Loving The Temperamental Adonis
Chapter 171: Because I love you

Chapter 171: Because I love you

"Don’t leave," he whispered harshly, catching her arm and stopping her from leaving. "Not in this condition."

Mia looked up into his deep gray eyes, and for the first time, she wasn’t so certain he was handling this departure as easily as she thought, Putting his hand against the side of her face, he smoothed her hair back and said solemnly, "The only foolish thing you’ve done in the last week is caring too much about me. Everything else you said and did was... right. It was perfect, Mia."

Closing her eyes, fighting back tears, Mia turned her face into his hand and kissed his palm as he’d kissed hers once before and she whispered against it, "I care about you because I love you so much."

He jerked his hand away so quickly like he’d been burned, and his voice turned condescendingly amused. "You don’t love me, Harrison. You’re too naive and inexperienced, and you don’t even know the difference between good sex and real love. Now be a good girl, go home where you belong, and forget about me. That’s exactly what I want you to do. I don’t want your love."

Mia felt as if he’d slapped her with those words, she wanted to weep and ask if everything he’d done to her was out of love but her wounded pride forced her not to act foolish. Instead, she raised her chin up and stepped away from him.

"You’re right, Mr. Wayner," she said with quiet dignity, getting into her car. "It’s time I return to my reality." Saying that, she didn’t wait for his response and started the car, without looking at him she rolled up and window and drove away from him.

Neil watched her car disappear around the first curve and vanish from his view between the towering pine trees. He remained there long after she was gone, until the freezing wind finally forced him to remember that he was standing outside without a coat. He’d hurt her because he had to do it, he reminded himself again as he turned to the house. He couldn’t let her waste one extra moment of her precious life loving him or missing him or waiting for him. He’d done the right thing, the noble thing, by ridiculing her love and sending her away.

Neil went into the kitchen, listlessly picked up the coffee pot, and reached for a mug from the cabinet, then he saw the mug Mia had used that morning, sitting on the counter top. He reached out slowly and picked it up, then he pressed the rim to his cheek whispering, "I think I love you, too."

****

Hours after Mia left the mountain house, she pulled the car off onto the side of the highway and reached for the thermos on the seat beside her, which Neil had filled and carefully kept for her. Her throat and eyes hurt from the tears she refused to shed, and her mind was dazed from her futile effort to block out the painful memory of his parting words.

’I don’t want your love.’

Her hand shook with misery as she poured the coffee into the top of the thermos, her eyes burned so bad she wanted to cry but she held back by biting down hard on her lower lip.

How cruel of him to ridicule her love for him that way, particularly when he knew she had to face the authorities and the press as soon as she got back to Mirage Mesa. Why couldn’t he have either ignored her words or lied and said he loved her, too, just so she would have something to cling to during the ordeal ahead. It would have been so much easier for her to face that if he’d only said he loved her.

’I don’t want your love...’ Mia tried to swallow the coffee, but it stuck in her constricted throat as another painful realization hit her, leaving her more desolate and bewildered than before.

Despite his having mocked her feelings, Neil had to have known full well that she really did love him. In fact, he was so sure of it, that he had assumed he could let her go, and she’d still go home and not betray him to the authorities. He knew that she loved him so much and would give anything to him that he’d assumed she’d give her body to him whenever he’d wanted.

And she also knew he was right, too. As hurt as she was by his coldness, she could never attempt to betray him. She loved him too much to want to hurt him, and her belief in his innocence and her desire to protect him from going back to prison were, strangely enough, every bit as strong now as they’d been yesterday. And she would protect him no matter what.

A car shot by her, splashing slush against the side of her car, and she remembered his warning to get as far away as possible without attracting any attention.

Wearily, she sat up and resumed to drive, looking over her shoulder to make certain it was safe to pull out to the highway, but she drove the BMW in a normal speed. Because Neil had warned her not to speed. And because she intended to do everything he’d said, she didn’t speed.

One hour later, Mia made it to the Avalora border in much less time than it had taken when she was driving Neil to the mountain. Following all of Neil’s instructions, she stopped the car at the first rest stop and made a call to the first person’s number she could think of.

Owen answered the call on the first ring as if he’d been expecting her calls. "Owen," she said, "I’m on my way home, I’m free now."

"Thank Heavens!" He exploded, "What about that son of a bitch? Where is he? Did he do anything to you, sweetheart?"

In all these years, she’d never known to hate being called sweet names by Owen until now. Even though she wanted to voice out and tell him she was no longer engaged to him because she’d taken off his ring and somehow lost it in the mountains, she held back. And before she could think of something to reply to his words, an unfamiliar voice broke in,

"Hello, Miss Harrison. This is Jason Wallace from the military. Where are you, are you with Wayner?" Asked Jason, who Mia hadn’t seen nor heard from in the past five years.

"I’m in Avalora at a rest stop. I’m free. I mean he...left me in the car, with the keys, blindfolded. But he’s gone. I’m sure he’s gone. I don’t know where." She said, sounding as nervous as she could.

Listen carefully," Jason advised. "Get back into your car, lock the doors, and leave immediately. Wayner is a psychopath; he might return. Do not remain in the vicinity where you last saw him. Drive to the nearest populated area and contact the authorities. I will inform the military, and they will come to take you into custody for your safety. Now, get out of there!"

Displeased with Jason’s tone, which made Neil seem like a dangerous wild animal on the loose, Mia responded angrily, "I am not going to the authorities or the military. I want to go home, rest, and I will drive straight there!" She abruptly ended the call and restarted her car again, ignoring her phone when it continued to ring again.

Two hours later, when she entered Mirage Mesa boarder, a helicopter that had obviously been searching for the distraught hostage who was on her way home somehow spotted her car and hovered overhead it. Minutes after she noticed it, countless black cars began racing onto the highway from every angle, positioning themselves in front and behind her, forming a motorcade to escort her home.

The moment she exited her car, she was surrounded by men in black suits stepping out of their cars. Before she could even react, she saw Owen walking out of his white Lamborghini and hurrying towards her in his home attire, his right hand shoved inside his coat pocket. In long determined strides, he reached her and pulled her into his embrace like a lover would to his woman.

He inhaled her scented hair and breathed in relief, "You are safe. I was worried sick." He tightened his hold around her but then she awkwardly moved away from him, looking around them at the authorities and the bodyguards surrounding them, saying, "Can I go home now? I am not ready for any questioning. I’m tired."

Owen, not noticing how much she was trying to avoid his touch, nodded his head, "Sure. I came here to take you home." He said, then looked back at his men and yelled out, "Clear the way, my fiancee is not ready to meet the reporters!"

Fiancee, she thought with an inner grimace, quietly following him into his white Lamborghini. She’d already decided to cut off her engagement with Owen, but seeing how he’d come all the day to escort her home and protect her from the media, she felt a little guilty and more determined to end the relationship so she wouldn’t feel bad about her rejection to his affectionate actions.

At this point, she wasn’t in the state of mind to deal with another emotional rollercoaster nor was she ready to meet the reporters, who she could already spot from afar with cameras. She wanted to go home and sleep until she could no longer think nor worry about Neil. Even though she could see from Owen’s expression that he wanted to ask her a lot of questions and how she’d ended up meeting Neil, she pretended not to notice and instead leaned back on the car seat and closed her eyes with both her fists clenched at her sides to hold back whatever emotions were threatening to burst out.

"Are you all right?" Asked Owen, who’d finally noticed something strange about the woman beside him from how she was sitting away from him on the seat. She sat so far away into the corner like she wanted to leave as much space between them as possible. Even though he was dying to ask if that son of bitch had touched or done something to her, he held back. He would ask her everything when she would be well rested.

She didn’t even bother to open her eyes as she nodded to his question, then turned away to face the window. He didn’t have to be told to know that there was something different about their relationship, and he confirmed it when his eyes fell on her ring finger that had no ring. His blue eyes darkened dangerously and he acted impulsively before he could stop himself, he grabbed her wrist, "Where is your ring?!" He demanded coolly.