Chapter 30 #2
“Not anymore.” His eyes dance. “I’m taking you out on a date.”
I grin. “He said, brokering no objections.”
He chuckles as he lets go of the door frame and wraps an arm around my waist, pinning me against the bathroom vanity.
Which is exactly when my phone dings.
“Sorry!” I wince. “Let me shut this thing up.”
I turn to scoop my phone off the counter. But then I see the notifications waiting for me.
“Uuugh,” I groan.
Lochlan’s face darkens with concern. “What?”
My eyes roll. “Nothing. I just…” I groan. “I have this…fan.”
Lochlan listens with maybe a hint of amusement on his face when I tell him about "Mr.Villainess" and his…gifting. Specifically, the fact that according to the notification I just got, the guy has bought my entire wish list. Again.
“Wait.” His brows raise. “Mr.Villainess??” He chuckles. “That can’t actually be his username.”
“Wanna bet?” I grumble, turning my phone so he can see it.
“Wow,” Lochlan breathes, shaking his head. “I mean…shit… I don’t even know if I feel comfortable making fun of him.”
“He’s…mostly harmless. But he does push it sometimes.”
Lochlan’s brow immediately darkens. “Define push it,” he growls.
I scrunch up my nose. “I dunno. Like…sort of creepy messages? But I know at the end of the day they’re nothing I need to worry about?”
I swear I can feel the chill that emanates from Lochlan’s very essence.
“Whatever,” I shrug. “It’s not a big—”
My phone dings with a new DM notification. I feel a curdling sensation in my stomach when I see it’s from Mr.Villainess himself.
“His ears must have been burning,” I grumble, my face souring.
“That him?” Lochlan growls, a lethal edge to his tone.
“Yeah, but it’s seriously nothing—”
“May I see it?”
Oh boy. This is going to go so well.
“Sure.”
I turn my phone around so Lochlan can see it. Instantly, his face twists into a mask of fury.
Mr.Villainess
Good morning, my lovely angel. You may have noticed that someone just took care of your wish list… ;)
Mr.Villainess
I think you forgot to reply to my last message, but it’s okay. I know you’re busy, my beautiful bookworm.
Lochlan’s eyes are narrowed as his gaze slides from the phone back to my face. “This is harmless?”
I groan and make a face. Then I tell him about how I used to have a wishlist posted to my profile. Not because I needed or even wanted my fans to buy me things, but people love when their favorite content creators have them.
“I got rid of it because it made me feel weird, and it felt like it was feeding the parasocial attachment stuff? Some of my long-time fans still have the link, though, so I occasionally add stuff to it just because they’re always asking for it.” I shrug. “I donate everything they buy off of it.”
Lochlan frowns. “And this guy…”
I roll my eyes. “Also has the link and really likes buying things off of it.” I sigh. “Okay, he’s…a little extra.”
“You think?” Lochlan grunts. “Did he seriously buy your entire wish list?”
“Wouldn’t be the first time,” I sigh.
Another message dings on my phone. I quickly flip the phone back to read it and instantly cringe.
Mr.Villainess
I re-watched your video last night where you review that book about the commoner girl in an arranged marriage with the king, where she has to give him heirs. I think I watched it ten times. You’re going to make such a good mother to our children, my treasure.
Lochlan scowls as he turns the phone around to read it himself.
“Fuck no,” he growls, his brow furrowing. “Galina, that’s a fucking serial killer.”
I wince. “He’s…gotten worse, I’ll admit. He didn’t used to be this creepy—”
“Didn’t he?” Lochlan mutters, turning the phone back toward me. He's scrolled up to a DM from Mr.Villainess from a few months ago:
Mr.Villainess: It bothers me when other men comment on your videos. They're beneath you, my beautiful angel. They could never worship you like I will.
My shoulders deflate. “I know, I know. Like I said, he’s...extra.”
“He’s a psychopath who probably fucks his anime pillow while watching your videos,” Lochlan grunts.
“Eww!” I blanch, making a face. “Gross!”
“Does he ever make you uncomfortable?”
I raise my shoulders. “I mean…not usually? But…sometimes. I mean, that’s why I wear the mask and the wig, right?”
He frowns, his eyes sliding to me again. “Would I be a little extra if I expressed how much I really don’t like this fucking creep talking to you?”
A grin slowly tugs at my lips. “I don’t know,” I sigh dramatically. “It might seriously damage your cool-guy image.”
He smirks. “Cool guys can’t be protective of their girlfriends?”
My heart jumps.
“Did you just…?” I trail off.
“Call you my girlfriend?” He shrugs. “Yes, I did. Which is why I just asked you out on a date, a question which you’ve artfully dodged answering.”
“A date, hmm?” I grin, my face heating when he touches his forehead to mine.
“Yes,” he murmurs against my lips. “You, me, dinner out, like a real couple.”
My throat bobs as anxiety twists through my stomach.
God, this is going to suck.
I exhale slowly. “Would you mind if we went somewhere that isn't in Hawthorne Hollow?”
Ugh, he reads me instantly. I can see it right there in his eyes.
Lochlan clears his throat. “Worried about being seen with me, little villain?”
My lips twist. “N-no.” I shake my head. “Not at all.”
His brow arches. “By which you mean kind of, a little, yes?”
I groan, dropping my face into my hands.
“This is going to sound so fucking stupid.”
“I promise you, it’s not,” he murmurs gently.
Finally, I spit it out. “I don’t want people to think I’m just one of your girls.”
The bathroom goes silent.
I slowly raise my gaze to his, cringing a little both at myself and the dark look on his face.
“One of my girls,” he murmurs.
My mouth twists. “Look, it’s just…I mean…”
Why the fuck can’t I put this into words?
Just as I’m trying again, Lochlan reaches up and cups my face with his big hand. He lifts my worried eyes to his and nods.
“You’re worried about my past and my reputation affecting yours if we’re seen to be together-together.”
I wince. “Ugh, that sounds ten times worse,” I groan.
He just strokes my cheek with his thumb and locks his gaze with mine.
“You are not, nor could you ever be, ‘just’ anything, Galina,” he says softly. “I meant what I said before. There is no one else up here”…he taps his temple…“or in here”…his hand drops to his heart…“but you.”
“I know,” I whisper. “It’s just—”
“You don’t want people to see us together and start taking bets on how long it'll be before I move on to the next groupie.”
My jaw tightens, and that green-eyed monster flashes in my eyes.
“That is not going to happen, baby,” he hisses intensely. “There’s no 'moving on' from you, I promise you.”
Fuck.
How does he always know exactly what to say not only to make me feel better, but also to make me know unquestionably that he means it?
I mean, swoon.
He cups my face with both hands and looks me right in the eye. “It's okay. No one needs to know about us until you’re ready, baby.”
My nose scrunches up. “I know I sound like a cunt. And I feel like I’m totally slut-shaming you, even though it’s none of my business—”
“Galina.”
I stop babbling when he grins and slowly shakes his head, tracing a thumb over my cheek again.
“All I need is you,” he says quietly. “Not a parade with balloons and a marching band. Just you. We can go wherever you want for dinner. We can go have a picnic in the Arctic Circle or, fuck, I don’t know, Point Nemo in the middle of the Pacific.”
My lip slides between my teeth as he touches his forehead to mine.
“Everything else can come whenever you’re ready…or never, for all I care.”
Wait, I think I might need that heart you just scooped out of my chest and tucked into your pocket…