When I look at you

The break in...

Our day out was magical, I couldn't ask for anything more nor would I. After our little lunch stop in central park Rowan took me sightseeing and a little bit of shopping. I didn't buy much just a little key chain for Rowan when I sneaked off whilst he was talking to one of the managers about something. 

He was still in a full discussion by the time I returned from the small souvenir shop across the street. I wanted to surprise him and get him soothing just to say how truly happy I am now that he's in my life.

"Right well that's all done. We should probably start heading back I have booked us a table for dinner tonight and I assume you would like to change and freshen up before then. Although I will say that I think you look beautiful whatever you are wearing"

"yes I will need to change, I didn't realise how hot it would be here, the heat is making me all hot and sweaty"

"I know something else that could make you all hot and sweaty," Rowan said as he leaned down so that his lips brushed my ear, his alluring scent only increasing in the heat. How can someone's sweat smell so good?

I felt the blush creep up on my cheeks, something which had nothing to do with the heat.

"Your incorrigible"

He laughed and with a smile said, "well I try my best".

The more moments I spend with him the deeper I feel myself falling in love. And I am not just talking about the grand romantic gestures and cute dates, I mean every glance, every word, every breath pushes me further into the abyss of loving him from which I am sure to never return.

The drive back to his apartment is short, or maybe my perspective on time is so irrevocably changed that no amount of time in his arms will ever be enough.

We head up to his floor his hand in mine squeezing twice for reassurance every now and then and make our way along the corridor.

The door into the hallway is slightly ajar propped open by a silver tray wedged in between the door and the frame. With one swift move, Rowan pushes me behind him so that my body is hidden by his huge frame.

I lean against him pressing my hand to his back to show him I am still here as I breathe in that sweat smell, he had the audacity to call sweat earlier. Why is everything about this man so hot?

Rowan pushes back the door to reveal a dishevelled room with broken vases and turned over coffee tables and cushions ripped from their couch.

"What happened here? I mean who would do something like this?" the idiocy of the first question was not lost on me.

"I don't know but they won't get away with it" Rowan reaches into his pocket bringing out his phone and handing it to me "Call Wilson, he'll know what to do"

I quickly search through his contacts, God this man knows a lot of people and dial as quick as I can. It only rings twice before Wilson picks up he only gets through halfway through his 'yes sir' when I cut him off all my pack seeping out in one rushed breath.

"Wilson it's me Lara, oh God there has been a break in I think, and Rowan is looking around the apartment now, but it is all a mess and I don't know what to do he just told me to ring you and oh god"

"mam everything is going to be alright I will contact security now and I will be there in 5 minutes"

"errm ok I will tell Rowan" with that I end the call and run into the bedroom in search of Rowan.

The state of the bedroom is far worse than that of the living areas, everything had been ripped out of the closet the curtains had been torn from their hanging places and left to dangle in the shape of bat wings. Photos had been torn in two and the bedside tables thrown on their sides causing the contents of the drawers to pour out. 

Rowan stood in the centre of the room with his back to me but I could see by the rapid rise and fall of his chest and tenseness of his back that he was livid, and I could see why. The rest of the apartment seemed like Child's play when looking at the bed. 

The mattress had been torn into pieces having the fabric ripped from it and leaving a deathly bed of springs that had been elongated to form spikes. The duvet and pillows had been slashed so that feathers lay like a blanket of snow around the edges of the bed and on the headboard a picture of me and Rowan had been stabbed there with a knife with my face scratched out.

Rowan had heard me enter the room and turned around to usher me out, attempting to shield me from the view. But I stood there paralysed, anchored to that very spot. I felt the growing dread of someone's hatred towards me that they would do this. What if we'd been here when they came, what would they have done to me? I wasn't safe, and more importantly, Rowan wasn't safe.

I heard the voice of Wilson barge through the door and say something indistinguishable to Rowan, yet I still couldn't move.

 I started to feel the room spinning and my head become heavier. I could feel my legs give way beneath me, but I didn't fall. I lay in the arms of Rowan as he picked me up and carried me out of the apartment. In the safety of his arms, I allowed myself to sleep.