Amanda'S POV
I completed my look by tying a bun out of my hair. I had a thing for knotted hair. They looked so stylish yet elegant. There was a cute flower diamond-studded broach amongst the jewelry provided to me by these kind people, it added sparks when I positioned it in the middle.
I couldn't stop thinking about Samarrah, I knew that this place could provide me with clues and turn out to be a great help, but I also needed to be very careful, because I could lose this job if I created any chaos, and I had been warned twice. This time, I wanted to prove Mr. Reynolds wrong.
On the thoughts of Mr. Reynolds, my cheeks turned a light shade of red. I was yet embarrassed by the fact of him having seen the semi-naked side of me. It took me a while to gather all the courage. I locked up my purse and left it in the room along with my phone. I stepped out of the luxury suite and greeted a few ladies.
I stopped for a while after looking at James. The traditional dress suited him quite well. I waited for him in the hallway because walking with someone I knew was way more comforting than walking with someone I had no idea about.
"Can I, beautiful ", he offered me his hand to walk past the party's entrance.
"Of course ", I curled my hands around his arms on being completely overwhelmed by his pleasing gesture. Maybe, he wasn't that bad of a person, I was highly disappointed by my judgmental skills.
James increased his proximity whilst walking, our arms touched each other. We didn't talk much, silence concealed the atmosphere.
"You look drop-dead gorgeous ", he finally whispered in my ears after doing a lot of thinking. It could be felt from his face that walking with me made him nervous. This was kind of cute, though.
"Thank you mister ", I could've reciprocated the sentence but I didn't want to sound desperate, so I controlled and smiled the cutest one I could.
We sauntered towards the ballroom, I encountered people who dressed the same way I did, the color differed of course, but it had the same concept for every woman and likewise for men. Mr. Reynolds was interacting with an old lady in the same angry-young-man tone. I decided to stay as far as possible from him as together, we had a fatal combination.
I overheard two of the women at the party as they were right behind me. Their talks included "Mr. CEO is so hot" and the other one interrupted her at once with the word "mine". The first one angrily snatched the second one's drink and left her alone.
Their chats were hilarious. These aunties were fighting for a violating animal. But no one could ever deny the fact that Mr. Reynolds had those 'Greek God ' looks that no girl could ever deny. He could be rated number one amongst the people present in the party without any doubt. I, many times controlled myself to get drifted away with his looks, but his arrogant behavior helped me to distance myself from him.
I took glimpses of Mr. Reynolds with cornered eyes secretly so that he didn't catch me looking at him. I was a bit jealous of the attention he was getting from all the people, but he sure deserved it. No matter how much I disliked him, but I had to appreciate his hard work. He had strived and accomplished so much in his life, numerically expanding his father's business demographically from 10 to 100.
James stood there giving company to Mr. Richie Rich. Ease and comfort could be felt on his face whenever he interacted with James. They would've been real old friends, I could figure that out from their way of talking with each other and also with their body language, but they both were like two sides of a coin.
"Can I at least ask you for a dance", a man in his mid 20's asked me for a dance like a complete gentleman.
"I'd be pleased", I replied in the same tone and went towards the dance floor.
"What's your good name?" he questioned me.
"Amanda Waters ", I replied.
"I'm Joseph Henry", he answered without a favorable question.
He rested his hands on my back. I curled my hands around his neck, whilst staying careful with the distance so that it looked decent and I felt right.
We danced for approximately five minutes and then I heard "Can I borrow her, gentleman", Mr. Reynolds tried side parting Joseph in a friendly manner, yet his pull was full of aggression.
"Of Course , she's all yours", Joseph handled my hand on Mr. Reynolds's hand, just like how a father places his daughter's hand intertwining with the groom's.
"Stop getting intimate at this party ", Mr. Reynolds turned me around while dancing, but first assured himself that Joseph was completely out of his sight.
"It was just a dance ", I tried offending "He was the one who asked me for the dance anyways, I feel this is such an irrelevant topic to fight upon"
"And then you decided to do justice to the word 'whore' "
"What the fuck, are you labeling me a whore?" I questioned disheartened while curling my hands around his back. I had to do it no matter how much I didn't want to, we were yet on the dance floor.
"You were the one who encouraged me to ", He caught my right hand with his left, way too tight and aggressively, turned me around and whispered in my ears "Don't you understand, he asked you for a dance to get access to some confidential information of our business", Mr. Reynolds was a big-time pessimist.
"I really thought it was a genuine one", I defended myself.
"This attitude of yours could result in great losses, Miss Waters ", he pulled me close in a harsh manner. I could feel his rough manly hands on my back. It was hurting me but I continued dancing anyways. They say that eventually, things turn out to be okay, well in my case our start was a forlorn one in which things got worse was constant.
"I apologize ", I could feel his breath. Our nose collided while we danced and my cheeks kind of turned red.
"Better be ", he moved his hands from my waist to my neck. Flashbacks filled with memories were bouncing in my head. How we danced together at Mr. Linley's anniversary party. How we acted like husband and wife. The thought of us kissing each other always created chaos in my stomach.
We continued with the dance. The Mayor took over the stage, cleared his throat, and called the attention of all the people.
"So we all have gathered here in the honor of a living legend ", he pointed towards Mr. Reynolds, everyone started looking at us, and I could feel the limelight. Some people even mistook me as Mr. Reynolds's love interest to which I could only laugh secretly in my head.
Mr. Reynolds raised his brows, took footage whilst tightening his tie. He turned his eyesight around to catch up with people gazes towards him. He was totally enjoying it, who wouldn't?
"So here's a toss for him", the mayor removed the cap of the champagne after tossing it in the air. Everyone raised their glasses in the air and shouted "to Mr. Aaron Reynolds", before drinking it. I had to do it too no matter how much I didn't want to.
"Here's a small token of appreciation for you, sir ", the mayor cleared his throat and came towards us with a really cute and gigantic flower bouquet. It was the biggest one I had seen to date. It had all kinds of flowers in it, it was like a flower garden having a small amount of every kind of flowers in it.
"Thank you, much-appreciated love", Mr. Reynolds took the bouquet in his hands with a calm and pleasant look. No, he didn't smile. He never smiled, so people near him never expected him to smile too.
He caught the beautiful flower bouquet for the shutterbugs for a while and then transferred them to me. Of course, I had to catch it, as it was my responsibility as a personal secretary. It took all ounce of my strength to catch the bouquet. I was struggling with its heavyweight but I didn't show it on my face as I was warned to stay decent at the party.
I went towards the nearest table to place the bouquet. I then caught sight of James, so I stopped. I was starting to enjoy his company, so I waited for him to come along and accompany me.
He dragged me by my hand away from the party. I went along, but it was actually difficult to catch up with his long manly steps.
"So where are we heading?" I stopped a bit and tried to overcome him.
"I'm trying to kidnap you with your will", he laughed and I laughed too. I followed his steps whilst ascending the stairs.
"No, it's snatching against my will", I contradicted his statement and tried my best to sound hilarious.
"So still walking with me huh?" he rhetorically questioned.
"So, on a serious note where are we going?" I questioned again.
"Someplace you have no idea about", he pulled me closer towards him and removed the handkerchief from his pocket.
"What are you up to?" I questioned again.
He used the handkerchief for tying it around my eyes and whispered in my ears "trying to make it look like a professional kidnap"
I laughed and punched him playfully frontwards as I was unaware of the sight. Everything was dark ahead in front of me "So it's a surprise eh ", I cleared my throat.
"Can take it as one ", he caught me by arms and walked scrupulously.
I tried matching his steps so that I didn't get hurt by the walls as everything was black and dark for me. Suddenly, when we were done climbing the stairs, he grasped me by my back. "Stay still", he whispered.
I nodded and did everything as instructed by him. I was threatened by Mr. Reynolds's warning, my mind always revolved around him, even when I didn't want his thoughts to strike. Maybe, he was controlling my mind, or maybe I was just carried away to his thoughts.
James unfolded the handkerchief from my eyes. I rubbed my eyes before opening it as the cloth had some kind of grip that darkened my sight for a while. It took not more than 10 seconds for everything to turn normal. I turned around and realized that we were on the terrace of this building. It was surrounded by darkness.
"So we are here to see the darkness ", I raised my brows arrogantly just like Mr. Reynolds did and turned towards James.
"No, baby girl", he positioned my head towards the sky and it was the most exotic view I had ever seen in my life. The stars shined bright and twinkled around the moon. It felt that it was controlled by someone who had the power to shut them off and turn them on. The view was breathtaking, in our busy life we forget to feel the nature and appreciate how beautiful it actually is.
"This is the most beautiful thing ever", I interrupted the silence.
"Not really", he disagreed with my statement. I had a puzzled expression on my face, he felt it so he continued "You are the most beautiful thing I have ever seen", he pecked me on my cheeks.
I smiled a bit but didn't blush because I didn't felt anything for him but the moment he created for me was overwhelming enough to melt me down. He intertwined his fingers with me. We just kept silent for a while and observed the stars.
Suddenly, he pushed me closer to him from my back, I got pulled away, because I had less strength comparatively than him, but I knew that he wouldn't do anything wrong. He looked at me straight in my eyes. I tried looking in his eyes but kept diverting my focus because it was creating a sensuous moment for both of us.
He positioned my face towards him through my chin through his thumb and pointer finger."James ", I immediately responded to him."Shush ", he placed his finger on my lips and pulled me closer, my body touched his and the situation turned intimate. He kept traveling his hands from my waist to my butt.
"Always live upon the moments ", was Francis's famous line which echoed in my head so I didn't push him away. I just stayed still and didn't try moving much.
James looked at my lips and within few moments pounced on it. I couldn't synchronize much as I didn't feel the comfort but I sure tried kissing him back. He slowly and gently sucked up my lower lip and then turned towards the upper one. I caught him tightly from his neck and eventually started messing with the back portion of his hair.
He moved his hands from my shoulders and got a grip of the blouse I was wearing, he tried to pull it out but it sort of uncomforted me so I pushed him away so hard that he was about to fall on the ground.
"I'm sorry", I tried to make up for my childish behavior.
"It's okay ", his face denoted his disappointment.
"I'm really sorry but I guess I cannot do this", I looked away from him and started walking towards the party again.
"Hey-hey-hey baby girl, it is okay!" he tried comforting me.
We both left the awesome view and marched towards the party again. I looked at him and blushed a bit. I wanted to text Gina and Francis but I had left my phone in the room so I couldn't. James intertwined his fingers with mine giving it a romantic and cute look. Our kiss was continuously playing in my head.
"Where were you, both of you? we are leaving within an hour", Mr. Reynolds came towards us when we finally reached the party hall. He had a glass of beer in his hand. He observed me from top to bottom, maybe he had figured out things from my condition. My hair had turned messy, so I tried parting up the strands behind my ears.
"Mr. Reynolds ", a voice called him from behind so he turned away and went towards the person who was calling him.
An old man came towards us and hugged James, he hugged him back. "It's been a long time, my son ", he caressed his back
"Just few months Uncle Henry!" he parted away. They looked quite familiar with each other.
The old man coughed continuously and when he felt comfortable, he asked"isn't that girl with you now? What was her name "he thought for a while and continued "Samarrah, such a sweet girl"
I was completely shocked as now everything made sense to me. The letter 'J' now made sense. He was such a man-whore. I felt like stabbing him innumerable times in his chest but I controlled. I acted like I didn't know anything about Samarrah because if I reacted it would be impossible for me to spill out the beans. Yeah, our last names were the same but there are a lot many people who have the same last name.
"We broke up ", he looked towards me, sighed, and continued talking with the old man.
"So, how are you?" James cut the topic and very cleverly started talking about something else. I side cornered myself from them as the presence of James around me was exhausting.
I went towards Mr. Reynolds and stood next to him. My mind was constantly revolving around too many topics and things that went wrong tonight. I wish I didn't kiss him back and pushed him the moment he came close to me. I wanted to commit suicide because everything just felt so wrong. I kissed a man who had made my sister pregnant and left her halfway. I hated James so much, every ounce of my feelings which started developing for him were shattered.
"I hate myself and my idiotic nature ", I murmured under my breath.
"Did you say something Miss Waters?" he questioned me and my eyes started to turn watery. I looked at him and escaped by gaze away from him, turned around, and replied "nothing.
"You, Okay ?" he turned me around. He wasn't that bad of a person, he may have been a bit aggressive and bossy but he was never a man-whore.
I couldn't answer him, I just hugged him. I didn't know that whatever I was doing was right or wrong but I couldn't think about anything else at that moment. He didn't hug me back. I didn't expect him to do it either. His chest felt like home, I let go of him slowly.
"I'm sorry ", I apologized with my head down in shame.
"Come, let's go ", he ordered me to leave this place along with him before the actual time."Stay here for a while ", he ordered me again so I took a halt, till that moment he went towards the mayor and greeted him goodbye, I took my belongings from the room after he did the same.
We waited for the driver but when Mr. Reynolds contacted him, he said that it'll take him approximately 30 minutes to be there. We waited for a while outside the car but Mr. Reynolds decided to drive the car by himself.
"Leaving so soon ", a voice came towards us and when I turned around I got angrier, as it was James, but I acted normal and formal.
"Yes", Mr. Reynolds answered.
"Why don't you come with me Amanda?" he looked towards me. I didn't know how to answer his question so I kept quiet for some seconds.
"She's going with me", Mr. Reynolds told James his final decision. I was so thankful to this man. I acted like I hated him, but no. I didn't, because, at the end of the day, I always had misconceptions against him. He always confused me.
I took the passenger seat and comforted myself with the seat belt."Come with the driver and don't drink too much", Mr. Reynolds instructed James to which he replied "Of course bro" and hugged him warmly. James was a creepy pervert, I now realized, and he had to pay for whatever he had done to my sister.
I was not going to leave him so easily but I needed evidence to prove that to Mr. Reynolds. I closed my eyes whilst settling my head on the passenger seat.
When I felt a shake on my shoulder, I opened my eyes and realized that it was Mr. Reynolds. It felt like a dream, "Let me sleeeeeeeeeeeeep", I said in a low tone exaggerating the word e.
"On your bed, in your house", he shook me again and continued "not in my car". I pinched myself to confirm that I wasn't dreaming and soon realized it. Mr. Reynolds opened the car door as he made way for me to exit it.
"Thank you", I said in a sleepy drunk tone and walked crookedly towards the front door of my house.