Shot

"You took so long to get here." Mate deeply frowns at me, his face showing his displeasure.

"I had to complete some of the tasks I was given." I walk to the passenger's side, opening the door, I slide in.

"Some tasks?" Mate enters the car. "What tasks where you completing till ten o'clock?" He frowns deeply.

"Some tasks." I yawn.

"Is the job taking a toll on you? You want me to talk to the manager for you? " He says with a very serious look.

" Don't do that. "

Talking to the manager means I won't get to hear the end of from Meet and Rissa. They'll squeal my ears out should they get to hear Mate talked to the manager about me.

"Why?" Turning towards me, he help me put on my seatbelt.

"Well," I swallow. My heart beating frantically at the nearness of him. My palms getting really sweaty.

"What?" He smirks as if he knows exactly what his nearness is doing to me.

"I've worked for almost a week now, I don't want to change till the end of the month. That way, I'll be assigned to a work station." I nervously smile.

He might have returned to sitting the way he was sitting earlier, but my heart haven't gotten past the stage where he helped me with my seatbelt. I guess am still locked in the past.

"If you say so." He revs the engine, and drives off.

*

"Am going for some business meeting at Lova state." He says after a moment of silence between us.

"A business meeting?" I ask to be sure I heard exactly what he said.

"Yes. It's just a two days trip, I have something to sort out. "

" What exactly? " I raise a brow at him.

The Mate I know isn't the same as this one. The words I heard while at the store is enough to make me raise eyebrows at him.

"One of my company needs urgent attention. I need to go and check out what exactly the problem is." He expertly cuts to the street across from his.

"How many companies do you even have?"

He shrugs, "They're...."

A car zooms past us, the force knocking the car the side of our vehicle.

"Shit..." I jump in fright, the only thing that prevented me from jumping off the car is the seatbelt secured to my waist.

Placing a hand on my chest, I try to get my heart to stop beating forcefully. Right now, my heart is probably in a safe corner, trying to regain its breathe.

"Are you alright?" Mate asks in concern.

" Am fine." I frown, " that driver is seriously insane. How can he drive like a person with no sense at all?" I frown at the driver who's probably on his way to wherever it is he's going to.

"Yeah." Mate frowns deeply as he continues to drive.

Halfway to Mate's properties, we find our car being double crossed by the same vehicle that almost caused me to develop high blood pressure.

"What's he doing?" I frown at the black vehicle.

Mate horns impatiently, but the owner of the car didn't drive off neither did he make any move to come out from his vehicle.

"I'll be right back." Mate gets down from the vehicle, and walk towards the car that's parked.

The door opens suddenly, and three men alights from the car. Dressed in an all red suit, the men looks really formidable. Had it not being for the red of their suits, I would have tagged them as those from men in black.

Mate stops walking the moment he sees them.

The sight of the men made my heart skip beats. It looks more like a scene in a crime scene.

One of them brought out something akin to a rod, and with it, he rush towards Mate who still haven't made a move since he stopped walking.

As he approached, Mate goes into fighting mode. His mood changing from unconcerned to a full fighting mode.

Mate kicks him on the stomach, and takes the rod from him.

"Yeah!" I cheer for him.

The others who were standing all advance towards Mate. Their legs moving in sync as they approach him.

Just like the first, Mate takes care of the three of the males. He didn't even look like he sweated while doing that.

He turns to go, and that's when one of the males latched to his leg. Holding it on, he strongly tugs, and that has Mate tumbling to the floor.

Without waiting like I was instructed to do, I unlock the vehicle, and made to rush towards Mate who's currently beating the life of the male that tugged him.

As if in slow motion, I watch one of the men on the floor remove the gun from his pocket, and points it at Mate whose entire focus is on the man on the floor.

"Watch out!" I run towards Mate, my face showing the fear on them.

"No!" Mate shouts the moment he sees me running, his face contorted in fear.

I didn't stop until a reach him.

"Ahh!" I cry out as I feel something painful on my back. The searing pain indescribable. Unable to hold myself more, I fell on his arms.

"Lat!" Mate shouts.

"You're still alive." I smile brightly, my hands placed on his jaw. "You're okay. Am..." I try to close my eyes due to the pain.

"No, Don't close your eyes Lat." He playfully touch my cheeks.

"It's okay." I smile brightly. "I just need to sleep."

In the background, I can hear a car zooming off, the screeching of the car the only noise aside from Mate's words.

"Please don't close your eyes Lat. Stay with me."

I feel Myself being carried, the action causing a painful sensation on my back.

The pain feeling more like a reopened wound.

"Just a sleep Mate. It's painful.." I vomit blood.

" I'll take you to the hospital, please don't close your eyes Lat. Stay with me."