I sit at a square table with my laptop in front of me beside my cup of coffee and books, pens and notebook. My bag is placed next to the chair beside me. Students float around, passing the shelves of books, checking them out or engaging in conversation. I have been at this college for a few weeks now and I’m starting to get into the swing of things, and I like living in Spain. It's cheaper, the food is great and the sun is amazing. I do miss everyone but I can get used to this. So far, I’ve only made one friend but that will come in time.
A tanned skinned girl with black hair and brown eyes with two other girls behind her stands in front of me and I smile but in the next move she pushes my books and pens off the table. Her friends laugh and my eyebrows weave together. She did that deliberately. I don’t say anything as I crunch down and pick them up. I ignore her presence and turn back to my laptop to continue my essay. I can feel her stare.
“You think you're so special don’t you? Because you're with Luke,” She says in Spanish, glaring at me. I ignore her again, I don’t want to get into this conversation. I’ve never said anything about being special, I know I’m not.
She pushes my laptop off the desk with everything else, thankfully missing my coffee.
Frustration grows inside me as I pick them up too and I say, “You’re just upset because Luke would never go for a jealous bitch,” I shouldn’t have said that. She slaps me on the face and it feels like it was with all her strength.
My skin heats up and my eyes sting. I’ve never been slapped before and it was like it lit an explosive spark that I didn’t know I had inside of me as I impulsively grab her hair and pull. She grabs mine and claws at my face, digging her nails in. I can’t fight, I have never fought in my life, I’ve never needed to. I’ve had arguments with my siblings plenty of times but we don’t fight. So I just pull her hair as she hits, smacks and scratches me until we are pulled apart, leaving me with my face stinging and my hair a tangled mess. I can’t complain because I shouldn’t have reacted, I should've walked away like I was taught but I didn’t. I can’t control her actions but I can control mine.
And I didn’t.



I walk down the stone, wide steps, slowly. It's starting to get dark, daylight slowly fading out but not completely yet. There is Luke, standing, leaning against his sleek black Audi R8 like he's a god, with his two security guards standing on guard, a loud crowd surrounding him. Taking pictures and gushing all over him. He glances up as if he senses my presence, a gleam lights up his eyes, as he throws me a quick wink. This is the last thing I want to deal with right now. I didn't offer anything back, just staring blankly back at him, walking toward him.
As I get closer, he bids his fans farewell, and they moan and groan. I walk around the car, and just as I reach the passenger door, I hear a group of girls trying to get Luke's attention, which he doesn't give.
"Luke, why are you with a little girl!"
"You can do better!"
"He can do me!" Another says and they all agree, laughing, mocking me.
I ignore them and pull open the door and get inside, slamming the door, not saying anything as he gets in at the same time.
He sits behind the wheel, readjusts his seat and turns the engine on, rap tunes loudly filling the silence. He reaches forward and turns it down a bit.
He glances at me. "Had a bad day?"
"You could've found somewhere more secluded to wait for me," I snap, rolling my eyes, pulling my seat belt on.
"Okay," he says, slightly taken aback. I don't offer anything back to that, just stare mutely out the window, waiting for him to start the car.
He grabs my face, gripping my chin gently, turning me toward him. He squints his eyes with his face scrunched up, eyeing the visible red mark on my cheek.
"What happened to your face?" he says, deeply. "And your hair?" He runs his other hand through it.
I roughly brush his hands off me. "I don't want to talk about it."
He backs off and doesn't say anything else, just pulls his seat belt on, placing one hand on the wheel, and starts the car up, the engine revs to life but then in a split second he cuts it off, winding his window down.
"Ayyy," He shouts at the girl who made the earlier comment.
"Me!" She says shocked, pointing at herself.
"Yeah you—You ain't got nothing on this little girl," he says. "None of you do," His tone is hard as he gazes at them, then rolls the window back up, blocking out their responses, backing out of the spot. He doesn't usually retaliate with his fans but I guess he can sense that I kind of needed it. Prove that he has my back. But it could make things worse.
He drives down the road, foot pressing on the pedal. I remain mute, staring out the window, focusing on the buildings and greenery passing us by, tension pouring out of me, filling the car. I know he can feel it. But I'm angry, I never make it this hard for him. Have guys throwing remarks at him, mocking him, constantly telling him I'm doing them. Ahhh, I'm sick of it. I know it's not fair to direct my frustrations at him, it's not his fault, he's just living his dreams and I love that. But today, I hit boiling point and I just can't help but direct it at him.
I throw a quick glance at him. 'vice versa' has come through the sound system, he drives smoothly with one hand on the wheel, while the other taps on his knee to the rhythm, slightly nodding his head along. He mutters along to it quietly. GOD, he's beautiful. He glances at me quickly, muttering the words to me in a low tone, "I believe, I believe you're the only one for me," nudging his hand against my shoulder to the beat, attempting to lighten my mood. I ignore it, turning back to my view outside, blocking him out. Through the reflection of my window, I see him place his other hand back on the wheel, focusing back on the roads.
After ten minutes of driving in silence with the beat in the background, Luke manoeuvres the car, turning left to go onto the motorway instead of going right which is the direction to our house.
I glance at him in confusion, he ignores it and drives down the road, then stops at the red light. Just before it changes to green, he glances around and looks through the rearview, there are not many cars out here right now.
He throws me a quick glance back. "We're about to see what this bad boy can really do," His voice is low and dangerous, shivers run through me. And he puts his foot down hard on the pedal, pressing on the gas, picking up speed. He increases the speed till it gets to 70m/ph, and is still climbing. At the same time, he turns up the volume of the speakers till it's blazing with YRF.
I feel my heart racing in my chest, beating wildly and he rolls down the windows, causing the wind to smack into my face but it feels good. It's a thrill, helping to dampen the anger inside of me —excitement chasing it away. I'm a daredevil, and so is he. The engine roars like a lion in the background.
Within a minute, it climbs to 120 miles per hour. A fire burns through me, I feel wild, and a giggle bursts through me as I hold on tightly to my seatbelt.
Luke glances at me quickly, with his blue eyes slightly wide, gleaming brightly, "Faster?" He says low. Faster?!
Before I can stop myself I hear myself breathe out. "Yeah," I'm a daredevil, always has been and he knows that. I feel on top of the world, it's like a high.
With that, he speeds up to 190 miles per hour, and it feels like we are floating on clouds, causing this mad sensation to flow through my veins. I can't take my eyes off him, he looks sexy with his honey-highlighted hair blowing with the wind, looking completely relaxed staring at the road, then he quickly flashes me a grin with his white teeth on display. He looks ramped up, like he's looking to win a race right now. I can see why he always has girls and models all over him—I really hit the jackpot.
I look out ahead of me at the roads and see a car ahead of us and he continues speeding at this pace, not slowing down, getting closer like he's going to drive straight into it and my heart stutters and halts in my chest.
"Luke!" I shriek, and just before it looks like we're about to collide with them, he swerves in time, chuckling, overtaking them, then slows down, getting off at the exit. I chuckle along, as relief surges through me and my heartbeat slowly calms down. He reaches over to the sound system and turns down the music, rolling up the windows at the same time.
"Omg, you're crazy," I chuckle, staring at him.
"You're telling me?!" He says in shock, his ocean glinting eyes wide. His chest rumbles with his laughter, glancing at me brightly. "The girl who gets me to fucking Bungi jump and jump off cliffs."
"That's different!" I giggle.
"Ahh, there's that beautiful smile," He breathes out, glancing back at me.
"Don't think I'm still not annoyed at you."
"Me!?" He gasps out, as his eyebrows pull together. "What the hell did I do?"
"Being you."
"Ghee thanks," he nods neutrally.
"It wasn't a compliment," I say blandly.
"Noted," He says deeply, raising his eyebrows, as he pulls up to our house, parking in our garage.
We get out and walk out of the garage, leading us into the house. We walk to the kitchen. He stares at me intensely, and I stare back mutely, standing opposite, leaning against the kitchen island. Luke stands near the dining table a few feet away.
He sighs. "I know fans can be pretty mean, but you know that it comes with my career choice."
"Well then, I don't like your career choice very much," I state matter-factly, in an instant I feel guilt simmering in my gut, but I quickly chase it away with frustration.
He sighs again, screwing his face in a snarl. "Well I don't see you complaining that much about the other things that it comes with," he says." It pays for this big house you're living in and your extravagant lifestyle. That pool that you love and those heated floors. How many countries have you been to? The private jet, yachts and those diamonds in your ears weren't cheap either."
"God I hate you!"
"No. You love me, Lau."
I glare daggers at him, furious now. I bring my hands up to my ear and take off one earring, throwing it at him.
He dodges it smoothly. "What the fuck was that!" He says, eyes wide.
"Because you're an arrogant bastard!"
I take off the other one and this time it hits the side of his forehead.
"Ow, that hurt," He rubs his head.
"Good," I glare, tension now flying off me in waves. "I don't care about all this, you can keep this house and keep this extravagant lifestyle to yourself. I'll leave now!" I feel water resting in my eyes and I turn around to leave.
"Wait!" He shouts.
I turn back around. "What?" I snap.
"That dress. It's Versace, that's quite pricey too," He whispers low, heat burning in his gaze like he's trying to burn me with it and almost succeeding.
I reach back, pulling the zip down. I pull the dress off and step out of it. Now left with my lacy black bra and black tights on display, staring at him. He stalks towards me like a lion stalking his prey. He reaches me, pressing me up against the island, shoving the stools to the side, whispering in my ear. "I don't think that was cheap either. Let me take this off," His voice is low, with his lips brushing against my ear, as he traces his finger along my covered breast. Shivers run through me, burning out the anger that was consuming me but not completely....

to be continued