Tainted Souls

Chapter 9

Leonardo 

"I never took you for a quitter," a female voice collided with my ears. 

I turned around and stared at Alia who approached me with quick steps. She was breathing hard which meant she had almost run here. She halted a foot away from me, her black orbs filled with resentment. 

"I knew I would find you here," she took deep breaths trying to calm her heavy breathing. 

Alia knew I took this route for a walk daily and she would have followed me here. It had been only a couple of minutes since I arrived at my favorite spot near the waterfall. 

I had not seen her since dinner when I told her about my past. Alia had kept a blank face throughout the whole time when I narrated the darkest secrets of my life to her. It was difficult to read Alia, she had a good grip over her emotions. When she didn't say a word, I understood she was regretting her decision to give us a chance. 

Alia's silence had cut through my heart like a sharp blade. I wouldn't have minded if she called me names and told me that she didn't want anything to do with me. If Alia would have said she regretted me, it would have crushed me. I hadn't realized but she had paved a way into my heart as no one else has ever done before. No other woman had succeeded in leaving a mark on me like her. Alia was the only one that had ever intrigued me. 

"Why have you been hiding from me?" She brushed a stray strand of her hair from her face and tucked it behind her ear. 

"I thought you didn't want anything to do with me," I gave her an honest reply. 

Alia kept staring at me for a few moments then she took a step toward me, covering the distance between us. 

Alia cupped my face with her hand, "Why did you feel that way?" 

"I am not a good man," I placed my hand above hers. 

"I am not a good person, either," she whispered. 

"You couldn't have done half the number of bad things as me." 

"Maybe I did something worse than you." 

"I don't believe it." 

"Because you don't know me." 

"And you think you know me?" I cocked my brow at her. 

"Not fully, but I know you enough to form an opinion that you are perfectly flawed like me," she stroked her thumb on my cheek. 

"You should be afraid of me," I warned her. 

"You don't scare me. Instead, I don't think I have ever felt this connected to anyone else as I feel to you," Alia admitted. 

A gust of wind blew her hair on her face. I reached out and brushed them away. The pad of my fingers grazed her soft skin and Alia shuddered.  

I took my time caressing her cheek as I slid her hair on the side of her face and tucked them behind her ear. Alia's hair reminded me of Rameen. She had black hair, but Alia's shade was much darker. Jet black. So were her eyes, which were impossibly dark, and when they shone when she smiled. It felt like thousands of stars had assembled in the night sky. 

"You are beautiful," I murmured in a trance. 

Alia's lips parted as she sucked in a breath. My eyes dropped to her kissable lips. Alia slipped out her tongue and traced it over her lips. 

Fuck it. 

I slipped my hand to the nape of her neck and grabbed it possessively as I pulled her to me, and crushed her mouth with mine.