Chapter 44 The Heat is On...

Chapter 44 The Heat is On...
Sienna

The moment we pulled away from the Blackwood property, Nikolai seemed to finally relax, without looking in the rearview mirror constantly.

He reached over and put on some rapsinger that assualted my brain with filthy words that promised murder and fucking the guys girl next to his corpse.

Not happening...I scrolled the artists and changed the music. Not even a quarter of the way through the song, he scrunched his face and changed it back.

The bass vibrated through my body as body as the rapper continued about pimping his ride and pimping out someone's sister and that was my limit. I grabbed the remote and changed it back again.

Nikolai grinned, distracted me with a landmark and changed it back to another violent track promising turf war and bullets. I scowled, he laughed.

We repeated this four times before I threw the remote to the backseat. He groaned dramatically and slapped the steering wheel. "You're eighteen, not eighty."

I gasped. "Don't accuse me of acting old, you are burning my ears with your chouce in music." I said indignantly.

"Who voluntarily listens to Enya. Which millenial even knows Enya?" he asked exasperated.

"She's soothing and relaxing." I defend heatedly.

"Bullshit. She's what people listen to while getting a massage or waiting for a kind Doctor to pull the plug." He laughs at my outraged expression.

I smacked his arm. He laughs even more and a smile tugs at my lips that I quickly hide..
But he leaves it playing. The sound of Enya filled the SUV. Warm. Easy. Comfortable.

Despite everything that had happened over the last few days, being around Nikolai still felt strangely natural.

The roads gradually changed as we left the city behind. Trees became more frequent. Properties larger. Stone walls and iron gates appeared more often. Everything looked expensive.

"Rap is a different take on cultural poetry." he says to me as if explaining a complex problem.

"No rap is a selective and acquired taste." I counter. I was halfway through explaining why Enya was objectively superior to whatever nonsense he listened to when the now familiar heat returned.

Except this time it was worse. Much worse.

I shifted in my seat. Then loosened my seatbelt slightly. My skin felt too tight. Too sensitive. Too warm. As if someone had lit a fire beneath it.

I pressed my palm against my cheek. Definitely hot. The strange sensation I'd been experiencing for days intensified.

There was a pull in my chest. Not painful. Just persistent. Like an invisible thread wrapped around my heart. Drawing me forward. Pulling me toward something. The closer we drove to our destination, the stronger it became.

My heartbeat accelerated. My fingers twisted together in my lap. I adjusted my top. Then my hair. Then the seatbelt. Then adjusted them all again. "Nikolai?"

"Hmm?" he asked, indicating to turn.

"How much longer?" I asked, shuffling in my seat.

He glanced at the navigation system. "About twenty minutes."

For some reason my heart immediately sped up. Faster. Harder. The strange pull tightening again.

I stared out the window. Trying to distract myself. Trying to make sense of what was happening. Nothing made sense.

"Sienna...?" I looked over. Nikolai was studying me. The teasing expression gone. "You okay?"

I tugged at my top again, trying to create some airflow. "I think so."

One eyebrow rose. "That sounds suspiciously like I am not okay." he said dryly.

I pressed a hand against my forehead. "I think I might have a fever."

His eyes snapped to me. "A fever?"

My cheeks flushed. "I said I think. I've felt strange for days."

His expression turned thoughtful. "What kind of strange?"

I struggled to explain it. "Hot."

"Uh-huh. What else?"

"Restless."
"Uh-huh. Anything else?"

"My heart keeps racing."

The worry left his eyes and that infamous grin returned instantly. "No worries doll," he teased. "You're not sick. I have that effect on women all the time."

This idiot. I smacked his arm again. Harder this time. "Nikolai!"

He laughed. "Ow. It's true."

"You are impossible." but I was smiling at his nonsense.

"And devastatingly handsome." he added.

I rolled my eyes. The man had absolutely no shame.

Still grinning, he reached forward and increased the air conditioning. Cool air flooded the vehicle. It helped. A little. But not enough.

Because the heat wasn't outside. It was inside me. Building. Growing. Spreading through every part of my body.

And the closer we got to Nikolai's home, the stronger that strange pull became. Like a magnet being drawn toward its counterpart.

My heart hammered. My skin tingled.
And I just had to pray that my brain didn't overload and fry itself before we even reached there.