Previously on Chapter 7
"And what is your strategy?"
Strategy? This man was getting on his nerves. He couldn't tell him that Sakura had no interest to divulge what she saw, plans that he wouldn't believe him even though it was the truth.
"I don't need a strategy. The girl eats in the palm of my hands. If I tell her not to speak, she won't. Simple as that"
"Is she your girlfriend?"
Sasuke knew it was a trick question. In this kind of business, one couldn't have a weak spot. Despite the fact that it was true that she wasn't his girlfriend, he could not show him any feelings he has towards her. That would be too dangerous. For him and especially for her.
"No, sir. I'm only close to her so that I can know that she won't open her mouth just like you want"
"Ok"
With only this short answer, he hung up, probably judging that Sasuke's strategy was good enough. He was a busy man after all.
Sasuke shivered due to the cold morning breeze. The cup of coffee will be more than welcome. He put away his cellphone in his pocket and was prepared to come inside.
Just as he turned himself, he noticed Sakura in the doorway, a cup of sugar in her hand. She was probably about to ask him if he wanted sugar in his coffee. But by the look on her face, sugar seemed to be the last thing on her mind.
Sasuke's eyes widened. He didn't know which part she heard. Which lie she believed.
Judging by the dimness of her complexion, he guessed that she believed every word he said.
He tried to take a step towards her, which she responded with a step back inside her house.
He tried to pronounce a rational explanation but his words were messy chaos in his head. She just heard all that bullshit after the night they had together.
Shit, shit, shit
She then closed the door hard, leaving him alone with the neglected garden covered with dry flowers surrounded by weed.
How ironic…
Sasuke watched his father lightening carefully his cigarette as if it was a gift of god. He blew out a puff of smoke and sat back in his wheelchair, enjoying the warmth of the sun. Sasuke raised a dark eyebrow as he took a long drag, which made him go into a coughing fit.
"You know it won't help your lung cancer, right?" Sasuke asked him in a disapproving tone.
"Well, we're lucky that it has spread to my brains. I can smoke now and I will still die" Fugaku replied, uncaring about the harmful effects of smoking on his health.
Sasuke didn't argue, knowing that cigarettes probably won't change a thing. Anything looked inoffensive besides a brain cancer.
"So, have you thought about what you will do with all this money, now that you don't have to pay for my treatments?"
Sasuke sighed, remembering his last encounter with the insurance lady. He wanted to pay as usual, even though it was against the approval of his father. That was when the lady handed him over the revocation of consent to health care, signed by his father. In this way, had he wanted to pay that it would have been for nothing. In other words, his father wouldn't be receiving any more treatments, waiting for the death to strike.
"No, I didn't give it much thought." Sasuke replied as his father threw the cigarette onto the gravel of the garden.
"Could it be because your heart is somewhere?" His father said playfully, giving him a wink.
"What do you mean?"
"C'mon, I saw you leaving with a beautiful pink-haired the other day" His father explained, speaking of Sakura without knowing it.
Sasuke groaned silently, annoyed that even his inpatient father could notice about his relationship with Sakura. It was no wonder that the boss did know about her, everyone seemed to spy on them.
"Given your job, you must be aware that a girlfriend isn't the best idea?" Fugaku asked. For the first time since he has been admitted to the hospital, Sasuke could perceive concern in his voice.
"Yeah, I know" He simply replied.
His father unlocked the brakes of his wheelchair and rolled it around so that he could face Sasuke.
"You know why I gave you my recipe of the silver drug?" His father demanded as he lit up another cigarette.
"So that I can pay for your medical bills?"
"Partially, yes. But also so that you could have a great life without working a minimum wage job, especially after we lost everything for my fault"
"And you're telling me this, because?" Sasuke said, getting impatient about this sudden fuss over his drug dealer job.
"Because I realize now that it wasn't the best thing to do as a father"
Sasuke let him talk, knowing it was one of those emotional moments a dying person might have.
"I know how dangerous it might have been for you. I would fully understand if you wanted to quit and sell the recipe to someone else."
He paused to rub his cigarette against the floor. Then, he stood up which seemed to be very demanding. Sasuke tried to help him, but he refused any support. Instead, he placed both of his hands on Sasuke's shoulders. He stared at him with black eyes wide and serious.
"But if you decide to keep your job as a drug dealer, please don't fall in love. Both for her own good and yours"
Monday morning came by so quickly that she hardly had enough time to collect her thoughts about what happened. Sakura paused her reading and looked up at the empty council's room.
Was I being manipulated all along?
She scratched the back of her head with her pencil. One of her top qualities was that she couldn't be fooled easily. Skepticism was her motto. So how Sasuke succeeded to maintain this act all along without being caught? Of course, she was suspicious of him at first but she was slowly starting to trust him, even to the extreme of sleeping with him.
The girl eats in the palm of my hands
She flinched back from the memory of the nonchalance in his voice. That's exactly what she was trying to avoid at all cost, she didn't want to eat of his palm, it had been very difficult to forget about her stupid crush from back then but that didn't even matter anymore, she had been fooled by him. Now that she was able to put the pieces together, she felt like a stupid little girl for not being wise enough to notice the signs. Why would a sane guy book all her escort's schedule? Of course, he had to have a motive. She was very stupid to think that he actually cared.
She shrugged and decided it was time to go to her first class.
Considering there were less than five minutes left before the classes begun, the corridor was heavily crowded. She hardly made it through her locker to go fetch her books.
She tried to walk towards her classroom, annoyed by all the students who were yelling. Just when she grabbed a hyperactive guy's shirt to tell him to lower the volume in the corridor, she immediately released him, seeing the tall black-haired handsome guy behind him.
Sasuke...
She didn't have time to think of a strategy to face him on this Monday morning. Did she have to ignore him? Did she have to act like she didn't care about the phone call? or the fact that he slept with her just for fun or something worse?
They both gazed at each other for a time that seemed to be infinite. For the first time, she was glad that the students were noisy; it helped to ease the awkward tension between them.
The bell rang which created a movement of panic towards the classroom. Everyone was running. Everyone except two persons.
She stood still and sneaked a look at Sasuke. He seemed…offbeat. The indifference that emptied his black eyes made her curious.
She watched him as he walked towards her. Her brain was totally blank. She didn't know how to react and what to say.
He was now one step away from her. She took a deep breath and tried to focus on a mean insult that she could utter.
Just when she opened her mouth, he passed right beside her, without a single word. He avoided her. Despite her pride, she felt…ignored and worse hurt.
She remained still, statue-like. She wanted to walk away. She wanted to prove to him she didn't care. But her feet remained glued to the floor just as she listened hopelessly to the sound of his footsteps going further and further.
Sasuke sat at the back of the club. He wanted to be sure to go unnoticed. Even if he wouldn't allow himself to go near her, it didn't mean that he couldn't see her. Because it was the only remedy he found. In reality, he was losing his mind. Underneath the guise of indifference, he was suffocating.
Everything that was in front of his eyes was slowly breaking apart the hard shell he learned to build all those years. Sakura his annoying fangirl from a few years ago, then she became the ruthless president that he didn't care about, and now she's the woman he couldn't shake off his brain, her taste, her warm, the soft feeling of her skin everything was crumbling, especially after that night, he became even more addicted to her.
Because she was tempting him. She was too seductive for all those unworthy gazes…and he hated it.
He found her black lace dress too short and too revealing.
It showed too much cleavage.
It was too see-through.
Too…provocative.
But the truth was: she was exquisite. The delicate material of her dress was sculpting her body perfectly. The see-through fabric, sewed below a black leather bustier, circled her waist and veiled a modest part of her thighs. The translucence allowed him to see her leather panties matching her bustier. His heart lurched against his ribs when he remembered the few times he held her body against his. As his eyes lingered at the curve of her hips, he imagined himself tearing up the provocative dress. He just wanted to be with her again and again and again...
Don't fall in love.
His father's words savagely brought him back to reality. Without further thinking, he quickly walked towards the exit. The further he could be from her the better it would be… for both of them.
But he had one second of hesitation when he reached the door. One second that was deadly to his escape.
Without knowing why, his head tilt reflexively in Sakura's direction. For the last time, he thought. But the sight of her made him lost the last edge of control he had.
He knew it was her job. He watched her going around tables since the beginning of the night, flirting with clients. He didn't know if it was because he was closer to her than he was previously, but now that he could notice every guy's gaze on her, he could only see a pack of hungry wolves drooling over a prey.
Before he could assess the impact of his decision, he was walking towards her, resolved. He knew she could be in trouble for that, but he didn't care.
Screw that. Screw all of it.
He snatched her hand and rushed her outside the club, the further away he could from any male.
Walking at an automatic pace, he hardly notices when she managed to get rid of his hands.
"Damn it, Sasuke! Do you want to make me lose a second job!" She yelled in distress.
Trying to catch his breath, he gazed at her for a long moment. He analysed seriously her question and before he could stop his inner thoughts, he had already gulped an answer.
"Yes."
Sakura looked at him, stupefied. She seemed like someone who couldn't make sense of his words.
"Quit your job" Sasuke ordered her with hopeless frustration.
Surprise flitted across her face. Her temper flared hot and she glared defiantly at Sasuke.
"You have no right to ask me that, not after everything that has happened. One minute you ignore me and the other you-" She said through her teeth but Sasuke's hands reached over which caught her off guards. Their lips were just inches away.
"…and the other minute you act like that" Her voice rasped.
Their sudden proximity wasn't inviting him to adopt his best behavior. Everything about her was driving him insane, from her floral scent to the soft touch of her skin. He could no longer control himself: he was the hungry wolf he dreaded.
Without further thinking, he gathered her up in his arms and pushed her against the nearest wall. He claimed her mouth with his and shoved his tongue inside. His fingers dug into her shoulders and pink hair to draw her toward him the closer he could. He felt one of her hand grasping his hair, which surprises him. He was prepared to get shoved aside but it didn't happen. Instead, she reached over and sucked his tongue into her mouth. He didn't know why she didn't push him away. He didn't know and didn't care. The only thing that was on his mind was the torment of touching her that grew bigger and bigger the more she moved her mouth against his.
He grabbed her roughly around the waist as her arms reached up to twine tightly around his neck. The need for air became urgent. But at the same time, he didn't want to break their kiss, knowing it might not be happening again. So he decided to endure it, preferring her lips over the necessity of breathing. Unfortunately, she didn't have the same vision. She stopped the kiss, breathless.
"I don't get you" She gasped, inaudible. He caught her face between his palms, ready for more. But she clasped her hand over his mouth, preventing the second wave of passion.
"If I explain to you the call, will you?" He coaxed against her hand.
"No, I really don't care" She replied, still panting.
"You're lying" He simply stated, "You do care. When I avoided you this morning, you didn't look like someone who didn't care"
She smiled without humor.
"Speaking of which. Aren't you tired to play hot and cold?" She asked, her pride still hurt by everything that she went through.
"I'm just playing hard to get" He smirked.
"Well, don't get your hopes too high. This game will never work." She threatened gruffly.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed playfully, his hands still lingering on her lower back.
"Oh yes? Look how well it turned out" He smirked.
Sakura's face turned instantly red, realizing their compromising positions. She rolled him over and began to walk away, not able to stand the embarrassment.
"Please don't go" He said, prudent. "What I said on the phone was fake, it was only to protect you" He continued.
She turned around to face him and rolled her eyes, skeptical. But when she read the vulnerability on his face, she knew it would be hard to not trust his explanation.
"C'mon…"the girl eats in the palm of my hand"… I've never seen someone as stubborn as you…" He said.
"Which sometimes drives me crazy…" He continued as a pain looked tightened his face.
She felt uneasy by this moment of honesty.
"So what, am I danger?" She wondered, starting to understand the reason for the phone call.
"I won't let them hurt you"
"I'm not scared, I don't need your protection"
"You don't have a choice"
"I'm a big girl, I can handle it"
Sasuke glanced at her with unreadable eyes. Just one second elapsed between the time he walked towards her and when he imprisoned her in a tight hug from behind. She tried to break free but his hold was too strong. Even though she didn't want to admit it, he proved his point.
"And those guys are ten times stronger than me, considering they have guns" He explained as he released her.
"So what do you propose?" She asked, her pride wounded.
"Quit your job" He simply answered.
She gazed at him, puzzled.
"What part of "I'm broke and I need money" did you not understand" She exhaled sharply.
"I understand, that's why I'm offering you a deal" He proposed, enigmatic.
"What sort of deal"
"Help me to deliver my next order and we'll split profit"
She analyzed his deal, unsure.
"How much are we talking about?"
"One million dollars…"
Her jaw dropped.
"Each" He finally announced.
Well, I'm sorry but I tried to correct the last chapter because it was horribly written, but now I tried my best, besides I've been very busy this past few weeks but I plan to finish this work, and I really want to find a beta, I would be very grateful if you gave some advice of how to find one, because I plan to write four of five more stories and I guess that's everything, I hope you enjoy this and I wish you the best vibes to all of you