Dating

Chapter 111

To say that I was frightened was a complete understatement

It was as if all of the air had been sucked from my lungs and my muscles locked up. But it wasn’t as though I could anyway. Arthur’s hands remained firmly on my arms, keeping me from any possibility of escaping.

My brows pinched together in questions as I tried to wiggle away but to no avail. “Arthur!” 1 hissed. “What the hell-

“Hello, Ella,” he said briskly. “How nice to see you out and about His voice was soft yet direct, causing a sharp chill to race down my spine. I tried to speak without any indication of fear or uncertainty in my voice b

but to no such luck. “What are you doing here!”

The corner of his mouth curved upward into a knowing smile. “Practice just ended. I came here to get my muscles a decent soak” It explained it as though it was an obvious fact that I should have already know.

Once again, I tried to back away, hoping to put any form of distance between us as I could. The last thing I needed was for Liam to find Arthur and me within mere inches of one another. For crying out loud, he and 1 had just gotten over the argument of letting me have more freedom to move

around

I took in a deep breath and tried to collect my t

thoughts. I needed to keep things cordial between us without giving any indication that I was clearly uncomfortable in his presence.

Arthur raised his brow with interest as he kept staring down at me. “So, how’s my hot–headed brother been lately?”

I swallowed a scoff. “Not quite sure what you mean by that, Liam is doing just fine,” I said tightly.

Based on his reaction, there was no doubt that he was filled with pure skepticism.

“Is that so? One of my players caught the tail–end of the conversation the two of you had the other day in the common area, he explained. “Was it a little lovers t

A flash of anger spurred through me.

Who the hell does this guy think he is? Why does he care so much about my relationship with Liam‘

I unclenched my jaw and narrowed my eyes. “Not that it’s any of your business, Arthur, but yeah we have a disagreement on something. But the two of us moved past it and now we’re fine”

Arthur wasn’t completely convinced by my explanation. Nonetheless, he didn’t press on it. Instead, he let his eyes take their time roaming over my person. I felt like a poor frog being splayed out on a lab table for study. What the hell was he doing!

“You claim that everything is alright…” His tone was laced with scrutiny that was enough to fill my head with hesitation. “But there’s still something that’s bothering you, isn’t there? Some sort of doubt in your mind when it comes to the two of you”

I felt my stomach flip at his assumption. The fact that Arthus was able to somehow pick up on something so personal as though he’d known me for years made me beyond anxious.

With a little more force behind my movements, I was able to yank myself away from him. But because Arthur was an Alpha, his reflexes allowed him to snatch me by the arm in seconds and tug me back toward him. It was as though he wasn’t willing to let me go. I couldn’t fathom why.

Weeks ago, he looked upon me as though I were the literal dirt on his shoe. His disregard for humans was evident from our very first encounter. Now, all of a sudden. I’d become the guy’s main point of interest

I tried to hide my growing fear and struggled to shake him loose.

“Stop?” I gasped. “Whatever the hell you’re trying to do, just stop it! Alright, you don’t know a single thing about my relationship with Liam. Or

about me.”

His eyes grew hooded. “Why not give me the chance!”

I couldn’t properly describe the look I gave him. It had to have been a cross between astonishment and disturbing unpleasantness.

Why in the hell would I want to give you the chance to know me?” I asked bitterly before I could stop myself.

“Because, I genuinely believe that deep down, there’s a part of you that knows you can trust me,” he said. “I want you to know that you can openly tell me anything Had this guy utterly lost his mind? “It’s alright if you don’t believe me-

“Well, that’s good. Because I don’t.”

I gently shook my head like a parent who was in the middle of reprimanding their child.

1/2

Chapter 111

“Really, Arthur? Let’s not pretend that you actually care about me,” I said. “You forget that when we first met each other, you were less than accepting of the idea of me being with Liam merely for the fact that I’m human. So, kindly spare me the crap about you caring and wanting to get to know me and my so–called thoughts.

Arthur grimaced and surprisingly loosened his hold on me. I admit to my earlier prejudices. But, I can assure you that I don’t possess the same outlook as I did before.”

Again, was he being serious?

I was so tempted to make a cracking remark about him getting shoved too many times during his team’s practice because there was no way this was all being said under normal circumstances

Instead of harshly trying to pull away from him, I raised my hand to his arm and gently pushed him back. Shockingly enough, he let me go.

“Prejudices such as those don’t exactly go away overnight. 1 pointed out.

I turned my back to him to make my way over to the stairs.

“You’re right,” Arthur called out. I stopped. “But it’s not enough to make me stop wanting to get to know you, Ella. Whether you care to acknowledge it or not, I’m very interested in you.”

“Don’t be a deep voice spoke out roughly.

I snapped my head around to find Liam standing in the archway of the pool entrance. He appeared less than thrilled by this whole little interaction. Oh, God. How much of it did he see?

Liam moved closer with a feral look in his eyes. “There’s absolutely no reason why Ella should even be on your radar. God knows you have enough people begging for your attention.”

“I could say the same thing to you, Liam, Arthur said briskly. “Perhaps I see in Ella the same thing that you see.

I swiftly got out of the pool and reached for my towel. Liam moved quickly and helped wrap the towel around me while grabbing my bag

Arthur smirked in amusement. “I guess I shouldn’t go out of my way to antagonize you now that I know what you’re capable of with a knife,” he commented dryly.

A troubled gasp slipped past my lips. Son of a bitch. How could he bring up such a horrible memory for me? My nerves coiled and strained in distress. Although the nightmares had stopped being so frequent, I still got them on occasions when I would end up waking up in a cold sweat.

Liam sneered in anger at his brother’s poor taste. “How unfortunate that I don’t have that same knife with me now.”

Anhur mockingly held his hands up in surrender and backed away toward the far end of the pool.

“Come on, let’s go, Liam said quietly,

As the two of us made it out of the pool area, I heard Arthur call out to her. “Remember what I said, Ella. You can always come to me about anything.”

W