Urquia

Chapter 7: Vodka shots

*Andrea POV*

I knew something was off. He tried to make me believe he came in peace when we were in the alley, but what was he doing here now? This is bullshit. My gut is telling me to run, but damn, I need to know more.

I saw his expression and his body language. He was ready to fight. His face was a mix of worry and fascination. Yeah, I bet this is not what he was expecting. I hope he's not trying to do anything funky.

-"What are you doing here?" I shouted angrily.

-"Umm... I was outside. I saw them following you, I came to check up on you but I see you have everything under control," he smirked and licked his bottom lip. His dimples popped out and my heart skipped a beat.

I tried not to blush as the crazy, horny thoughts wouldn't stop coming. Damn, those lips were killing me. I wanted to bite them, taste them. Then I remembered what happened the last time I trusted some random person.

I smiled back and let the choking guy drop to the floor. I asked the guy on his knees,

-"¿You done?" He nodded, and I let him go and they all started running off, taking the injured with them. I'll need a full background check on all of them. Nathan, his friends, and these guys included.

The photos I shot were sent automatically to Cris from my watch. By the time I'm done here, I'll know all about them. For now, I'll play pretend. I could see his emotions in his eyes. He's so yummy when he's excited.

I clapped the dust from my hands and said,

-"Thanks for coming to my rescue, knight in shining armor," while batting my eyelashes like I’ve seen girls do. We both burst into laughter.

I really loved to hear him laugh. - 'Okay, FOCUS, Andrea, and please stop drooling... it's embarrassing, get a grip!' We walked to my car and I was still alert. If he thinks he's gonna take me by surprise...

-"Write to me when you get home?" he said, interrupting my thoughts.

-"You don't have to check up on me," I said.

-"Of course I do. I check up on all my friends," he said with a sly smirk.

-"Oh, we're friends now?" I raised my brow.

-"We're more than friends, I'm your strong knight and you're my fair lady," he offered me his hand.

My cheeks turned red as I shook my head and took it. I felt a tingling sensation when he bowed and kissed my knuckles. The heat of his kiss went through my body and I blushed even harder.

When I drove back, I made sure nobody was following. I debated with myself whether I should text him or not. If he is trying to come after us, I'll make him believe I know nothing so I can get all the info I need.

But a part of me really wishes he's interested in me. Nah, who am I kidding? How would a man like him ever be interested in a person like me? I'm not pretty, I'm damaged and always been more like a tomboy. I don't know how to behave girly or even flirt. I'm clumsy, very awkward, and nerdy. Oh, and by the way, I HAVE 3 KIDS, 2 DOGS, 3 PARROTS, 2 CHICKENS, AND A BUNCH MORE ANIMALS... Oh, and of course, A HUSBAND I'm at war against.

Nope, I don't need more drama, or romance, or anything distracting me from my goals or my businesses.

-'It would be nice though,' I said to myself.

-'Yes, it would,' I answered me back.

-'Got home safe. Thank you for caring,' I texted him when I arrived.

-'Thank you for letting me know you're safe. Now I can go to sleep without any worries. Good night, my fair lady,' he replied.

-'Sleep tight, brave knight,' I wrote back, smiling.

I headed downstairs to our headquarters after grabbing my favorite vodka and some chocolate snacks. As I entered the room, my baby sister lifted her head from her laptop.

-"Rough night?"

-"Nothing I can't handle," I grinned.

I poured us some vodka shots while I munched on my Reese's Pieces.

-"Whatcha' you doin'?" I asked.

She looked at her laptop again, typed like crazy, and on the wall screen appeared the photo of Nathan and all she could find about him.

Surprisingly, he owns a very large amount of land which is basically forest and mountains and even a huge lake north of town. The satellite pictures show a small residency complex with open fields that circles a huge mansion at the center of the land. From above it looks like a huge snowflake. The most interesting part are the houses mingled with the trees. There's so much green you almost can't see the roofs, the lights or the main street.

Almost as if it was strategically placed, scattered around the whole area, are groups of small cabins and towers on the borderland. Those were hard to spot and we may have missed a lot. The whole land is not fenced, but you could clearly see the borders.

Then I looked at his personal data. Nathan Happle, single, 29 years old, a little sister called Lillian, his parents are Marty and Susana. He studied at MIT and has several degrees.

He is the CEO of The International Happle Corporation. It's a construction business. He's smart. Investing in a shipping company and several materials supply companies has made him almost a billionaire. Not only he makes the buildings, he gains profit on the material they use, too. He has sub-companies in a lot of countries, too.

Cris hasn't found anything related to my ex. No phone calls, emails, photos, nothing. But something is still weird about his life. He's really anonymous, no social media, he's not famous at all.

His community is very reserved. She couldn't find any useful information. His company is really secure, too. She hacked into its system and couldn't find anything shady.

All the photos she could find from surveillance cameras on the streets were of him, hot guy number two, and the same two guys from the club. It's weird a business that big is practically hidden from the world in this town. What dirty secret are you hiding, Nathan?

I recognized them from this past week. Hot guy number two is called Leonard Matthew, 25 years old. He's the CFO of the company, single, parents dead 15 years ago, only child, and seems to go wherever Nathan goes. I chuckled and said,

-"He's Nathan's Cristina."

She rolled her eyes.

-"Anyways, he's clean, too," she said. -"In fact, all of them are, the guys too, just random assholes."

-"The other two couples are Tom and Liza Kramer, Brian and Monique Ramirez. Both married. I haven't found anything that links any of them to that ass," she stated.

-"So what are they hiding? Why follow us?"

I told her what happened since I saw him the first time and what he told me. Then she smiled at me and said,

-"I think he is genuinely interested in you."

I laughed after my fourth vodka shot.

-"Claro que si, guapa" (Yeah right, cutie). I sighed.

-"I'm a nobody. I'm a barely decent mom. I don't have the energy or the time to begin something with someone like him. Look at those muscles! That guy probably has lots of women after him, begging to be in his bed, hell, I'd beg if I could," I scoffed. - "Nah, us ugly people don't get to have sexy gods like him looking in our direction."

-"I'm only saying, Andy, to consider it. It's been three years and before that you were miserable with that lame excuse of a man. Then after what we've been through in Germany you deserve to have romance, momma," she said and took another shot.

I grimaced at the memories of what happened in Germany started coming again, the torture he put me through. What I had to do to get us out of there. How lucky we were to escape that hell.

-"Nah, I don't think I could ever trust no one again. You, mami y papi, my kids... you are the only ones I'd go through fire for. I don't need a man in our life, not now when we are so close, Cris." Her eyes dropped to her hands and I could feel her disappointment. I know she feels guilty and that's why she hasn't opened up to anybody either.

-"Hot guy, this number 2, right?" I tried to change the subject. She turned red as a tomato and said,

-"Yeah? I haven't really noticed." I laughed so hard at her shyness and after catching up a bit more, I went upstairs to my babies' room. I kissed Damian and Diana and went to my room where I found my mom sleeping with baby Sam. I kissed them both and went downstairs to my backyard porch.

I took a blanket and went to the hammock to finish the bottle and just look at the forest, then at the beautiful moon. Then at the forest again. Is that a wolf?

THAT'S IT. THAT'S HIS SECRET. HE'S SUPERNATURAL!

I got up, squeezed my eyes, more alert of my surroundings. I got closer to the forest, I bet that's a wolf. I don't step into the forest but I can see them clearly. One is black, the other is brown, way smaller. I drank the bottle empty and went back to my hammock. I'm tired and tipsy. I fell asleep, dreaming about fairy tales.