CHAPTER 5: MORINA
536 Words
Linny’s eyes narrowed when Bastian said we were leaving.
“I don’t think you’ve done near enough talking to go anywhere.”
Was she insinuating that I was losing the bet or that she was nervous about me leaving with a man I’d just met?
“We’ll talk more on the drive.”
“Drive to where?” she asked, leaning away from her boyfriend. So, definitely the latter.
“I—”
“Totally right for you to be concerned about your friend. Here’s my card.”
Bastian handed over a business card that was all black but had his name and contact information on it. I peered at it and lifted a brow.
“Sebastian Armanelli? Fancy name.”
One corner of his mouth lifted just a hair. I couldn’t quite tell if he was amused or irritated with me, yet I liked that look all the same. He continued as if I hadn’t said a word.
“If something happens and you can’t find her in twenty-four hours, hand that over to the police. And call the number now.”
Pulling her phone from her purse, she punched in the numbers. His phone rang instantly.
“You have my personal line, and I promise, your boyfriend would help you find me. He likes you more than he does my family.”
The man was trying more than most men would, and I wasn’t quite sure why. I’d surrounded myself with a lot of people who didn’t go against the tide. If it pulled them, they went. I didn’t find fault in that, but now that I had a man going to such lengths to spend time with me, it shook something in me.
I studied Bastian’s arm when he offered it to me.
“Maybe, I shouldn’t go. This is a lot of fuss to prove my statement wrong.”
“Yet, I’m the one making the fuss. So let me decide how far I’m willing to go.”
Effort. Why was it so attractive? And why was I so scared of it? If curiosity killed the cat, I guess I was about to find out exactly how.
There was something behind his dark eyes that pulled me in, like he was searching for something more than the club had to offer, and he wanted to show me that we could find it together. I sighed and waved to Linny.
“I’ll put my location share on for you, okay?”
She nodded and motioned for me to call her. Leaving the club was much faster than entering. Bastian beelined through the VIP crowd and pulled me down a different darkened staircase. A car waited at the bottom, right outside a back door.
“Well, that’s convenient,” I mumbled.
“Perks of my lifestyle, I guess.”
He waved off his driver and opened the door for me. I didn’t know the make of the car, but I knew it was more expensive than the limo immediately. The leather was stitched precisely and felt like butter instead of alligator skin to the touch. He paused outside the car and spoke to the driver, maybe giving directions, before taking the seat beside me.
- Writer
