Burning Soul

Eight

Eight
🌸Everlee🌸

Tonight I'll be going on a date with Hugh. Throughout the entire week, Blaze has still been speaking to me, not much, but I can tell it's hard for him, so I never pressure the man to give me any more than he's willing to.

However, as of this evening, Blaze has not uttered one word to me. I tried to see with my dad if he could have the day off and persuade him I didn't need him to tag along, but my father was adamant that Blaze had to come with me.

As of right now, Blaze has been extremely quiet. Occasionally, I've caught him zoning out. His emerald eyes staring into nothing, his knee anxiously bouncing now and then.

"Blaze," I call out his name again, pulling him out from what is his seventh daydream in a couple of hours. Blaze blinks and slowly turns his head to me. I'm finding it quite difficult to read him at the moment, his face being void of any emotion. "What's wrong?" Standing up, I make my way over to his seated position by the floor to ceiling windows — his new favourite place to relax — and stand in front of him raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing." He mumbles under his breath and a sigh escapes my mouth when he goes back to looking out the window.

"You've been grumpy all afternoon, Blaze." He's been grumpy ever since the moment I told him I'd be going on a date with Hugh. "Blaze!"

"Are you ready?" He questions, standing up from the chair and picking up the gun on the table, my eyes following as he tucks it in the back of his cargo trousers. "Everlee?" My eyes follow up to his eyes and this time I'm the one blinking in confusion.

"Hmm?"

"Are you ready?" He repeats, his jaw ticking.

"Sorry, yeah. Let me just get my shoes." I throw him a quick smile and run back to my bedroom to retrieve my heels. As I'm tying the straps around my ankle, I think about what my date with Hugh is going to be like. Throughout the whole day, there's been no butterflies, no excitement. To be quite honest, I only really remembered a couple of hours ago that I was going on a date with him.

He sent me a message telling me he was taking me to a rooftop bar. I suggested we go for dinner first but he said he'd just prefer drinks. Hugh seems like a nice guy and I'm sure Dario wouldn't hire him if he was a terrible person. If Dario likes him, then I have no reason to dislike him, seeing as I trust Dario. When I get the chance, I'll ask him about Hugh and get some more insight on what type of person I might date in the future.

Sauntering out of my room with a smile on my face, I make my way back to my grumpy bodyguard.

"I'm ready." I beam.

•••

I was not ready.

Really not ready.

Hugh is not someone I want to date in the future. Especially now that I'm watching him chug back shots and uttering slurred words to two other women he has invited to the table.

Across the room, my eyes connect with Blaze's figure and right now, he looks livid with his hands clenched into fists by his side. His intense glare is pointed toward an oblivious Hugh and I sigh to myself, standing up from my chair.

This eventually grabs the attention of the man who has been ignoring me for the past twenty minutes.

He asks "Where are you going?" And I scoff like it isn't obvious why I'm standing up to leave.

"I'm leaving, Hugh." I grab my bag and turn to leave, but the feel of clammy fingers wrapping tight around my wrist has me stopping.

"You can't leave, beautiful." He slurs with a lazy smile and I frown, shaking my head. This is the reason I had no excitement and butterflies when I saw Hugh. There was never any attraction there to begin with. I was only trying to convince myself that the butterflies I was feeling could have been from him. But I was very wrong.

It's for the man that's been living with me for a little over two weeks. The man who's been grumpy all day, the man that is angrily storming his way over to where I stand with Hugh's hand still wrapped painfully tight around my wrist.

"Get off of me, Hugh." I hiss between my teeth, and he dares to chuckle.

"Come on, let loose, Everlee!" He slurs, grabbing my other wrist and I yank them out of his hold. The two girls that were just sitting at our table have already scrambled away, probably because they've seen Blaze making his way toward me.

A gasp escapes my mouth as Blaze yanks, Hugh, out of his chair. Hugh's face morphs into worry and fright as he stares up at a fiery Blaze.

In a panicked tone, Hugh says, "Okay, okay, I'm sorry! Fuck, I thought you would like all of this, you seem the type!"

"Blaze put him down. It's not worth it." Blaze releases a huff and shoves a drunk Hugh back, making him stumble to the floor. "I don't think I'm the type of woman you're looking for, Hugh. I don't wish to see you again. Have a great evening." I turn on my heel and walk over to the lift, pushing the button aggressively.

I'm frustrated and annoyed. This is just one of many dates in the past year that hasn't gone well and my eyes sting with tears at the thought of no one wanting to be with me. I can't even look at Blaze, too embarrassed that he'll see me silently crying and feeling sorry for myself.

But I feel his presence close, even as he follows me into a corner shop and watches me snag a bottle of wine from the middle shelf. The cashier looks at me with a confused look etched on his teenage face. I mean, it probably is a sight. I'm all dressed up with a giant man dressed in black following me around.

As soon as we've arrived home, I decide to go straight to my bedroom with the large bottle of red wine to drown my sorrows, but Blaze stops me with his voice.

"Everlee?"

I pause with my back to him and inhale a deep breath.

"Everlee." He repeats with a sterner voice and my breathing hitches because I've never heard his voice with so much authority. He usually only does that through his actions. "Look at me."

Yet again, my eyes sting with tears because of the shit show of an evening, but I turn to face him, anyway. The hard look on his face falls immediately when he sees the state of me.

"I'm sorry. I don't mean to be so emotional." I sniffle, wiping the tears with my free hand.

Before I get the time to put my hand back down, Blaze grabs it gently and holds my palm against his chest and, with a gentle smile, says. "We can go on a date."

A/N
I just want to take a second to thank you all for your support and that I appreciate all of you. I also want to thank you for 50k reads. I love you loads 🖤