Guarded

Chapter 22

I felt tired but no matter what position I shifted into I couldn't get to sleep. The only light in my room came from the electric clock on the bedside table next to me.

3:46 AM

Ugh too late for a movie
Too early to start the day

I fidgeted for a bit longer and squeezed my eyes shut but nothing. I finally gave up and slugged out of my bed then down the long staircase to the living room.

A cup of hot chocolate and some cookies would help me get to bed.

I was searching through the cupboards for the cocoa powder when I heard something. A distant whisper of noise coming from somewhere just in earshot.

What was that? Music?

I poked my head out of the doorway and looked down the corridor. Nothing seemed out off the ordinary. I wondered weather it was the A/C humming that I has heard but a flicker of light caught my attention.

I walked down to the link between the house and the Maison and slipped through the door silently. If there was a burglar it was probably best I didn't make too much noise.

I walked past all the rooms to the one on the end and pushed the door open. It was the biggest room in the adjoining house. There was some random show on the television and Luca was sat in the chair across it.

"What are you doing here?" I said into the room causing him to turn his head towards the door.

"I could ask you the same thing" he said muting the television.

"I can't sleep and I heard the television. Aren't you supposed to be home by now?"

"I had a couple drinks and Julia refused to let me drive. I don't have work tomorrow and I was going to come by and work on the car anyway" he said.

"Oh"

"I wasn't drunk or anything but she said I had to sleep it off"

"Don't you need to, you know, sleep to do that?" I pointed out walking further into the room.

"I don't really do that often"

"What do you mean?" I asked, confused.

"I don't sleep" he said casually.

"The human body can't survive without sleep" I said thinking back to all the science lessons I unwilling say through.

"I take naps" he shrugged as if that solved the problem completely "an hour every week or so"

"How do you not collapse? That can't be healthy" I said. I couldn't go without sleep even now I was feeling weaker.

"I manage" he said

"Why though?"

"I guess you could say I have insomnia" he said in a way that made me wonder weather that was the real answer but I let it go.

"So are you mildly bipolar as well" I said trying to come across lighthearted but my frustration seeped through each word.

"What?"

"First you don't speak to me but at least there was a reason for that. Then suddenly you're so eager to throw the rules out the window. Then after not even a couple full conversations you just become this huge asshole. Then after disappearing for weeks you come back all distant"

"Were we ever close?"

"No"

"Then how could we be distant? Why do you care?"

"I don't care if you think I'm some spoilt brat or whether you think I'm just a kid but one thing I'm not is dumb. I don't just let people treat me like crap" I said tightening my hands into little balls at my sides.

"Isn't that how your parents have treated you, your whole life?" He said and my chest squeezed.

"Is that what this is. You saw how my parents are and thought you could get away with it"

"I was only being an asshole because I thought it might scare you off, get you to leave me alone"

"You could've just said that! You didn't have to leave because of me. You could've lost your job"

"No. I had to leave" he said with a steely edge.

"Why? You weren't really sick" I asked.

"Because you're always doing this!" He said loudly standing up and throwing the remote to the side. I jumped slightly at the sudden action. "Do you know how bad I wanted you when I first started working here?

"It didn't help that you were always trying to talk to me. I thought I just needed to get you off my back so I could get you out of my head. So I gave you what you wanted and it still didn't work. I still wanted you and you could tell. So I pushed. I was mean. I was sure it would work but you are one persistent little shit

"I thought if I left- If I took a break that would at least help. But here you are tempting me again and all I wanna do is push you up against this wall"

I was shocked. There was nothing special about me, nothing particularly exciting and certainly nothing that would have someone like Luca would want so badly.

"Then do it" I said trying to sound confident but my voice came out quiet and croaky.

I was sure he would laugh but he didn't. He looked up at me slowly eyes lingering on my face. He stood up off the back of the chair he had been sat in and walked towards me.

He didn't stop even when he got within my reach forcing me to walk back like a scared animal. Our steps were equal and the amount of space between us didn't change until my back hit the wall. Even then he didn't end his stride till the gap between us was closed completely and we were chest to chest.

His face was so close to mine I could feel his cool breath over my face. It was cool and steady. I forced the palms of my hands against the wall to stop myself from touching him. My nerve endings buzzed with energy every time our noses touched or he breathed a little harder.

He leaned in and just as our lips brushed he pulled away. The silent television behind him was the only source of light in the entire room and in the darkness I could only make out the cut of his jaw and his hooded eyes

"Goodnight" he said in a whisper then walked out the door I had left open.

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Oooooooooooooooh ^_^ did you think they was gon kisss nuh uh boo boo lol but soon really soon