Devotion

Chapter 6

ARES

"What are you doing here?" I snap at Leomi, meeting her gaze with an intense glare as she stands before me, nervously biting her lip.

Despite my irritation, I can't help but notice the subtle details that make her stunning. Her lipgloss gives her lips a glossy shine, accentuating their natural beauty. Her eyes, framed with eyeliner, sparkle with a captivating intensity. The pink top she wears complements her perfectly, highlighting her beauty in a way that's both frustrating and mesmerizing.

She squints slightly, catching my admiring gaze, and I lift a challenging brow, silently demanding an explanation.

"I need to talk to you," she finally responds after a long minute of silence.

"About?" I ask, leaning against the door.

"I... um, can I come in?" she asks, uncertainty flickering in her eyes, though she seems to doubt I would ever refuse her.

I step away from the door and open it wider to let her in. "Come in," I say, my voice betraying a hint of disinterest, though inwardly, I'm burning with curiosity about why she's here.

After I close the door, she stands before me awkwardly. "Do you want to sit?" I offer, hoping to ease her discomfort. Her uneasy demeanor starts to concern me.

"Thank you," she responds, mustering up a smile before settling onto my custom-made couch-I've always been particular about things.

I step away from Leomi and head to the kitchen to get a glass of water.

"Drink," I instruct as I hand her the water. She takes it from me and sips, then proceed to hold it in her hands.

Suddenly, she turns as if listening to something, and suspicion prickles at me. I've seen enough of these games from working with girls before. It's probably a dare.

I remain silent, watching her closely to see if she'll speak first. If she'll be honest with me. She reaches into her pocket with her left hand, retrieves her phone, and types something on it. When she looks up at me, she hands me the phone.

I take it from her and see that she's written something on the screen.

The girls and I made a bet. Whoever loses has to confess their 'feelings' for you. I lost. I also have an earpiece on and they're listening as we speak.

I look at the message she's written, feeling slightly offended at seeing "feelings" written in quotation marks.

I type, Why would you agree to some stupid shit like that? Then hand it back to her. Her eyebrows furrow, and I can sense her growing anger.

Leomi quickly types her response with a sense of urgency, then hands me back the phone. I don't know. It was my first night out with them, and I guess I wanted to impress them. Can you just listen to me "confess" my feelings for you, and then I'll be on my way, please?

I smile to myself, noticing her emerging confidence. I type my response and hand her the phone, but I wonder what has gotten into me. If it were anyone else, I wouldn't have even allowed them into my apartment, let alone entertained their fake confession.

Fine. I respond.

She smirks, her voice trembling slightly, but the look in her eyes tells me she's only putting on a show for the girls.

"Ares, there's something I've been meaning to tell you," she says, her tone playful.

"What is it, Rose?" I ask, my voice low and teasing, deciding to play along.

"I... well, I think you're cute and-"

"Cute?" I interrupt, crossing my arms and making her glare at me.

"Handsome. I think you're handsome. And I've been meaning to tell you I have a crush on you," she stutters, stumbling over her words. By the time she finishes, I've moved much closer to her than I was at the beginning. It's as if she's a magnet pulling me in.

I lean closer to her ear, and she sucks in a breath. "I think you're cute too," I whisper, fully aware that they're listening.

Leomi abruptly stands up and says, "Well, that's it! It's probably just a celebrity crush. It'll pass." She winks at me and starts to walk away, but I grab her by the waist and pull her back.

"What are you doing?" she whispers to me, her voice tinged with surprise.

"I thought we were confessing our crush on each other. I wasn't finished," I say, holding her gently by the waist.

"You don't have to say anything," she whispers, thinking I'm doing it for them when in reality I'm just being selfish. I reach up and remove the earpiece, crushing it in my hand, which makes her gasp in shock.

I lean down until our noses touch, once, twice, teasingly pulling away each time. Then, as I lean down again, our lips finally touch. She looks into my eyes, waiting for me to make the next move, but I don't.

Then, before Leomi can say anything else, I move away completely, acting as if the last ten minutes didn't happen. I walk over to my couch, sit down, and pat the seat next to mine, handing her a controller.

"Wanna play?" I ask casually. She looks at me, visibly flustered, which brings a smirk to my face.

"Why not?" she asks with a smile. We spend the rest of the night playing games, sometimes I let her win, and other times I play to win.

I don't care about what happened with her friends; I'm just enjoying the moment.

Eventually, she falls asleep, her head resting on my chest and my arm wrapped around her. "Good night, Rose," I whisper softly before drifting off to sleep as well.