Protected by the Beast ✔

38

Riley's POV (heavily unedited)

*

Due to last night's incident, I tossed and turned in bed till it was past midnight and only slept after I started feeling seriously exhausted. Even when I woke up at dawn this morning, I was too tired to stay awake and found myself succumbing to slumber.

I was woken later on by knocks on my door. "Who's it?" I groaned, feeling a pounding head ache as I yawned.

I groggily sat up and scratched my head, mentally adding it to my To-do list that I needed to wash it because it was beginning to get too oily. The knock came again and I narrowed my eyes at it, checking the time on my phone. To my surprise, it was past ten in the morning already.

My eyes widened in surprise. I couldn't even remember ever waking up this late since I started staying here in the black house. I fixed my hair to the best of my ability, rushed to gargle with some Listerine and finally went to open the door.

The instance I unlocked it and opened it a little, I got my breath knocked out of me when my forehead collided with the wall.

"Omph..." I groaned but gasped when I was pushed back further into my room. As if it couldn't get any more surprise filled, I was greeted by the sight of the Beast standing before me with his dark eyes heavily fixed on my face. "Beast?"

"Riley." He gave me the faintest smile.

Unthinkingly, I wrapped my arms around his torso and dug my face into his chest, inhaling the delicious scent of his cologne.

"How are you?" His deep voice reverberated around my room as he shut the door behind him.

I pulled back and smiled up at him, noting he was cleanly shaved and had even gotten a tan. "I'm fine. I see you've been really busy with business. You just left..." My smile slowly faltered as silence encased the atmosphere till there was no trace of it. I heaved a deep sigh and went to sit at the edge of my bed.

"Congratulations on your exams." He stated, still standing at the same spot.

"Thank you." I chuckled. Of course he would know about my exams and all I'd been doing all these while. "How was the trip?"

"Challenging."

"Please, have a seat." I dragged my wooden chair from my reading table and he took a seat on it, facing me on the bed as I sat back down. He opened his arms and my eyes widened. Was he seriously motioning for me to come to him right now?

I got up and walked to him anyway, eyeing his arms and wondering if they would go around me to encase me in the warmth of his torso.

When I got right in front of him, he pulled me towards him and I almost lost a foot, finding myself tumbling on top of him. He steadied me with a hand on my waist and the other one on my upper arm. Then he pulled the flesh on my upper arm and stared at it thinkingly.

"You've gotten fat."

"Huh?" My brows furrowed and I pulled away, looking down at myself at the ridiculousness of his words. I'd only added a little bit of flesh!

His brows furrowed a little and he cleared his throat. "I mean, you've gotten prettier."

"Oh!" My face split up into a smile and I giggled, feeling blush taint my cheeks.

"I want to kiss you." His eyes settled on my lips. My heart began drum wildly in my chest as my smile turned shy at his words. "Shut up." He suddenly muttered and took off a Bluetooth device from his ear, dropping it on the table. My brows furrowed.

Was he fighting with himself over this, like having an internal battle about whether he should kiss me or not? Was that why he said 'shut up' before dropping the Bluetooth just now?