Chapter 9.

I whip my head around to glare at him but, by the time I've done so, he's in his car and zooming off, leaving behind a strong smell of car fumes.

"Sooo... " Maverick says and I freeze, realizing that I've been left alone with him, "D'you want me to help you with that?"

I look down and realise he's gesturing at my luggage. "Oh... It's fine," I say in a slightly high-pitched voice, struggling not to look too clumsy as I try to carry my traveller's bag on my own.

I carried this sonofabitch all the way here without any struggle. It can't disgrace me now!

"It's not that heavy." I laugh nervously and continue trying to lift it off the floor but the stupid bag won't budge.

How the hell did it get so bulky?

"You're breaking out in a sweat. Are you sure you don't need help?" Maverick asks, watching me fail to lift my bag for the eleventh time running.

"I've almost got it now," I squeak, finally balancing the bag between my arms.

Just when I think this uncomfortable moment couldn't get worse, however, the bag slips off my hand again, causing the zipper to rip. To my utter mortification, all my Mickey Mouse underwear falls out and slides all over the floor.

Holy mushrooms!

Shoot me. Someone please shoot me and save me from this embarrassment.

"I'll take care of it!" I exclaim when I see him crouching down to clean up the mess I made.

Geez, he really wasn't going to touch my underwear, was he?

His face flushes red with embarrassment, as he looks down and finally notices the things on the floor are not normal clothes but my underwear.

With awkwardness dripping from every corner of my face, I gather my panties, very conscious of Maverick's presence beside me.

My hair ribbon also chooses that moment to fall out of my hair and I feel the soft strands in my face, blocking my vision. But I don't mind. I'd much rather stay hidden than be forced to look him in the eye.

"Lead the way." I try to sound like I haven't just utterly humiliated myself.

"You sure you don't want to get that off your face?" Uncertainty laces in his voice and I can tell he's just as embarrassed as I am.

As if reading my mind, he lets it go, however, and I hear his footsteps walking.

Straightening up, I follow the sound and mentally curse myself for being so irritating. Not to mention embarrassing. My first impression at the club wasn't good... and now this? It seems like my second impression is even worse than the first.

I hear the creaking of a door opening so I'm guessing it's the front one. I try to walk into the house but I collide hard with a wall.

Isn't this supposed to be the entrance?

I'm starting to resent my hair now.

"Take a step to your right," says Maverick's voice from nearby.

I oblige and squeeze my eyes shut in frustration, imagining how dumb I must have looked walking into a wall.

We move into the house, me awkwardly following, listening to his footsteps and fighting the urge to chew on my already gnawed fingernails.

"This should be your room... And-" he adds, avoiding my eye "—I can assure you, if the whole suitcase-underwear thing upsets you, I will permanently wipe it off my mind."

"Please go away," I say in a small voice and hope that it doesn't sound as rude as I imagined.

"You want an ice pack for your head?" he asks but I remain silent, not trusting my voice to be steady. "I'll take my leave then," he says and I see his silhouette vanishing from sight as he closes the door behind him.

My bag drops from my hand and I finally have the courage to remove my hair from its awkward position.

I squint a little because of the bright chandelier hanging in the middle of the ceiling, but my eyes quickly adjust to the brightness, taking in the beautiful sight before me. The walls are covered with 3D wallpaper, patterned with drawings of different sea creatures.

I turn around and let out a yelp, clutching my chest when my eyes land on a very real looking shark. It looks so alarmingly genuine that I run my hands over the wall to be sure I'm not in the middle of a huge aquarium.

A princess bed stands gracefully in the centre of the room, right below the chandelier, covered with white duvets and several pink pillows shaped like puppies. There's also a large stuffed bunny resting on the floor beside the bed.

My hand continues to run over the walls, but I stop abruptly when it comes in contact with a button. Curiosity gets the better of me and I push it gingerly, gasping in surprise when the tiled floors vanish.

Oh, my God. I'm standing above a real aquarium. An actual, real-life aquarium!

There's thick glass separating me from the fish swimming underneath. I crouch down and tap my fingers on it to see how solid it is and it doesn't show any sign of breaking into pieces.

When did technology become so advanced? Have I been living under a rock?

The loud buzzing of my phone erupts me from my thoughts and I bring it to my face to see Jim's number flashing on the screen.

"You won't believe what my room looks like! " I say into the phone, as soon as I've clicked on 'accept'. "I have a princess bed and there's an aquarium underneath me, Jim. A freaking aquarium!"

But Jim's voice sounds strange. "I've got bigger news," he says in a hard tone and my heart skips a beat.

I know that voice. He's not about to give me any good news.

He stays silent at the other end of the line and I can feel the tension in the air. He must feel it too because I hear him blow out a breath before he says, "Tony's house caught fire last night and the police found a burnt corpse."