Sapphire *One Direction* [Liam Payne]

Chapter 7

Liam gulped down the rest of his wine in one sip then held out his hand, a gesture I was all too familiar with. "Dance with me," it wasn't a question. I lightly place my palm in his and scooted my chair away as I stood. He led me over to the middle of the floor now occupied with couples dancing. He motioned to the man that appeared to be operating the music, and instantly the music changed to a ballroom classic that began with violins. He placed his warm left hand on my bare back making me jump. He used his right hand to direct my left one to his shoulder and then placed my right one in his. He lightly pushed me back, to the right, pulled me forward, to the left, and repeated. We began to turn as our box got wider. Liam pushed my left side out and spun me into his dip. I was parallel with the floor as Liam bent down and kissed my cheek playfully before bringing me to my feet again. He spun me back out, twirled me under his arm, and somehow had me back into our starting position. Liam was really good at this, and I got the feeling Liam thought the same thing about me. We continued to twirl, spin, step, and dip making everyone else in the room irrelevant. My eyes held his the entire dance and I was lost in our movement. We glided over water being carried by the waves of the music.

Only when the music stopped did I realize that we were the only couple dancing; everyone else had formed a circle around us watching in awe. The audience formally clapped when we finished, and I smiled at the many onlookers. I turned back to Liam who had dropped his right hand, left still on the small of my back, a smirk appeared on his face as I met his gaze. He used his left arm to pull me closer and his right hand met the left side of my jaw. His warm lips pressed to mine, and I was completely lost. I had no idea what was going on. I felt completely vulnerable as this stranger of a man planted his lips to mine. I could feel my stomach flutter and my knees became weak; my whole body tingled with a feeling that drew me closer to the male holding me. When he pulled away, the crowd had reoccupied the dance floor and had begun to dance to the new song.

My eyes met Liam's creamy, sparkly brown irises and I couldn't stop a smile that spread across my face. He placed his hand in mine and led me through 2 more dances.

At the end of our third dance, Liam smirked before turning and walking back to the table without a word. I don't know why, but this action frustrated me. Did he expect me to follow him wherever? Because I wouldn't. Almost on cue, a tall, dark and handsome male tapped me on the shoulder. "Would you like to dance with me?"

"I would love too," I cooed. I didn't know how Liam would react, but I would dance with the tall male anyway.

He spun me into his arms. He wasn't a very good dancer, but I attempted to move with him. "So darling, what is your name?" he asked.

"Lexi."

"Well, it's nice to meet you Lexi. I'm Trey." Trey had sparkling blue eyes and dark shaggy hair. He was very attractive. He led me through the song with a steady flow of stepping left to right with the occasional twirl.

At the end of the song, Trey bowed to me and spoke, "Pleasure dancing with you Lexi."

I giggled as I curtsied back and replied, "Trey, the pleasure was all mine."

Trey winked then turned away. He was a nice bloke.

I scanned the room for Liam finding him leaning on his shoulder against molding of an archway that had a direct view of where Trey and I had danced. His face was hard and his lips were pressed into a straight line. Dancing with Trey definitely put him on edge. I walked toward him stopping a few feet away. "Shall we?" I said motioning to the grand entrance.

"We shall," he said trying to hide his anger.

Once inside the car, Liam elaborated on his hard face and stiff posture. "Lexi, I didn't like it when you decided to go dance with that git." he sput.

"You were the one who walked away from me!" I tried to defend myself, but it was useless.

"But I didn't walk up to some other girl and ask her to dance."

"I didn't ask Trey to dance with me. He is the one who asked!"

"It doesn't matter! You came with me," he fumed. It was true I had come with him. I didn't know that you could only dance with the person you came with. I thought back to Trey, who had no clue that Liam was with me. I wasn't dancing with anyone. He wanted to dance and I was open. What was wrong with that?

"Liam, I'm sorry for dancing with Trey, but I was open and the poor guy just wanted to dance."

"You aren't understanding."

"Well then explain!" I almost yelled.

"YOU! I want you. You are mine. I don't want any other guy thinking they can have you. Because they can't."

His words shocked me. What did he mean I was his? I am not something people can just have. I didn't understand. He wanted me, what is that even supposed to mean? Sure I was his date, but he didn't specify what he meant when he said 'mine' and I got the feeling he meant more than just his date for the evening.

We drove back to my apartment in complete silence. It was always quiet when we were in the car.

We pulled into the driveway and I noticed an unfamiliar grey Volkswagen in the driveway. Andrew? I thought, but I knew Andrew had a red car. "Do you recognize that car?" I asked Liam, but he shook his head.

I began to panic. Rummaging in my clutch, I grabbed my keys and jumped out of the car holding my dress as I ran to unlock the door. Once in, I screamed: "KRISTINA!! Are you here? KRISTINA?!"

"Calm down would ya?" a blonde-haired boy with a black eye told me.

"Who the heck are you?"

"Niall, who the heck are you?" he mimicked.

"Lexi, what are you doing here?"

"I'm with your friend."

"Kristina?" I asked for confirmation.

"Yea."

"Are you from Ireland?" I somewhat rudely asked.

"Yup, are you from America?"

"Yeah."

"I know," he chuckled and walked into the living room.

Liam came in and placed his hand on my back. "Everything okay?" he asked concerned.

"uh... I actually don't know," I replied with uncertainty.

I walked into the living room to find Kristina asleep on the couch. I wasn't surprised that my shouting didn't wake her. "Is she okay?" I asked Niall who was sitting by her head.

He got up and motioned to the kitchen "Lets talk." We went into the kitchen and sat down at the small 4-chair table we had pushed against the left wall. Niall sat across from Liam and I like parents waiting to hear bad news from the principal. Then he told us.

Liam stood and stormed toward the door. "Where are you going?" I shouted after him with tears in my eyes.

"To pay Andrew a little visit. I don't think Niall did a good enough job." The door slammed as he said the last word. My hole body went numb and I could feel the hatred toward Andrew boil in my stomach.

"You okay?" Niall asked.

"No, I'm pissed. How could someone do this! I thought... I though that... I knew him." This thought scared me and tears fell from my eyes. I had no idea who Andrew actually was, and yet I had accepted him as a friend. It made me question the stranger sitting across from me, and the male who had been over-possessive of me at the ball.

Liam's POV:

I didn't care that I barley knew Kristina. No man should ever treat a woman like that EVER.

I pounded on the door waiting for Andrew to open up. He had a cut above his left brow and his bottom lip was puffy. I'm surprised Niall did that much damage considering how big Andrew was.

"Hey, how are you buddy?" Andrew said to me. I wasn't his buddy.

"Not so good. And your not going to be either," I spit before throwing my fist into his temple and knocking him clean out.