His red furious eyes locked onto Adele's through the mascot. He was angry at her for whatever reason best known to him.
Looking at Adele straight in the eyes, he walked toward her with a fierce gaze, burning a hole through her face. Why is he so angry? She doesn't even know him. Did she do something wrong?
Adele inhaled with difficulty and took an involuntary step back, slightly frightened. He's furious. At her? At them? At the situation? She doesn't know!
Perhaps sensing her fear, the man stops abruptly and closes his eyes, then runs his clean hand through his hair. His jaw twitched as he grit his teeth.
Fortunately, her fear vanished a few seconds later after he opened his blood-red eyes, and she saw no hint of the earlier fury in them.
The man spots something on the floor near the unconscious men.
Adele saw him picking it up. It was her carrot purse, and walking toward her.
She couldn't read his expressions properly through the mascot eyes and dim-light, and could only see those red eyes fixed on her with an intensity that stole her breath away.
He closes the remaining distance between them, and before Adele can react, he lifts the carrot purse and slides the strap over her head, settling it against her costume and on her neck.
Immediately after he takes her paw-covered hand in his and starts walking, pulling her with him.
"Wait, I....where are you taking...me?"
He didn't answer, just continued cutting through the crowd, which parted for him automatically.
Adele stumbled after him, her small legs making it hard to keep pace with his long ones'. She wanted to ask questions, but something about the set of his rigid shoulders told her now is not the time. Somehow, she felt like this man would not hurt her. Even though she had only met him now, deep down she felt that she would be safe with him and it was definitely a mystery to her.
They move through the villa, past scenes that make Adele's face burn even hotter than before. Through a hallway where people were pressed against walls in various states of undress. Down a corridor lined with doors, some open to reveal.....no, she won't look.
Finally, they pushed through a door marked as "Emergency Exit" and emerged into the night air.
Only then did she noticed the pool—something she had somehow missed entirely upon entering. How it had been possible to overlook something so large was beyond her.
A massive infinity pool stretched from the front of the villa all the way to the back, where they were now. Its water glowed from beneath, illuminating in the same purple and pink lights as the rest of the estate. And in it… around it… on the lounge chairs beside it....
Oh, goddess! The indecency!
Not knowing where to look she decided to focus on the back of the man leading her. Adele's cheek were burning foolishly while observing his broad back and the steady rise and fall of his shoulders. He was tall and muscular but enraged at something.
"Are you listening?"
The man's voice jolts her back to reality. They've stopped walking, and were now outside of the villa from backside, standing on a raised platform that overlooks the parking area below. He still hasn't released her hand.
"Pardon?"
"I asked, did you drive here?"
"No—yes, Uncle Davi is waiting for me in the parking area," Adele stammers.
The man turns to look at her then, and for the first time, Adele sees his face properly in the outdoor lighting. She took a moment to admire his features and take note of some details in silence. Sharp features, strong jaw, high cheekbone and a sneaky mole beneath his left eye. Handsome doesn't begin to cover it.
Who is he? she wondered silently, as if she knew more than just few faces from the castle.
"Which is it?"
Adele blinks. "What?"
"Your car." He sounded patient, unlike his earlier fury. "Which one is yours?"
"Oh." Adele looks down at the parking lot below, scanning the rows of luxury vehicles until she spots the familiar modest shape. She raises one paw and points. "There. The white Honda Civic."
The man's eyes followed her gesture. For just a moment, Adele could see something flashed across his face. Shock? Disbelief? But he composed himself immediately, his expression smoothing back into that careful neutrality.
"Go," he said coldly, releasing her hand and turned to leave.
Panic surges through Adele. She can't go back yet. If she returns this quickly, Uncle Davi will know something went wrong. He'll ask questions that she can't answer. He'll realize she lied about having friends, about the party being—
Without thinking, she reaches out and grabs a pinch of his folded sleeve.
The man stops immediately, turns back to look at her, one eyebrow cocked in question.
"Um..." Adele's voice comes out small through the mascot head. "Uncle Davi thinks I came to meet my friends. I can't return so early without anyone. He'll.....he'll worry. Can you wait with me... just for few more minutes?"
The man stared at her for a long moment. Then he sighed, pinched the bridge of his nose as unfamiliar feeling swelled inside him.
"Please," Adele saw that he was considering it, and she released his sleeves. "I just need..... I need to stay out a little longer. So it seems believable."
The man released another long sigh, pulled out his phone, dialed a number before lifting it to his ears.
"Come out," he commanded with his smoky voice when a breathy female voice was heard from the device, "And bring one more girl....Hmm.....Twenty minutes. Okay!.... Above the parking lot."
Then he turned to look at Adele, "And make sure to cover yourselves up properly." he added finally after a pause.
He ends the call and slides the phone back into his pocket, then moves to lean his ass against the railing overlooking the parking area. He doesn't look at Adele again, just stares out at the back entrace of the villa lost in his thoughts.
Unlike him, Adele found herself boring her eyes on his profile sharp against the night view. His left sneaky mole was teasing her eyes again and she could see a tattoo peeking under his sky shirt as his top button was undone.
Suddenly realizing something, she fumbled with her carrot-shaped purse and pulled out a white handkerchief. She stepped in front of him, surprising him as she took his right hand and carefully knotted the handkerchief around his wound, then moved back to her place on his left.
His head turned toward the fearless little creature. That same fearless bunny, however, was now counting stars in the sky, refusing to meet his gaze.
He shook his head internally and ran his left hand through his hair once more, a gesture that seems habitual when he's emotional and then resumed looking ahead toward the villa.
After ten minutes, or so, he pulls out a pack of cigarettes from his other pocket, taps one out, but doesn't light it up, just rolls it between his fingers absently.
Adele has not yet completed her star gazing, trying to find the constellations she learned as a child. She wraps her arms around herself; despite the fluffy costume, the cold breeze rolling in from the ocean seeped through it, raising goosebumps beneath the fabric.
The man glances at her from the corner of his eye, seems about to say something, but seeing her so concerned about the stars, decides to look away again. He slips the unlit cigarette back into the pack.
The crashing waves are soothing, Adele thinks to herself.
~GRUMBLE!~
This time it was her stomach that made a crashing sound.
She clutches at her stomach, mortification washing over her in waves. She hasn't eaten since... when? Time has blurred together in a haze of crying and heartbreak and—
"Sorry," she mumbles, barely audible.
He huffed, which Adele could not pick up. For the first time since pulling her out of the villa, something almost resembling amusement crossed his face.
Then he pushes himself off from the railing with one hand, straightening to his full height and crosses the distance between them in one stride. He takes her paw-covered hand and places a candy in her palm.
Then he leans forward. Adele instinctively tilts her head back to look up at him.
It was then the most sweet scent of lavender invaded her senses.
Now close he's much taller than she realized and he speaks directly to where her ear would be beneath the mascot head, his voice dropping to barely above a whisper.
"A tip for a bunny out on an adventure," he says quietly, in his smoky voice "If it wants to enter a wolves' den, it should conceal its identity so as not to be preyed upon."
He pauses, pulls back just enough to look at where her eyes would be behind the mesh, "That car is a giveaway, Miss Royalty."
He knows! Adele's breath catches and her hand clutches the candy reflexively.