Marry Me, Marie!

I woke up to the buzz of the air-conditioning unit in the large, white room and stretched my arms.

My head hurt like hell, before I was even fully awake. My eyes fluttered as I looked up at the high ceilings.

I blinked hard.

The room was unfamiliar. This was definitely not my cramped apartment.

Where was I?

Something in the white duvet stirred beside me, and I turned to look.

A man! I gasped, my eyes almost popping out of place.

There was an insanely handsome man sleeping right next to me; on the same bed.

I waited a few seconds before turning to have a better look at his face, and the realization of who he was hit me with a force.

Xavier Chase, the billionaire CEO of Ocean World Company! The same man who had recently hit a multi-billion contract and had the eyes of every woman on him.

How did we end up on the same bed? I wondered, confused.

I shut my eyes and grit my teeth, trying to recall how I had even met him.

I could still taste the alcohol on my lips and recall the memory of how Xavier had asked his personal assistant to get me the previous night at the club.

After meeting him at the club, I was quite surprised that he even asked me back to his hotel. We had a bit of conversation in his private car, over a bottle of wine.

Everything that happened afterward was a blur because I ended up getting drunk, too drunk to even remember what happened.

My heart started to race and I clutched the white duvet closer to my chest. I was completely naked underneath.

Crap!

Why didn't I have clothes on?

Where did I drop my clothes?

My eyes scanned the large room until they fell on my lacy red panties which lay on the marble floor. I gasped, noticing my black gown which hung carelessly on the arm of the only chair in the room.

I drew in a deep breath and returned my gaze to the sleeping form of Xavier, the billionaire CEO.

His chest rose and fell slowly, his dark hair falling over his face.

At least, I made it into his bed. At least, I spent the night with him, I muttered under my breath.

A self-satisfied smile played on my lips as I felt a sense of triumph. I had conquered the heart of the cold and powerful CEO. Or so I thought!

I had ended up in the bed of the wealthiest CEO in the state capital; the same man who every other woman out there was dying to have.

I froze as I watched Xavier stir again in his sleep. Would he remember me? Or would he just treat me like a one-night stand and never speak to me again?

His hair was messy, and I reached out to touch it. My hand was close when I stopped for a moment, and then decided I had nothing to lose.

My fingers ran through his hair and then traced their way close to his lips, and my heart began to pound with expectation as he slowly opened his eyes.

He blinked and looked at me with a blank expression.

A moment of silence passed before he finally spoke. "You're still here." His voice was neutral, giving nothing away.

My stomach tightened.

I waited for his next words with bated breath.

"It's already 7 am" He blurted as he shot a quick glance at the huge clock on the wall. "Leave now" He added, without looking at me.

I bit my lip and tried to ignore the hurt I felt. I wanted to say something to make him want to see me again, but the words wouldn't come.

"You should go," he said as he rose from the bed, his naked form sending chills down my spine. “I don’t want to see you again.”

My heart sank. How could a man whose body called out to me reject me with the very same lips he kissed me with?

His words from the previous night floated into my head. The same words which had caused me to press my body against him and kiss him recklessly. He had told me that there was something irresistible about me.

Somehow, it made me feel wanted, but now, I felt different, so different.

I ran my hands through my own hair, feeling like pulling my hair out for a moment as I remembered how Xavier had looked at me the previous night with intense desire.

“Are you deaf?” His words came at me with a blow, interrupting my thoughts. “Get dressed now. One of my drivers will drop you off.” Xavier said bluntly, his tone flat and emotionless.

My heart sank, my hopes of seeing him again quickly fading.

But I wasn't ready to give up just yet. "But I thought we had a connection," I said. "I felt like we had something special."

Xavier raised an eyebrow, looking at me as if he had just seen a ghost. "What we had was physical, nothing more. You're just another girl I've taken to bed and forgotten about."

I felt like I had been slapped in the face, but I was undeterred by Xavier's coldness.

"I understand that you don't do relationships," I said. "But I'm not looking for a relationship either. I just want to spend more time with you."

Xavier's expression remained unchanged, his face a mask of indifference.

His response was unexpectedly cold. "I don't eat the same food twice," he stated bluntly, his words leaving me feeling a pang of disappointment.

I felt like I had been punched in the gut.

My eyes filled with tears, but I blinked them back "Alright, Mr Xavier," I said, trying to sound nonchalant.

"I'll leave." I stepped out of the bed, my backside was bare as I bent over to pick up my panties. I put it on and sauntered over to where my black gown was.

Xavier's stare was on me as I got dressed, without a word.

Then, I went over to the edge of the bed and sat on it, trying to control myself.

Xavier stood up and walked across the room, his feet making soft thuds on the floor.

He opened a drawer and pulled out a wad of bills, then walked back to where I was sitting. He held out the money, and I looked up at him in confusion.

"What is this?" I asked. "I don't want to be paid for..." I trailed off, unable to finish the sentence.

"I'm not paying you," he said. "I'm giving you this money because you need it." I shook my head.

"Take it" His voice was firmer now.

My hand trembled as she took the money from him, her mind racing.

I couldn't believe he was being so cold, so callous. I wanted to ask him why he didn't want to see me again, but the words stuck in my throat.

I could only sit there, clutching the money in my hand, and staring at him. Finally, I found my voice. "I thought we had something," I said.

He shook his head. "You were a one-night stand, nothing more." Those words felt like a slap in the face. I stood up, the money crumpled in my hand. I felt tears welling up in my eyes, but I refused to let them fall. I would not give him the satisfaction of seeing me cry.

I held my head high and looked him in the eye. "You're a coward," I said. "You're too afraid to let yourself feel anything real."

His jaw clenched, and for a moment I thought he was going to say something or even hit me. He did neither and just watched me, his face impassive.

I finished dressing, walked to the door with my heart pounding, opened it, and stepped out into the hallway.

As soon as I closed the door behind me, a loud gunshot rang out in the air and glasses shattered right in the room I just left.

I froze at the door.

What had just happened?

Dread settled over me as I realized that if I dared open the door again, would probably see a million pieces of what had been the man I slept with the previous night with a million drops of blood on the wall and a million bullets.

All of a sudden the door opened of its own accord, the last stroke that finally made me scream, and the next thing I felt was myself flying through the air with a strong hand pressed to my mouth.

I fell to the floor, protected from direct contact with the floor by a hard body under mine.

“Shhhhh baby girl.” He whispered in my ear, still holding my mouth shut. “Glad I got you out of there. Five seconds longer and you would have been meat pie.”

"Xavier!" I mumbled against his palms which were pressed firmly on my mouth.

I had seen bullets whizz past where I had been by the door, only seconds ago.

“We will wait here for a while.” He said, taking his hand off my mouth and allowing me to breathe. “The bullets cannot reach us from here.”

I nodded and panted heavily, still terrified by how close I had been to dying only a while ago.

The shooting continued for a few more minutes, sending cold shivers down my spine.

When it stopped, he stood back up on his feet, pulled out a gun, and cocked it. “Do you know how to shoot?” He asked.

I shook my head, and he chuckled to himself.

“Stay quiet where you are, then. They may have come here and shot only as a warning, and they may still want to come in and kill me. Stay ready for whatever it is, okay?”

"Kill you? Who the hell are you Xavier Chase? Who are these people that badly want you dead?"

"Rule number one. Don't ask too many questions. Focus on yourself. Now, shut the hell up!"

I pressed my hand to my mouth the same way he had to stop myself from screaming.

We waited for five more minutes, and when there was nothing he held out his hand which I took.

We then ran through the back, sneaked into the garage, and rushed into one of the cars, one he claimed was bulletproof.

“Why are they even trying to kill you?” I yelled at him in frustration as I struggled to open the door while my hands shook, already tired of being in this situation.

“Get in the fucking car.” He yelled back, and I obeyed without hesitation since I was already terrified of everything else.

He started the car and zoomed away at top speed, and I only found myself breathing better when we were far away. It was at this point I realized I was crying, that I had been crying all along since the shooting started.

“Why do they want to kill you?” I asked again.

“That was just a warning that could have killed me. If they wanted to kill me we would never have made it to this car without bullets for company.”

“Why is all of this happening? Why?”

“Because you did not leave when I asked you to.”

“Oh shut up, Xavier. Fucking shut the hell—”

He slammed his foot on the brakes so hard that I was thrown forward, and when I lifted my face to look at his there was such a hard expression there with a glint of danger in his eyes that told me I had to remain silent or there would be consequences.

He reached out, pulled my face to his and gave me a long, hard kiss, one I was unable to resist.

When we pulled apart, he too was breathing hard, and I had no more interest in asking questions, weakened by both the look of his eyes and the sweetness of his lips.

We drove on in silence for a while, myself looking outside the window so that he would not see the tears I shed.

“They want to kill me because they want the contract I have. They shot at me as a warning to scare me and have me resign it.”

I turned to look at him as one of his hands held the steering while the other rested on the window.

“Will you resign it then?”

“Resign it?” He laughed so sarcastically I had to double-check to see if there was anything funny about my answer. “They will need to do more than just shooting to have me resign it.”

“They might kill you.”

“Women only know that they want to fuck a man with lots of money. Men only know that they want to be men with lots of money. Nobody knows you attract the ugliest souls when You have money. You only fucked me because you know how much money I have. Money runs this world.”

I remained silent.

He was not wrong— everybody wanted the elephant in the club with money, and that elephant had been him.

The car stopped once again and when I turned to see why, he was carrying a gun in his hand only to point it to my head. I felt the chill go down my spine looking at that dark hole in the barrel as it pointed directly between my eyes.

“I will be sending you away so you can get yourself back, girl. Have fun, live life, go to all the parties you want.” He said. “During that period I do not want a word of what you saw today breathed to a living soul. Do you hear me?”

I nodded.

“Feels like shit pointing a gun at an already scared girl.” He muttered to himself, stowing his gun away.

"Go ahead and shoot me, then," I said.

He eyed me, "I would love to do that, but you're not worth it. I only kill people who owe me."

A lump formed in my throat.

His phone rang out, causing me to jump in my seat.

His eyebrows arched in a frown as clenched his jaw, "Kevin, you had just one job, and you messed it up." He yelled into the phone, "The next time we meet, I'll gladly forget a bullet in your chest."

I listened, fear clawing through me.

"I'll be at the dome by 8 pm tomorrow. I want you to be there with the parcel. We don't have much time on our hands" He kneaded his forehead with his fingers, still frowning.

He jerked his head sideways, and his eyes settled on me as if realizing that I was still there.

"Bring your death wish along, Kelvin!" He barked into the phone, " I'll be doing you the sweet favor of getting to choose how you would like to die, if you mess this up again."

His eyes were pinned on me as he spoke into the phone.

In that moment, I felt cold sweat trickle down my neck.

I was horrified by the thought of sitting in the car of a man who freely threatened to kill other people, as though it was something he was used to.

What shit had I gotten into? I asked myself silently, staring down at my feet.

"Are you always this way?" He blurted.

I looked up at him.

"Tell me." He said, his eyes narrowed on my face.

"What do you—" The words rolled off my tongue.

"Never mind." He cut in, pulling out a pack of cigarettes. He took a stick and wedged it between his lips, unlit.

Then, he leaned back in his seat and looked out of the window.

When he turned to me again, it was to give another order.

“Go into that building and tell them you are from Xavier Chase." He pointed, "Then, choose whatever city you want and go have your vacation there, all covered by me. Relax yourself. You can take as long as six months vacation “Will you be coming to join me?” I asked, trying to manage a smile despite how terrified I had been all morning.

“I do not eat the same food twice.” He said with a scoff. “Now get out of my car and live like you never met me.”

Thirty seconds later, I stood with tears in my eyes on the edge of the street while his car zoomed off into the distance.

He was never going to be mine, I realized.