CHAPTER 003
1202 Words
CHAPTER 003
She shyly withdrew her hand from his chest and held it between the others if it had been cold. A clumsy smile overspread her lips, and her voice faltered on the words.
“Thank you… for stepping in. For speaking up for me. You did not have to.”
Her hiccups interrupted her sentence, each of them, her, weaker.
Her stammer did not appear to bother him. His smile was good, steadfast, and unnervously placid.
“You are welcome. May I sit?”
His form of asking did not seem like a question, but a statement. He already knew the answer. She felt light-headed because of his presence near her, and she thought she to do the same as soon as he sat beside her.
She chewed on her lower lip and nodded. “Sure. You can.”
He took the seat next to her. The smell of him came round to her, drawing her into thoughts she had no right to think of. She pictured his hands sliding in the wrong places. The pictures were clear, almost too clear, and she had to distract herself.
It was not sufficient that she held a martini in her hand. She called the bartender her and got a shot of whisky. Stronger. Numb. That was what she wanted.
Not much of a drinker, and at this moment, she felt like drowning. Later, she would call Diya. Her best friend was on speed dial and would always save her. The campus was half an hour distant. Not too far.
The quiet was broken only after some time. “So, you live around here?”
“Not really. I stay on campus.” Up she took the shot and swallowed it. The burn had been rapid and was spreading the heat through her veins. One or two more, and she would forget.
His brow lifted. “How will you get home, then?”
My best friend will pick me up, she thought, to his astonishment, I found the words flowing easily.
“That is better. What is your name?”
Her lips curved. Finally, he asked.
Lily Wendy, you were supposed to come, she thought, with her eyes staring at her glass. She was aware that, looking at him, she would do something wild. Something that she never could recall. “Yours?”
“Jackson Ray.”
Hot name. Hot man.
Her mind had failed her with the thought of moaning his name in means that had no business coming out of her mouth.
The whisky was not helping.
She took another shot and poured it down, and watched him stare at her rather than take the drink. It caused her to change her seat as he looked steadily at her.
She knew what she looked like. Average. Neither the prettiest, nor the worst. He, though—he was devastating. Good-looking enough to draw the air out of the room. A man who could have anyone. But he looked at her as though she sufficed.
“Can I ask something?” His voice went through the mist of her fourth drink.
Yes, sure, she said, and now so loose and careless.
“Why did you come here alone?”
“Because I had no one to take me.” The phrases drifted on quicker than normal.
No boyfriend at home waiting on you? His tone carried disbelief.
She drew in her lips and opened them. The boyfriend whom I married my sister this.
The whisky made the pain of uttering it soft.
“His loss,” Jackson said.
Her chest tightened. Maybe his gain. But her senses were crying at her to halt before she passed a boundary which she could not repass.
She cleared her throat and grasped her purse and her phone. It fell back and rolled upon the ground. She hissed and jumped down the stool to take it--
Then nothing.
Darkness.
As she awoke, again she found herself in a big cream-painted room. The doors and the windows had white curtains that were well-cleaned.
She sat up too quickly, and the pain struck her skull. Her hand pressed against her temple with a hiss passing through her lips.
Where am I?
How did I get here?
Who brought me?
She looked down. She was still wearing the peach maid of honor dress from yesterday. Relief washed through her. At least that had not changed.
Her thoughts scrambled. The bar. The martini. Then whisky. The annoying guy named Kevin. His hands are too close. His voice is too loud. She had hated every second.
Had he brought her here?
Her stomach turned. No. Not possible. He was not the type of man who could afford such a place.
The door opened.
Jackson entered, long and crisp, his black hair floating down to the right. Hazel eyes locked on her. The memories of last night crashed back. Her shoulder in his hand at the bar. The manner in which he had closed down Kevin in one glance. When he told her his name, he talked in his voice.
In place of the white shirt and black trousers now he was now in a grey sweater and joggers. The lighter garments did not in any way diminish the effect with which his body was powered.
Her pulse spiked.
What had happened?
Her skin prickled. Maybe nothing. Maybe everything.
He cleared his throat, and that attracted her. In his hand, he held a white mug.
She frowned. “Uh?”
Drink, he said, because of the headache, and his voice was rough, deep, and gave her an unwelcome shiver down her back.
Her eyes dropped to the cup. It was a pale green liquid in which the leaves had floated.
“It is herbal tea,” he explained. “For hangovers. Works fast. Family recipe.”
Her lips twisted nervously. And I am expected to believe you did not put anything in it?
His mouth curved in a smirk. “Why? You already look drunk at being near me.
Her cheeks burned. “That is because you are hot.”
So are you, without a beat, he answered. “But who is counting?”
Her chest heaved and sank so fast. The room felt warmer.
She sipped and put the cup down. His eyes narrowed.
“Drink it all. Works faster.”
His tone was firm, commanding.
Heat curled inside her. She swallowed them all up till the bottom only remained at the bottom, the leaves.
Better girl, he sighed, and the phrase produced a sharp and sweet sensation in her heart.
What is wrong with me?
He walked away, and the questions tore at her throat.
“Can I ask something?”
Looking over his shoulder, he stood still. “Ask.”
“What happened last night? The final thing that I recall was an attempt to call my best friend. Next, I woke up here, and I knew no more how I got into this bed.
His silence stretched.
The query stamped more resolutely in her heart.
What should it matter should the answer breaks her?
What had she not been prepared to know the truth?
Then tell me... what actually happened?
- Writer
