Chapter 9 :)

Yelping in surprise, Stephanie turns to face the new deep voice.

Leaning against the doorway with his usually straight lips dipped into a slight smirk is Drake.

She would have glared at him, except his normal dark t-shirt had disappeared into thin air, instead showcasing muscles that rippled across his chest, and arms that definitely knew how to lift a thing or two. He was an Adonis among the other men she had encountered in here life, and she gaped openly as she observed his sun-kissed skin. She noticed the snake tattoo she had seen earlier, as well as other tattoos painted onto his naked chest, but the lack of light denied her the right to analyse them closely.

Even if she wouldn't admit it to herself, she knew he was the definition of handsome.

A jerk, but a handsome jerk.

Stephanie's eyes trailed all the way down to his right hand, where a burning cigarette was cupped between his fingers. She followed his movements as he brought it to his lips and took a slow drag, his sharp gaze never leaving hers.

The wrinkled toxic stick had a slow creeping stench, as the smoke made its journey over to her now scrunching nose. Her eyes began to water, and she coughed.

"You can't smoke in front of a baby!," she whisper yelled at him, giving him a disappointed look as she shielded Archie away from him protectively. He let out another wail, and she rushed to soothe him, patting him on his head awkwardly, in what she hoped would relax him, but only made him cry harder and louder.

"You can't look after a baby," he impersonated her, covering his ear with his free hand due to the noise.

Archie definitely had a career in singing ahead of him.

He was beginning to sound like a constipated menstruating seal, and nothing she did calmed him down.

"Here, give him to me," Drake commented, finally having enough of the chaos. He deposited the flaming death stick on a nearby ashtray packed to the brim with its family members - huh, hadn't noticed that - and motioned for Stephanie to come over.

Except, there was an earring lodged in her foot, and it was impossible to walk properly, hence the limp.

"Walk faster woman! Slow and steady doesn't win the race!"

"You know, you have your entire life to be a jerk, why not take today off?"

"Because- Wait, what the hell happened to you?"

He reached forward and gripped her arm, effectively stopping her in her slow painful tracks.

A look of bewilderment crosses his features, as he bends down and crouches, lifting the seam of her - most likely his - checkered blue pyjama leg, and lifts her small foot. His eyes instantly widen when they land on the crime scene down there.

She welcomes the warmth from his fingers as he traces an unknown pattern around the guilty jewellery. Whatever he's doing causes some relief from the throbbing pain.

What unfolds next happens in the blink of an eye.

Well, at the pace of Stephanie's blink. Because one minute she's standing up, biting her lip from the pain, the next minute she's in the air, a comforting hand holding her back and another around her legs.

He swung her into his strong arms effortlessly as if she weighed nothing more than a ragdoll.

Archie's wails had quieted slightly from the sudden movement, and the throbbing in her foot had dulled a little.

"Dude, where are we going?" she questioned as he began walking out of the room, nearly hitting her head against the wooden doorframe in the process. She hissed at him like an insane bloodthirsty vampire, and he dramatically rolled his eyes at her.

"Somewhere... Hot..." His warm breath fanned her face, smelling oddly of coconuts and tobacco. He totally reaked.

"Drake whatever-your-second-name-is, if you're taking me to your room, I'll beat you till you're black and blue."

He stopped walking abruptly, turning his face so that they were just a breath away from each other. She gazed at his eyes, noticing that up close, his striking eyes were the colour of a grass field on a warm summer's day. *

There was a blazing fire behind the windows to his soul, and his mouth had dropped into a thin line, his breathing noticeably faster. His hands gripped her soft skin harder.

Ah, classic Drake was back.

"Stephanie Cain, I will never ever have sex with you. No one could pay me enough to fuck you, even if you look so... Innocent."

Anything she was going to say got caught in her throat.

He had spoken with such a fierceness, yet his gaze was on her soft unkissed lips.

He thought she was innocent?

He could think again.

The world seemed to come to a standstill, as she bravely leaned forward, closing the small gap between them. Her heart rate quickened with her actions, but she brushed all her doubts away.

Drake didn't move away from her, in fact, he edged closer to her, his eyes not being able to mask his desire.

She closed her eyes, feeling the tips of her lips come into contact with his, her brain swirling with thoughts not so innocent.

Archie let out a piercing wail, and they leaned away from each other instantly. Both of them were panting heavily, their desire for each other evident in their near kiss moment.

Drake shook his head, moving his gaze away from her and walking quick lengths into the kitchen. He didn't look at her as he placed her down slowly on a comfortable couch.

By this time, a dark blush had already found its way across Stephanie's cheeks, her mind seeming to replay her almost first kiss over and over again. She cursed herself silently as Drake took Archie carefully out of her arms, and slammed cupboards open and shut.

How could she of nearly given her first kiss away so easily?

She silently thanked Archie's heroic actions. If it wasn't for him, something she prized so much would've been given to someone she'd only met mere hours before and had kidnapped her!

Moments passed as she stared at her feet, not willing to meet Drake's burning gaze. She slowly focused on the world around her as she blinked away her loud thoughts.

To her surprise, Archie had quieted significantly. She gazed up, just in time to see Drake holding Archie adorably in his arms, feeding him from a small bottle containing a white mixture. He crossed the room to sit beside her, and Stephanie jumped away from him.

"If you knew a thing or two about babies, you would've known that Archie was actually hungry. Damn, you probably don't even know how babies are made."

"Of course I know how babies are made, you dimwit! You put the banana-"

He cut her off with a strange look, one eyebrow raised at her as if to say, 'what the hell?'

She chuckled to herself, the action causing the bite to sting a little and her foot to throb, making her gasp in pain. She embarrassedly held a hand over her mouth, knowing she had sounded like an unusual dying seal.

Drake just looked at her weirdly, before placing Archie in her arms with no warning.

"Drake, stop! I don't know how to feed babies!" she quickly supported Archie's head and gripped the small bottle that was now half full, as he continued to suckle contentedly.

She couldn't sworn she heard the hint of a laughter as Drake grabbed a green first aid kit from a cupboard in the kitchen.

Laughter? Drake didn't laugh. If someone laughed at him, he'd probably think they were dying and attempt to perform CPR on them as they laughed even harder and eventually di-

Drake kneeled before her, opening the kit on the nearby coffee table as its contents flew out. He searched through the mess and grabbed a few things, and it was obvious that he knew what he was doing.

"You know, for such a small girl, you really are so clumsy. First you get bitten... Now this..."

He blurted this out as he opened a small packet, the smell of lemons drifting to her nose before he started cleaning the area around the earring.

"You bit me, you unfriendly bloodthirsty little crumb of a vamp-"

Her words were cut off with an intense roll of pain, and she looked down through shiny tears in her eyes, making out the bloody earring in his hands. She yelled in pain, causing Archie to pause in his drinking and look at her weirdly.

"You're an asshole," she gasped as she keeled over in pain.

"You've probably never even seen an asshole, so shut up," he rolled his eyes to the heavens at her, and in a matter of seconds, had already wrapped a bandage neatly around her foot, his warm hands dancing across her skin smoothly.

He grabbed Archie from her, as well as the bottle, and left the room, but not before muttering under his breath, "sweet dreams."

Damn that was a long chapter! I got inspiration for this from my own experience. I woke up at 5 o' clock one morning, went to get up and stepped on an earring! Let me tell you, it hurts. Except, I didn't know what it was and I limped to my bathroom, took off my sock and accidentally yanked it out. I had to dance on stage later that day 😳

Anyhoo, enough of that! If you liked this chapter, you can rate it, but I don't bite, unlike Drake :)