Chapter XIII ۞ Thays ۞ Part II

"I CAN EASILY DO THAT TO YOU WITH some hard punches. Are you interested?" There was a warning in my voice as I glared at him, but the son of a bitch burst out even more.

To my dismay, when he stopped laughing, that predatory air took over his features again, as it did every time we went overboard while fighting, and he leaned forward on his biceps, with his fiery amber eyes almost red. "You don't intimidate me one bit, Thays. I thought you knew that by now."

Annoyed, I leaned closer, "The same goes for you."

We stared fiercely at each other's eyes until it the air began to get strange between us and, surprisingly, we backed away at the same instant. Refusing to let the other win even on this. And we only spoke again after we finished eating everything and drinking the all juice.

But again, it wasn't me who broke the silence. "Are you going to take that thing with us? Or will you leave it with someone else?"

I clenched my jaw, "I told you not to call Lion that. He's a cat, desgraçado, not a damn thing. And no, I won't. My mom and almost all of my siblings are allergic to animal fur, so on the last three years, every time they came around, I left Lion in the care of Arya Kate, my secretary."

The relief in his entire body was almost touchable. "That's better. I wouldn't be able to hide my discomfort if that thing stayed with us there."

"Caralho, Aaron. Is it hard to just call him by Lion?"

He crunched the bridge of his nose, "Yes. Back to what matters. Shall we make some rules to make this… deal work well?" I nodded still annoyed by his refusal to acknowledge my cat. "Say your rules, I'll add mine after you."

"We absolutely cannot do anything physical, besides displaying our… fake relationship in front of our families. So, do not even phantom the terrível possibility of taking me to bed while we are there!"

He scoffed, "We'll have to sleep in the same bed."

"I'm talking about sex, idiota, and you know it. So, cut any expectation of that happening. And do not try anything funny when there's no one around us, when we are alone, let's keep our distance from each other," or things my go terribly wrong.

"You have no reason to worry, Thays, because you are not my type in the slightest," I shouldn't be as offended as I am by that, should I?

But it's better like this. Although it is slightly annoying. "You are not my type either," I lied, knowing very damn well that he's definitely my type, which makes it all more infuriating, and makes me angrier at him. "Especially with your nasty personality."

"You are as nasty as I am."

I rolled my eyes, "That's precisely the problem. We are two stubborn, prideful, low-key narcissistic, bossy, and nasty people. Which makes it impossible for us to ever work out." I got up feeling awkward, turning around to put my plate on the sink just so I didn't need to look at his eyes. "And that's good," it is.

"I agree on that," of course he does.

"Back to the rules. Avoid getting too close to my family because I'll try to do the same with yours. The last we get closer and involved, the easiest it'll be to let go," pressing my lips together, I turned around and found his eyes glowing red on the sunlight that came out of the window. Is he angry? Weird. "My family is chaotic and all, but they are good. They all have a big and warm heart, and they will try to make you feel at home around them. Feel like you belong. They have that affect, so avoid it, okay?"

"Did they do that with your ex?" He asked boldly.

I shot him a glare, "That's not a pleasant topic to talk about," I muttered uncomfortable.

"Are you still into him?"

Why is he asking that? "No. I don't want to talk about it, Aaron. Can't you understand that?"

He got up with his plate and glass, and towered over me while putting them on the sink, then turned all his predatory attention to me, "Are you really over him, Thays?"

"Yes."

"Your father seemed to hate him."

Gulping, I felt cornered, "Because he does. Everyone hates that filho da puta, in my family. Can you stop now?"

"Was he blonde?"

I clenched my jaw, "It doesn't matter, Aaron. Nothing related to that antichrist matters. It's absolutely useless. And they won't bring him up, okay? So, it's not something you need to get your ass into it. Besides, we are just faking this, you have no reason to know about what happened to me in my past."

"Why are you in the defensive?"

Inhaling deeply, I took a step back away from him, hitting my back on the counter, "No. I am not."

"Yes," he came forward, "you are. Do you still miss him? Do you still long for him?"

"Ew, no." And I'm not lying this time. "Stop it."

"But are you still hurt?" More like traumatized.

"…" He leaned even closer, and bend my body back as much as I could, "No. I am not. Stop with my ex talk. It's been 9 years already. And he's my ex for a reason, porra. If he was good, he would be still be my boyfriend."

The asshole's seemed to be enjoying towering me, and I had to use all of my strength to keep my eyes on his, and not on his huge body. "Hm."

"Are you over yours?"

"Blood hell, yeah. But you can say that my past relationship kind of left me with traumas and trust issues. You know how it ended don't you?" His deep voice was a whisper way too close of me.

"Hm. I've heard rumors," and very unpleasant ones.

"It was pretty bad. And you should be aware that we'll be seeing her face there," what?

I blinked, "Why?"

"Seems like the gossipers of the building didn't tell you this, but Nicole, my ex, dates my first cousin now. Arwyn. Who's a year younger than me," and after an instant he kept going. "He's your age."

"How old is she?" The question came out of my lips before I could hold it.

"She's a year older than me."

"…" So, he likes older girls. "Personality?"

"Rotten. Money-driven. Backstabbing."

I gasped, "You have quite the type, hm? Quite the parasite. Bloodsucking on your family member since she couldn't stay with the likes of you," the mockery came out easily from my lips, already used to mess with him. "Sounds like the Queen-bees from school."

"She was," he said stoically.

Hah. Horrible personality. Queen bee. Close to the Vaughn-Solomon. She's probably 6'0, white, blonde, blue eyes, and with a model-like body. Yeah. That sounds like his type.

"I'll keep that in mind," then I manage to get out of the corner he put me on, by coming out from under his biceps. I went to the island again, took all the bottles of different sauces, and put them all inside the fridge. "Is that why you making up all this big fat lie? Because you didn't want to go there and meet your ex who's dating your cousin?"

"Mainly, yes. There's also the problem with my mom getting on my nerves and all of that. Plus all the blind dates stuff that I've been managing to avoid. Going to the island and seeing Nicole and Arwyn together would be the cherry on top," he seems very open with it. It's annoying.

"Mm-hm. Anything else I should be aware of?"

"You should be aware of the second oldest in the family. My brother Luke. He's a shameless flirt and will definitely try to flirt with you," he leaned back on the counter I was just in, with his elbows. "Especially because you will go as my girlfriend and he'll try to get on my nerves."

That made me giggle softly, "Luke. Got it."

"Back to the rules. Any more?"