Chapter 2
1829 Words
Isabella
At around six in the evening, I am dragged into the pub which is so crowded, giving an impression that perhaps the whole town is in here. Christy made me wear a cherry red sleeveless dress that hugs my torso like a glove and ends up slightly above my knee. There is little left for imagination with the neckline deep enough, revealing my cleavage and I keep pulling the hem of the dress down to make sure it doesn’t ride up my thigh.
Christy waves at the bouncer and I don’t doubt that he knows her too from the broad smile he throws back at her.
“Christy!!”
“Hey, Mateo! I knew I would meet you tonight..” She purrs at him huskily. God, this girl. How did we even become best friends when we were so much unlike each other?
While Christy is confident, outgoing, and extremely friendly, I am her polar contrast, shy, introverted, and awkward at making friends.
“Oh, and this is my best friend, Isabella..” She gestures at me with both her hands.
The big guy nods at me to greet me before stamping us in. “Have fun, the two of you..”
“You too, Mat..” She chirps over her shoulder and pulls me in with her.
Trailing behind her, I glance around us. The place is loud and lively and even though, my usual self would have preferred to be holed inside Christy’s apartment, I somehow like the atmosphere.
By the time we reach the dance floor, we are shaking our hips to the loud beat. I wonder why I didn’t do this months ago when Christy first suggested it.
“How is it?” She yelled over the blaring music.
“Amazing!!” I exclaim loudly.
“I told you so..” Her voice gets lost with the thumping music washing over us. We start dancing, laughing, and enjoying ourselves. My moves become bolder and naughtier after the drink that Christy ordered for us, s*x on the Beach.
We are half dancing and half giggling when the song comes to an end. I pant breathlessly and when I come to a point that I can no longer tolerate the pain in my feet due to the heels that Christy forced me to wear, I decide to take a break.
“I am going to get myself a drink..” I have to say louder to Christy and she nods.
“The bar is over there..” She points at the far end of the dance floor.
Nodding, I walk to the bar and order myself another drink. I didn’t realize how thirsty I am until I take the first sip of it. It feels good against my dry throat.
I am enjoying the drink in my hand in solitude when I feel a hand on my shoulder which forces me around the next moment, spilling some of the drink on my dress.
“W-Wha..” The words disappear back into my throat when I find Ray standing in front of me.
“Isi?” He voices my name as if he can’t believe it’s me who is standing in front of him. “What are you doing here?”
I look around for Christy but suddenly she is sucked into the dancing crowd and I don’t see her anywhere near me. s**t!
His eyes rake up and down my body, making me extremely uncomfortable under his gaze. “And what the hell are you wearing?”
Who does he think he is for throwing those disapproving looks at me?
I gaze down at myself. “What is wrong with what I am wearing?”
“It hardly hides your body..” As he seethes, his palm takes hold of my elbow painfully, making me wince.
I struggle to free myself but it’s a vain attempt
“I believed you were shy and innocent when you never allowed me to touch you but looks like it was all an act..” He grits through his teeth angrily. “If you crave male attention so much, I wonder why you never let me touch you..”
“Ray, you are drunk..” I justify and try to twist free from his grip again, “Let me go..”
“I have waited for you for so long..” He growls, tightening his vice-like grip around me. Drunk, angry Ray is stronger than I knew and I hate that he is bringing it all on me. My arm is going to bruise if he doesn’t let go of me soon. “but I wouldn’t have if I knew what a b***h you a—
Ray doesn’t get to finish his sentence as he is shoved back harshly the next moment. I gasp in reaction before I slowly sober from the initial shock of it to glance up to my side. Bolts of electricity jolt through me when I find a tall, dark presence near me.
A man with a dark-haired, heart-throbbingly handsome face, chiseled features, a strong jaw, and obsidian black eyes stares back at me, making me shiver but in a good way.
If I thought drunk, angry Ray was the strongest then I was terribly wrong because I hadn’t seen this man back then. Ray is nothing compared to this man, drunk or not.
“Are you okay?” His eyebrows crease with concern.
I feel electric in that moment, thrilled, euphoric, and just enamored by him.
“I-I’m fine. T-Thanks..” I stutter under his soft gaze, contradictory to how they were while shooting daggers at Ray.
“I’m sorry about everything..” I wave my hands between us, trying to indicate everything
“You don’t have to be..” His coal-black eyes linger on mine for a beat longer. Before now I always believed a shade of black is always pure black itself but only staring into his eyes, I find them to be the deepest of any black I have ever seen.
“Who the f**k is he, Isi?” Ray’s irritated voice reaches us and that’s when we break eye contact, that’s when he does. I am still enamored and unable to move my eyes from him but I do when I feel Ray’s hands back on my arm, the other one this time. However, it doesn’t last there long. With a swift hand motion, the guy pushes Ray away once again.
“I think the lady made it very clear that she doesn’t want to be touched..” The hot stranger growls in a low, deep rumble.
“She is my girlfriend!!” Ray argues which sounds like a whine.
Did he actually whine? How pathetic!
“I was..” I clear him. “We broke up, remember?”
The stranger with the most beautiful eyes leans in and grabs Ray’s shirt in his tight fist, making my eyebrow jump up high. “Leave her alone if you don’t want to end up in trouble..”
Ray takes a hesitant step back, looking like an angry teenager who just got beaten up but leaves anyway, and only then do I release the breath I didn’t know I was holding for so long.
The black-eyed gorgeous man looks in the direction where Ray just scurried. “Are you sure he wouldn’t come back?”
I want to laugh. Did he not see the horrified look on Ray’s face? “I’m sure he wouldn’t dare to, at least until you are here..”
He chuckles and the rich sound of it affects the deepest parts of my abdomen.
“I am sorry once again. And thank you..” I tell him again. The feminist side of me also wants to add that I would have handled the situation by myself but then I know how big of a lie that would be. I am glad that he interfered.
“You don’t have to apologize or thank me for anything..” He tells me genuinely, expecting nothing in return for his favor
“In that case, can I buy you a drink?” I ask before I can stop those words from slipping my lips and he chuckles.
If I thought that he looked beautiful before, he looks even more right now.
How is that even possible? I wonder.
“Uhmm sure but isn’t that supposed to be my line?” He c***s a brow at me.
“Yeah, but for a change I want to buy you a drink if you don’t mind..” I add and desperately hope he agrees.
“I don’t mind at all..” With a smirk, he ushers me back to where I suppose, he was sitting before all the commotion.
“Are you here alone tonight?” He asks.
“Uhmm, no. I came with my friend..” I look back to spot Christy amidst the crowd but no luck. “She is here somewhere..”
“Ohh, I’m Ledger, by the way..” He says, forwarding his hand to me.
I try to ignore the fact that he didn’t mention his last name and take his hand, marveling at the warmth seeping from his skin to mine, “Hi. I’m Isabella..”
“Nice to me you, Isabella..” The corner of his lips tip up.
“Same here..”
“I have never had a girl buy me a drink before..”
I laugh lowly, “I just wanted to thank you for getting rid of my ex..”
“Like I said you don’t have to..”
We are shortly interrupted by the bartender.
“Cosmos for me..” Ledger places his order and looks at me. “What would you like to have, Isabella?”
“Same..”
“Two cosmos, please..” He tells the bartender and shifts on his bar stool to face me as if I’m his object of interest.
When our drinks arrive, he takes his glass in his hand, “So what are we celebrating?”
A smile spreads across my lips, “I got my dream job..”
“To your new job then..” He raises his glass, “Congratulations..”
“And what’s yours?” I ask him curiously.
“I grabbed myself a business deal..”
“Don’t you have someone to celebrate it with?” As I interrogate him again, I wonder why I am being so nosy tonight.
“My friends, who are also my business partners are married to each other. Allegra is pregnant and can’t drink. And Dante doesn’t want to drink when his beloved wife can’t..” He chuckles and the sound of it makes my insides turn into knots.
“So you are here to celebrate your victory all alone?” I raise a brow at her.
“Pretty much..” He shrugs.
“Cheers to the new deal then!!” I clink my glass with his.
- Writer
