Angel’s bliss by Dripping Creativity

25 

“Angel.” The soft word rolled over Ava, and she looked up at Zane. He stood in the doorway of the room, looking at her. 

“Yes?” she asked. 

“Why haven’t you moved?” 

“Oh, I don’t really know. I need to start cleaning my room,” she said. Her mind was a little foggy. She hadn’t had the best of days, and her reserve energy was about to deplete. She needed to make sure she could sleep In her bed before she 

“Angel, you won’t have to clean that up. Anna will sort it out,” Zane told her as he took a step into the room and closed the door behind him. 

“I can’t let her do that. It’s late, and she has already been working the whole day,” Ava objected. A smile curved Zane’s lip. 

“She will do it tomorrow. I’m not a slavedriver.” 

“But where will I sleep?” she asked, confused. 

“You can stay right here with me tonight. Just sleeping.” She looked at him. She was confissed. This was his private room, no one but him was allowed here. “Don’t look so surprised, angel. Go on and take a shower, or a bath. Then we can go to bed,” he said with a smile and ran his hand along her arm. 

“I need to get something to sleep in Ava told him. Zane walked over to a door on the other side of the room. When he opened it, Ava saw it was a walk–in closet. He came back a moment later, handing her a giant t–shirt with what looked like a character from a video game. 

“What?” he asked when he saw her looking at it in disbelief. 

“You own t–shirts?” she asked. Ava scolded herself for the stupid question. Her brain–to–mouth filter seemed to stop functioning when she got put through the wringer. But Zane chuckled. 

“Is that so strange?” 

“Yes, I have never seen you in anything but a suit,” she told him. 

“But you have only known me for a week, angel. I don’t usually wear t–shirts, but sometimes even I need to rele.” Jor nodded. That made sense. “Now, off you go,” he told her and gently placed another kiss on her head before pushing towards the bathroom. Ava started walking, but stopped before going in. She turned around to look at Zane that stoo 

25 

le of the room, watching her. It may be foolish, but he made her feel safe, and she feared losing sight of him. As always, he read her mind. “I’ll be here. No one will get past me. You are safe, so relax and take your time.” 

“Okay, thank you” she said, and got a smile back. Ava walked into the bathroom and stopped again when she had to look brownd. It was a large, square room. One wall had two sinks and the cabinets stretched along the entire wall. As did the mirror, it reflected the view from the large window on the opposite wall. That wall was entirely made up of a windong, wall to wall, floor to ceiling. Ava realised how close they were to the back of the property. The wall was barely visible at the bottom of the view; the rest was taken up by the vast forest and the city as a backdrop. Along the wall to Ava’s left, there was a shower with so many heads and sprays Ava didn’t even bother to count them. The shower was separated from the rest of the room by a clear glass wall. At the inner wall, there was a door leading to the toilet, Ava presumed. In the middle of the room, sunken into the floor, was a huge, circular bathtub. Ava knew that from that bathtub you could lay and watch the amazing view. It called to her. But Ava refused to give in to it. She felt like she didn’t have enough time to revere a bathtub like it properly at her state of mind. She opted for the somewhat intimidating shower instead. After figuring out how to get hot water to pour down from at least one showerhead and accidentally setting off some of the smaller sprinkler like sprays, Ava just stood and let the warmth of the water seep into her skin. Her brain started working again after five minutes, and Ava worked through the events of the day. 

She felt bruised on the inside, like her heart and soul had gone a couple of rounds with a well–trained fighter and lost. Ava needed to toughen up if she was to survive in this world. She realised her trashed bedroom had been what pushed her over. Ava had been so certain she would be safe in that room, she had longed to come back and shut herself inside her safe zone. To see it utterly destroyed had yanked away that comfort. Now, the only place that felt safe was with Zane. Which made no sense, but Ava was willing to just accept it for now and hope Zane didn’t mind her hanging around him for now. She dried herself and felt a little better after the long shower. Ava put on the t–shirt, It almost went down to her knees. She wondered if she should put on her panties again. But as she opted not to, she reminded herself that Zane was intimately familiar with that part of her. She opened the door and saw Zane’s head turn around to look at her. He had a little smile on his lips. The last of the tension in Ava’s body let go, and she exhaled. 

“Anna came around with hot chocolate and sandwiches,” he told her and patted next to him on the bed. 

“That’s nice of her,” Ava said and walked over and sat down on the spot he had patted. 

1 

“Sit here and enjoy your treat and I’ll just freshen up,” he told her. He walked into the bathroom and Ava took a sip of the hot beverage and a shiver of pleasure ran down her as the warmth spread through her body. She nibbled on a sandwich and felt content. She looked around Zane’s room. It was decorated in dark, warm colours like brown, burgundy and forest green. Ava could see it as an extension of the man. The bed took up most of the space. It was enormous and felt firm under her. There were no decorative pillows or things like that. It was comfortable and practical. In a comer there was a large tv, some gaming consults and two comfortable looking armchairs. Somehow, the gaming setup tugged at her heart. It showed another side of Zane, a more private side. Ava heard the bathroom door opening, and she turned and looked in the direction. She had to use all her willpower not to let the sip of chocolate drip out of her mouth as she looked at Zane. He had taken a shower and was dressed in dark blue sleep pants in some silky material that hung low on his hips, showing off his toned upper–body. It was the first time Ava had seen him shirtless and, even though she knew he was muscular, nothing had prepared her for the black tattoos that covered his torso and arms to below his elbows. She had never understood the fascination with tattoos until that moment. She had an urge to run her fingers along them. With huge effort, Ava dragged her eyes away from the Intriguing pattern and looked up. Zane was using a town to dry his Ink black hair. When he was done, it made a tousled mess. Ava had never seen him so relaxed and unkept before. It was a glimpse of the man he was when he didn’t have his mask in place. It made her realise how much of what she saw of him was a shield to protect himself and, she assumed, his organisation. He walked over to her, tossing the towel on a chair. 

25 

nly f 

Feeling better?” he asked and ran his fingers through her hair. Ava smiled as the pleasure travelled through her scalp. 

Pohueh, thank you. I’m almost back to myself,” she told him. 

“Good Ava let out a little squeal as he lifted her up and sat down on the bed with her on his lap. She wrapped her arms around him and relaxed. “Did he hurt you?” Zane asked and let his fingers run over her wrist. There was still a faint trace of the bruise the zip–tles had left. He placed a soft kiss over her raging pulse.