Passionate Exchange

Chapter Fifteen

He continues walking to the car so casually as if he hadn't just said what he did. I stare at the side of his face, tilting my head slightly as I do. My eyes travel down the curve of his nose, over the freckle at the side of his lips, and across the slight stubble growing on his chin. I obviously know what he looks like, but do I actually know him?

His words repeat over and over again in my head. I don't let jerks like him get to me. I don't know what it is about him calling Archer a jerk, but something just isn't sitting right with me. He claimed he was a gentleman, but no gentleman would blatantly disrespect someone like that, right?

I try to push it to the back of my mind, but I can't. My feet stop on their own accord as I unhook my arm from his. He notices the loss of contact instantly and whirls around to face me. I bite my lip anxiously, deciding whether I'm making the right decision or not.

"What's wrong?" Concern is dancing in his eyes which makes my anxiety grow.

To hell with it. "This was a mistake." We haven't even made it to his car yet and I'm already backing out.

His eyes widen slightly but he recovers within seconds. "Wait," he scoffs, I find my eyes narrowing. "Is this because I called your brother a jerk?" He seems amused by the idea.

"My brother," I copy his scoff, "he isn't my brother," I say in disgust that he even thought he was. "But you're right. That's one of the reasons."

What was I thinking? I know nothing about him, yet he knows where I work and where I live. This man could be a gangster for all I know. That would explain the wealth that he appears to have at such a young age. A rich, classy gangster. Maybe he has a gun sitting in his waistband right now. Who knows what he's carrying around with him?

"I'm sorry, sometimes the truth is hard to hear." He shrugs nonchalantly before carrying on walking to his car. He seems to be expecting me to follow him. When he notices that I'm not, he turns around again.

"I'm not coming with you," I say, my features blank.

"Sure." He chuckles with a roll of his eyes. My jaw hangs open at the size of his ego. Does he think I'd ignore his terrible personality and go out with him just to be near him? His ego is even bigger than Archer's. I didn't think that was possible.

With that, I spin on my heels and storm back up the garden.

"Madison, you're joking, right?"

"No, Adrian," I turn around to look at him one more time. The smirk is now wiped off his face completely. "I don't joke," is the last thing I say before I shut the door.

Once I'm inside, I rest my forehead against it with a whine. My luck with guys is non-existent. No one was ever interested in me back in London. It looks like I'm going to be alone in Portland too. The curse has followed me thousands of miles away, there's no getting rid of it.

"What are you doing back already, was you so quick to scare him away?" Archer strolls past, not granting me a single look.

"Something like that." He sits on the sofa and I can't help but throw myself onto it too. Some romantic movie is playing on the TV. He looks disgusted by it and instantly turns it off.

"What happened?" He asks. I see what he's doing, he's trying to get me to tell him how I couldn't even go through with it so he can see how much of a failure my love life is.

I answer him anyway. "I didn't like something he said."

"And that is?" He waits for me to answer.

I grab one of the pillows off the sofa and pull it up to my chest. "He called you a jerk."

Now I'm saying it out loud my reasoning to cancel our date sounds stupid. My inner voice tells me that wasn't the only reason I backed out. I choose to ignore it to protect my pride.