His Toxic Addiction
Chapter 96: Determination for just a slap.

Chapter 96: Determination for just a slap.

The food in Arissa’s mouth turned sour the moment a particular muscular figure walked into the dining hall.

With struggle, she forced herself to swallow the portion in her mouth. Her eyes not leaving him, she took a sip of water before wiping her lips.

Nicklaus’s jaw tightened when he saw what she was doing. Since she was facing the door of the dining, he captured all of her facial expression and it was just as if his presence alone suffocated her.

He looked at her plate and the dishes on the table. Seeing she had eaten close to nothing, he fixed his gaze on her again.

Meeting his heated gaze on her, Arissa walked out of her seat and proceeded to the door. The door was big enough for a dozen of people so surely, she can just walk past him without obstruction.

Caught off guard, she paused when she felt a hot palm holding her arm. She had planned to just ignore him and go straight to her room but funny enough when his hand caught her arm, she could not help but stop.

She thinned her lips with zero reluctance in her. Raising her face, she directly meet his eyes because he was also staring down at her and at that moment, a tense silence fell over them.

Time paused as they held each other gaze securely with unreadable expressions and no plans to pull away.

Nicklaus swallowed and moved his gaze down to her arm where he held and Arissa’s eyes followed suit and then back to his eyes again.

"Arissa_" he wanted to ask if he did something that upset her but remembering what happened today, he swallowed his words and paused.

Honestly, he was confused right now. This was the first time he was genuinely comforting an upset woman and it left him speechless.

His mother would only roll her eyes, accepting his forced apologies but now, Arissa is different, with no plans to accept anything fake from him.

He was entirely clueless about what to do. Never been this clueless about something, it ate him up when his smartness can’t help him.

Snapping out of her daze, Arissa forcefully pulled her arm from his grip. Taking fast steps, she proceeded to the living room.

"Arissa," Nicklaus called from behind her. He was being all gentle with her and he also gave her ten steps of space while he just patiently walked behind her.

The worst he would do right now is to crowd her. It would only annoy her further.

Arissa acted deaf and mute as she fastened her steps and in a couple of minutes, she was already on the staircase.

Nicklaus patiently followed her up the staircase. Steps away from the elevator, his patience faded when he realized she had no plans of listening to him.

Left with no choice, he took long strides toward her, and without warning, he pulled her from behind.

"Stay away," Arissa warned when she felt his grip on her arm again.

Nicklaus frowned. Upon her warning, he tightened his grip on her, "And if I refuse?"

Arissa hissed.

She immediately tried to yank his hand off her arm but unlike the previous time, Nicklaus did not let go so easily and this time around, he whirled her around and pinned her to the wall.

And just as he expected, she tried to move away so to prevent that, he trapped her in between his both arms and stared down at her as if he was trying to figure out something.

Arissa felt trapped but her will to resist was nowhere to be found as she just looked up at him rather than pushing him away.

Nicklaus’s eyes moved from her eyes to her chest. Trailing upward again, they paused at her lips, and with slow breaths, he fixed his gaze back into her beautiful brown eyes.

"Arissa, stop ignoring me," Nicklaus warned her, still holding her gaze.

"Why?" Arissa held her breath. His hot gaze on her melted her from her inside and she could feel all of her anger going away.

Arranging her thoughts to be able to rebuke his magnetism, she asked, "Because you want to be all commanding and mighty so, you hate it when I ignore you?"

’There she goes again,’ Nicklaus thought. She was always so fast to conclusions and hardly listen to the next person. Does she know how annoying jumping to conclusions is?

"I love being all commanding and mighty, yes! But_" his dominant voice instantly turned soft, "but it scares me when you ignore me."

Arissa froze and her eyelid trembled. Her red lips also parted in disbelief and shock as she refused to believe what she just heard from him.

It scares him when I ignore him? she thought. How impossible. That’s ridiculous!

"Why?" she whispered lowly and for strange reasons, her heartbeat fastened while she turned nervous.

"Because I_"

And something abruptly clicked in Arissa’s memory. The main reason she was mad at him tonight came flooding back and she have to laud him for doing a great job with his charms because, for a moment, she had almost let go of her anger.

Pressing her hand on his rock-hard chest to push him away, "You are lying to me," Arissa cut him off.

"Lying to you?" Nicklaus was dumbfounded. "I have never lied to you,"

"Seriously?" Arissa swallowed, "Who changed me last night?"

Nicklaus’s face fell with the sudden question.

"I thought we were over that already,"

Arissa shifted backward as if to press herself into the wall and this act did not escape Nicklaus’s watch.

"No, Nicklaus. So answer the question," she insisted.

Nicklaus’s heart trembled.

Fixing his stern mask on, he took in a deep breath as he struggled with himself knowing he was about to lie again but telling her it was him wouldn’t do any good right?

"Lyra_" and Nicklaus was caught off his speech with a strong reflex as he immediately caught her wrist, to save his cheek from the sudden slap that was coming it’s way.

"Why_"

Pahh!

Arissa cut him off his sentence for the second time by using her free left hand to give him a backhand slap - surprising Nicklaus with her determination for just a slap.

Nicklaus’s jaw clenched in annoyance and before he would control himself, he caught a hold of her left hand and pinned both of her hands above her head.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" he growled at her.

Arissa drew in a sharp breath, stunned by his sudden action but there was no fear in her. She even met his enraged dark eyes boldly without barking down but on the inside, her walls crumbled and she felt close to tears.

Arissa swallowed, "You wanna know what the fuck is wrong with me? Lyra never changed me last night!" she choked out.

Nicklaus’s hand holding her wrists became stiff and gentle with shock, he let go of her and took a step back.

With the guilt on his face, Arissa confirmed everything. She held her hands to herself. "You lied to me_" she paused and waited to take away her emotions so she don’t break down, "You took advantage of my drunk self," she accused.

Her heart ached with the thought alone and when Lyra denied changing her last night, she felt torn apart. He would have just been honest with her rather than saying something else.

His lie hurt her more than her parent’s lies, and she doesn’t know why.

"I_"

Arissa shook her head in disapproval, "I don’t want to listen to you. You might just lie to me again," she cut him off in a pained voice.

Turning her face away from him, she sniffed and she felt her heart about to burst open. She has to leave for her room right now.