OBSESSION

Six

Billie had been sleeping better lately. Had been spending her days more productively with Zoe at the studio, practicing for the next coming Friday when she would see him again. Some days, Zoe had been too busy to help her practice, so she would do it alone. Anyway, she already knew the routine. All she had to do was recite and perfect it.

She had been doing just that when Zoe entered the studio on a Wednesday afternoon. Billie had just started practicing a good half an hour ago and expected her not to come.

"I come bearing gifts!" she said, holding out the fast food packaging. "How is my Femme fatale doing today?"

"She's doing." Billie got off the pole, only then being able to see that Zoe didn't come alone. She glanced over her shoulder, spotting the man standing behind her.

Zoe caught her looking, grinning teasingly. "See something you like, Agent O'Connell?" she whispered in a sultry tone.

Like was too strong a word. Intrigued worked better. The lad had a good height, dark caramelly skin that shone along the natural light rays streaming through the windows and eyes darker than the chambers of hell itself. He was dressed in a tailored suit that gripped his muscles like a desperate mistress, leaving Billie to assume that he was a CRO agent. The buzz cut, for the oddest reason, gave him a firm kind of masculinity that demanded attention.

A man, he indeed was. Not gentle and silent in the way Kai was. His manliness was screaming, aggressive, overt. While Kai's beckoned for your attention, this man's commanded it, knowing that he would receive it.

Billie took in a breath, shrugged nonchalantly. "There's only one sight I like, Zoe. You know that."

Zoe rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, you're head over heels. Anyway, that's Agent Blue, get to know each other. I've been on the road for three hours and I need to pee." Zoe dropped everything at the corner of the room Billie had followed her to where Billie had also left her bags and rushed for the door.

"Three hours-?"

Before she could inquire, Zoe was already out. "I'll explain later!"

And just like that, she was on her own. Billie looked at the stranger Zoe had left her with. The music was still bursting out of the speakers, loud, but not enough to engulf their voices if they spoke. He watched Zoe leave as well, then glanced back at Billie.

With a raised eyebrow, he perused his eyes across her body. Billie was dressed in a pair of yoga pants and a sports bra. Heels on her feet because she would be in heels when she danced on Friday.

"Agent Blue," Billie calls for him sternly. She didn't like the way he was scanning her. Only one person had that privilege, or at least one to do it openly. "My eyes are up here."

"I'm well aware." An English accent seeps out of his lips. Typical, most CRO agents were originally from London where the HQ was based.

"Then keep yours here as well."

An eyebrow rose. Then, he chuckled briefly. "Not every little gaze a man gives you is in sexual interests, Agent O'Connell."

"I try not to receive any gaze from a man."

"Maybe wear a shirt, then."

Billie gapes. "Oh? What if I just gauge your eyes out of their sockets, since you have trouble controlling them?"

"It seems we started out on bad terms."

"Not that we would be seeing each other more often, right?" He doesn't reply. His gaze drifts away from her. Billie can't decipher the definition. "Why are you with Zoe?"