Do You Like Me, Elizabeth?
After a while of chatting with Elaine, Beth finally had enough chat and rose from the couch to leave. “I should leave before it gets dark.”
“Sure. Do you want me to see you out?” Elaine stood up with her.
“I’ll be fine. Monday, we shall see.” They shared a last hug before Beth grabbed her handbag and began to make her way out of the house, not sparing Rigel a last look. She walked to the parking space of the mansion and got into her car. She tried to start the car severally but all to no avail.
“What is wrong with you, now?”
She slammed her palm angrily on the steering wheel after several attempts to start the car which amounted to futile. She opened the door of the car and got out, placing her hands on her waist as she tried to place a call to someone. The car was just fine this morning. She wondered what on earth happened to it.
She slammed the door of the car closed and just as she was about to walk into the house, back to Elaine to find a solution, her eyes caught sight of Rigel walking out of the house. Unlike the previous time when he only wore a white shirt to cover his broad chest and shoulders, this time, he had his black coat around him and a car key dangling in his hand.
Rigel paused and then looked from her angry self to her car. “Is there a problem?” He asked.
“What problem? There isn’t any problem,” she snapped almost immediately.
He looked over to one of the security guards and they communicated with their eyes. She looked at them both, trying to find out what they were saying but it seemed like a secret coding that only them both could understand. After a minute of communication with the security guard, she heard him let out a chuckle.
“Crazy. I guess your car finally realized just how much of a mess you are.”
“What did you say?”
He shrugged. “It’s exactly as I said it. Now, I wonder how you’ll get home.”
She pushed away from him and leaned against her car. “I’ll get home, however. Easy. Elaine could lend me her car or send a driver.”
“You wish. Well, I’m afraid to inform you that she has already gone to bed,” he lied and leaned closer to her. “And for your info, there is no driver here and cabs? They aren’t permitted in this zip area.”
“What the hell?”
“So you see, it’s going to be a little bit complicated.”
She began to ransack her brain for a solution to her problem. Would she be able to call someone to check her car now?
“Thank you for your concern but I don’t need it. You were leaving so just go.”
“Come on, I’ll drop you off.”
Beth froze at his proposal, her eyes gazing up at him in surprise. She didn’t think that he would ever propose that they ride in the same car. It was like proposing a truce that she wasn’t ready for. She wrapped her hands around her chest and stayed in her position, not casting him a look.
“Didn’t you hear?”
“I don’t need your help. You don’t need to take me home.”
The man simply just chuckled and combed his fingers through his hair. “That’s juvenile. I didn’t think that you hold so many grudges.”
“I don’t want to ride in the same car as you. Just go.”
He did the exact opposite. He stepped closer to her until she was pressed against the car and their faces stood only a few inches apart. “Tell me.” He cocked his head, his eyes locking on hers. “Do you like me, Elizabeth?”
“What?”
“Do you like me,” he repeated.
Anger burst within her and she shoved him off her with so much force but his body was only able to move a few inches away. Was he like a rock or something? “You’re delusional. So fucking delusional to think that I like someone like you.”
“Impressive.” His brows raised. “Then why are you scared to ride in the same car as me, hmm?”
She tore her gaze off him, unable to keep the eye contact that they shared. “Scared my ass. You wish.”
He resigned and dipped his hands back into his pocket. “If you don’t want to come, I have nothing to say. Good luck finding your way.”
He turned around and began to make his way to his car that was parked behind hers. Beth stood on her spot as she watched the man get into his car and start it in one try. Her lips twitched.
She looked back at her car and sighed. Fuck, if she doesn’t go with him, she would have to face the trouble of going back into the house to find a solution. Riding with him was the easiest yet the hardest decision to take. She wasn’t sure that she would be able to handle being so close to the man without gorging his eyes out of his seemingly empty head.
But her house wasn’t so far and if she stayed mute in the car, they would get there in no time, without getting on each other’s noses. Finally making her decision, she opened the door of her car again, grabbed her handbag, and locked it before beginning to walk to Rigel’s car.
Beth didn’t need to say anything as she got to his car. She opened the door of the front passenger’s seat and got in, placing her bag on her thighs and gripping it tightly.
“You’re not going to start the car?” She blurted.
“Sure, my pleasure. Though I didn’t think that you’d kill your pride so soon.”
“Just drive already. It’s suffocating here.” She wore the seatbelt before throwing her head against the headrest of the car, her eyes closed. She wanted to get out of the car as soon as possible.
“Sure ma’am.”
The car finally began to move and the mansion’s gate automatically opened for them. They set out onto the road and ‘Love The Way You Lie’ by Eminem blasted in the car. Beth raised a brow. As always, he was weird in everything.
“You have a weird taste in music,” she pointed out.
“Weird?” He cast her a look. “What is weird about it?”
“Oh please. Not in this decade.”
“You judge me about everything. What’s your address? My car is polluted enough.”
“I didn’t ask that you drop me off. You proposed it.”
“Now I’m in regret.”
“Unbelievable.”
She rolled her eyes for the thousandth time and gave him her address. It seemed like she really was polluting his car as he sped more and arrived at her apartment building before she knew it. “We’re here,” he announced, looking around the surroundings. “Nice surroundings. I thought you lived somewhere similar to under a bridge.”
“Dick. Go eat your vomit.”
“You say disgusting shits too. You could use appreciation.”
“In your dream.”
She held her bag tighter and tried to pull the seat belt only to find out that it got stuck. “What is wrong with this thing?” She pulled on it strongly, a frown settling on her forehead.
“Don’t destroy it. I’ll help you.” She let out a gasp, her heart flew to her mouth when the man leaned to her side, his face and upper body hovering over hers as he brought his hand above hers on the seatbelt. Beth pressed her back against the chair and her heart began to pound as his smell filled her nostrils. He smelled of leather and a goddamn body wash that overtook her senses.
“Done.”
She finally took a breath and without looking his way, she opened the door and threw herself out, racing out of his sight into the apartment building. She took the elevator that led to the second floor and raced madly into her apartment, her hands trembling as she inserted the key into the apartment and pushed the door open.
She slammed her back to the door as she finally got into the house, placing her hand on her chest that pounded so hard she feared it might burst through her heart. “Why the hell did he have to smell so good?” It was so embarrassing that she wanted to die. Why on hell did he have to smell like her goddamn wet dreams? As if his good looks weren’t enough to torture her, his smell too was an added disadvantage.
But the main question was why her heart was pounding so hard right now. Wasn’t it just Rigel? The man that she hated to the core? Why was her heart threatening to burst through her chest just because of a simple closeness that they shared a few minutes ago?
“You’re going crazy, Beth. Really crazy.”
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