The ride started peacefully, at least as much as it could possibly be with Maxwell in the car with her. His presence gave her nerves. She didn't think that any single person she had ever met made her as anxious than Maxwell did, and she wasn't quite sure why. He was obviously temperamental and violent, but she had dealt with people like that in the past, it certainly wasn't her first rodeo. There was just something about him, every move he made had her hyper-aware of his presence, even a single twitch from his side resulted in a twitch of her own. There wasn't really any conversation between them, they both appeared to be people that preferred to stare out into the distance in their singular windows, taking in the scenery as they drove past it.
She clearly noticed when they turned, heading out of the city on the highway. It caused her fingers to shake, not fully trusting that he was telling the truth. It wouldn't surprise her if he suddenly directed the driver to pull over on a deserted road, put one in her head, and leave her body in a ditch. She was entirely at his mercy, and she suspected he knew as much. It was about twenty minutes in that he received an abrupt phone call on his cell that startled the both of them. The dog was already sleeping on the seat between them, completely oblivious to the danger they were both in being anywhere near this man. He answered, bringing the device to his ear, only to pull it away a second later to avoid his ear being assaulted by the person yelling over the line. She couldn't understand what they were saying, but it was clear they were pissed, and yelling profusely
"And hello to you too" was Max's sullen response
"Are you fucking crazy?! you took her out of the chapter! do you have any idea what shitstorm you just caused?!" Spike's profuse hollering made his head pound, rolling his eyes.
"The last time I checked, I'm the highest authority of this chapter, not you!" Maxwell retorted sharply, startling Harmony.
"You're a Lucas! your on thin ice it is! The fact that you would jeopardize your position to go to a fucking farmers market is abysmal!"
"I'm not my father-" Max responded, glancing at Harmony just slightly through his peripheral. She wasn't looking at him, she wasn't looking at anything, simply staring ahead, her eyes peering slightly glazed over. "They shouldn't dictate my actions based on what he did"
"Do you live in another dimension?! we both know that's now how it works" Spike growled through the phone "Were in enough hot water when they eventually find out what we did, let alone-"
"You mean what you did!" Max hissed back
"You think you're innocent in all this?! you're my boss! My failings will be yours! Maxwell!" He knew Spike was right, if the other chapter leaders had caught wind of anything, it probably would have been enough to get them both excommunicated in the most colourful way. But, for now, this had been kept contained, they just had to keep it that way.
But, how long could they keep this up? It had only been a month and yet other members of the chapter had already seen her, rumours about what happened in the lobby were swirling around, it wasn't hard to catch wind of it. It wasn't often that the leader had a woman wandering around wearing nothing but a fucking nightgown, as in that had never happened before ever.
The group was close-knit, everyone knew everyone else, and no one had known who Harmony was. Luckily no one had asked him who she was since the incident happened, Spike would have been the only one with enough authority and guts to do so and he already knew, obviously, at least that was a relief. But, he had to hype down Bunny, she had been messaging him wondering what the fuck was going on, and he had been ignoring her efforts to contact him. He hadn't run into her yet, but he knew he would eventually, and Adrianna wasn't one to be ignored, especially with their history. It was probably the first time in his life that he had ever ignored a message from her.
"How did you find out anyways?"
"I showed up and Lancy said you were on an outing" He rolled his eyes, fucking Lancelot
"Just...keep it contained, don't tell anyone else" He hung up the phone just as Spike started screaming again, cutting him off and slipping the phone back in his pocket. The car went silent again, and it was suffocating beyond words. Harmony couldn't take it anymore and instead decided to drop a bomb without thinking
"What about your parents?" she spoke, against her better judgment that is. She was quick to look at him, inwardly cursing, it would have been better to have said nothing. He turned his head, glancing at her, but not in the eyes. What could he possibly say to that? no one had ever asked him about his parents before, they all knew everything about it they actually cared to know. His disciples, as they called themselves, knew that the topic of their leader's parents was one that would get them shot at first mention, so with better judgment, they had never tried.
"I got my eyes from my mom" was all he could think to say. He was always praised for his eyes, it seemed like every woman felt the need to bring them up, cooing about how pretty they were. They caught attention everywhere he went, which is why he tended to hide them under his hair, it was attention he didn't want. "My Dad once told me that my Mother was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen, that one look and he had to have her"
"That sounds perfect" she responded, smiling shyly. He hated that word, Perfect. Their lives had been way far from perfect
"Mine were high-school sweethearts" At least they had loved one another, he thought. He didn't remember much love between his parents, or perhaps he couldn't quite understand what relationship they had, definitely not love in the traditional sense. They spent more time fighting and yelling at one another than family time together. They clearly tried to hide it, but he knew better than to fall for that bullshit. He didn't know what to say back, that's great? maybe, but that certainly wasn't in his nature. So, he decided to stay quiet, actually kind of hoping she didn't bring up the subject of his parents again, but she didn't get the message, or perhaps she outright ignored it
"What was her favourite colour?" The next question, had him glancing back, eyes widened, just slightly. "What did she smell like? was she nice? what colour was her hair?-" Harmony's eyes were so big, staring at him with fascination.
"Oh god, please stop!" was his quick response, lifting his hands to cover his ears. She looked away, seeming suddenly embarrassed by her actions. I became too overzealous she thought, settling back within her seat. For some reason this man seemed like an enigma she didn't understand, it made her curious as to why he turned out the way he did. She suspected that if she knew more about his parents, maybe she could use that information to better analyze him, why he turned out this way. His voice was sharp, but she could tell by the glint in the edge of his eye, he had found her questions amusing.
"She smelled like sage" he responded in a simple mutter, keeping his eyes hidden from her view. His mother used to burn her sage, spreading it between the rooms of the condo, claiming that it removed evil spirits. She always smelled like that stuff.
"Which farmer's market are we going to?" she asked suddenly, glancing out the window with excitement. It was probably in her best interest to change the subject.
"Not one you've been to before" was his simple response, leaning his head back against the rest, closing his eyes, maybe to get some sort of rest.
"But, I don't understand" she claimed, peering over at him
"We had to go somewhere there won't be any chance you'll be recognized. Better yet, where no one knows you're missing" She thought that it would have been logical that way, but it did kind of disappoint her. At least at the farmers' markets at home, she would know the fastest way to escape his clutches, how could she get away from him in a place she had never been before?
She set a soft pat on Zuni's snoozing head. Sleep well my girl, you'll need your energy when we make a break for it.
YOU ARE READING
His Angel
Romance"You have a name, don't you?" his voice was deep and irritable, but rather calm. Her eyes lifted just slightly, now staring at the edges of dark hair that hung an inch or two from his shoulders. Her lack of answer seemed to annoy him further, she co...
