of her eye. The gesture gave me somewhat of an epiphany and I wondered how I even got myself in this predicament.
I've never been this affectionate towards anyone in my entire life, and I promised myself I never would, but I was slipping. Slipping at a drastic pace. I couldn't grab a hold of anything and nobody could save me from falling.
Nobody except her .
"The fact that you don't even have popcorn right now is a crime. You literally chose potato chips over this delicious, salty, crunchy treat." She side eyed me. "I know a walking red flag when I see one."
"As you have mentioned before. All these conspiracies along with just because I don't eat this nonsense?" I grimaced, looking at the popcorn in her hand.
She gasped dramatically, placing a hand on her chest. "Don't you dare say that again, you monster."
"I've threatened to kill men for you and this is the dealbreaker?" She has to be joking.
Gabriella chuckled, shaking her head from side to side. "I purposefully overlooked those comments and prayed that you were just saying that to impress me."
"I don't need to lie to impress you, though." The movie started and Gabriella quickly grabbed a hold of my face, forcing me to look at the screen.
"Be quiet now, we'll continue this chat later." She was so oblivious to the affect she had on me. She innocently touched my face and my body was on fire.
I placed my hand on her thigh. The cinema was dark, but I could see her eyes lingering on the spot that my hand was resting. Goosebumps formed underneath my palm, a clear indication of what my touch did to her.
"You good, sweetheart?" I whispered in her ear the moment the theatre was silent. She nodded, looking at me with those siren eyes.
"Never been better." The sound blared through the speakers again, startling her. I laughed, slowly sliding my hand upward. "What are you doing?" She leaned in to talk directly into my ear.
"Am I not allowed to touch you?"
"I never said that, but I believe I asked you what you're doing," she said sassily. We were seated in the left corner of the last row, and if I really wanted to, I'd have her mouth stuffed while I finger fucked that attitude out of her.
"I'm beginning to question your common sense, because what I'm doing is extremely obvious." If she wanted to rile me up, then I'd do the exact same to her.
"Keep talking and I'll shove this popcorn down your throat," she threatened.
"There's no need for the extremities. All that aggression will just turn me on." She placed her palm on my cheek and shoved my head sideways, making me laugh.
"I'm still trying to figure out the reason they needed four movies. Wasn't the first one good enough?" Gabriella sighed at my comment.
"You're so uncultured," she scoffed. "Obviously, each movie has a different plot and it happens to be entertaining. I enjoyed it."
"Clearly, we have different ideas of what’s classified as entertainment." I leaned against the wall, waiting for her to toss the empty containers into the trash can. My eyes drifted to a man approaching her, seemingly familiar with Gabriella.
"That's—" Just as I suspected, the son of a bitch tapped her on the shoulder. She frowned, turning around to see who it was, and that's when I pushed myself off the wall to stalk towards them.
"Hey, you," he greeted her, and she reciprocated the gesture. He gave her a half hug, but I kept my facial expression neutral, taking slow steps closer. I watched everything happening intently.
This wasn't like me at all. I've never been the kind of man who'd ever experienced jealousy. Hell, if a woman I was with got too much attention, I wouldn't bat an eye because it didn't faze me.
However, when it came to Gabriella, things were drastically different. I didn't want any other man near her, let alone touching her.
The sight pissed me off to no end and I narrowed my eyes. She must've felt my presence as I stalked closer and closer. Her body stiffened and she bid her goodbyes before quickly turning to look at me.
"Why do you look so pissy?" she asked playfully, but I wasn't having it.
"Let's go." I cocked my head in the direction of the exit, waiting for her to follow suit. She didn't move an inch and stared at me defiantly. "Gabriella."
"Say please." She crossed her arms over her chest, like a petulant child.
"Two options. Walk or I'll carry you out of here." She raised an eyebrow and that's when I stepped closer. Moving swiftly.
"Okay fine, fine," she said almost too quickly, holding her hands up. "I'll walk."
Nicolas practically dragged me out of the movie theatre and it felt like I had to sprint to keep up with him. His long legs gave him the advantage, which in turn made him walk faster than I ever could.
"Would you slow down?" His grip around my hand tightened and he looked back at me, glaring in my direction.
"Oh, I'm sorry, would you like me to toss you over my shoulder instead? Because I'll do that," he mocked.
"I don't understand why you're so upset, he's a friend. I've been friends with him for years, Nicolas."
"I'm this close to losing my fucking mind, Gabriella, so please keep talking." His voice was hoarse and he turned to look in front of him.
Maybe I did want him to lose his mind. His sternness and dominance sent shivers down my spine and I wanted to see how much I could taunt him.
"Am I not allowed to have friends?" I tried tugging my hand free, but his grip was firm and unrelenting. "That's concerning. I don't think you and I should continue…whatever this is if you're going to act like this."
He stopped abruptly, making me knock into the back of his arm. Nicolas turned his head in my direction, ever so slowly, and stared into my damn soul with his piercing gaze.
"What did you just say?" His voice was low and menacing. I blinked rapidly, looking up at him. My heart pounded against my chest and I shook my head.
"Nothing, I didn't say anything."
He chuckled humourlessly, tugging me closer. "Keep pushing me and I might just fucking snap." His calm tone of voice was quite the contrast to his threatening words.
I shivered, gulping softly. "You'll snap and then what?" I asked breathlessly.
"Continue this behaviour and you'll find out," he warned. "Let's go." He tugged me along with him and I released a heavy breath.
When we reached his car, I was in the midst of opening my door and I could feel Nicolas' eyes on me. Glaring at me. I slid into the passenger's seat, a deep frown plastered on my face.
Normally, he'd open the door for me, but at this moment, he was clearly too pissed off to be chivalrous. I crossed my arms, waiting for him to get into the driver's seat. "What?" I turned to look at him when I noticed him narrowing his eyes at me.
"Seatbelt," he demanded, placing one hand on the steering wheel and the other on the gear. When I didn't move and only glanced at him, he slowly turned his head in my direction. "Gabriella."
There was a tinge of sternness in his tone, the gruff sound making every inch of my body tingle. I shifted uncomfortably, but still didn't follow his instruction.
"I don't see the need for a seatbelt, the drive is literally fifteen minutes long. I'll be fine." He narrowed his eyes at me and I gulped softly.
"I don't like repeating myself," Nicolas warned .
"And I don't like being told what to do." His movements were swift and precise. He reached over and grabbed a hold of the seatbelt, keeping his hand on it while he inched closer to me.
Due to the sudden movement, I gasped and stared at him with slightly parted lips. He was so close, I could almost hear his heart beating and feel his body heat radiate onto me.
His eyebrows were furrowed, his gaze flickering between my lips and eyes. He pulled the seatbelt, ever so slowly, his hand brushing against my breasts before he clicked it into place.
"I'll deal with you later," he said calmly. My breathing became erratic, my heart hammered against my rib cage, and the sound of his threat sent waves of heat directly to my core.
"Why?" I asked sassily, his face still inches away from mine at this point. "I didn't do anything."
"You know exactly why." He tugged on the seatbelt, the strap pushing my breasts apart which made me gasp again. "You've got quite the mouth on you, not to mention the fact that you're constantly going against everything I say."
"Oh, I'm sorry, do you prefer your women timid and docile?" I placed my hand on his, trying to push it away from the belt, but it was futile.
"Seriously?"
"You're not answering my question," I sassed.
"Probably because it's a stupid fucking question, Gabriella." The thing that upset me the most was how calm he sounded during this conversation.
"Is it, though?" The proximity between us had me going feral and I wanted nothing more than to kiss him, but he was too occupied with pissing me off.
"I'm not doing this with you right now." I rolled my eyes at him, watching him retreat and sit comfortably in his seat .
"Roll your eyes at me again."
"What?" There wasn't an opportunity for me to react, because next thing I knew, Nicolas wrapped his hand around my throat and pulled me towards him.
I yelped, placing both palms on his thighs. He squeezed my neck, the firm grip not powerful enough to cut off my air supply, but it definitely had me gasping for completely different reasons.
"Roll your eyes at me again and I swear to God, I'll have you struggling to breathe while you're choking on my cock." My lips parted slightly and I looked at him with droopy eyes, his threat making my clit throb. "You drive me fucking crazy."
His admission stirred something inside me, twisting my heart strings and then ripping them to shreds. "The feeling is mutual," I whispered.
" Mikrí petaloúda ." That nickname was going to make me fall in love with him. "You're teasing me and if you keep doing that, I'll lose control."
"What if that's what I want?"
He pulled me closer, brushing his lips against mine. I was desperate for more, craving more, needing so much fucking more. "You said we should take things slow," he reminded me.
"I changed my mind."
"You say that now, but I don't want you to feel regretful in the morning." It didn't make sense to me. His filthy nature made it seem like the only thing he cared about was sex, but the words he just uttered made it clear that it wasn't the case.
"When it comes to you, regret is the last thing I'd feel." I tried to kiss him, but he pulled away slightly. "Please, I need you so bad."
"Looks like someone's needy."
I whimpered softly, clenching my thighs together to alleviate the ache. "Nicolas," I said softly. "I need you inside of me right now ."
" Christ , look at my pretty girl pathetically begging to be fucked in the backseat of my car," he mocked, holding the back of neck and pulling my head backward. "Part those lips for me."
I eagerly followed his instructions, opening my mouth, not knowing what to expect next. Nicolas gathered spit on the tip of his tongue and let it trickle into my mouth.
My eyes involuntarily closed and I groaned softly, hearing him laugh at my reaction. "You filthy, little—" He paused, moving closer to whisper in my ear. " Slut ."
I gasped, opening my eyes to look at him. I couldn't speak, I couldn't think straight. At this point, I didn't even know left from right. "Nicolas."
"You're just as depraved and twisted as me. I fucking love it." He smiled, creating some much needed space between us. "As much as I'd love to continue this, I'm not about to fuck you in my car. You're coming home with me, then I'll show you how much I've been craving you."