Black Angel

Chapter Four

Zola

    He was here. He was standing right in front of me. I didn't see his face when we were at that bar, but wow. Macy was right. He was the most handsome man I have ever laid eyes on. Brown, short hair, piercing gray eyes, a neatly trimmed stubble grazing his sharp jaw, chiseled cheekbones, and full, flush lips.
    It was so surreal, him finding me at Macy's, drop-dead gorgeous with that polo shirt hugging his muscles just perfectly (he took his leather jacket off), still with a hint of mystery behind his eyes as he slightly narrowed them, and the right side of his mouth tugging up in a smirk as he saw me looking him up and down carefully.
    Oh. My. God. He had dimples.
    That smirk dimmed fast as he held said bracelet out for me to take.
    That wasn't my bracelet. But since he left the bar fast enough, giving no other women a chance to sit next to him, I wondered whose bracelet this really was.
    Should I just take it and act like it was mine? No, that would be rude. But-
    My mouth was faster than my brain could consider all options of an answer. "Thank you, I appreciate it very much that you made all the efforts to bring this here. But I'm sorry, that isn't my bracelet."
    I saw an unreadable emotion flashing across those big gray eyes, but it disappeared just as fast as it flashed there.
    A low, husky chuckle emanated from his throat and my pulse quickened. I was now breathing more heavy, similar to like I've been running a marathon. I tried to keep those breaths as quiet as possible, but in vain. Even if I succeeded, he could see my chest rise and fall.
    "Well, you caught me." He said, rubbing his neck with his free hand, the muscles in his forearm flexing. That had no business looking that hot.
    "I think I'll have to admit that I just bought this to have an excuse for coming here. But still, I want to give it to you." He said as he opened the chain and held his hand to me so I could hold my wrist up and place it in his hand, which I – after a bit of hesitation – did. My brain was numbed, and I didn't know why I did that.
    After he closed the chain on my wrist, he caressed it with the back of his ring clad fingers which sent goose bumps over my skin.
    "Thank you, but that wasn't necessary. W-Why did you want to come here?"
    My hands were trembling, and I put them in my pockets to ease the tremble.
    His eyes weren't piercing gray anymore, his pupils grow until those beautiful eyes were a dark gray, close to neat black. I shuddered slightly but still visibly at the intensity of his stare.
    I could swear that he put a kind of spell on me in some way, otherwise I couldn't tell why or how my body was reacting this way to his gaze, even just his presence. It was like it knew it was him, it was like we were magnets, being pulled to each other.
    I took an instinctively step back but forgot I was standing beside my car, so now my back was pressed against my car. He took a step towards me, and I shuddered even more when he put his hands on each side next to my head, caging me between his arms and lowered his head so his lips grazed my right ear.
    "Because of you"
    Goose bumps rose one more time on my skin at his words. He pulled his head back and fixed my eyes with his. His gaze dropped to my lips for a second, his eyes darkening once more, before he gathered himself and stepped back.
    I tried to get air back into my lungs as the tension of the previous moment lay thick in the air. "Sorry," he said. "Normally I wouldn't do such a thing." He cleared his throat and rubbed his neck again while I still stood there, frozen.
    "I wanted to ask you if I could possibly get your number."
    I wanted to ask you if I could possibly get your number.
    If I could possibly get your number.
    Possibly. Get. Your. Number.
    WHAT?!
    His words echoed through my head. Was this a dream? It had to be- OWWW. Well, I pinched myself and it hurt.
    Huh, not a dream.
    I crossed my arms over my chest so he, hopefully, couldn't see that I just pinched myself.
    You're so embarrassing. Shut. Up.
    I couldn't take my eyes off his gray, beautiful ones and also couldn't manage to say anything. So, I just nodded. His smile broke our intense eye contact and my eyes dropped to his gorgeous smile, revealing his dimples one more time. Oh, dear Lord, have mercy with my little heart.
    He produced his phone and hold it out for me so I could save my number in his contacts. With every tap of my fingers on his phone, his smile only grew. I've never seen anybody so happy about getting a number.
    I called myself with his phone and after I hung up, I handed his phone back to him and produced my own phone to save his number. "I'm Zola by the way." I held my hand out. "A pleasure to meet you, Zola. My name is Derrick."
    He took my hand and caressed the back of it with his thumb. I felt electricity at the spot where our skin touched. We just stayed there for a few minutes, our eyes locked to each other, until a voice interrupted us.
    "Hey Zole, I'm glad you're still here. You forgot your- What's going on over here?" Macy asked. What I'd do for that moment to last a little longer.
    I pulled my hand away and we both cleared our throats, my cheeks turning crimson, before Macy gasped.
    "Oh my God! Aren't you that guy from the bar yesterday? How the- Wait. Zola, what didn't you tell me?!" She was so curious, even if her house would burn, she wouldn't notice.
    "Wha- NO! Nothing! I realized that I forgot something at yours and was about to go get it when we bumped into each other." My cheeks were burning. "Then we engaged in simple conversation, and I asked for her number. She gave it, though." Derrick added. Her eyes grew wide.
    "Oh, okay. Um... Zola, you forgot your... um..." She pointed first on my shirt and then towards the house. I knew I forgot something, but her mentioning this in front of him and literally pointing at what I did forget. Wow. I crossed my arms over my chest, trying to avert his attention, but in vain. He must've already noticed because he smirked and excused himself. "I'll call you later on. See ya." He was gone after.
    "Macy, why did you point that out so obviously? I know I forgot to put on my bra! I was just about to come get it. Oh gaaawwwdddd, that was so embarrassing in front of him. I'm sure he noticed." I buried my hands in my palms and rushed inside her house to fix the problem.
    "Well, considering the way he smirked... Don't you want to tell me how the fuck you both collided in each other?" Macy and her curiosity. "It felt like a dream, but obviously it wasn't." Although my mind was still numb from the experience from earlier, I couldn't resist pushing her patience to its limits by starting the topic dramatically.
    I could see her left eye twitching, a sign that she was close to explode with curiosity. "SOOO? Stop messing around and tell me already!" I giggled and told her everything that had happened outside.
    "Wow. And he just confessed, that he bought that bracelet just to have an excuse to see you?" Macy asked. I nodded and shrugged. "Well, seems like you affect him just as much as he affects you." She added and we laughed, I much more because it wasn't really possible. He probably just asked for my number because he needed a new whore or something. I didn't know about that, but even if my inner assumptions were correct, he would have to continue his search.
    Even if my gut is quietly telling me that he really might be as attracted to me as I am to him.