Watching Her

Chapter 13: no greetings

My voice was not able to escape my throat as I slowly turned around. I did not want to look at him, to see who I would spend the rest of my summer with solemnly because my parents thought that I was a troubled teenager. 

I hated him, I knew, as I saw him for the second time. This time, it was different between us. This time, there were less formal things to be noticed, less rules to follow. I did not even have to be 100% polite at all, but at the same time my parents were scolding me in the back of my head.

Why this introduction? Why now? 

Why had not the cab driver just driven me to a bar where I could think about all of this? I felt betrayed, but not for the first time. I felt betrayed when my parents had invited me to dinner, when I had seen him. I felt betrayed when my father had said to me that I would spend my summer here. I felt betrayed when a man in a suit had waited for me outside of school to drive me to the airport. All of those times, I felt alone and betrayed. Yet, was it not so much more than that?

He stood there, waiting for an answer as I took in who was standing before me. The great, cruel business man that expanded his family's fortune by a sum I did not even want to know. The man that everybody heard rumors about him hurting innocent people. About him destroying lives and homes all together, just to get richer, to get more powerful. 

I hated him, I was sure of that.

How his shirt was too unbuttoned for my liking, yet just perfectly behind the line of modesty when in public. How his hair looked freshly styled, so good, that it made me uneasy. How his shoes were so shiny that they reflected the moon light under the clear, dark blue sky. And then, his eyes. 

Those, that did not resemble the dark blue, but the icy, hard type. How different they were to each other, how they were still the same color. It irritated me in some way I could not describe. 

His eyes that seemed so....Mysterious? Cold? It seemed like there was too much hiding behind those eyes, I couldn't make out what he wanted to say, what he was hiding behind behind these closed doors. I wanted to find out. I wanted to ask every question and push limits when he would back away. I wanted to chase after these secrets, to get to know each and every one of them. I would be the one to find out everything, I knew that. 

And those broad shoulders, those strong arms that were revealed by the rolled up sleeves of his shirt. The tattoo that was lurking beneath the fabric, ready to be discovered. 

And there it was again, this cold shiver that I only noticed just now. The way he looked at me, the way he mustered me from feet to head. He judged me, made me feel small and helpless even though I had just proven to him and myself, that I was not. 

"Was this- I-." I wanted to ask if he wanted to test me this way, but my mouth did ot work together with my head this time. If he wanted to see how I could fight. Would I be a danger to him? I did not know yet. He did not either, at least, that was all I could read from those eyes.

"Even though I appreciate the way you didn't leave a mess, it is time to go inside. I need to wake up early tomorrow." Not a single greeting, a hello. He continued this one sided conversation as if I was not able to respond to the man standing in front of me. This ignorance, this attitude, I hated every ounce of it. 

And what did he mean to say with this? Was this an insult? Because I felt entirely insulted just by his presence.

I knew that I had not expected a lot, but this? This was a poor excuse of...Something.

"John carried your bags inside after your departure, I must say he seemed slightly disappointed." John? How did he expect me to know this mans name?

How did Mateo Bane manage to anger me each second we were in each other's presence? It was like I was nothing to him, a burden. A burden meant to be left alone. Yet, he had to at least give me a place to stay to fulfill his part of the agreement. I felt like a package being tossed from place to place. 

As if I was expected to have studied every information about him, about every person he knew and worked for him. To be sure of his wealth, to respect him. I would not get on my knees for this man, I would show him, that there was more to this world than just money and power. That he could not disrespect those things behind my family's name when he abused them himself. 

And just in this moment, I decided that he could not treat me this way without consequences. I would not be content with being thrown around. And I would not back down. 

In this moment, I decided that I would be a danger to him. 

That I would find out each and every one of is secrets and use them against him.