HADES

Nervous

Hades jumped out of the taxi in an instant, forgetting about the pain that was still lingering in his body. His blood boiled at the realization of what the Easters were doing. By making false allegations, they were turning the whole city against him. No one would ever support a rapist and the Morettis knew that.

Behind him, Celina exited the taxi and heard it drive off behind her. It was safe to say that she was dumbfounded by what was written on the poster and how the prisoner was reacting. She watched closely as he ripped the poster from the wall and clutched it tightly, looking around him. The dark aura that she had watched surround him the first night at the station was back again and she wondered what she had gotten herself into. Her little crush had led her to take a road trip with someone she barely knew. All she knew about him was that he was a lost prisoner and he had to be guilty to be in prison, right?

She thought back to the first time she had seen his wanted poster in the kitchen with the maids, and how they had reacted. Terrified. Not to mention the chaos that had erupted when the whole Moretti Mansion prepared to catch the prisoner. A single man did not need that much planning, unless he was dangerous. Very very dangerous. As realization hit her, she breathed out slowly and tried not to appear scared.

Hades who was fuming, turned around to her and tried hiding the poster that she had already seen.

"You must be hungry" he gritted out and started walking towards the café. As much as he tried to play it off, she could feel the anger radiating from him. The hands that were clutched in fists were enough proof of him holding back from going off.

Celina followed behind silently and went through all the times she had been close to him. She had kissed him! A rapist! Who was Hades Valentino and how could she run away from him without anyone noticing.

His hand on her shoulder made her jump in fright, to which he frowned. "I will go get us food" he spoke and hid the sadness in his voice very well. She had been quite distant and even though it was something good, he couldn't help but feel saddened by the thought of her being scared by him. Had she seen the poster? Was she now a threat?

He seated her on a corner by himself as he walked to the counter to order them food. Thoughts and warnings were going off in her head and she fidgeted nervously to pick up her phone. What could she do? By telling her parents about her whereabouts, she would be setting them in danger too. Not to mention that she didn't know where in the West they were. How could I have been so stupid? So, asked herself as she wondered if Sebastian would help her. At this point, she was ready to make desperate decisions to not spend a night alone with him. Thinking about that, she remembers how he had pulled her in his tight and warm embrace that had felt so safe. Stupid, stupid, stupid!

Her gaze travelled to the man who had his large back towards her. She couldn't see his face, but even the way he stood tall in confidence despite having a bounty on his head of millions, showed exactly how powerful he was. It was the slight way in which he casually put his hand in his pocket and caressed his beard. Or his habit of biting his lip when he was lost in thought. Such as then, when he was confused about the weird names in the menu. He squinted his eyes and sighed before walking back to her. Celina fisted her hands under the table, watching him walk towards her taking long strides.

"Babe, there is no way I know the difference between an affogato and an americano" he sulked lowly, pouting. If it hadn't been for her being terrified of him, she would have awed at these cute actions.

He handed her the menu and sat down opposite to her. He watched as she picked up the menu and read the fancy words used to describes coffee that essentially had all the same ingredients. However, her expression and hesitation didn't escape him. All the years of being trained by his father had made him aware of every little thing happening around and the shift in Celinas attitude was one big change. 

"Hmm I am just as clueless as you are. Never have I ever heard all these fancy words in one sentence" Celina mumbled, looking up at him. If she wanted to successfully escape him, then she had to be clever about it. He could not get an inkling of her plans. With that in mind, she smiled at him and let out a giggle.

"I expected better, miss I-am-the-princess-of-the-East" Hades joked before taking the menu. "Let's choose an Italian coffee" he stated and looked at Celina for her approval. "It is for the culture"

Celina chuckled before nodding. "Ristretto" she uttered, to which he nodded without even looking at the description. Only being happy because she was feeling more relaxed. As Hades went to order the food, Celina was still confused as to the allegations. He did not seem as the type to be a predator. But then again, what do predators look like? If only they had a badge on their foreheads, life would be so much easier. And while at it, she wished the same for racist. Absolutely disgusting bastard those-

"God, look at that man" she heard a girl whisper to her friend.

"Girl, he is walking right out of a movie scene" the other giggled before continuing. "Only if it was Fifthy shades of grey"

The girls chuckled amongst themselves and whispered their adorations about his tall and wide frame. Suddenly a fire was lit on the pit of her stomach and she tried her best not to show that she was affected by their words and ideas of how they would make his body parts most useful for their pleasure.

"What the heck, am I jealous?" she whispered to herself in disbelief. "Jealous for a fucking predator?". The thought made her disgusted, but she told herself that if she knew from the start, she would never think of him the inappropriate way.

The sound of his boots hitting the floor made her look up at him. Yet again, he walked towards her, but this time it didn't go as smoothly. Instead she watched as one of the girls pretended to fall in front of him. Hades who was aware of her flirtatious remarks, respectfully helped her on her feet before muttering an "excuse me". He never glanced at her twice and instead sat down on his previous seating.

"You have got some secret admirers" Celina told him, still looking at the girls who were ogling at Hades.

The man chuckled before shaking his head. "Oh please, I don't. Her heels were just too high to walk in" he made an excuse to tease her.

"Too high? The only thing high was her desperation level to touch you" the words flew out before she could control them. Hades smirked at her answer before replying. "I am not complaining" he uttered as he looked at the giggling girls and winked.

The loud sigh that escaped her mouth made Hades turn around to her. "What? I thought should start mingling with the ladies since you are moving a bit weird. Maybe you just miss your pathetic fiancé" the clever smile was back on his mouth. Celina was taken back by the answer and she used a moment or two before answering.

"fiancé who?" she huffed and looked away from his gaze.

"So, you are not denying that you are acting weird?" the instant reply coming from Hades made her lean in closer.

"Weird how?"

"Weird like this"

"Like this how?

"You know how"

"No, I don't know how"

Hades held on to her arms quickly and pulled her closer, making her lean over the table all the way to him. Their lips were close, and she could feel his breath on his lips. His hands gently held on to her jaw and inched her closer. She shut her eyes tightly and felt his breath make way to her neck. His mouth lingered on spot right behind her ear as he snuggled his face in her wavy hair. She shuddered and the sound of her uneven breaths were heard louder at the close approximate. "Like this" he whispered, referring to her nervous behavior.  The same look of lust was back in his eyes and before she made another mistake, God himself chose to help her out.

"Two Ristretto with waffles".