Loving The Temperamental Adonis
Chapter 164: Please don’t leave me (part 1)

Chapter 164: Please don’t leave me (part 1)

The sky was already dark when Mia walked into the living room after her long shower and short nap that helped her calm her tense nerves and banging headache that had accompanied the fear she’d felt after seeing that helicopter in the evening. Bathed and dressed into Neil’s black sweater and pants, she walked down the stairs and headed towards Neil, who was standing in front of the fire, staring into it, his jaw as rigid as granite.

Judging from his expression and his actions earlier after the helicopter had left, she correctly assumed that much of what was bothering him right now was probably guilt for what he’d just put her through, but the experience had affected her in a much different way, now that it was over. She was furious that people were forcing him to live like this and determined to find out what he intended to do to put an end to it. Whatever he intended, she was determiningly resolved to convince him to let her help in any way she could to clean his name.

Rather than broaching the subject immediately, Mia decided to wait until after they’d eaten dinner. Given Neil’s amazing ability to shove his worries into the background, she assumed an hour or two would be plenty of time for him to get over what appeared to be an extremely black mood. Walking forward, she said lightly, "Are you going to cook tonight, or do you intend for me to do all the cooking?"

He turned and looked at her for several seconds, his face preoccupied and stony. "I’m sorry. What did you say?" He asked, not even catching any of her words as he’d been so lost in thought to even notice when she’d walked down after her one hour nap.

"I was talking about the cooking chores around here." Shoving her hands into the pocket of her pants, she teased, "Are you trying to go back on our agreement now?"

"What are you talking about?" Neil asked, his mind too preoccupied with trying fiercely to believe Mia would be safe if she stayed here with him...trying to forget the way she’d looked when that helicopter had scared the hell out of her, crouched under that tree, shaking all over, clutching her coat to her chest. He tried so hard to convince himself that it had been an unrelated incident with the military and that wouldn’t be repeated again, but deep down, he knew better than to risk her life again because he didn’t want to part ways with her, the thought of it alone was so heart wrenching he didn’t want to think about it anymore.

Mia gave him one of her breathtaking dimpled smiles and said, "I am talking about cooking chores, Mr. Wayner! We have made the agreement that you’d be the one to cook for as long as we are here, but for the past two days I’ve been the one doing all of it. It’s so unfair, don’t you agree?"

Neil managed an unconvincing imitation of a smile and nodded. All he wanted to do at that moment was take her to bed and lose himself in her, to forget for a blissful hour what had happened and what he now knew had to happen next, and much sooner than he’d planned for it to happen. He couldn’t step into the main world when his face was already known, all he could do was wait for Liam’s investigation to be over, and before that he couldn’t continue to risk Mia’s life, her life mattered more than the fleeting attraction he had on her.

****

Few minutes later, Neil was done cooking and the pair sat down beside the fire as usual to eat their dinner. However, Mia’s hope that Neil would bounce back from his somber mood proved to be a little too optimistic this time. He wasn’t as playful as he’d been the other day, he was polite but preoccupied through out most of their meal and now that she had cleared the dishes away, she was thinking about a way to trick him and make him loosen up and tell her the thought that had been bothering him. She resorted to using wine to get her way into his mind, perhaps if he got drunk he’d tell her everything, after all it had been said that people let out their deepest burden when they got drunk.

She wanted to take away his burden, and she felt she had a better chance to get forthright, complete answers if he were relaxed and his guard was down.

Leaning forward, Mia picked up the bottle of wine and carefully refilled his glass for the fifth time after their dinner, then she handed it to him, congratulating herself on her subtlety.

Neil looked from the wine glass to her face. "I hope you aren’t trying to get me drunk," he stated drily, "because if you are, wine isn’t the way to go about it."

"Shall I get the vodka instead?" Mia asked, stifling a nervous laugh at the fact that he’d seen through her plan to get him drunk.

Neil stopped with the glass halfway to his lips, finally realizing that she had been deliberately trying to pour wine down him as fast as he could drink it as well as watching him with a strange look throughout most of the meal. What was she up to now? He thought as he gave her a narrowed look.

"What are you up to?" He asked.

"Nothing." She replied.

With a feeling of vague suspicion, Neil watched her shift positions so that her back was against the arm of the sofa and she was facing him. Her opening question seemed like a joking and innocuous one, "Neil, wouldn’t you say I’ve been a good hostage?"

"Indeed," he agreed, smiling a little at her contagious humor and trying to match her mood instead of letting himself drown in his uncertainty about the future.

"Wouldn’t you also say I’ve been obedient, cooperative pleasant, orderly and —and that I’ve even done more than my share of the cooking?"

"Yes to all but the ’obedient’ part."

She smiled at that. "And as a good companion, don’t you agree that I’m entitled to certain...well...extra privileges."

"What sort of privileges do you have in mind?" He raised a curious brow.

"I want the privilege of knowing all of your thoughts." Mia watched his expression turn guarded.

"Possibly. It depends on the thoughts you’re referring to." He said, sipping his wine slowly.

A little unnerved by his unencouraging response, she nevertheless went ahead to speak, "What do you intend to do from here on? I mean how do you plan to find the main murderer? I want to be of help."

"No, change the topic," he said flatly, not wanting her to get more involved in anything that has to do with him or his problems.

"Okay. Do you have any ideas about who the real murderer could be?"

"Try a different topic."

Neil’s unnecessary curtness grated on her, not only because loving him made her extremely sensitive to his attitudes, but because Mia honestly felt she was entitled to answers on what he planned to do from here on if he even intended to keep her or allow her to be of help. Keeping her voice sincere and level, she said, "Please don’t brush me off like this, Neil."

"Then please pick another topic, Mi amor."

"Will you stop being flippant and listen to me? Try to understand that as much as you want to know the real murderer I want to know as well. My mom was one of the victims, and if not for her, I want to be of help to you as well. I want to know exactly what happened that night and how you got framed for a crime you didn’t commit. You were seen on camera exiting the parking lot Alaric had been killed, please tell me what really happened."

"You’ll find it all in the newspapers, you are a journalist and it won’t take you a day to find all of the reports about my case. Look it up when you get home." He said calmly and uninterestedly. One thing he knew for sure was that Mia Harrison was as stubborn as a cat, she wouldn’t give up once she set her mind on something, and this case wasn’t something he’d want her to be involved in when she’d be risking her life in the process of it.

"I don’t want to read the media’s version! They are liars, i want to hear yours. I need to know what really happened that night and how you got caught up in this mess—from you."

"You’re out of luck then." He stood up, put his glass down, and held out his hand to her.

Mia stood up, too, so that he didn’t dwarf her and automatically started to put her hand in his, thinking it was an appeasing gesture, then he burst her bubbles by saying,

"It’s late, let’s go to bed and get ourselves busy with something else."

Mia quickly snatched her hand back, angry and insulted by his casual attitude of taking her to bed instead of telling her what he intended to do about his case.

"I will not. What I’m asking of you is very little compared to what you’ve demanded of me and you know it!" She said, trying desperately to control her hurt at the fact that he wasn’t sharing much with her.

"I am not going to go through another description of that day again for you or for anybody else," he snapped, angry at the fact that she wasn’t listening to him. "I did it a hundred times before the trial for the military and lawyers. It’s over. Closed."

"But I want to help. It’s been five years, Neil. You have been treated unfairly in prison. Maybe we could work together and find the real—"

His scornful laugh cut her to the quick. "How could you possibly help me, Mia?"

"I could try!" She argued.

"You can’t. And if you know what’s best for you, stay out of this."