Paired with the Badboy

Chapter 16

On my way out, I had grabbed the notes Tony had sent me, to use as an excuse for visiting him. I took out the roses in my closet, which I had forgotten about and threw them into the bin outside. They were really nice, too bad they were already dying without the sunlight.

Thankfully the parking lot was empty except for the familiar dark and shiny BMW, making me happy inside for guessing his perfect location. Taking Rex into my arms, I made my way towards the warehouse taking extra care that he did not bark and alert him of our presence.

Nearing the warehouse, I could hear the sounds of someone training - I could tell by the heavy punches resonating from the big room making impact with what could only be a punching bag. I peeked inside and immediately saw Daniel bouncing around a punching bag before throwing hard punches at the poor thing.

Moving into the warehouse, I could only see his upper, shirtless body since he was on the far end of the room with the wrestling ring blocking most of my view. Moving quietly to the edge of the ring, thankful that Rex had not let out a single noise. Unfortunately the silence was short lived after I unknowingly bumped into a steel chair causing it to go clattering to the floor loudly.

The noise left a ringing in my ears. I had my eyes tightly closed as I waited for the noise to stop, hoping and praying to whoever was listening that Daniel would not notice me. But alas, he had stopped punching the bag.

Even I knew that such a miracle would never happen in this case.

"Just 'cause you can not see me does not mean that I can not see you." He said with a huff at the end. I slowly opened my eyes and I was relieved to see an amused smile on his face instead of the usual blank or angry look.

Moving away from my 'hiding' spot, I walked over to Daniel who was now sitting on a bench drinking some water. Sweat was rolling down his forehead as well as his exposed chest which he was quick to wipe away from a towel.

Setting Rex down and letting him wonder off, I walked over to the punching bag. "Careful there princess, you might hurt yourself." He chuckled to himself as he looked at me with amusement dancing in his eyes.

He must definitely be high to be this cheerful.

"Oh please, I can handle myself quite well, thank you very much." I attempted to throw a punch at the bag and boy did I regret that. It was hard and it hurt, Daniel broke out into a laugh. "Yeah sure, just like how you handle yourself against Ginna." He scoffed out loud.

"Ginna is a whole different story. Besides it is not like she scares me... she is just intimidating." I walked over to him and sat at the available space beside him. "It's the same thing you idiot..." he mumbled out making me gasp at the offense and he had the audacity to laugh at that too. "Fine then, how about we make a deal on it. More like a bet. You get to stand up to Ginna, Juliana and Liona and maybe then I will believe that you really can handle yourself. But of course you will have to do it in a limited time of a week." He spoke out with a smirk.

"What about you? I do not think it is even a fair deal." I questioned "Okay, how about, from tomorrow onwards I am your personal bodyguard." He said it as though he had accomplished something big yet his tone carried something I could not quite put my finger on. I got distracted by him petting Rex who had been playing at his feet for a while now. And weirdly enough, Rex was comfortable with it.

Daniel was a dog person? Shocker.

"A-and...? Surely that can't be it. Seeing as I am going to be doing something that requires some traits which I certainly to not possess like bravery, I'm pretty sure that you have to offer something that also gets you out of your comfort zone. So to make things fair, I want you to at least lighten up your behavior, you know a little less brooding and a lot more cheery and maybe playful." Everyone knew him as a brooding person so him being cheerful would be unlike him and something he has never done in public.

I was waiting for him to turn it down making me also back down from facing Ginna but he surprised me when he mumbled out an 'okay'. I quickly whipped my head towards him in shock ready to protest but I was surprised at the little distance between us. And it was not helping that he was already facing me. I stopped breathing altogether and watched him - watching me. Basically I held eye contact with him.

Rex barking at the lack of attention broke the moment and I quickly stood up, creating distance between us. "I think that I better get going now..." I trailed off as I shuffled over to Rex and attached his leash. Slipping my hand into my pocket, I took out the notes Tony had sent. "Here, these are the notes Tony sent." He took the notes and I drew back my hand when it made contact with his.

"Uhm, bye." He returned the farewell but called out to me as I was about to exit the warehouse. "Your dog is actually cute." Him saying that, reminded me of our little scene in the hallway the previous week making me blush hard and his knowing look did not help. I mumbled out a 'thank you' before rushing out.

Talk about intense and awkward put together.

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Had to dig out this chapter after the previous version got deleted somehow. Happy reading and I hope you enjoy.

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*Sandy