Crimson hearts

Chapter eight: my bad

~Mateo~

It's been almost two weeks since I last saw Celeste.

Two weeks.

That girl is all I honestly think about anymore.

When I eat, I would think about her.

When I walk pass the flower shop, I would think about her.

When I'm in meetings, I think about her.

Damn I'm fucking whipped.

As I walked in, blinding lights like a lightning bolt burst suddenly, engulfing everything in my path before gradually fading into a blazing shimmer of neon red, blue, and green. In the darkness, just the dingy bar lights provided illumination as the smoke curled sensually and artistically.

I walked over to the bar, disregarding all of the famished men and women staring after me.

I sat down, ignoring whatever Oliver was talking about next to me.

I looked over at Quinn, and I can tell by the way he looks at the man, he is also disinterested in whatever he was saying.

It was Beth and Luis' anniversary tonight, so he's taking her out on a date, and he tried to hire me as the fucking babysitter.

I looked at my surroundings, the putrid scent of smoke, whisky, and wine coated my nostrils, and a cacophony of voices rang out like calming piano notes from the walls.

I need to get out of here.

I sighed as Oliver stopped talking, and leaned on the counter of the bar in front of me.

The bartended kept trying to get my attention, as she bent over to "pick up something", and kept trying to giving me "sexy" looks.

Keyword being trying.

A squeal, competing with the with the heavy rock music and shouts, sounded right behind me as someone bumped into my back. I turned around, ready to give this person a fucking piece of my mind, until my eyes landed on a pair of green, glassy, eyes staring right back at me.

Celeste.

I furrowed my eyebrows at her teary face, and her smudged mascara and lipstick.

Before I could say a word, she muttered a small apology under her breath as she continued walling away.

I jolted up from my seat as fast as I can and ran after her.

What the fuck?

I grabbed her hand before she can get away from me and get lost in the crowd, pulling her towards me and dragging us to the nearest place that wasn't crowded.

It also wasn't planned, meaning the bathrooms were not what I was thinking of.

She looked around us and looked back at me with raised eyebrows.

"Mateo, if you want to fuck me you can just say so."

"What? No, it's not that," I gripped her chin and stared at her dead in the eyeball, "what happened?"

Celeste looked at my eyes for a while before looking away and clearing her throat. "Nothing happened, I'm fine."

"Celeste, tell me."

She hesitated for a moment before finally speaking up, "T-this guy tried to t-touch me after I kept telling him n-no and he f-forced hip lips onto mine, and h-he kept hurting me--" she kept hiccuping in between her words, and tears started streaming down her eyes again as she continued, "h-he hurt my wrist by grabbing it harshly a-and he slapped m-me, Mateo."

"Who the fuck is this boy?" I grabbed her wrists to examine the bruise and my eyes flow further up to see other bruises and scars all over her forearms, shoulders, and wrists but chose to ignore it.

For now.

"No one. I-I'm alrigh--"

"No, Celeste, you're not. Who the fuck hurt you?"

Nothing else mattered in the world right now, because when I get my hands on that fucking bastard, I'm going to fucking rip his heart out with my own two hands.

"Who. hurt. you."

I looked over to where Celeste was pointing and narrowed my eyes at an annoying bald eagle laughing at whatever the -obviously uncomfortable- bartender said.

For fuck's sake, he looks 30.

I stomped over to the man ignoring everyone else's presence, with Celeste following behind me, making sure my grip on her wrist isn't hurting her.

The man looked up at me as I called out to him, his baldness shining under the lights of the club. His eyes were full of fear, shock, and confusion -until his eyes landed on the wide eyed, dainty beauty next to me- his expression turning i to one of anger as he started to glare at her.

"Is this the guy?" I looked over at Celeste expecting an answer with a raised eyebrow as she kept her eyes trained on him and she nodded.

I grabbed the man by his polo shirt's collar until his face was one inch from mine.

"Now, what kind of fucking man are you, laying your hand a woman, hmm?" My grip on his collar tightened as I felt everyone's eyes on me, as they crowded us, murmurs breaking out as wveryone was confused what's going on.

The man looked at me with wide eyes as he tried to sneakily loosen my grip on his shirt.

"M-my bad man, my bad, I didn't know you were her boyfrie-"

The sound of a crack as my fist collided with his nose resonated through the club as the music started to die down.

"Yo! What the fuck, bro?"

"My bad, bro."

I felt two large figures behind me and immediately recognized the first scent ad Quinn's scent.

It's as if Quinn knew exactly what was going on and what to do as I felt him grab Celeste and lead her outside the club until I was finished.

This is going to be fun.

~Celeste~

I wrapped Quinn's suit jacket securely around my body as I murmured small apologies to people I bump into.

We stood outside for what seemed like an entire eternity until I saw Mateo and another unknown figure emerge from the club.

Mateo was wiping blood off his knuckles with a small white handkerchief and threw it somewhere behind him.

He straightened out his white dress shirt which was now stained a crimson blood red.

A small smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he approached us, ignoring his friend that was bidding his goodbyes, walking to his Jeep.

I saw Mateo firmly nod at Quinn, as I felt a light peck on my forehead, before the warmth of his body disappears from next to me.

We sit in the silence, both staring at each other, until he broke the eye contact and coughed, looking down at his expensive black shoes, trying to avoid how my body looks in the red dress i chose to wear tonight.

He walks over to his Porsche, me following him tryin to keel up with his long strides.

Mateo opened the passenger seat, looking at anything but me.

I got in the passenger seat, as Mateo ran over to his side and got in.

I crossed my arms over my chest and slumped back in my chair as Mateo drove to my house.

We got to my house after a few minutes, with Mateo looking displeased with the location I live in.

I got out before he can say anything and raced back home.

I need me some fucking Xanax.

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