The Chase

Sunday's presence left a bitter taste on my tongue. And it wasn't the god-awful red wine I sipped upon in the midsts of a secluded section of an Italian restaurant where classical music played and wafted through the air.

This was the most awful wine I had ever tasted in my life.

"Late for our first meeting," Dean tsked, swirling the wine around in his glass with a distant look etching his features. His head leaned on his fist as he sat beside me by the head of the table where I sat.

"Give him time," I said with an empty tone, no emotion lurking under the source. In all honesty I didn't mind the lateness. My mind was elsewhere. On someone else.

My little songbird. Except she had less song here recently.

She had become increasingly bolder in her search for my presence. Which was rather ironic.

The day I found out she had began investigating me, or in her case The Shadow, was the day I nearly nutted in my pants. It was the day the biggest grin of my life had stretched over my face.

I knew she was the one right then and there, that we were so conveniently chasing each other in a circle, except I had the upper hand.

She thinks she knows the tip of the iceberg, but she has no idea. She only knows what I let her. The very extreme of the bare minimum. She wouldn't come to know the truth till after she is with me.

Knowing she was trying to get into Dom's VIP section was an edge for me, knowing it was a way to get even closer to her. To have her in my section. So I'd let her little friends do their work and get her in, give her a slither of what awaits her.

Dean's gaze shifted from the wine to me, his brows furrowing slightly. "Zayan, you seem... distracted. Is everything all right?"

I couldn't help but let out a low, mirthless chuckle. "Dean, everything is far from all right. But, in its own way, it's progressing exactly as planned."

Dean's eyes flicked with curiosity, but he knew better than to pry. He'd been with me long enough to understand that sometimes the details were best left unspoken.

As I took another sip of the terrible wine, I couldn't shake the image of her from my mind. The investigator who had unknowingly become my prey. She was different, and that intrigued me. She didn't fit the mold of those who had crossed my path in the past. Her determination, her persistence, it was both exasperating and oddly enticing.

But most importantly her fear.

God. I sighed with a grin on my face.

She loved the fear, the loved the adrenaline pumping through her veins, she just didn't want to admit it.

I leaned back in my chair, my fingers lightly tapping the rim of my glass. "Dean, remind me to send a bottle of our most exquisite wine to a certain investigator. An invitation to the game, if you will."