Love Bites [on hold]

☆|thirteen

Zack drove her over to Charles's apartment complex. It was ironic that he dropped her there, yet he didn't even know anything about him. He kissed her goodbye and his lips lingered on hers for a long moment, then he pulled away unwillingly and waved at her as she disappeared into the apartment complex.

The first thing she laid eyes on when she set foot inside the flat was a very angry Charles. He sat down on a stool by the kitchen counter. A bottle of beer lay next to him on the table, and he carried his head in his hands. His hair sticked out at weird angles and when he looked up to meet her eyes, his own were bloodshot. It was well past midnight, but he looked every bit sick as he was a few hours ago.

"Where the hell have you been?" He barked at her and put his hands away from his face. She jumped in place, although not completely taken aback by his attitude. She had long learnt to expect the weirdest reactions out of him.

"Out!" She replied. She wasn't going to give him any more information than that. He didn't deserve to know where she had been. In fact, he didn't deserve to know anything regarding her life.

"Out where?" He growled and started to get off the stool. As if on cue, she took a few steps back. He stumbled and almost fell over, if his hand hadn't reached out to grip the edge of the kitchen island just in time. She didn't notice the few steps she had moved back forward until then, because her brain was so stupid that the first thing it thought of was helping him.

"And why'd you even care? You're the one who was ordering me around in the first place. I have enough reason to leave," She snapped and folded her arms over her chest.

"Who do you think you are, wandering about at midnight without bothering to check your phone?" He yelled and shoved his hand in her direction. She had no idea he had called or texted. She had put her phone on mute for the past couple of hours. Her time with Zack was more precious than to be interrupted, and she already troubled enough that she couldn't communicate with anyone else- most of all, with him. "You could've been killed, for God's sake."

Her jaw dropped down and her eyebrows quirked up. "For real, you were the one who told me to leave."

Charles paused for a mere second, ad if reliving the things he had said to her earlier, before he scoffed."I think you might have mistaken what I meant by leave," He clarified. "So I'll just have to rephrase it. GET OUT OF MY DAMNED LIFE. Not get to full-on suicidal mood."

"As if you wouldn't be happy about it, anyway," She snapped muttered.

"I wouldn't be happy when your Daddy stops funding me because I let his daughter get killed in the middle of nowhere."

"Oh!" Her mouth gaped as she breathed. She didn't see that coming at all, although she should have. She couldn't have expected anything else of the man who hated her guts. "So it's all about the money, then," She stated bluntly, not attempting to sugarcoat her words.

He looked away without uttering a word, but it was the only confirmation she needed. He really didn't care about her at all. The tiny beam of light that had just flickered in her, telling her that he might have actually cared, was completely dead by now.

"I'll be in my room if you need me," She mumbled and started to make her way back into the hallway. When she aporoached, their shoulders barely brushed when she paused for a millisecond and lingered next to him. "Have a nice day."

Almost immediately she felt a pressing weight on her elbow and she glanced down to find his hand gripping her arm, so tight that his knuckles turned white and the movement almost cut out circulation from her limb.

"You know I didn't mean it that way," He muttered all too quickly that she doubted for a second she might not have heard him incorrectly. He couldn't have possible said what she thought he did, could he?