PART FIFTEEN
Once I figured out what Aston was doing I spent most of the Gala trying to avoid his glances. I was having a hard time reading him. I wasn’t sure if he was just leering at me or if he actually had feelings behind those eyes. It was seriously confusing, especially after the events earlier in the evening.
The red carpet had actually been more fun than I had thought. The boys and I had wandered up and down the row of reporters, talking about Sport Relief and talking trash about who was going to win the Mile. We’d done enough interviews together now that we knew how to wind each other up a bit.
“Actually,” I told one reporter after we’d done a few interviews and I was warmed up, “The boys are going to run the Mile carrying me in their arms.”
“Oh really?” the reporter asked.
I smirked away as the boys tried to stumble over an answer to the question. Like they really wanted to carry me around for a Mile! Ha!
“We’ll see…” Aston finally said, looking over at me out of the corner of his eye.
“You can be a bit naughty can’t you?” Aston asked me as we entered the venue for the event.
“Excuse me???” I asked him, shocked that the words had come out of his mouth. I was clearly interpreting him wrong.
“I didn’t mean…” he stuttered, “Just about carrying you…”
“Ok there Ast,” I said, patting him lightly on the shoulder and wandering off. He’d caught me off guard, again, with that statement. Where the hell was his mind? I just couldn’t figure him out for the life of me. And I couldn’t stand that!
As soon as the meal was finished I made a move to head home, training the next morning on my mind. I really needed to get a goodnight’s sleep, especially because I knew I had a hard workout coming up.
“Should we hit the clubs for a bit then?” Marvin asked just as I was grabbing for my things, ready to slip out unnoticed, “Rochelle and her mates are out, we could meet up with them.”
“I’ll pass,” I said quickly, “Training tomorrow!”
“Aww come on, just a few dances,” Aston pleaded, his eyes catching mine. They were big and brown, and just looking at them I almost gave in, almost. “It’ll be fun. We’ll make sure you aren’t out too late.”
“Yeah Jess,” Marvin smirked, clearly playing Aston’s game, “Come! I’ll introduce you to some people.”
I looked around the room for someone to help get me out of going out, failing miserably. It seemed even Dirk thought it was a great idea, what a help he was.
“Fine, just for a little while,” I sighed.
The boys let out a woop and then pretty much dragged me out of the gala and into a waiting cab, Marvin texting away to determine the location for the night. After a short ride, where I did my best to ignore the boys, we pulled up outside a flashy looking club and were let straight in by the bouncers.
“Jess want a drink?” Marvin asked me as he headed off towards the bar.
“She doesn’t drink,” Aston said, “Racing and all. I’ll get you some water babe.”
“Thanks,” I said, surprised that he remembered that detail. I would have thought he’d be all for trying to get my liquored up. I thought he was all about trying to get with me?
“Here we are,” Aston said, passing me a large glass of water with a lemon floating on top. A nice touch.
“Should I trust you?” I asked, eyeing up the drink and trying to determine if there was some secret drug in it.
“Oh stop!” he laughed, sitting down opposite me at the table we’d claimed, “You want me to drink it first?”
“No,” I sighed, sipping it carefully. He was right, it was just water.
“You want to dance?” he asked me after we sat quietly for a few minutes. The other boys had wandered off to see who they could find in the club, leaving Aston and I alone.
“No thanks,” I said.
“What you don’t dance either? What sort of workout regime are you on?”
“No I dance,” I replied, “I’m just trying to take it all in. I haven’t been to a club like this before.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” I said, “It’s a bit flashy!”
“Well when you roll with us you only get the best,” he said with a broad smile. I rolled my eyes at him as the others returned with a whole ton of people in tow.
General introductions were made and eventually everyone paired off and headed to the dance floor, leaving me to sip my drink and take it all in. For some reason I just couldn’t get myself to totally let go and join in the revelry.
An hour later and I was still sat in the same place, playing with my phone idly as the boys enjoyed the night. It seemed like everyone was paired off, dancing away in couples to the fast-paced, bass-heavy music. Even Aston had found some girl to dance with after I’d denied him about twenty times. The second I clocked him, his hands lightly on the girls waist, I felt my stomach lurch.
Was that jealousy?
Oh hell no…
But sure enough, I could feel my heart thudding that little bit faster. What was wrong with me? He flashes his abs at me once and I’m totally gone on him? That wasn’t how I worked. I didn’t let boys get involved with me because they were distractions. I needed to be focused 100% on my racing. But even so, as I was sitting there I couldn’t help but feel a little bit sick about the whole thing. I was definitely feeling jealous.
And just to make matters worse, as I was sitting there, trying to regain control of my emotions, Aston turned his head and caught my eye. In that glance he could obviously see my head spinning away, even if I turned away from his look quickly, hoping he didn’t notice me watching him. I couldn’t believe that I was actually feeling this way! What was wrong with me!
PART SEVENTEEN
It seemed that not two seconds passed before the song that was playing ended and Aston was back at the booth, sliding in next to me with a concerned look on his face.
“What's wrong?” he asked me as I gave him a frown.
“Nothing…” I sighed.
“You sure?” he smirked, “You were clearly giving me some sort of look.”
“No I wasn’t,” I told him.
“Really? If I'd known any better I'd say you were a bit jealous there.”
"Was not!" I protested.
"Sure..." he laughed, "Are you sure you're alright?"
“Yup,” I said, picking up my glass of water and taking a sip, trying to ignore him completely. I could not believe he'd caught me out!
Aston stared at me for a minute before sitting back in his seat, “You should come dance soon.”
“I’m fine,” I said shortly.
“Stop it,” he said with a smirk, “You’ve been saying that all night, you’re so dancing.”
He grabbed my arm and pulled me from the booth before I could protest, leading me out to the middle of the dance floor and putting his hands gently on my waist just as a loud energetic song came on.
“Just let go for one minute,” he shouted, trying to sway me gently to the music.
I stared at him, my heart beating faster than it should have. This was the closest we’d ever been, and his fingers on my waist felt like they were burning right through my dress. I was completely swept off my feet, not realizing it until just now.
It was only standard that in this situation I was for some reason having a hard time functioning, so much so that I completely shut down.
First I stopped dancing.
And then I pulled his fingers from my waist.
“Take me home,” I said stiffly.
“What?” he asked, stopping what he was doing.
“Take me home please,” I repeated, taking a deep breath as I felt my head start to spin.
“Are you sure you’re ok?”
“Please… I just want to go,” I said, trembling slightly.
“Yeah, ok,” said Aston, concern crossing his face, he took a gentle hold on my arm and led me back to our table so I could collect my things and then the pair of us left the club, taking the first cab that pulled up.
Once seated in the car, I gave my address to the driver and then leant back in my seat, closing my eyes as I tried to push all the thoughts out of my head. How had this idiot gotten under my skin like this? I couldn’t believe it!
“What’s going on Jess?” Aston asked quietly after a few minutes, his hand resting lightly on my own.
“I just couldn’t do it anymore,” I said cryptically, slipping my hand from his and putting it in my lap.
“Do what?” he asked, not missing a beat.
“Just be a part of all of that…” I said, “I don’t have time for this. It’s not who I am. I need to be more focused! I can’t believe I even agreed to go out in the first place, I've got training tomorrow!”
“Hey,” said Aston, “If you just let go, you’d see that there is nothing wrong with having a little bit of fun once and a while. You’re always so rigid, just give it a chance. Let go for one night!”
“I can’t,” I said with a deep sigh.
“Sure you can, let me help you,” he added hopefully.
I open my eyes and turned to look at him, taking in the sincere look upon his face. Without responding verbally I shook my head slightly, shutting my eyes again and leaning back into the car seat. My heart was going wild, I didn’t know what was going on with me. But in that moment I almost opened up to him.
I couldn’t though.
Could I?
It seemed like all the words he was saying weren’t really about the night out but more about us, at least that’s how I interpreted them. Could I really let go and try it out? Just for one night maybe? Was I really thinking this?
After a silent ten minutes we pulled up at my house. Quickly I fished some bills out of my purse and passed them to the driver before Aston could make a move to pay himself, and then I pushed the car door open.
It was now or never to see what he really meant.
“You coming?” I asked, looking back at Aston who was frozen in his seat. His eyes went wide as I asked him this, and a sexy smile crossed his face as he registered that I was acknowledging him. For the first time ever maybe.
“Yeah,” he replied, slipping out and slamming the taxi door behind him.
And there we were, the two of us standing on my front step. Now what?