Famous : Hearts and Spades

Eight : Food and Mood

Celeste took ahold of his outstretched hand and stepped out of the Maserati. She was astonished to see a huge house in front of her, with warm yellow lights pouring out of its windows.

Axle placed a large warm hand at her lower back, his fingers barely touching a part of her bare back and she felt a shiver run down her legs.

"I thought we were going out for dinner." She cleared her throat, when he started guiding her up the stairs to the house.

"I'm not exactly fond of dining out in public, Ms Cirillo." Axle chuckled. "Kind of kills my image."
"I don't think you should be worried about that, considering your social debut tonight." Celeste spoke clearly.
Axle felt a pinch of irritation at the haughty and condescending tone she took, but he smiled at her nonetheless.

"Jealous that I stole your limelight?" Axle asked, opening the door for her.
"It's going to take much more than a publicity stunt to do that, Mr. Walker." She entered the house, critically assessing the silence. "The media runs after anyone who shows up at our doorstep, especially if they're as shady as you."
Axle felt his smile vanish immediately. He saw her snobbishly looking around his home, probably assessing its worth and his temper flared. He stepped forward and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her to himself.

"Careful of what you say or do, Cirillo." He snapped at her.
"You've already threatened me enough, Walker." Celeste took a deep breath. Behaving like a hooligan wasn't what she practiced in her life. "I am not a person who minces her words or lies."
"All right." Axle let her go. "Since you've called me shady, I fill see to it that I drag your pretty little ass into my darkness."

Axle smirked as Celeste opened her mouth to retort, a cute frown marking the first break in her icy exterior, but before she could speak, Jerry interrupted them.

"The dinner is ready, boss."

Axle stepped closer to her, placing a lose strand of hair behind her ear.
"Let's continue this after you've eaten something." He remarked lazily, surprising Celeste.

They ate quietly and politely, with no words spoken between them, except about the food. Axle was aware that Celeste was sneaking subtle glances in his direction. She would glance softly at him, when she thought he wasn't looking and then she would go back to eating.
"You're barely eating anything." Axle commented, seeing that she had said no to most of the dishes and was merely picking at the salad.

"I have a strict diet which I need to follow. There are some of us who need to take care of public opinion." She commented with an air of the supermodel, she every bit was, before she got into acting.

Axle let that slide. He found himself getting concerned when she refused the main course and instead asked for a simple glass of orange juice. Even he felt himself losing appetite when he felt her cold stare on him.

"What're you looking at?" He asked, barely managing to sound polite.

"How did you get that scar?" She asked him, pointing at his face.

His servers stilled at the question, looking at each other in horror.
Axle took a huge gulp of wine from his glass and got up, without answering her. He walked around the table, to where she sat and pulled her up forcefully.
"Stop being a bitch." He snapped at her. "I know you're proud and arrogant about your face, but it'll literally take me one second to draw a map on your pretty white skin."

Celeste was scared, but at the same time, she was furious at the way he threatened her.
She snatched her hand away from his grip and slapped him hard.
Axle's face snapped to the right by the sudden assault. He balled up his own hands into fists, in order to stop himself from hurting her. The servers watched his shaking form in concern, as a group of men surrounded the pretty celeb almost immediately. A subtle shake of Axle's head had them standing back, instead of grabbing the woman.