'What the fuck, man?' That old creep yells as he get ripped away from me. I stumble backwards and somehow find balance. My head spins but I manage to stand.
Caden throws a punch at his nose.
'We were only dancing. What's your problem?' He tries to block it feebly.
'Of course. You weren't mauling her, fucker.' He throws another punch, making that guy falling on the floor.
I hear a crack. His nose must have been broken.
'That bitch was asking for it.' This makes him get punched again repeatedly.
A small crowd gathers around us, enjoying the show. I stand there, shell shocked, frozen in fear, processing what happened.
Two guards run here to stop the fighting but stop when they see Caden.
'You're mad. Someone stop him.' He gargles, spitting saliva. 'I'm a respected memeber here.' He blocks him again unsuccessfully. 'I'll make you rot in jail. Who the fuck-' He tries to get away. 'are you?'
Why are they not stopping him? He will kill him! Even though, that pervert deserves every single one of it.
The owner of the club with whom Fred, Lana's current boyfriend is friends with, comes down here to investigate what all the commotion is about. 'Stop it or I'll be forced to escort you out.' He says to Caden authoritatively. He turns towards the guards. 'Call the cops.'
Thankfully Caden stops after a few more punches. 'That'll make you remember the next time if you dare to try again.' He gets up, dusting his hands off.
The club owner's whole demeanour changes upon seeing him. 'Mr. Davis?' He shutters. 'I'm sorry, I didn't know you'd be here today.'
'It was a rash decision.' Caden rolls down his shirt sleeves. 'Who let him have the membership here, Mark? I thought, it was pretty exclusive?' He looks so collected, like he did not just hit a person. But his eyes. They are blazing.
'Who?' He looks at the beaten man down on the floor and then at my shaking figure. He widens his eyes as he finally connects the dots. 'Mr. Anchor.'
'Well, escort this Anchor out of this club and make sure to seize his membership card. I'm sure, you don't want the drama leaked out to the press.'
'Of course.' He comes towards me. 'I'm so sorry, ma'am. I'm taking full responsibility as it happened in my club. I hope, you're ok.'
'I'm-' I force myself to calm down. 'good. Thanks.'
'You can't do that. I'm a reputed man.' Comes a weak growl. 'Take me to a hospital and stop this nonsense. That mad man tried to kill me. You're all mad. I'm pressing charges on all of you.'
'Get your lawyers ready.' Caden calmly replies. 'Cause I'm sure the court would have something to say about the CCTV footage and also you have a wife, yes? She'd love to see that too.'
That shuts him up.
Those guards carry him away despite his weak protests. 'You can't do that. You'll regret ever crossing me. You hear me? You'll-'
Slowly the crowd starts to disperse as they lose interest.
'You need to ice your wrist. It could be broken.' Caden stands a few feet away from me.
In the midst of all the drama and at the shock that Caden of all the people is helping me out, I totally forgot about my wrist. I look at it and see it has turned blue. I try to move my hand and wince in pain. 'It's ok. I'll just find my friends and go home.' I decline.
He raises a brow. 'Where're they?'
I look around uncomfortably. They are not on the dance floor, that is for sure. Have they left without me? It is highly unlikely. Then, where are they? Maybe I should just call them.
'Ma'am, we have ice at the bar counter for you. You can use it, if you want.' The owner puts in, eager to please Caden any way he can.
'Um-' I trail off, unsure.
'Come on. Let me take a look at your wrist.' Caden decides for me.
Maybe it is the surprise on hearing Caden's gentle voice or the fact that I am still shaken up about the whole ordeal, I nod and follow him.
'You're lucky. It's not broken, only sprained.' Caden inspects my wrist gently and presses ice on it. 'Are you hurt anywhere else?' His gaze sweeps over me, like a soft carress, searching for any other injury he did not find before.
We are sitting at the couch beside the counter, close to the wall. The atmosphere around us cackles with awkward silence.
'So how come you are here?'
'What?' I still can not wrap my mind around the fact that Caden is sitting beside me, trying to be decent for once and even making small talk.
Outside of his office and out of his suit, he looks less intimidating, more normal, almost like the Caden I used to know, minus his stoic appearance.
'No offense but obviously you aren't a member here.'
I should be insulted from the way he has flat out stated that I can not be a member, like this club is far out of my league which is sadly true, except he seems genuinely curious.
'Lana's boyfriend invited us. He's friends with Mark.'
'Really? Cool.' Suddenly he smirks, remembering something. 'Is she still hunting down poor, unsuspecting rich guys?' There is laughter in his voice.
Lana and Caden had a love-hate relationship. They were the perfect nemesis who had nothing in common apart from their mutual love for me. And it showed.
They were never shy of showing how much they did not go along but for pure bad luck had to, simply because of me. Most of the times it was amusing to say the least.
'Don't you dare say anything bad about her.' I laugh too, defending my friend. 'It's hardly her fault that they always fell for her for all the wrong reasons.'
Caden shakes with laughter. He presses the ice pack one the other side of my wrist and rubs it with his finger.
'Where's Camilla? Shouldn't you be with her?' The question gets out of my lips before I can take them back. It feels wrong to bring her up now. Like any mention of the present will ruin whatever peaceful moment, we are having between us.
'She already left.' His voice warns me not to probe it further.
'You have a small cut on the side of your lips.' I muse, noticing it now.
'It's just a paper cut. Don't worry about it.'
'No, it's not.' Without any thinking, I lean closer. 'You should disinfect it.' I touch his lips lightly with the tip of my finger and realise what I am doing.
Caden seems to realise it too and both of us froze.
I stare at him unmoving, afraid of how he would react and then promptly lean away. 'Sorry.'
His calm facade comes back on. 'This should be enough.' He removes the ice pack. 'Don't move your hand much and you would be fine.'
'Ok. Tha-'
Standing up, he enquires, 'How're you going home?'
'I have Ian's car with me. I'll drive.'
He shrugs. 'Your boyfriend? Why's he not with you then?'
Boyfriend? Why is he saying that? Oh, I forgot, he didn't know Ian. Ian and I became friends after I came back to US.
'Or are you here alone to find your new conquest? Poor guy.' He puts both of his hands in his pant pockets.
'I'm not-'
He raises a brow. 'What other reason could you have for coming here? It's a club where only rich people come. I guess, both you and Lana love to plan ahead.'
'Don't.' I sigh. 'Your problem is with me. Don't drag Lana into this. She is one of the few amazing human being, I have ever come across in my life.'
I leave a breath in exhaustion. I think, our truce is over and now Caden is back, on full force.
'He's not my boyfriend for starter and I don't do that.'
'You don't?' He mocks.
'I never-' I look straight into his eyes, choking with emotions. This is the first time, I have the chance to say it on his face. 'I never cheated on you, Caden. I could never do that.'
He search for something on my face, probably to detect any trace of lie. I am sure, he could not find any.
He comes closer, almost touching me, his voice chilling, frustrated. 'You should be ashamed of how you lie through your teeth and still act like a goody two shoes.'
'And you should be ashamed of how you treat people like trash.' I pause, my eyes brimming. 'Why did you do it then? Why help me if you hate me that much?'
He chuckles. 'Did you think I helped you cause you're special or someone I care about? I would have done that for anyone. I didn't even know it was you till I grabbed that freak.'
It hurts. I already know, I am no one of importance to him. But hearing that out loud from his mouth does not hurt any less.
'Let me resign then. You won't have to see me on regular basis. I'm sure, it'll make you happy.' And it will also solve my problems.
'It would.' He seems thoughtful. 'But it won't be any fun.'
He smirks, the intensity of his posture fading away. He almost looks playful. 'So that's not gonna happen, sweetheart. It's the only job you can have.' He pats my shoulder. 'Good luck with that. See you tomorrow.'
- - -
Song for this chapter- Lost In The Echo by Linkin Park.
Hey guys, how's your day in quarantine? It could get really tiring and depressing. Keep yourself busy with doing different trivial thing every day. It will get better.
I know, many of you are studying, tidying up your school work. You are great!🖒
I'm tired of doing nothing but I'm still not ready to go anywhere near my books! I'm that lazy. ☺
Instead, I'm trying new recipes for a few days. I'm a horrible cook and never really go to kitchen type. So you can guess how that turned out.😁😂
Today was one of these days. You're welcome to eat it. 😎
Anyways, jokes aside, I'm just so grateful that I'm with my family and not alone in this sad time.
So spend time with your loved ones. We don't really find time to spend it like this normally.
And and of course, VOTE, COMMENT and SHARE. Let me know what you liked or didn't like about this chapter.
Stay happy. Stay safe.
Lots of love. ♡♡
-Alayna