Dark Love: A Darker Shade - Book 2

13

Zee searched for an excuse to avoid or delay doing as he had said.

"They are ...they are not in town." She sputtered.

"Tell them over the phone." He said emphatically.

Giving up on looking for even the least excuse, she gave him an imploring gaze, a frown, creasing her brow. "There is no love in this." She said brokenly.

He didn't respond but focused his gaze on four of his best men who had emerged from the church and were searching for him with their eyes and body movements. Upon sighting each other, they hung around his range rover, working together to tear off the balloons and ribbons that decorated the vehicle.

He returned his gaze to her face, taking in the nose ring she had on. To him, it stood there as one of her obvious signatures that marked her as unruly and thoughtless.

"For a long time since I've known you, I've listened to you talk and do your thing." He said to her. "Now, it's my turn. There is no love in this, so you're right." He pulled himself away from her. "Prepare to be engaged in no distant time. If you have a boyfriend, cut him off at once. I will not make with you the same mistake I made with Cassandra Blake." He circled one arm around her waist and pulled her close by the small of her back and she felt the hotness of his breath against her ear. It gave her goosebumps. "Do you understand me?" he asked forcefully.

For the first time, she took note of a tattoo at the side of his neck. It was an angel's wing. He was no angel as far as she was now concerned. 

Zee could no longer recognize the Michael she thought she knew. Of course, she knew that she never really knew him but the reality of it was dawning on her for the first time. She gave him a quick nod so he would release her. "Yes sir." She found herself answering fearfully, her voice low. She would call him anything just to feel some relief.

His eyebrows lifted. "Oh sir, it is now?" his tone was laced with unguarded sarcasm.

"Be...because you frighten me and I don't think I know you anymore." She had never felt this dominated before and it was scary.

He shrugged offhandedly. "You never really did."

He released her and without another word, started towards his men who saw him advance. One of them quickly opened the passenger side door as they waited for him.

Zee hurried into her car, speechless as through her rear-view mirror, she watched him slide into the vehicle. The driver and one of the men joined his vehicle while the other two strode towards a tinted Mercedes which was close by.

She couldn't help but wonder about whom the hell Michael really was. What the hell had she finally gotten herself into? She started the car and drove away from the cathedral in a state of fear and regret. You think you know someone and then bang! It hits you that you never really knew them.

***

TEN MINUTES AFTER driving away from the cathedral, her phone which was lying on the passenger side, buzzed with a text message. She took one glance at it and felt her heart skip a beat as she saw that it was from Michael. Now what? She thought.

She could have waited until she reached home but she was so curious about the content that she found herself slowing down and parking the car by the curb on the street which was lined with average-looking residential houses.

Picking up the phone, she read the text message. It was brief and she froze for a few seconds as she took in the content- This is not a request. Lose the nose ring before we meet again. 

After recovering from the initial shock of the message, she put herself together. A pout formed across her lips and a frown marked her brows. She gingerly let her finger touch her nose ring. It was gold. She had spent money on it. This wasn't fair.