Vicious Romance

Chapter 8

"What the actual f are you doing here?" I hush angrily to him from the other side of the table.

He smiles at me while fiddling with his chain necklace. Damn, he looks good in chains. Shut up, Hally. Just shut up.

"I'm going to have dinner with you, love," he coos at me, then throws a wink in my direction.

I stare at him in absolute shock.

"Yes, I can see that. But why?" I grit through my teeth. Seriously, why was he here? I was here for a date- a date that was running late and was going to be here. He was going to be here soon. He had to be.

"Because you look lovely, but lonely," he beams as he reaches for a breadstick out of the basket of complimentary breadsticks.

I swat his hand swiftly before he can grab a breadstick and whisper, "No, I'm not lonely, I'm on a date with someone who's running a little late, so please...leave."

He only smiles wider as he moves my hand and successfully grabs a breadstick from the basket, and then placing it between his teeth, balancing it like a cigarette. I force myself to look away. He's acting like a five-year-old, but he looks good.

"Yeah, I know you're on a date, you're here with me. Sorry for being late though, I didn't know we were going out," he says with humor lacing his voice. I turn back to him and scowl.

"We're not going out. How did you even know I was here?" I ask with curiosity suddenly drilling a hole inside of me. How DID he know I was here? Was he on to me? Was he who the FBI thought he was, after all?

He takes his feet off the table, reaches for the breadstick in his mouth, takes it out, and leans close to me.

"I just did... I think it's because astrology believes that our zodiac signs should be together. It's science pushing us together, " he laughs, hysterically, throwing his head back, and clapping his hands continuously, acting as if he's the funniest person on the planet. Which he's not, by the way.

I look away from him and see then everyone's eyes are glued on our table, and they all look disturbed.

I turn back to Noah, and take my napkin and flick it to his face.

"First of all, shut up- people are looking at us because of you. Second of all, Don't give me that bull, tell me why you're here," I sternly tell him, making constant eye contact with him, trying my best to intimidate him.

He stops laughing, pulls in his chair closer to the table, and throws my napkin back at me. He leans in closer.

"First of all, people are looking here because of you. Because you're looking beautiful, love, and they're jealous that no one else in this room compares to you," I blush, and he leans closer, staring into my eyes. "Second, I was walking by, and you looked alone," he whispers, leaning closer to me so that he's inches away from my face. Then he cups my face with one hand and gently pulls my ear to his lips, making my skin tingle. "I can tell you came here for a date, but darling, your date is an idiot for making you wait for him. Everyone knows you don't keep a beautiful woman waiting... especially if that woman is as beautiful as you," he softly tells me, his cool breath landing on my neck, sending chills all over my body.

As he pulls away, I realize that I'm not breathing. And still. Very still. My heart was jumping out of my chest before, but now it's leaping- out of my body- jumping to the moon. What did he do to me?

I force myself to breathe, but I can't, not with him looking at me the way he's looking at me now. I tell myself to look away, look somewhere else, anywhere else, look at anything but him.