Chapter 9
I was smiling. A real smile. Not a fake smile.
“And this, is my favourite place. It’s kind of quiet here, and nobody comes here except me” he walks to the corner of the forest. There a small house. It seems abandoned.
“Your favourite place is a house?” I smile
“Yep. There’s a lot of things you can do inside a house. It’s quite big” I nod as he smiles, pulling me towards it.
He opens the door, and I’m surprised to see a small chair in the corner with a few books to on the floor. It seems like a full living room. Sofas, fridge, a microwave.
“It’s a place where I can read quietly and nobody knows about it. They think it’s just a gardening shed” I nod
“It’s the perfect place to be quiet. But don’t others use it?” He shrugs.
“I’ve never seen anyone use it. And it’s always left in the same place, nobody moves anything” I nod
“You can use it, whenever you need to” he smiles, down at me.
“Thank you”
“No problem. How about we get food, and carry on the date?” I nod, following him out of the forest.
I like Holden. He’s not like Asher. He thinks about me before he does anything.
He drops my hand as we come into view of others. I know why he did it.
If anyone sees us holding hands, they’ll tell Asher. And Holden is afraid that Asher will hurt me.
“Luna, I seen this really nice place” he hates it when calls me luna. I can hear the hate when he calls me luna. He wants to call me Layla.
“You can call me Layla, Holden.” He nods slowly.
“Layla..” he whispers and a shiver runs up my back slightly.
“Do you like pizza?” He asks and I nod
“Is that a question to ask? I love pizza. Do they do chocolate donuts?” He nods grabbing my hand and starts running.
“Holden! Slow down” I laugh, loving the wind through my hair.
“We’re here” he stops, holding my shoulders so I don’t fall down.
“Thanks” I sigh, following him inside.
“Which pizza would you like?” He asks.
“Margherita” he smiles
“You pick a booth, and I’ll get you some food” I nod walking away from him.
I find a booth at the back, and I sit down. Rachel walks out of a door, and smirks at me.
“On a date? With Holden?” I freeze as she sits down.
“You see luna, when people threaten me, I want to know more about them. To see why they think they can warn me. Chloe saw you with Holden, in the woods, holding hands. But As-”
“I was holding her hand, because she twisted her ankle. She couldn’t walk properly. Stop twisting things around, Rachel. You know Asher won’t say anything, if I was helping her. Luna, I was helping you, right?” Holden walks forward, and looks at me. Pleading to me, to agree with him, or else, we’d all be dead.
“Yeah. I needed some rest, so he stopped here. And I’m not scared of you Rachel. Asher will believe me. Now why don’t you go fuck off, so I can eat my pizza” I mutter, angry at her.
“Hope you ankle gets better, luna” she smirks and walks away.
“Layla..” Everytime he says my name, he stops. As if he can’t stop thinking about me.
“Yes?” I encourage him to tell me.
“We should go back. To your house. Asher will be back any minute” I nod standing up.
“Did you enjoy today?” He whispers, staring at me, with a small sad smile on his face.
“I loved today. Thank you Holden” I’m about to hug him but he steps back.
“I’m sorry Layla, there’s nothing more in this world, that I’d rather do then, hold you close, but Rachel’s watching us from outside” I nod smiling at him. I know my face is heating up.
“Let’s get you home” he smiles at me, as we walk out of the shop.
On my way home,with Holden, I’m laughing and eating pizza.
“So wait, let me get this straight. You at the age of 18, fell into a mud pool, because everyone was doing it? That’s stupid Holden. You should never be the first one to try it out. Let me guess, they recorded it, and posted it everywhere?” I giggle, as he nods.
“Yep. Those asshole. When they see me now, they look at the floor. I got them back, pretty bad as well” he smirks
“What did you do?” I ask and he shakes his head.
“Maybe on our second date,I could tell you” he whispers lowly, as we reach my house.
“Maybe” I smile as he hands me the pizza box, and the chocolate donuts.
“I hope you had a good day, Layla. I know I did” he stares at me and I nod.
“I had the best day ever” he smiles.
“I’ll see you tomorrow” he whispers and then walks away. I open the door and head inside, to see Asher in the kitchen cooking.
I love a man who can cook, and this sight, Asher in a superman, apron, mixing something, is hot.
“Asher” he looks up.
“I came early, and cancelled the meeting to take you on our date, but you--you weren’t home. I thought you left. I cook to get my mind off things” he mumbles looking down at the mixture.
He cancelled his meeting? For me?
“You cancelled your meeting? For me?” I voice out my thoughts and he nods.
“I could see, sweetheart, in your eyes, you were upset. Because the date was cancelled. And I could hear the bitterness when you said work before dates” he whispers staring at me.
I’m a bad girl. I’m cheating on him. I shouldn’t be doing this. I shouldn’t be doing any of this.
“Sorry” I whisper as he stares at the food in my hand.
“You’ve had food” it wasn’t a question
“It’s okay. It’s late now, sweetheart. I’m going to bed” he turns to oven off and takes his apron off.
“Ashe-” he walks past me, and upstairs.
I drop the boxes on the counter, and run after him upstairs.
“Asher, just listen to me. Please” I grab a hold of his arm, but he pushes me away, gently.
“I know what you did, sweetheart. I can smell him all of you.” I froze.
I forgot all about the scent.
“Asher I ca-” he stares at me, then looks behind me at the door.
“You don’t talk to me, I don’t talk to you” he narrows his eyes, at the door behind me.
“I won’t.”
“You just did”
“I had to answer yo-” he walked away, slamming the door behind him.
Stupid baby.