Page 19 of Chained By the Alpha
“Thank you,” I say softly, meaning every word.
The car falls into a tense silence once again until we pull up outside my house. Zayn nods before getting out of the car and coming around to open my door for me. As I step out onto the pavement, I feel a sense of safety with him around.
As I turn to face my house and see my father standing on the porch waiting for me, that sense of safety is short-lived. “Thanks for the ride,” I say, turning to face Zayn.
He nods, his expression serious.
“Will you be okay dealing with him?” he asks, and I glance at my father to see him storming over to me. Before I have a chance to say anything, my father growls.
“Where the fuck have you been?”
“I was just out taking care of some things,” I say carefully, trying to keep my tone neutral.
“With him! What business have you got with him, Cleo?” he snaps, grabbing my arm when I feel Zayn’s presence suddenly behind me. His hand goes to my waist, the warmth of it seeping into my skin. I fight the urge to look down at it, my skin buzzing slightly at his touch.
“Your men really aren’t good at communicating. As I told your man at the front gate, I ran into her in the wreckage looking for her phone.”
“You could have called me to pick her up,” my father snarls, glaring at him.
“Would you have answered?” Zayn replies quickly, and my father falls quiet.
My father doesn’t look convinced, and after a moment, he sighs and shakes his head.
“I don’t have time for this right now. Go clean up and get some rest,” he says before walking away.
I let out a sigh of relief when I feel Zayn’s breath sweep across my neck. “I’ll call you in a few days,” he whispers, and I nod when his hand grabs mine suddenly. I look up at him, only for his lips to graze mine. He is that close. Stunned, I just stare at him for a second when he smirks.
“Your keys,” he adds, then chuckles.
I shake myself out of the daze I am in. “Thanks,” I say awkwardly, and he steps away, moving toward his car parked on the curb.
“I wonder how Deacon would feel knowing you’re hanging out with random Alphas?” comes Lydia’s taunting voice. I turn to find her leaning on the railing of the porch, looking smug as usual.
“He gave me a lift home, that is it; I was looking for my phone.”
Lydia chuckles and stands, coming down the steps toward me. “Sure you were.” She pauses beside me. “I guess we will find out if Deacon believes your lies,” she laughs before sauntering back inside.
Sighing, I head inside and to my room. Lydia has always had a thing for Deacon. She makes sure I know it, too, with the way she is always touching and flirting with him whenever he is near.
• • •
Later that night, Linda calls me down to help make dinner. With a groan, I heave myself off the bed. My stitches tug painfully, and I instantly reach for my painkillers. Snatching them off thebedside table, I head downstairs where I find Linda standing in the kitchen.
“You look like shit,” she says, and I snort. She’s right, I do look like shit. She’s wearing a simple white summer dress with short sleeves and white flowers. Her hair is down with curls hanging lazily about her face, with silver hoops in her ears.
A slight smile tilts her lips as she glances up. She’s standing at the counter, a pot and a spatula in hand, with a bowl on the counter. The aroma of food wafts from the pot.
“Your father told me you ran into Alpha Zayn this morning?” she questions as I grab my drink bottle from the fridge. I nod before popping my painkillers in my mouth and swallowing them.
“Here, come stir this,” she tells me while grabbing a chopping board from beside the microwave. Glancing in the pot, I find it’s chili.
“When will Dad be home?” I ask her while stirring the pot as she cuts up something to add to it.
“He’ll be here shortly,” she says when Lydia comes into the room all dressed up in a skin-tight body-con dress.
“Hmm, chili,” she says, moving past me.
“You look cute,” Linda tells her.
