Angel In Disguise

Chapter 24 - A Care

I open the front door after the tenth knock.

The officer who told me he cares about me last night stands there. He is looking as serious as ever and with that I motion for him to enter.

"Would you like coffee?" I offer since I was about to make myself some.

He simply nods and I lead him to the kitchen. He takes a seat on a stool where the island is, and I feel his eyes on me as I go to grab a second mug so that I can put it under my espresso machine when I'm done with my coffee.

"What type of coffee would you like?" I glance behind me to catch him shamelessly staring at me as if he were dreaming.

I motion at my touch screen that has many options. My brothers gifted it to me for Christmas last year and it's the best thing they could have given me.

He stands from the stool and makes his way toward me. I let him scroll to look at the options and he seems a bit confused and lost.

"I don't know much about coffees, but I'll have the same as you." He lowly says before looking away from the small screen.

I oblige to his request and in a few minutes, I have his coffee placed in front of him with mine in my hand.

"To what do I get the honor of having your presence today on this lovey and gloomy morning?" I question with a sweet smile, but my tone is a bit sarcastic.

He drinks from his coffee before speaking. He looks serious. "I genuinely meant it last night when I said that I care about you."

I try not to feel or think anything about his words the same way I ignored them last night.

"What you do is very dangerous. It has very serious consequences like prison and maybe even death considering some of the people you are taking from." He is only telling me the same things that I've always been told and that I have always known.

I drink almost half of my coffee to purposely burn my throat with the heat. It earns me a few seconds to think before I speak.

"I'm aware, officer." I can only say so much because stealing goes deeper than he thinks.

I don't do it just to do. It's a serious problem that I have, and I am aware that I need help. There are actually a few reasons as to why I do it and I don't want to discuss one of those reasons with him.

He's staring at me now drinking more of his coffee. I can't tell what he could be thinking. I never can and his words usually always take me by surprise.

"And you're okay with either of that happening?" He questions, eyebrows raised.

"None of that will happen." I state very sure of my words.

"Why not?" He quickly asks now.

I only shrug because I actually don't know. I've just always been sure and have thought that I would never get caught or be in any danger. I have learned a lot and I'm very experienced, but I know that things can quickly change when you least expect it.

"Will your little brothers be okay if any of those things were to happen?" His question hits me hard because I have never really thought about that.

"Why do you care about what happens to me or my brothers?" I respond with a question of my own.

I drink down the last bit of coffee in my mug.

"You haven't known me long enough to be so worried about me." I return his serious stare.

He nods in a way that indicates that I'm right. "I haven't known you for long, but I have a reason to be concerned about your wellbeing."

"And what is that reason?" I'm very curious to know this man's reasoning on being so close to me.

He stays silent and it's clear in his eyes that he is contemplating on whether he should answer me or not.

"I get a little feeling in my heart when I look at you." He pauses as my brain pauses too so that I can fully register his words.

"It's actually not so little because every time I look at you it feels more intense and bigger." He quietly adds on before meeting my eyes.

"I don't know how I would feel if something happened to you." That makes my brain stop working for a few seconds.

I softly clear my throat adverting my eyes from him. I then take my mug from the counter and do the first thing that comes to mind when my brain decides to function again.

I begin washing my mug in the sink behind me.

I almost feel like laughing from how stupid I am reacting, but I don't know what I am supposed to say or do with that information.

I hear him clear his throat from behind me and then I listen to his footsteps against the wooden floors until he is standing beside me.

"I think it is time for me to leave." He states softly and I can feel his eyes burning into the side of my face.

I stay quiet and not because I want to. Words are just not able to leave my mouth and I hate myself for it when he speaks his next words.

"I'll go now."

My hands can't seem to stop harshly scrubbing the mug in my hands.

"Thank you for the coffee. It was delicious." With that I listen to him walk away and it's not until I hear the front door open and close that my body decides to function.

I rinse the mug off in front of me and turn the sink off. I dry my hands and then stand in silence with myself.

I don't know because I've never been in a relationship, and I've never really had feelings for anyone, but I think he just confessed to liking me. I'm pretty dumb when it comes to this aspect of life. The only feelings I've ever felt for anyone were small crushes on random men at random places who I would only see for a few seconds and then never see again.

I don't want to even think about the last time someone "felt" something for me. It led to the worst and most painful experience of my life. Any other men were just men hitting on me but that's as far as I would let it go.

Now I'm here feeling stuck and lost because a man that I have come to have feelings for just confessed in a way that he likes me.

He cares about me, and I make him feel something in his heart.

What am I supposed to do with all of that information?

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