Bring it on, Nasty!!

Chapter 17

Nothing to blame ,

Like moth to a flame ,

Tangled to desires ,

This isn't a game .

Ambrose

Maira stares at me dumbfound for a second .

Total silence . No word . No sarcastic comeback , Nothing.

Her expression is something you can take a pic of and upload on i********: . Comic.

Then she snaps out of it ,shakes her head and apparently decides she had had enough of my craziness and stands up. I quickly do the same .

She ignores me and shoves her hand inside her jeans pocket ,out comes the money and she slaps it on the table.

At the same time I put money from my pocket on the table too.

Call me old school or whatever , But my mom has drilled this into me . Maybe it's small town manner or something, But the guy pays for coffee or dinner or whatever .

Our eyes meet she narrows her eyes at me.

I grin, I know it makes me look charming " Let me pay "

No effect on her whatsoever

She is giving me the death glare.

Sad for her, I'm immune to it.

I flicker my eyes down at the table .

'Take your money off the table, Princess '

She shoots me an impressive mix of scowl, frown and glare

"Why? " She snaps at me,

" Because I'm a gentleman "

We both know its far from the truth. I'm not.

I'm a bad boy. Bad to the bone

She arches an eyebrow and just like that I know her sarcasm is back

" You are an insult to all the gentlemen on the planet "

Yup, It's back with a bang!

I give her a casual one shouldered shrug "Maybe, Maybe not but it never hurts to try and act like one "

" You are bad at it " She mutters looking right into my eyes

I can't help the smirk " Well..." I say looking right back and intently into her green eyes my voice low yet clear " Girls dig bad boys "

A blush rushes up to her skin and she turns her face away quickly but not before I catch the glimpse of the beautiful shade of pink coloring her cheeks and my brain goes: My God, she looks really pretty when she smiles. Like really pretty .

But , Of course she schools her expression as soon as she can and turn her face towards me " You are sick ,you know that " the expression on her face is so much different from when she was blushing I hear myself chuckle " Tell me something I don't know "

Hell, when it comes to her I know I'm a certified lunatic.

I mean, What kind of guy enjoys annoying the crap out of a girl?

Especially, A girl who with those delicate features, green eyes , long eyelashes and long smooth black hair, elegant cheekbones, pert nose, and full lips. Looks like a doll.

No ! No , Normal guy .

Rolling her eyes at me as if I'm hopeless Maira puts her money back into her pocket.

' Good girl ' . I smirk at her

With a last partying glare she makes her way towards the door, I follow her right out.

It doesn't take long for me to figure out she came here on foot.

" I can drop you," I say

She ignores me.

I frown. It's quiet late and though this town is pretty safe, I don't like the thought of her walking alone in the dark. I repeat myself again and I don't know if it's me or the thundering of the clouds overhead that announces that it might start raining soon. ( I'll bet on the latter ),

She agrees.

She couldn't hide her surprise when I walk over to my car and open the passenger's door for her. "What? I'm playing the role of a bad gentleman. Remember? " I say cheekily

A small smile spreads across her lips as she gets into the car.

I get behind the steering wheel.

Turn the key in the ignition and the engine comes to life

" Give me the directions to your place," I say

She nods.

" So , Why were you reluctant to get into the car with me? " I ask as we leave the cafe behind

" Do I even have to answer that? " She says with sarcasm written all over her face.

She doesn't like me. Enough of an answer.

But Me being me proceeds to tease her anyways " You are scared to be with me alone in the car. Maybe you think I'll kidnap you and demand ransom from your parents " I say wickedly

" No," She says in a no non-sense voice " And I don't live with my parents . I live with my cousins"

" The twin blondes? " I ask. I remember them always sitting with her during lunch

" Yes "

Now, I know I have no right to ask her this but when it comes to her I realize I'm curious.May be even about things I shouldn't be ," Why don't you live with your parents ? "

" My mom is dead," She says and I hear the heart break in her voice.

I almost say sorry. But stop myself ,sometimes words are not enough to cover the losses .and such a loss as vast as this one leaves a mark on a person, It can't be wiped away by a simple sorry. I don't even know why people even say it after a tragedy.

" Your dad? " I probe gently

She feigns indifference as she speaks " He is too busy with his new wife and kid to care about me " yet, through all the nonchalance and indifference she puts up I can sense the heartbreak behind those words. And know the indifference is just that, And act.

She is hurt and in pain because of her father.

I feel a wave of dark anger wash over me

What sort of man does that to his own daughter?

Human beings, Breaking relationship and trust comes way too easily to them.

For some more silent minutes, I burn in anger until I realize that the car is awfully silent plus I feel the steering wheel bend under my angry grip. Before it gets ripped away I know I need to divert my attention.

I turn on the music system

One of my favorite songs blares to life.

Maira who had been looking outside the window turns around, her face flush from the cold wind though it hadn't started raining.

" Lobo," She says with a found smile " I love this song. But then again, I love all his songs "

"I know right! " I say delighted " He is amazing "

" Yes, he is " She agrees.

And then for a while, we discuss about the amazing yesteryear's music and how today's music is bastardized. " There are very few good artists out there " She says

And I nod in agreement.

We are both fans of a singer who used to create record breaking songs when we weren't even born yet. Yup it's weird in a way .But that has to be the first thing we both have agreed on since the entire time we had known each other.

As the conversation lulls a silence of the comfortable kind fills the car ,with Lobo's song playing softly in the background.

I keep driving ,the directions are not hard to follow after all It's a small town and I know pretty much all the ways.

Miara leans into her seat and lets out a sigh,a peaceful kind of sigh . When we drive past the forest that runs on the side of the town ,the fringe of forest

" You like the forest ? " I ask

She turns her face towards me " It looks good. Rachel keeps telling me its beautiful and calming inside."

That doesn't surprise me that her cousin had walked into the forest. Actually , many humans do but they all wisely never dare to go beyond the fringe. Never too deep .

Because , Deep inside the woods is were the predators dominate.

The werewolves.

The vast forest is divided into two parts .

One of it belongs to the Wilde pack , The other to the power hungry Blackstone pack

The powers of the weres are tied to their land . And the blackstone pack are a very greedy lot, They can stoop to any level to extend their claim on further lands .

And trust me when I say they will do anything for power , ANYTHING.

" You ever went into the forest ? " Miara's voice snaps me out of my dark thoughts

" Yeah , Sometimes " I say

You have no Idea , I practically live in the forest . It is as dear to me as my home

" I'm sure you hang out with bears " She says with a heavy touch of wicked humor in her voice " you and bears must be closely related, Right? All big and crazy and wild..."

I know she is mocking me but I couldn't help but laugh " Nope , I'm not related to the bears "

If only she knew she is talking to a guy who is closely related to the wolves .really very, very closely related.

" I want to go to the forest sometime," She says " It looks so calm and beautiful"

" It sure does " I agree.

Someone has to, has to make a note of this somewhere . I and Maira are agreeing with each other for a second time !

Is the earth rotating properly on its axis??

Is the world coming to an end ?

But I can't simply resist saying the next words that come out of my mouth " You Princess, are surely related to monkeys allfurry and annoying and.....Ouch " I yelp when I feel the sting of her pinch on my wrist

" I'm not funny and neither am I annoying," She says with a no-nonsense expression.

The next moment she is the one screaming her lungs out " Ambrose stop ! You're going too fast!"

Which is true, I'm racing so fast my wheels feel more like flying than running on land and I make the car zig-zag sharply ,Its such a thrill!

All the while a wide eyed Miara who is strapped in by the seat bealt keeps shrieking and clinging on to her dear life as she keeps gets jostled in the seat

"Fine! Fine! I'll never pinch you again " She yells

I grin satisfied "Now, that's a nice princess," I say smugly wondering if I should continue this for few more seconds just to get an apology out of her.

But the sympathy I feel when I see her face drained of color plus the pair of green eyes glaring at me . Yup, You can shock the girl , scare the girl but you can't make her attitude go away anywhere.

Shaking my head I reduce the speed to a much normal and a no - more scary pace.

As soon as I stop the car in front of her house she jumps out of the car.

And throwing me a venomous look slams the door close so loudly I'm pretty sure her the entire town can hear it.

" Manic " I hear her mutter under her breath as she walks away.

I chuckle .

From jerk to a manic, That's quite a promotion.