Chapter 16: Date

I beamed at him even though he was looking at me like I had butterflies shooting out of my ears. "Okay! Last one! Shoot!" I said, enthusiastically. His surprise slowly went away and he turned his head to avoid looking at me. "The last one... Is that I'm a..." He sounded like he had the hardest time trying to tell me, which made my anticipation rise. "Satanist." My anticipation then fell flat. "Oh. Okay." He quickly turned to look at me again, confused as hell. "The fuck do you mean 'okay'?! I worship the devil! Isn't that concerning to you?!" I shrugged. "Freedom of religion man. I don't judge." He stared at me blankly until I spoke again. "It's not a surprise, honestly. All of your tattoos are either of pentagrams, goats, or demons all tied together by weird symbols. It was either you were a Satanist, or really hated your mother." 

He clenched his teeth as if he was holding back a laugh. "You are something else, Lavender. If you want to go out with me, I'm all yours." His words sent a rush up my spine and the thought of him being all mine made me swoon. "I'm still willing," I said, shyly. He then stood up from the sofa and straightened the cuffs of his coat. "Very well then. I will take you to the pleasant side of the city for dinner and a movie." I jumped. "What? But, I was planning on being the one to take you out. I'm supposed to be repaying you here! And we're going outside the slums? That sounds expensive. You don't have to do that. I have some money saved up."

He turned to me with a smirk. "You think I get paid minimum wage for being a hitman?" I paused. "But, you live here." He chuckled. "Of course. A criminal must hide among other criminals so as not to get caught." I stared up at him with surprise. "How... rich are you, then?" He just smiled at me and avoided my question. "There's no need for you to worry about repaying me. Accepting me as much as you did, as well as going out with me is more than enough." I was still caught in a whirlpool of his mystery. "But, how is going out with you repaying you? I'm not even paying for it." 

He turned to face me while his smirk became devious. "It is payment to me by being in control. I get to decide what we do and I get to spend a whole afternoon with a woman who got all dressed up for me." I hesitated. I didn't think I could get dressed up for him with the clothes I had. I didn't even have a dress. "About that... This is probably the best outfit I own..." He raised an eyebrow. "Then I guess I'm going to have to get you another one." I audibly gasped. "What?" He smiled again and pulled me to my feet with ease. He was so strong it made all the air in my lungs disappear. 

I tried my best not to shake after being touched by him and calmed the sparks going up and down my arms from where he grabbed me. "Might as well make a whole day of it. I'd like to get dressed up for you too." It was like everything he said was targeted straight at my heart and I had no way of responding. He then picked up my coat and placed it around me. "We're leaving now?" I asked, timidly. He nodded. "Of course. We have a lot to do. We better get started. But, as soon as we get to the safer part of the city, I want you to take this horrid thing off." I was too shocked to stop myself from agreeing with him. "O-okay." 

Once we left the apartment, Levy took me to a parking garage behind the building. It looked to be abandoned, and there was good reason for it to be since every car that parked on this street got striped to the skeleton as soon as it was left unattended. I wondered what kind of car Levy had and how he was able to have a car in this neighborhood. We went down the cement stairs to the empty floors below where there was a line of large storage units along the side wall. Levy approached one that had a big red pentagram painted onto it.

Symbols were drawn on every inch of the door and there was a large chain binding the handle to the ground. Brown stained the cement below the door and Levy noticed my unease when I saw it. He smiled back at me. "Some people pay for cameras, watchmen, or padlocks to protect their stuff. All I needed was a small can of garnet red at the hardware store. Haha." I returned his smile even though I didn't entirely know whether I should believe him. He then pulled a key from his pocket and knelt to grab the lock that was attached to the heavy chain.

I noticed that another pentagram was hand-engraved into the metal on the padlock as he unlocked it. Something told me he wasn't just using the pentagrams as a way to scare people off. I felt something dark surrounding this door. An aura of warning, perhaps. I shook my head slightly. That was ridiculous. I felt stupid for thinking that he had placed a spell on his storage unit. I almost laughed at the thought. Levy finished pulling the chain aside and lifted the door open with one arm. I gasped once I saw what was inside. An incredibly shiny black Mustang sat facing us with stunning red rims.

It was now confirmed that Levy had style in every vocation. He was definitely built for the high life. This only made me even more curious as to what the hell he was doing with me. Levy gestured for me to enter before him and I walked over to the passenger side door. I admired the beautiful car as I stopped beside it, and Levy followed me. He opened the door for me and I blushed as I ducked inside. So this was going to be a regular thing. I wasn't used to getting so much attention from a man and didn't know what to do about the tingling feeling that emanated through me. 

The inside of the car looked brand new and the leather seats were so comfortable. I realized that I hadn't been inside a car for ages and none of the ones I remembered could compare to this one. I felt a little uneasy now that I was trapped in a small, mobile space. Levy could kidnap me if he wanted to. I forced myself to breathe as I put on my seatbelt and let go of my paranoia. Levy wouldn't do that. I hadn't known him for very long, but I trusted him. He saved my life and I will forever be grateful. I watched his masculine figure walk to the other side of the car and get into the driver's seat. He had such an effect on me that drove me wild. Just looking at him made me blush. I just wanted him to hold me forever like he had last night.