Chapter 10 I Take What I Want
Daniel’s POV
My face was still fucking burning when I got back to my car. Not even from the slap. From the utter humiliation. She slapped me with people watching...people giggling. Fuck this!
I sat there with my hands on the steering wheel, staring straight ahead, replaying it over and over. The way her palm connected. The sound. The way people looked at me like I was some kind of creep.
She didn’t used to look at me like that. She never fought back. The Celene I knew used to soften when I got close. Used to smile. Used to fold, bend and break for me.
I slammed my fist against the wheel. “Fuck.”
My phone buzzed and a name lit up the screen. My girlfriend. The one I was supposed to be with right now. The one I had told was running late because of traffic. I really did not want to speak to her.
I answered anyway.
“Where are you?” she asked. “You said you’d be home an hour ago.”
“I’m busy,” I snapped.
There was a pause before she continued. “Busy with what?”
“Not this,” I said. “I really don’t have the patience right now.”
“That’s not fair,” she replied, her voice rising. “You’ve been off all day. You barely texted me. If you’re cheating on me, just say that.”
I laughed at that. She juat did not get. Celene would never have asked me such questions “Don’t flatter yourself.”
“So where are you?” she asked again.
“I said I’m busy,” I repeated. “I’ll call you later.”
“You always say that, i just think you...”
I hung up as she was still speaking, cutting off her loud, scratchy voice.
I tossed the phone onto the passenger seat and leaned back, dragging a hand down my face. Everything felt wrong. Like the world had tilted just enough to piss me off.
Celene... She thought she could just walk away from me. She thought she could slap me and be done.
I started the car and drove home with my jaw clenched, replaying the way she froze when I kissed her. The way she hadn’t kissed me back, but hadn’t pushed me away fast enough either.
She felt something. I knew she did.
That was what pissed me off the most. She still felt something for me. I just needed to soften her up.
When I pulled onto my street, something felt off immediately.
There was a car parked near my place. Black. Clean. Too clean. Not one of the usual beat up sedans my neighbors drove. It sat there like it belonged, like it had always been there. I looked closer at the car... was that a Rolce Royce sitting in my driveway?
I parked anyway.
The moment I stepped out, my phone buzzed again. It was a text this time.
Girlfriend: We need to talk when you get in.
I ignored it. Fuck this chick! I was chasing Celene not some fucking replacement.
I was halfway to my door when I heard a voice behind me.
“Long day?”
I turned.
A man leaned casually against the black car, arms crossed, expression almost friendly. Almost. He was tall, well dressed, not flashy, but expensive in a quiet, commanding way. The kind of man who didn’t need to announce himself.
“Do I know you?” I asked.
He smiled. Not warm. Not threatening. Just confident. Like he already knew how this conversation would end.
"Jeffery. And no, you dont know me,” he said. “But I know you.”
That irritated me instantly. “Then you’re on the wrong property.”
He straightened and took a few steps toward me. Slowly and unrushed, like he had all the time in the world.
“Let’s not pretend you don’t know why I’m here,” he said. “You put your hands on a girl today who didn’t want them there.”
My stomach tightened. “That’s none of your business.”
“It became my business the moment you ignored very clear boundaries,” he replied. “You embarrassed her. You scared her. And then you thought you could just go home and cool off like nothing happened.”
I scoffed. “Who the hell are you supposed to be? Her new boyfriend?”
He chuckled. “I’m someone who gives warnings, and I don't like my warnings flouted.”
“I don’t need a warning,” I snapped. “She’s my ex. We talked. It got heated. That’s it.”
“That’s not it,” he said calmly. “And you know that.”
I stepped closer. “You don’t get to show up at my house and tell me how to live my life.”
“I do,” he replied, unbothered. “Because I’m being very generous right now.”
“Generous with what?” I shot back.
“With your future,” he said. “You see, this is the part where you walk away. You stop texting her. You stop showing up. You stop pretending you still own space in her life.”
I laughed. “And if I don’t?” His smile faded, just slightly.
“Then things start happening,” he said. “Little things at first. Missed opportunities. Bad timing. People seeing sides of you that were better left buried.”
My skin crawled. “You threatening me?”
“I’m advising you,” he corrected. “You had your chance with her. You lost it. Now you move on and you do it quietly.”
I shook my head. “She slapped me today. You know that?”
“Yes,” he said. “And you earned it.”
That hit harder than it should have.
He took a step back toward the expensive car. “This is the only conversation we’re going to have. If I hear that you’ve gone near her again, if she so much as looks uncomfortable because of you, the generosity ends.”
He opened the car door, then paused.
“Oh,” he added, glancing back at me. “Don’t bother trying to figure out who I work for. You won’t like the answer.”
The door closed softly. The engine purred to life. And just like that, the car pulled away, smoothly.
I stood there long after it disappeared, my heart pounding harder than I wanted to admit.
Inside my apartment, my phone buzzed again.
Girlfriend: I’m really starting to feel like there’s someone else.
I stared at the message, anger bubbling up.
Someone else. This chick is so fucking slow.
I thought of the man in the black car. The way he spoke. The way he didn’t raise his voice. The way he looked at me like I was already a problem being handled. Fuck that!
My fingers tightened around the phone.
No one tells me who to stay away from. No one.
And Celene? She wasn’t done with me. I knew that.
She just didn’t know it yet.