Forbidden: Mr. Warren

* THIS STORY WILL EVENTUALLY CONTAIN SEXUAL SCENES, FIGHTS, AND STALKING *

M I A

“I’m sending my father over right now, you’re stranded on the side of a road you’re unfamiliar with, with a maniac ex boyfriend threatening to find you.”

Olivia leaves no room for arguments as she shuffled around what I assumed would be her hotel room. I knew that if she were home she would pack up her boyfriend and come help me herself.

But, of course all the good stuff has to start happening as soon as my best friend leaves for vacation.

“I don’t want to bother him Liv, doesn’t he work in the morning?” I chew on the inside of my cheek as I imagine Mr.Warren pulling up in his BMW to save the day.

The man was gorgeous.

“He won’t care Mia, this is a serious situation.” I can hear the sternness in her tone and I sigh as I allow my shoulders to fall for the first time tonight.

I always found the humor in everything, doing my best to remain positive but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t spooked.

Olivia kindly reminded me, I was in a serious situation and at the thought of that I find myself sending her my location to give to her father with much more urgency.

I make sure my doors are locked before focusing my attention on my surroundings. Although I knew Cameron could be a bit toxic, I didn’t expect the blow out he had when I managed to scrape up enough courage to be honest with him.

Watching his eyes darken the way they did and hearing just how loud he could get had me questioning who I had been dating. In four months I couldn’t see that he was a bit unhinged?

Yet in those four months I've never heard him so much as raise his voice. So the way he raised his hand to me struck fear in me because he looked as though it wasnt his first time doing such a thing.

There was no emotion in that mans eyes but the anger and determination to follow through were all there. How could i have been so gullible? How could a person mask something like that?

One moment im standing before someone i think i know and the next hes a predator and im the prey.

I’m sure once he was done slamming his fists on the table and walls he was likely to move on to me. Thankfully I had enough sense to make my exit before I could find out.

Not before he could remind me that he knew where I lived. That he didn’t consider us done and that he was right behind me as I left.

Which i imagine is the only reason he didnt follow through with putting his hands on me. He wouldnt want to do something he believes he cant come back from.

Not realizing that he has already crossed all those lines with me. Because if this is him caring about me whats going to happen when he stops?

“What kind of tough luck is this? My car decides to break down right now?” I feel that miserable heavy weight feeling in my chest as my eyes water and I look around, hoping that I wouldn’t see any cars coming besides Mr. Warrens.

“While I’m not in the same state as you at that.” Olivia chimes into my pouting as her own voice begins to get heavy with emotion. “No matter I’m still going to make sure you get to my house.” It’s only after her boyfriend, Justin, soothes her quietly that she says this and I find myself growing even more frustrated.

That’s right. I can’t go home after he made that kind of a threat, now I had to spend time with Mr. Warren under the same roof while attempting to act like I didn’t get all hot and bothered when I saw him.

It began as a crush when I first met him at the age of nineteen, but now at twenty-four I find that my feelings have definitely matured with age.

He was built straight out of my daydreams. A tall burly man with broad shoulders that could tower over me easily. He had a few strands of grey hair now on his head and his beard and that didn’t help my situation one bit.

Gentle yet dominant, always straightforward yet soft when it’s needed.

It wasn’t the best idea but what could I do? A woman can dream.

My crush wasn’t my biggest problem though. What would I do when it’s time for me to go home? I can’t stay at Olivia’s forever.. Would I need to move? Could I afford that?

Was it necessary? He fought himself quite a bit to show restraint. Maybe he just lost his temper.

“Dad texted me that he should be close by.” Olivia’s voice sounds far away now as my ears begin to ring. My breath seems to run away from me and as hard as I tried to catch it I couldn’t.

What if I'm just blowing this out of proportion? Being dramatic as usual? Emotional? I was telling him I didn't love him and thats a pill no one wants to swallow.

Hes never acted this way before maybe I should have expected a bad reaction. A part of me had expected him to understand i wasn't ready to take that step and say those three words back to him.

I wasn't even expecting a break up. What was I expecting? Not to be feeling this familiar fearful feeling coursing through my body thats for sure.

I always found myself here, cornered and afraid.

Prey.

“Mia, you need to open the door.” Mr. Warrens voice registers in the chaos that seems to be my mind and I fumble with the lock for a second before I finally heard the click. Allowing Mr. Warren to open the door and crouch down in order to look into the car. “You’re okay. You’re alright now, you know I won’t let anything happen.”

I let him take the phone out of my trembling hand and it’s now that I realize that I feel tingly all over. An odd sensation running over my skin that distracted me from the fact that my head was also feeling funny.

For a moment i had even forgot i had Olivia on the phone.

“Breathe, just breathe sweetheart.”

“She’s having a panic attack, I’ll deal with this okay? I will call you when I have her at home.” He’s quick to hang up and I’m surprised by the way he puts his body nearly flush against my own in order to unbuckle my seatbelt.

My hands instinctively grab onto one of his arms and he makes no move to remove them from there as he takes my keys and slips them into his pocket.

“You’re safe now. You’re safe with me.” The words feel almost intimate as he looks me over frantically, his eyebrows knitted together angrily before softening so that he can pull my legs gently out of the car. “Come on, let’s go to my car.”

He doesn’t wait for a response as he guides me out of the car and on to my feet but I didn’t have to work hard to get into his car. Not only did he park right beside me but he had an arm wrapped around me that I swore was practically carrying me.

“Breathe, just focus on your breathing.” He gives me a tender look as he settles me in his passenger seat and pulls the seat belt over me. “I saw a bag in there, do you want me to grab that?” When I nod he does as well and goes to do just that.

Get your shit together, we’ve been through worse right? No we’ve been through too much in too short of a time period.

Not only did this qualify as the worst day but it’s part of an even worse year.

I close my eyes in an attempt to ground myself but that’s the least thing I felt at the moment. Instead I focused on the fact that the seat had been preheated and the warmth of the car made me feel better.

The rain had dulled to a drizzle and I try to focus my attention on the sound it made as it hit the car. Anything to stop the racing thoughts and my racing heart.

“I made sure your car is locked and that the alarm is on as well.” Mr. Warren assured me once he got in the car and by then I had managed to piece myself together some.

“Thank you.”

That’s all I can think to say and I’m glad that it was sufficient enough to make him smile a bit before he focused on the road.

“You can stay in the guest bedroom for as long as you’d like. Olivia did say she wanted you to stay until she got back, I agree with that.” He keeps his eyes on the road so I take this moment to actually take him in.

He had on a black jogger set under a coat with sneakers and it looked as if we had caught him straight out of a shower. I could smell his cologne now and what I could only assume is the scent of his deodorant or soap.

Perv. Look at me acting like a school girl again. Indulging in such thoughts just speaks to how juvenile I still am beside him.

I’ll admit it helped keep any other thoughts at bay.

“Me too, thank you again. Really. You didn’t have to do this.” I run my fingers through my hair to guide it towards one side so I can look at him better and I feel butterflies erupt in my stomach at the way he looks at me.

Its a look he’s never given me before, his eyes roaming over mine with the same intent as my own. As if also just taking me in.

It had been awhile since I was over Olivia’s and for the past year I hadn’t seen much of Mr. Warren. I plumped up some and my curves now filled my clothes better, something that he seemed to be discovering himself.

I finally felt like Mr. Warren was taking me in.

“Don’t thank me, I’d do it again in a heart beat.” His eyes meet my own and he gives me a smile that was also new for me.

"I appreciate that but I think I might have overreacted, I may just head back to my place." I admit for the first time out loud avoiding his eyes so I could push down my embaressment.

He had to leave his home for something he believed was an emergency only to find out i had been dramatic.

But, the look that followed was new as well as the corners of his lips fall and his eyes squint at me once they meet my own. A dark look washing over his eyes but this wasn't like the look Cameron gave me. No this was different.

"Overreacted?"

The hairs on my arms stand on their ends and i cant help but squirm slightly in my seat. I had never heard his voice get so deep and so serious.

"Yes, he just destroyed a lot of things. His own things because i told him I didnt love him yet." I keep the fact that he threw one of his controllers past my head to myself and bite my lip once i decide to keep his threats to myself as well.

And raised his hand to me. I push away the cruel truth and replace them with the fact that i may have been just as hurt hearing something like that.

"You’re this shaken up because he destroyed a lot of things." He speaks slowly and makes it a point to sound confused. "Quit lying to me, you wouldn't have called Olivia as scared as you were if that was all there was to it. I dont think it was an overreaction."

He focuses back on the road but he might as well be staring into my soul the way his presence filled the car. The anger radiating off of him even though he was maintaining a cool composure. His knuckles white from gripping the wheel and his eyebrows pulled together.

"You’re useless, Mia. This relationship is probably the best thing you’ve ever had. Because its the best thing ive ever had! Your friends love me and think I’m great so why would you not want to be with me? Why cant you love me?"

"He said a lot of things he didnt mean." I whisper as i start going over a lot of things i didnt pay mind to in the moment. My only goal was finding a way to leave his apartment without him directing his anger towards me.

"Half of the people you’ve introduced me to are only your friends because they pity you. They arent your real friends. A damsel always in distress, a bridesmaid never the bride, they know thats all you’re meant to be so they stick around! Now you have a chance to at least say you have a real man and you are throwing me away?"

"But, he didn’t touch me. All the throwing around scared me and he was punching the walls. He followed me a bit but stopped once I kept going." The lie passes my lips swiftly and I shift my focus to the houses and trees as we pass them by. "I honestly probably overreacted. Ill be leaving in the morning either way."

I wouldnt be a burden. I'm no damsel in distress.

i was running out of excuses for Camerons actions and the more i process all that has happened the more my stomach turns and my eyes water.

The long silence that followed after I finished speaking was broken by the sound of Mr. Warren stepping on the gas. The houses and trees passing by so quickly I had no choice but to look over at him.

His eyes are on me already and i begin to sniffle but look ahead and rub my eye instead. Not wanting to show just how torn up i felt inside.

"Rest tonight, we'll face all of that tomorrow."

Yet the gaze he directs my way when i look at him again made me realize that I was in fact not leaving in the morning.