Bound To Him | ✔️

7

~Katya's POV~

As I found out, the store that Zena wanted to go to was an antique shop called South Main Creative, which had me curiously looking around when we all stepped through the front door about twenty minutes later.

Most of the group wandered around with Zena, but I decided to split off from all of them, quietly wandering around with an iced coffee in my hand that I had asked Zena to stop by Starbucks so I could get before we got here. The antique store was much larger than I had expected it to be, as most of the ones that we had back home were far tinier than this one, and it was certainly far more stocked full. Luckily, it didn't look messy or anything. In fact, everything was placed in a precise manner, displaying everything neatly so nothing would get damaged or be missed.

I looked at a shelf with a bunch of cute glass antiques, things like little figurines, mirrors, cups. All of them had some sort of theme tying into nature—the bird figurine, the mirror with styled gold around the edges to look like vines, even the cups had engravings on them of flowers. They were all quite pretty, even though they were a bit too girly for my style.

After a few minutes of looking, I moved on throughout the store, taking sips from my coffee while I often stopped to look at different little interesting items. I was towards the back of the store, the still silence making it clear to me that I was the only one back here, far away from the group. As I was humming to myself, I spotted a large shelf with a bunch of Coca Cola themed antiques, many of which I liked. My interest piqued, I wandered over to the shelf and only realized when I got close that Onyx was there, standing on the opposite side of the large shelf.

Hesitating at the sight of him, I stopped a little ways away from the shelf, my ring finger absentmindedly rubbing through the condensation building up on the outside of my cup. I bit on my bottom lip, contemplating whether or not I wanted to be around him when nobody else was around, but then I figured it probably wouldn't matter either way. He didn't really talk in the first place, so I doubted that anything would happen.

Making my mind up, I wandered the rest of the way to the shelf, my eyes zeroing in on a little antique Coca Cola themed clock that could hang up on the wall. It was in the shape of a square, and in rather nice condition. There were signs, trays, a chalkboard, keychains, so many items that I was a little stunned by the collection. I mean, there was even a doorknob in the shape of one of those glass Coca Cola bottles. Truthfully, I'd never seen anything like it, in terms of collectibles for a franchise.

My presence didn't go unnoticed by Onyx, who glanced over at me and then looked away, thankfully not put off or annoyed by my being here. I sipped at my coffee, carefully picking up the clock that had caught my attention earlier, deciding that it couldn't hurt to get it. It was only seventeen dollars, anyways, and I liked it.

Onyx moved away, wandering over to the second shelf full of Coca Cola themed antiques to look at them, not saying anything still. I took the occasional, curious peek over at him, clutching the clock in my grip as he dug a hand into the front pocket of his pants and then began to unwrap a peppermint before he popped it into his mouth. Being as his back was towards me, I thought he wouldn't notice the glances that I was taking at him, but I knew that wasn't the case when he turned his head to look at me over one shoulder. "Can I help you?" He asked me, dark hazel green eyes narrowing at me.

Stunned that he was speaking to me, I blinked. "Huh?" I answered dumbly, and embarrassment quickly washed over me as I realized the stupidity of my response. I pressed my lips together and stared back at him, my eyes peering into his.

The large man seemed to take that as a challenge, the fact that I had continued to not only look at him but the fact that I had steeled myself by looking him in the eye. "You're staring." He said flatly, hands stuffed in the front pockets of his pants when he swiveled around so his large frame faced me head on. "So what do you want?" He cocked up a dark brow and I felt my stomach swirl at the large size of his body, seeming impossibly bigger when he was stood at his full height. It made him intimidating how tall he was, and even more so how broad and well built he looked. He looked strong enough to snap my wrist like a twig.

"What? Nothing to say?" He asked after I said nothing, eyes staring at me challengingly when he slightly tilted his head to the side. I didn't respond, and he snorted at that. "That's what I thought." He muttered with an amused tone, the edges of his lips twitching into a slight smirk. It was then that I knew that he wanted me to be intimidated by him, causing me to clench my jaw and cross my arms over my chest.

Although I was kind, I was also not a doormat, especially not to some man who didn't even know me. I wasn't about to let him think that he could scare me, no matter how intimidating he was.

"Do you usually get this pissy over nothing or are you just so miserable that you feel better about yourself when you can make someone scared of you?" I scoffed, watching his face as surprise rippled across it, probably not expecting the attitude from me. His gaze glinted and he sauntered his way over to me, the scent of peppermint filling my nostrils with him being so close. I looked up at him, not willing to break the stare when I knew that's what he wanted me to do. "And if I said that I did like making people scared of me, then what?" He hummed mockingly.

I clenched my jaw in annoyance at him and he chuckled, seeming to think that I had no response for that. "Then I'd say it makes sense why nobody seems to want to try to talk to you, doesn't it." I muttered back.

Onyx's eyes flashed with anger, but I didn't want to hear anything more from him. I just turned and walked away, holding my clock and sipping on my coffee.