invasato [h.s]

12

It was your cheshire cat smile that coaxed me into security, Dreamboat. I delved too deep...and like you said,

Curiosity killed the cat.

Italy has a certain scent to it. It's hard to put into words...but as soon as I arrived back from Denver, that scent overtook me. It's like fresh and steady air filling your nostrils.

It's a different scent from Denver—far different. Denver, to me, smells stale and foggy. But maybe that's only because of my past there.

Stagnant. Hazy.

Isaac took me back to his apartment after the bank incident. He tried to convince me to stay just one more day, worried that I'd be too freaked out to leave on my own.

But I needed to leave that city immediately.

An hour before my flight landed, I called Zayn.

He did answer, but it was all choppy and broken up. He told me he wouldn't be at the villa when I got there but he'd pay for a cab.

The cab took me to the villa, parking at the end of the long driveway. I took all of my bags out of the trunk, dressed in sweats and a hoodie with my hair messily falling out of its bun.

I need a shower.

I walk in through the front entrance of the villa, the familiar smell of the interior hitting my nose. I shut my eyes and take it all in before heading to the kitchen to go upstairs.

However, a sharp gasp catches in my throat when I walk into the kitchen, immediate startle striking within me that didn't fade.

At the kitchen table, there was a man.

Not Zayn. Not anyone I'd seen before, I don't think.

My yelp of fear causes him to look up from a magazine he was reading. I pin my back against the wall with wide eyes, my bags drop from my hands.

All I could think was that there was an intruder and I'm alone.

The man is dressed in black. A black shirt with black slacks...his hair neatly gelled. Dark eyes.

"I-I'll call the police." I stammer through my fear.

He's sitting yet I can tell he's much bigger than me. There's no way I'll be able to fight him off.

His lips lift into a smirk and he sets the magazine down.

"No need, miss." his heavy Italian accent speaks.

Still pinned against the wall, I breathe heavily in anxiousness.

"W-who are you?"

"Zayn didn't tell you?" he arches his brow. "I'm the hedge keeper."

What?

My brows furrow and I tilt my head. "I'm sorry?"

"Zayn hired me to trim and care to the hedges at the front of the villa today." he adds.

He doesn't look like someone who trims hedges.

Relaxing off of the wall a bit, I keep my eyes on the man who was just giving me a short smile. "D-do you know where Zayn is?"

"Running errands." he quickly answers. "I just came in here to grab some water." he says as he begins to stand and head for the front door, walking past me.

I watch as he closes the front door behind him and disappears from my vision.

Still puzzled and my mind all over the place, I grab my phone from my pocket.