Chapter 14

“When are we leaving?” Blaine asked me for the fifth time.

We’d only been in the market for half an hour and Alan was completely annoyed with Blaine. Blaine probably felt the same way, but more than anything, he just didn’t want to be there.

“You can go if you want. No one’s holding you back,” Alan told Blaine.

“Alan…” I mumbled, pushing on his shoulders lightly.

I was walking between Alan and Blaine, and they both made me feel really small. It didn’t help that they kept glaring at each other, and I could feel the hostility sizzling in the air.

“I will leave when Madeline is ready to go. Are you read to go?” he looked down at me.

I wasn’t sure if I felt angry at him, or I was still sad about what he’d said earlier. I had only been allowed a minute or two to think about Blaine’s earlier statement, before Alan returned and dragged me away to a tent selling band t-shirts. Blaine had agreed with me—there was nothing going on between us. Hearing that out loud majorly sucked.

“Don’t be a snob,” I told Blaine, pushing my shoulders against his arm.

“I have things to do, Madeline,” Blaine replied, with an edge to his tone.

“Leave if you want, then.” I couldn’t hide the disappointment in my voice.

It was clear that unlike Alan and me, Blaine didn’t enjoy the market. I was making him miserable and it was a weekend. If he had better things to do, I wasn’t sure what he was doing there in the first place.

“I came here to talk to you. You already know about what. I did not think you would set our conversation aside for this,” Blaine said, looking around at the tables and tents with disapproval.

I sighed, and finally nodded, if only to get rid of him. I figured he wanted to talk about Vitaly, because he’d been careful with his words. I didn’t want to just drop it on him that Alan knew everything that had happened in our time in Russia. Alan was my best friend. I would not have been able to hide the kidnapping from him even if I tried.

Getting Alan to let me go with Blaine took convincing. It was difficult and he kept looking at Blaine with distrust. Blaine was glaring right back at him. He finally conceded when I told him I was tired either way. I’d talk to Blaine and he would walk me home. It helped that Lara was phoning him while I was trying to convince him to let me go.  

“Your friend,” Blaine said as soon as I walked back to him.

We were on the sidewalk, heading back to my house. We weren’t holding hands, not that I had been expecting it, but he was walking really close to me. Our shoulders touched whenever either of us took a step.

“What about him?” I asked, defensively.

“I don’t like him. Why does he take all those liberties with you?” Blaine asked, frowning.

“I already told you that I’ve known Alan for a long time. We’ve gone to school together since forever. He’s cool. You just need to get to know him better.” I was saying the words, but I knew they weren’t true. I didn’t really see a time when Blaine and Alan got along. They were way too different.

“Look, I need to go home to take care of some things. I talked to Elizabeth and she told me she was working late tonight.”

“Okay?”

“You’re coming home with me,” he casually informed me.          

“I’m going home with you…” I repeated, just to make sure I’d heard him right. I was wondering why my mom and Blaine made plans without first talking to me.

“It’s not safe for you to be in your house alone. Vitaly is gone, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t a threat. I need to keep you safe.”

“Blaine, you don’t have to worry about me. I already told you.” I was trying to decide whether Blaine wanted to take me away because he really wanted me safe, or if he simply felt guilty that I was in danger because of him.

“I will still worry. Do you need to pack anything? I want to take off as soon as we can. I have a busy day,” Blaine said, looking down at his Rolex—the one he hadn’t taken off all throughout the kidnapping.

I didn’t really see Blaine being attached to anything—other than his money, maybe. I imagined that the Rolex had been a present, or it was special for some reason. It was the only thing Blaine seemed to be attached to.

“So you’ll be busy, and I’ll be bored while you’re taking care of your life? No thanks. I’ll call Alan and ask him to sleep over. I should-”

“No,” Blaine sharply cut me off.

“What do you mean ‘no’?”

“I don’t like him,” he bluntly replied. He didn’t even try to hide the contempt in his voice.

“I’ll be fine. I will stay at the apartment, and I’ll lock the door.”

“I’m taking you with me.”

We were silent the rest of the way home. It felt like Blaine had walked through the streets around my apartment before. He knew his way, and he was comfortable in the area. It took me a few minutes to realize Blaine had his guards following close behind us in a black car with tinted windows.

“You’re not kidding with your paranoia, huh?” I asked, nodding towards the car.

“I always have a security team. I go nowhere without them.”

“The day you got kidnapped?” I asked, feeling curious. It had been way too easy for Vitaly to take him.

“I was taking care of your bag,” Blaine answered, sounding uncomfortable. “I was going to the security room to find out how you managed to get through the guards. I was intercepted on the way there.”

I grinned at his reply. I’d been assuming that he was really going to dump my stuff in the trash. It felt good to know that Blaine had cared enough about me to check out what had happened that day.

“I guess things didn’t go as planned, huh?”

Blaine shook his head, but he didn’t say anything else. The rest of the short walk back to my apartment was spent in silence. Blaine seemed thoughtful. I wanted to ask what was running through his mind, but I didn’t want to disturb the silence. Instead, I looked up at him, appreciating the view. I briefly wondered if I would ever get used to seeing him without feeling like my stomach was doing somersaults.

“I will drag you if I have to,” Blaine said, walking really close behind me. We’d just arrived at the apartment. My mom wasn’t at work yet, but she wasn’t around.

“I don’t want to go. I’m not going to spend my Saturday holed up who knows where, doing nothing, while you go about your day ignoring me. It’s Saturday, Blaine,” I complained.

“We will do whatever you want once I finish for the day.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, trying to see if he was lying to me. I couldn’t tell if he was telling the truth, but he seemed honest enough. The thought of spending the day with him was appealing. I just didn’t know how much of that time he was going to be spending with me.

“Fine,” I agreed.

Blaine followed me into my room. It was the first time he’d been there. The day when we returned from our road trip, he had strictly stayed in the living room and kitchen. I realized that since my mom wasn’t there, he felt more comfortable roaming around our tiny apartment.

My room was half the size of the room where we’d been held hostage by Vitaly in Russia. I imagined that Blaine was used to spacious rooms. When he walked in, he didn’t seem surprised, though. He started poking around, looking at my things and pictures. I had plenty of those, and he seemed curious.

“Who is this?” he asked, pointing at a picture of one of Alan’s friends. He was doing something goofy, and it’d been the only reason he had made it to my wall.

“That’s Ricky. He’s cool.”

I used one of the suitcases Blaine bought for me during the road trip. I still had clothes in there from the trip that I hadn’t taken out, and some of it was new—the tags still on them. I left those in there, and grabbed other essentials.

Blaine was still looking at my wall of pictures when I finished packing. He’d asked me to name several of the people in them. Although he frowned at the amount of guys that made it to my wall, he didn’t say much, other than grunt here and there at my replies. Most of the pictures on the wall were of Alan and me. His friends, who were mostly guys, featured in plenty of them. My mom was in some of the pictures, but Blaine seemed to skim over those, focusing more on the ones of Alan and myself.

“You took plenty of pictures once we returned to the country,” Blaine commented, while he took my suitcase from me. It had wheels, but he was still carrying it.

“I did. I’ve wanted to look at those in my computer, but I haven’t had time,” I told him, smiling at the memory of all the pictures I’d taken. I was regretting the short time we’d spent at Blake’s cabin beside the lake. The place was beautiful, and I did not take any pictures while we were there.

“Why are none of those pictures in your wall? You had fun, didn’t you?” Blaine asked. The intensity of his stare surprised me.

“Blaine, we got here like two days ago. I haven’t had time. My mom’s been bothering me to look at those pictures, but I’ve been busy.”

We had only just stepped outside of my apartment, when one of his guys—dressed in a sharp, black suit—took the suitcase from Blaine’s hands. He walked away without a word. The guy was as intimidating as they came. He was about Blaine’s height—a few inches over six feet—but he had a dangerous air to him and all around, looked ready to kick ass. He was one the only guys from Blaine’s guards that I remembered. I assumed he was in charge of the others, because whenever Blaine had talked to one of them to give orders, it was always him.

“I didn’t know they got off the car.”

“Have you eaten breakfast?” Blaine asked, ignoring my comment.

“No, and I’m starving,” I said, rubbing my stomach.

“Can you wait until we get to the city?” Blaine reached down and took my hand in his. I didn’t fight him. I allowed him to hold my hand, although it deeply confused me. This was the guy who just an hour earlier had told me that we weren’t an item.

I sighed, and nodded. “I can wait.”

Blaine’s white flashy car—a Bugatti, he said—was in the apartments parking lot. He had one of his guards watching it. Some of the guys, which included Alan’s friends, kept drooling over it. Blaine was not pleased when I said hello and laughed when some of them wanted to take pictures with the car.

“Are you only friends with guys?” Blaine asked, sounding irritated.

“They’re not my friends, but I know them. They live at the apartments.”

His irritation was amusing. He seemed jealous, although I didn’t want to get my hopes up. Blaine was confusing. He ran hot and cold and I usually had to guess what mood he was in. He gave me mixed signals that confused me. I wasn’t sure if that was due to my inexperience with guys, if Blaine did it on purpose, or if he just liked to keep me guessing.

Blaine had an apartment in the city. I knew my way around, but not enough to know where to go without some direction. But even I knew the building where Blaine lived was really fancy and expensive.

After Blaine had parked his car in his slot, and before we took the elevator, I noticed that his guards were going up as well. They were taking another elevator up.

When he dragged us into the elevator—after pressing the code to his apartment—the overwhelming feeling doubled when I realized Blaine was in the highest level of the building.

Once the elevator doors opened, there was a sitting area across from us. It was fairly large, decorated elegantly—with floor to ceiling windows that had an amazing view of the city. Blaine hardly made a deal about it before walking us toward the only door in that floor.

I should’ve prepared myself for what I would see on the other side of the door. His place was beautiful. I felt dizzy for a moment. Seeing his nice cars—and I’d already seen two very expensive cars in the short time I’d known him—and how easy he spent his money should’ve prepared me. The apartment was elegant, that was a given. Mostly everything was crystal, and what wasn’t, had an expensive and dark air to it. He had several paintings, but everything matched the décor style—keeping more to shades of red, gray, black, or white.

He dragged me to the dining room as soon as we arrived. I was slightly surprised to find out that we were alone, since the dining room table was filled with food.

“I dismissed Ruben for the day. He prepared the meal,” Blaine explained.

I sat down after he pulled out my chair. Blaine took a seat right beside me, and he started serving food in my plate. He knew what I liked. When he was done piling up my plate with food nicely, he poured some grape juice into a glass. He had even remembered my favorite drink. I was smiling like an idiot.

I hated that I was too happy that Blaine had remembered my preferences. He was too distracted serving food on his plate to mind me, and I just couldn’t stop looking at him.

“Are you going to leave?” I asked, digging into my food.

“Leave where?”

“You were going to work?”

“I can do that here,” Blaine replied, casually.

“Did you miss out on a lot while we were gone?”

Blaine was eating with his left hand, while his other hand was casually placed over my thigh, like if it belonged there. If only because I wanted him to be paying attention to me—I didn’t shrug him off.

“Alexander kept me informed. You said it yourself—my phone and my laptop were as much part of our trip as you and me.”

“Do you always work on weekends?”

Blaine nodded, and took a drink from the glass of orange juice. “I try to have my weekends clear, but there is always work to catch up on. I don’t usually mind. It keeps me occupied.”

“You’re so…” I mumbled, gazing at him curiously, trying to find a word that suited him.

“Are you going to insult me?” Blaine asked, raising an eyebrow. He squeezed my thigh, and that made me cry out. He chuckled at my reaction.

“I was going to say you’re so serious and proper,” I said, narrowing my eyes at him playfully. He was in a good mood. I wanted to make the most out of that.

It was very much a quiet affair for us after we finished eating breakfast. He retreated to his home office, and I was left on my own. Blaine told me I could roam around his place as much as I’d like. I was curious, and he wasn’t giving me limits. As soon as he showed me how the TV worked in his bedroom, he was off.

I sat cross-legged in his huge bed, which looked bigger than a king size. I watched two movies, one after the other, before I saw Blaine again.

I looked up to find him gazing at me, his arms crossed over his chest, while he rested his shoulder against the frame of the door.

“Hey,” I said, smiling up at him, before my attention returned to the movie onscreen. I’d only sneaked off to the kitchen once to retrieve some fruit leftover from our breakfast.

“I thought you’d come by my study,” Blaine commented, striding into the room and taking a seat beside me on the bed. I was lying down on my stomach, with Blaine sitting really close to me. He placed his hand over the small of my back.

“Did you need me?” I asked, pulling away from his touch and propping myself on my elbow, my cheek resting against my hand.

“I thought you might get bored of watching TV all this time. I’m taking a break. Did you want to go anywhere?” Blaine asked. He snaked his arm around my waist and brought me to closer to him.

“Blaine…” My voice was soft, weak.

Sometimes I really wanted to thump him really hard. I pulled away completely and sat up on the bed, putting some space between us.

It must’ve been around three or four in the afternoon. It was still early and I was seriously considering asking Blaine to take me back home.

“What?” He had the nerve to frown and give me a worried look.

“Don’t touch me like that,” I said, turning back to look at the TV. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t focus on the movie anymore.

Blaine was staring at me. I could feel his hard gaze on me. I didn’t know if he was mad, although he had no reason to be. He kept turning me down every time I tried to find meaning in his gestures and the way he treated me.

“You wanted to do something. It’s Saturday. You must have expected to spend the day with your best friend.” He practically snarled out the last of his words.

“Don’t talk about Alan like that!” I snapped, suddenly feeling angry with his behavior.

“Do you want to go anywhere? I have things to do and I don’t need to waste my time trying to entertain you.”

The harshness in his voice left me stunned for a moment. Blaine had been rude to me in the past. But this time his voice sounded tight, and a lot more insulting.

“If you didn’t want to waste your time, then you shouldn’t have gone to get me,” I simply told him. I quickly got up from the bed and made my way to his bathroom, slamming the door in the process. It had been unintentional, but the loud noise of the door slamming resounded in the room.

Blaine wasn’t in the room when I finally came out. I’d been in his very large, exaggerated, but beautiful bathroom for almost half an hour. I expected him to go back to his work. I doubted that Blaine wanted to be dealing with me when he was busy with his life. That was how I ended up putting on my converse, and grabbing my things.

I’d only just made it to the hall of his room when Blaine caught up to me.

“No,” he simply said, his tone direct.

He was trying to leave me no room for argument. I had already seen for myself that Blaine was used to that. No one argued with him. In fact, people fell over themselves to please him. Even my mother had treated Blaine the way he was used to. It was no surprise he was so full of himself.

“Are you going to drop me off or will you force me to call a cab? You’ll have to pay it because it’s a long drive home, I don’t have any money, and you’re the one who dragged me all the way here,” I said, continuing on my way.

As soon as I passed in front of Blaine, he blocked me. “Do you have to be difficult with me the entire time? If I didn’t want you here, I wouldn’t have brought you.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. Even admitting that seemed to pain him. He didn’t have to make an effort, not for me.

“I thought I was wasting your time,” I told him, feeling myself giving in.

I couldn’t help myself. The only reason why I hadn’t accepted my true feeling for Blaine was because I was scared. I liked him… too much. But Blaine didn’t want a relationship and every time I probed him about it, he just blocked me off and made me feel worse.

It occurred to me that the reason I was in that position was my own fault. If I’d just tried harder to stay at my apartment and pushed Blaine away, I wouldn’t have been feeling so depressed about the thought of leaving him once again.

“I told you I was done,” Blaine said, as if his words should’ve been enough.

His face had relaxed, significantly. Once again he was reaching out to touch me. I didn’t understand that. I tried to tell myself that I should stop questioning everything he did. If he wanted to hold my hand, I should allow it. Blaine himself had said that he’d never had a girlfriend before. He didn’t have patience for one. I seemed to be asking too much from him, and he wasn’t handling well.

While I was busy wondering if it was Blaine’s commitment phobia or my fear of losing his interest that caused the problem, Blaine had taken hold of my hand and was dragging me back to his room.

He had the suitcase in hand and unceremoniously dropped it in his walk-in closet—which was just as impressive as the rest of his luxurious apartment.

“We’re going to the movies,” Blaine suddenly told me.

I tugged on my hand, but he held it tighter and didn’t let me go. “You love going there,” he said.

“How would you know?”

“You told me during the trip,” he shrugged, casually. The fact that he had a tendency to remember things I liked, what I preferred, and what scared me—it made me happier than it should.

When Blaine changed into some denim jeans and a regular, dark grey shirt, I almost fainted. I liked whatever he wore. Suits made him look in control, so beautiful and attractive. It was just as tempting to stare at him when he was wearing jeans.

I’d seen him in regular clothes before, but he still had so much effect on me. The only reason he’d changed was because I suggested it. I knew how much attention we were going to draw if we walked in the theater and he was wearing an expensive, tailored suit—while I had jeans and a band t-shirt with converse. The differences between our worlds would’ve been so obvious.

Blaine drove the white Bugatti. I couldn’t tell if he’d preferred it over the car he’d used the other day. He hardly made a deal about the car, unless I asked questions. He didn’t sound excited, but he did answer anything I asked.

“I was thinking I could take you to meet my father,” Blaine quietly said, his voice sounding husky, almost cautious.

“You were serious about that?” I asked—the surprise clear in my voice. Blaine had mentioned it in the passing, but I’d for sure thought he was simply trying to be nice. This was, after all, the guy who had thought I was a gold digger.

“He’s home now. I’ve told him about you. Alexander will be there and he wants to meet you too.”

“I thought we were going to the movies?” I was feeling seriously underdressed. While Blaine still looked perfect in casual clothes—me, not so much.

My hair had been down, and I’d only run my fingers through it to settle it before we’d taken off.

“We’ll catch a movie first,” he said, smoothly.

He turned to look at me and graced me with a smile. “They’ll like you, trust me. My brother has been curious about you since I stayed in Russia for you.”

“He has? Why?”

Blaine didn’t answer my question. If anything, he tensed up after my question. I didn’t understand why. But then again, I didn’t understand Blaine at all sometimes. We drove in silence the rest of the way.

I’d been to a movie theater in the city. It had been a midnight showing, and the place had been packed. It wasn’t the one Blaine drove us to. The city was buzzing, as was expected, considering it was a Saturday. I still appreciated the beauty of the city. It was so much different from where I lived. While we had quiet and calm, the city had noise and excitement. I imagined Blaine had the best of both worlds. He had a great view of the city from his apartment, while keeping a healthy distance from it.

I was getting used to doing ordinary things with Blaine. We’d been shopping, on walks, to the lake, beside a pool, to dinners and breakfasts. Yet there was still that sense of joy and happiness I felt whenever we walked hand in hand—both girls and women stared—and all of Blaine’s attention was on me. It was petty for me to think about that, but it made me feel good.

Blaine and I were seated in the top row. There were a few people here and there, but for the most part, the auditorium was fairly empty.

Blaine was holding my hand, his eyes on the screen, which was asking trivia questions to distract the people waiting for the movie to begin.

“Do you come to the movies a lot?” I asked, snuggling closer to his side.

“Hardly,” Blaine replied, laughing. “I can’t remember the last time I was here. It was probably when I was younger,” he said, looking thoughtful.

It was stupid that I was jumping with joy knowing he wasn't dragging girls to the movies, but there I was with him. He took me, and that made me feel special.

When I reached up and ran my hands through his hair, which was neatly fixed and I was sure to fuss up, Blaine looked down at me. There was a teasing smile on his lips. I’d barely wrapped my arm around his neck when I had Blaine leaning in to kiss me. It was a small kiss, yet his lips lingered, and he continued to press gentle kisses against my lips.

By the time the movie started, I was sitting on Blaine’s lap, with my head under his chin, while his hand stroked my thigh. We weren’t doing anything else, but just sitting there with him was enough to keep me blushing and my face warm throughout the movie.

“Blaine…” I sighed. “I’m not sure this is a good idea.”

“We’ll be there for a little while. I’ll do a quick introduction and then we’ll go back home.”

I wondered if it was wrong that I looked so much into every word he said. He’d called his apartment home, and I couldn’t help but think of it as ours. The way I felt too interconnected and I wanted to involve myself in Blaine’s life slightly freaked me out. I wanted to be important to him.

“I want to change into something else. You should’ve told me you wanted to come visit your family before we left your place. I’m wearing jeans, and I’m pretty sure this shirt is sweaty. I was running this morning,” I said, remembering the disaster it’d been when I struggled to chase after Alan.

“You’re dressed just fine.”

“Just fine,” I repeated, humorlessly.

“I love how you look,” Blaine told me, caressing my face lightly with the tips of his fingers, enough to tint up my cheekbones in pink. “Stop worrying. You don’t have to impress anybody.”

“Is that a nice way of saying I won’t impress your family?” I asked, cocking an eyebrow.

Blaine shook his head at me. “Don’t put words in my mouth, Madeline. If you have to impress anyone, it would be me. I’m impressed. You look perfect.” The finality in his tone, like most of the comments he made, silenced me.

I would’ve argued, had his comment not been a huge boost to my ego. Just like that, I didn’t complain anymore on the way to his father’s home, which he shared with Blaine’s step-mother, Eleanor.

I was in awe when we pulled up. Their home was huge. Blaine had told me on the way that his mother had picked it after his parents married. It was another reason why Blaine hated the idea of having his step-mother living there.

“It’s nice,” I told him, my voice low.

Blaine was helping me out of the car. As soon as I steadied myself, Blaine wrapped his arm tightly around my waist and began walking us inside. We were greeted by a woman who welcomed Blaine warmly—she was older, all dressed in black, with her hair in a bun. She seemed nice. Blaine gave her a nod, introduced me, and briskly walked away from her.

“Who was that?” I asked, turning back to the lady who was still looking after us with a gentle smile on her lips.

“That’s Anita. She watched after my brother and I after our mother died.” His tone was clipped, but it wasn’t necessarily cold. I simply didn’t understand why he was in such a hurry to run away from Anita.

“Wait,” I said, stopping and bringing Blaine to a halt.

We had been about to reach what appeared to be a sitting room. I tried not to look around too much. His former home was a lot bigger than I thought it would be. I had no idea what kind of expectations Alexander or Blaine’s father would have of me, but I was scared I wouldn’t meet them.

I’d heard stories of rich people not liking their kids being associated with someone out of their circle. The thought of having Blaine’s family not approving of me, even though he had made it clear we weren’t even together, really bothered me.

“What is it?” Blaine asked.

“Maybe we should go home. I don’t think your family wants to meet me,” I admitted.

“We’re already here,” Blaine said, sliding both of his arms around my waist. “Don’t be nervous, it’ll be fine.”

“Yes, but what are you going to tell them when they see me? That I’m the girl that got kidnapped with you?”

“My father doesn’t know about that,” Blaine said, his voice careful, but with an edge to it. “I don’t want you to bring it up.”

“You know I wouldn’t,” I told him, defensively. I didn’t like that he was looking at me with guarded eyes.

“Then what’s the problem?”

“How will you introduce me?” I retorted with my own question.

“My brother knows who you are. Alex knows about Russia. I haven’t thought any further ahead. Don’t make things-”

“Okay,” I cut him off. “I won’t make things complicated.”

Blaine nodded, and leaned down to brush his lips against mine, wrapping his arms tightly around my waist—picking me up from the ground.

“You feel good in my arms,” he said in a husky voice, nuzzling his nose against my jaw, before nestling his head in the crook of my neck. His hold on me had grown even tighter.

I wanted to tell him that he was the one who made things complicated, but I didn’t have the guts. I didn’t want Blaine to let me go. I wanted him to hold me.

We were interrupted by the sound of someone approaching. It was mainly the high heels clanking on the floor that brought both of us out of our own little world.

Blaine put me down, but he kept his arm around my waist, keeping me pressed to his side.

I wasn’t expecting the tall—only a few inches shorter than Blaine—blonde woman that crossed the threshold of the door. She was dressed in a short teal dress that clung to her body. Her long blonde hair was straight, and cascading down her back, adorning her very pretty face. She was very attractive. Her blue eyes were focused on Blaine, and there was a teasing smirk on her lips.

“Alexander told us you had arrived days ago. Why didn’t you tell me?” she asked him, approaching us with confident strides. I didn’t miss the pout of her lips, or how possessively she was looking at Blaine. She hadn’t even noticed me by his side.

“Justine,” Blaine had barely managed to say, before she approached him and planted a kiss right on his lips. 

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