Eyes So Blue I Drown

4| Deal

ARABELLA

Waiting for me?

He wouldn't like meeting me at all. If he thinks I'm still that calm girl as before who can be left alone easily and can be achieved back like a piece of cake, he's in a big-ass misunderstanding.

He's the stupidest if he thinks I'll work here for him.

I, Fantino and Renzo walk upstairs and step further down the long corridor. I can't help but notice how this place speaks a lot of money.

The designs on the wall, the decorative pieces kept on the table seems to be made of best material in the world. But they seem too informal and giving me... foreshadowing vibes.

Soon I see us entering a spacious room filled with a group of all tall and attractive guys. They all become silent after seeing us standing at the door.

My eyes scan them.

Tipping their chin, smirk on their lips, wondering seeing a woman, and checking me out from head to toe—they all have different reactions. But none of them is he.

"Boss, she's here" Renzo announces our arrival.

And just then my eyes land on the chair behind the desk, occupied. He's sitting there, facing the tall window reaching ceilings, and viewing the abandoned places this house has on its edges.

The desk is filled with paperwork, and a coffee cup.

I grit my teeth when he doesn't turn around as soon as he hears us talk.

"You all can leave," his matured voice suddenly fills the air.

They all leave and instead of twirling the chair around, Luca stands up and strides to me with his hands inside his black pants pockets.

I swallow back a shocking feeling. Seeing him after a couple of years brings back all those memories of us together. His black hair is slicked back. His sharp jaw brings perfection to his cleanly shaved face.

And his eyes... they're so blue. With a hint of devilish spark behind them.

They're just a captivating organs carved inside a human skin to lure others.

A playful smirk creeps on his lips as I fold my arms on my chest, giving him death glares. Seeing the way he has dressed himself, I realise he hasn't changed.

He was that one most popular guy in the college, the guy who was well known player since the very first day he stepped into the college's entrance. He was, of course until we got together, leading him to have his longest lasting relationship those days.

And still, it forces me to not to dare think otherwise of him as he speaks my name in most possible playful tone—"Arabella" his lips form up a curve.

It surely could have made me weak in my knees back then.

But not anymore.

"Luca" I smile forcefully, "Keeping aside the formalities and giving our conversation a boost" my voice gets harder, "Mind explaining how the fuck I'm here as a self-defense tutor? I'm not going to assume you just called me from LA for this thing"

He lets out a short devilish laugh, "I didn't invite you, bella. If you noticed carefully, it was another person who must have contacted you for this contract" his short smirk gives me chills.

"You, Arabella, are the one who accepted it, and I'm assuming you obviously must have asked them my name" I curse myself under my breath at his last sentence.

Unfortunately, I didn't.

"Either way, technically, you're here under my area. So what should I concluded from all this?" his eyebrow gets lifted up slightly.

I strain a laugh, "Sadly, it's a misunderstanding I got here. I think it will be best if I turn my way back to LA. Because I don't do businesses with people twice whose deal I found waste at very first"

Not to mention how my dad and Neville would react to this.

To my surprise, a proud smirk touches his lips, "You've not changed at all"

"Can we stick to the main talk?"

A smile plays at expression, "Sure. So, you want to go back to LA abandoning the work you came here for?" he questions, asking the obvious.

"Yes."

"Why?"

A silence creeps between us. How can he think at very first that I'll work for him? Under the same roof as him?

An amazed look creeps on his face, "No thoughts? Okay, no need to get your little head all puzzled. I'll clear it up for you"

I raise my eyebrows up. "You're leaving it because you're afraid" his voice gets lowered, eyeing me with his intense deep eyes.

I scoff, "What?"

"You are thinking low of your self-restraint" he says and begins to walk around, with me as his center, "You're the girl who was used to be unreachable to all the guys two years back then. You never gave any guy a chance to come closer to you, but me. Never gave any guy a chance to touch those lips, but me" he stands against me, his eyes stares back into mine with deep intensity as he questions—"Must be so hard for you to control yourself when I am back into your life, right cariño?"

I take a moment to figure out everything he just said.

Every word that left his mouth is something even I didn't know about myself. "That's not true." my eyes angrily bore into his.

"Then what's true?" he asks, taking one of his hand out of his pocket and holding the chair beside us, his legs crossed in front.

"You've not got into any relationship after us, you clearly are still not over me. You won't be able to stay here under the same roof as me without losing your self pride. True, isn't it?" on intention, he clearly speaks every fucking word which a deaf person could understand too at some point, reading his lips.

Can he stop talking gibberish for a damn second?

"Are you for real? Challenging me here as such" I grit my teeth, unable to believe the actuality of it all.

The corner of his lips lifts upward, "Do you want it to be a challenge?"

I clench my fist.

I can't help but narrow my eyes at him in annoyance. I feel a twist in my stomach at his thoughts, as my mind goes to where it shouldn't! He wants it to be a deal?

Then he will fucking have it.

And it won't be something he would have expected it to be. It's unbelievable of him to think that I'm not over him, that I will crawl and beg for him. "It's a deal then" I break the silence.

He smiles, "It will be fun" he says, seeing me completely gobsmacked. "There will be conditions...or rules, call them whatever you want but you'll have to follow them" he tells.

"What conditions?" my throat corded as I look away.

He pauses to spare me a glance,"First condition; you wouldn't try to meddle in my life and businesses. You'll stay away from it"

Ah, I don't give a damn. I'm oblivious at what he's referring to, I've no interest in finding out.

"Second and last, for now; you'll have to ask me before leaving this house for wherever you decide. It will be convenient if you allow me to let one of my man guard you—"