Ethan's POV (Bonus Book)

Chapter Ten - Ethan's POV

Immobilized in shock, I forgot how to breathe, and all I could do was stare at the demonic middle-aged man before me. 

My finger instinctively curled a little tighter around Mia's waist; her presence the only thing calming my racing heartbeat. His eyes fired up with anger, ruthlessly stared through me with a piercing gaze. 

There were no two ways about it - Mia's father wanted me dead. No, actually worse than that; he wanted me eliminated to the point where nobody even remembered who I was. 

A million different horrible scenarios ran through my head all in a matter of a second: 

What if he bans me from seeing Mia? What if he got her transferred to another school so she would never see me? What if he took her to a secret scientist that finds a way to delete all memory of me from her mind? What if-

Mia cleared her throat, causing my thoughts to run flat. "Dad, this is Ethan, my friend from school," she said smoothly.

 I turned my attention her way and found her staring up at her dad with feigned innocent; her big brown eyes widened beautifully.

 I swallowed thickly, getting a little distracted by the stare myself. If those eyes were aimed my way, she could probably convince me to do nearly anything.

Remembering, I was in grave danger and that it was not the correct time to be fawning over Mia, I turned my head sharply back to her dad.

My eyes expanded a little as I found him still staring at me with an even more murderous expression. Something told me he wasn't too happy at the way I had previously been staring at Mia.

"Ethan, would you like to explain to me why you are carrying my daughter?" he asked in an eerily calm tone.

It was only as he proposed the question did I remember Mia's dad's profession. In a few of our spats over the years, Mia occasionally liked to drop in the fact that her dad was an investigator in an effort to scare me. I didn't think much of the threats at the time. But now, standing in front of a man whose literal job was to vigilantly question and analyze criminals; I suddenly wasn't feeling too hot.

I swallowed in preparation to speak. "We....were....I..." I mumbled, tripping up over my words.

 My palms grew sweaty under his ever more pressing gaze. I knew it was paranoia, but it almost felt as though he knew about the massage I made her give me. As well as all the horny thoughts I had as a result of it...

Further increasing my nervousness, I felt Mia's gaze also digging into the side of my face. She no doubt thought I looked pathetic.

Saving me, she let out a heavy sigh. "I sprained my ankle falling off the sofa. It was so stupid," she explained to her dad with a chuckle.

His eyes narrowed in on me. "Did somebody push you?" her dad asked, without missing a beat.

"Who's at the door, Jeff?" A lady's voice called out from behind him, thick with what I believed to be a Spanish accent. 

Soon enough, a beautiful woman came into view over the shoulder of Mia's dad. She had thick shoulder-length black hair and skin that was coloured a tawny, yellowish-brown. I instantly recognized her as Mia's mother, having seen her a fair few times at pick-up time in middle school. But even if I hadn't, it was blatantly obvious they were mother and daughter as the general shape of their features and complexion were startlingly similar.

The natural smile that rested upon her face abruptly dropped as her eyes narrowed in on Mia, then me, and finally her husband.

"Jeff, stop tormenting the kids and let them in. Mia is clearly hurt," she huffed as she pushed her husband out of the way to make room for us.