Catalina gripped over her phone, bit her lip, and her mind searched for something reasonable to say. She even secretly slapped the side of her leg in annoyance for this was the first time she acted stupid, seriously dithering of what the goddamn hell she would gonna say.
"Where are you?" She asked mindlessly. Why the hell am I asking his whereabouts?—she instantly hissed on her thought.
"I'm out with my friends. Why? Something's wrong?" Ash replied, his voice was a little hoarse and deep than his usual tone.
Catalina can hear faint noises and music from his line, "Something very bad almost happened earlier," she said, "So, I'm calling to thank you. I heard what you did from Raquel."
She heard Ash chuckled softly from the other line, and for some unknown reason, her mind flickered to picture out what his expression might be looked like. That's the second time she heard him laugh, though it wasn't totally worth to be called a laugh.
"Thank you was actually on your vocabulary? I'm working with you, it's my duty. Instead of thanking me, why don't you just deposit some cash to my account?" Ash replied playfully.
Catalina cleared her throat, "Are you drunk, you money-minded monkey?" she scowled.
"No." Ash replied quietly.
"You're in a bar, right?" Catalina asked, another stupid, careless idea forming inside her head.
"Yeah."
"What's the name?"
"What? Why?"
Catalina hesitated for a moment, "I want to drink." She mumbled.
Ash didn't answer right away, but it was as if he knew what Catalina wanted. "The Smuggler's Cove."
Catalina ended the call and ordered her driver to go to smuggler's cove that made Stewart to react immediately about the possible danger.
"With all due respect, Miss, but you do realize someone just tried to kill you, right?"
"He wasn't planning to kill me, just giving me warnings and tried to make some nonsensical deal," Catalina answered stubbornly,
"But—"
"Aren't you with me, Stewart? You never said anything about stopping me from going anywhere; you said you'll come with me wherever I go." Catalina interjected that silenced Stewart.
It took them a little searching before they found the small tiki bar since it was in a plain building with no readily visible sign you can see at night. Catalina and Stewart trailing behind her stepped in through the unassuming exterior, then another stepped through a black curtain and they were as if transported to somewhere in the South Seas.
Catalina paused at the fantastic atmosphere, swirling everywhere were lanterns and well crafted rums and cocktails. The place is quite small so it's packed with people standing and chattering everywhere. The bar lived up to the hype, everything her eyes caught was top notch. She had never been in a place as cool and crowded as this. She was quite certain that if she'd sat down in here, she'd be lost amid the delicious cocktail drinks and colorful lanterns below deck.
She continued to wander her eyes at the design, the layout, and the cleanliness of the space until she spotted Ash in the middle of the crowd making his way to her. He looked more matured and frighteningly seductive without his school uniform in a place like this. He's just wearing a simple loose black silk shirt and denim pants. However, he got better the more Catalina looked. His dark hair was tousled and the redness of his nose and cheeks were so vivid in the gloom. The more he get nearer, she could see his distinct cheekbones and his angular jaw, his dark brows which sloped downwards in a serious expression, and his pale skin even made him look devilishly handsome.
"It's beautiful." She murmured mindlessly.
"What?" Ash was now standing in front of her.
"The place. It's beautiful." Catalina searched the place again with a glint of amazement on her eyes, "I love the pirate vibe going on with the décor."
Ash glanced over to Stewart who was standing stoically behind Catalina, though he didn't comment about it since he seemed aware that he was her bodyguard. He guided Catalina to the basement. As they passed through table by table, Catalina noticed some people looking at her, maybe recognizing her, but it's a good thing no one dared to approached her until they were almost near at Ash's table situated at the very corner of the basement.
"Do it, Ren! I know you like girls!" Shouted Jules who was holding his mug of painkillers.
Ren stood not too far away from their table was twitching her face beside a girl whom Jules had chosen for her to flirt with as the consequence of her losing a game.
Calix who was sightseeing some of the college girls spotted Ash. "Woah, Your Majesty had really brought a girl." He announced that made everyone turned their head to Ash's direction.
"And it's not just a girl," commented Lorenz.
"It's the friggin' president of the world's top beauty industry." Jules added, staring fixedly at them, mouth slightly opened.
Catalina glanced up to Ash, "I hope they're not one of my bashers," she teased. "They're looking at me like I'm a new, obscured species in this tiny place."
"They like new species, don't worry." Ash teased back.
Catalina was about to answer when someone abruptly lunged over Ash, making her to slightly step back.
"Schiller!" Ren yelled as she wrapped an arm around Ash's nape.
"Shit, Ren." Ash mumbled as he almost lost his balance.
"You're back! You gotta help me. That prick moron, Jules was bullying me." She pouted in her boyish way,
Ash slightly pushed Ren away as he straightened his shirt. Then Ren's eyes flickered to Catalina, her lips instantly formed into a big letter 'O' at the sight of her. "You're Catalina freaking Haytham of E'vico Empire, right?" Her voice was low and tensed this time with a note of amusement.
Catalina forced a smile and Ren almost jumped on her feet. She attempted to leap beside Catalina when Ash quickly placed a palm on her forehead, pushing her away.
"I just want some picture, Schiller! You know how much Kaifer loves her cosmetics!" Ren snapped at Ash.
"When did you care about your brother's interests?" Ash snapped back.
"I'm not caring anything about him. I'm doing this to make him jealous!"
"Do you see that man?" Ash glanced once at Stewart, "He'll gun your throat if you won't shut up." And he continued to walk towards their table with Catalina following beside him.
Jules immediately stood up as soon as they arrived at the table.
"Hey, Schiller you said you'll bring someone named Celine—"
"Shut up, Harper." Ash snapped at Jules' attempt to tease. "Here," he gestured Catalina to sit at one of the vacant chairs, which was supposed to be Ren's chair.
Jule's cleared his throat as he went back to sit.
Ash handed Catalina the menu on top of their table. "You want to drink, right?"
Catalina could feel everyone's attention in that table locked on her, but she tried not to mind it as she thought of this as nothing compared to the attention the whole world was giving her every damn day. Add the fact that Ash wasn't saying anything about his friends, not even introducing them to her.
Her eyes scanned the menu, it's the most extensive rum drink menu she'd ever seen. She's not a big rum-drinker but the sight of the tiki mugs everywhere with fantastic looking cocktails and rums were so inviting. The menu has so many great choices. It's mind boggling as to what to order. Should she have grog and experience what sailors drank? Or explore the traditions of the Caribbean and slurp down Jamaican Planter's Punch? What about this Puka Punch from a legendary Tiki Bar? Perhaps she should try the Smuggler's Cove original like the center of the galaxy?
"Can't choose?" Ash asked as he noticed Catalina seemed having a hard time choosing over the menu.
"I know nothing in here. I just want something strong." Catalina replied.
"Try the smuggler's cove dark rum." Ash suggested, which Catalina agreed right away.
There was no waiter so they needed to go up to the bar and order. They will take your order and then you sit and wait until you are called.
"What happened?" Ash suddenly asked when they got back to their table.
Catalina knew he was referring at the incident earlier. "You really don't know? You're the one who gave my secretary a device to guard my whole conversation with that man."
Ash sipped on his rum before he answered, "I did, but I wasn't listening as well. I only brought one earpiece at the time."
Catalina paused for a moment before she told him about what happened inside her office. The whole time she was speaking, Ash was just quiet, listening attentively and sipping at his rum from time to time. When she told him about the part that she made the first move and tried to knock the man down, Ash glanced at her in surprised, then a small smile hovered on the edge of his lips.
"But, how did you know something bad will happen?" Catalina curiously asked,
"Just a hunched, that's why I gave your secretary that earpiece just in case my hunched was right,"
"But how did you managed to reach over our conversation?"
"I put a spy pen at that man's coat." Ash replied.
"And how the hell were you able to do that?"
Ash glanced at her. "Do I need to demonstrate to you how to put a pen in someone else's pocket?" he teased.
Catalina rolled her eyes at that.
"Don't worry, I'm not a magician." Ash added,
Moments after, Catalina's order was ready. Her rum was served in a small barrel with the name smuggler's cove labeled in front of it. The rum has an enticing dark copper hue that resembles a slightly tarnished nickel color. The initial breezes above the barrel are full of candied caramel and molasses. Additionally, with the presence of dark licorice, cinnamon, and cloves all tainted the air above the barrel. Catalina took a sip, it gave her mouth a nice bitter-sweet punch flavor as it crossed her tongue. The exit feature flavours of molasses and licorice and the alcohol content of the rum gave her tonsil a nice gentle kick as it slid down.
"Where's the man then?" Ash asked moments later.
"I asked Stewart to lock him up." Catalina gazed at him, "Could you come with me tomorrow to have a talk with him? I'll also call Mr. Malthus." She said and sipped on her barrel.
Since the very beginning she had met Ash, he would always warn her about the possibilities that she might be dealing with extremely dangerous people. Little by little, they're coming to her, making her imagined what have been Ash was trying to tell her. The thought of tomorrow and the day after that and another day that might be having the worst, waiting for her to stumble unto, and her life, transforming into a thrilling chase and into something much more sinister, made a chill run through her.
Ash turned to look at Catalina. He can literally feel her anxiousness, but her eyes were still that dark color, and the look in them was furious, cold, determined.
"What are they playing?" Catalina tilted her head slightly towards the table, where the guys were busy playing with cards.
"It's the Pyramid." Ash replied, sipping again on his mug.
"How do they play it?"
"It's a battle of being good at bluffing and memorizing. Do you want to play?"
"I don't know how."
"I'll guide you." Ash said, then he called his friends attention.
"She seriously doesn't know how to play this game?" Jules snapped as they started over, "Do you only play with make ups and Barbie dolls?" He added, sounding so casual to Catalina and looking a bit tipsy.
Catalina just gave him a half-smile, then Jules started to shuffle the cards, he laid down fifteen cards in the table in the shape of a pyramid, with the cards facing down. Then Jules distributed the remaining cards faced down evenly among them. Catalina noticed that Ash wasn't playing since he hasn't received any.
"You only have five seconds to memorize your cards," Ash said to her, "Typically it's ten, but to make it more difficult we agreed on five. Memorize how you organize it, Jules will turn over the first card of the pyramid, and whatever card he calls out and you claim to have that same card, you can tell another player to drink. You can't show your cards to them so you can bluff and say you have the card even if you do not. But, the one you've chosen can either take the drink or challenge you, if he told you "bullshit", you must reveal your card and if it appears not to be a bluff, he'll drink twice, but if you actually lied, you'll drink otherwise."
"What do you actually meant by drinking twice? Like drinking those two barrels of rum?" Catalina asked hesitantly, eyeing several barrels of rum in the table.
Everyone in the table nodded at her,
She chuckled, her own barrel of rum has still a bit left and she can already feel the effect of alcohol kicking to her, but she agreed to play instead. "Fine."
"Typically, whoever is sitting next to the dealer's left will have the first turn," said Riley, "So, that would be you." He looked over at Catalina.
Jules was the current dealer and Catalina's actually sitting next to his left and Riley on his right. Jules signaled them to get their cards for them to memorize. Catalina was holding six cards, as if she only blinked and five seconds was already up, then they all put back their cards on the table faced down, organizing it according to what they had memorized.
Jules looked at Catalina as she slowly turned over the first card in the pyramid.
Catalina fixed her eyes on the card Jules was holding.
"Four of Diamonds," Jules announced,
"Well, I have that card." Catalina answered right away.
Calix whistled while Ren murmured a curse.
"Then choose whoever tonsil you want to slaughter," Jules smirked,
"If I choose someone and he won't gonna challenge me, he only need to drink one barrel straight, right?" Catalina asked and Jules nodded, "You're the dealer so you're an exemption?" there's a note of disappointment in her voice.
Ren and Lorenz laugh at that.
"You can't choose me." Jules proudly said.
"Then," nodding, Catalina shifted her
gaze to the others, then her eyes stopped at Ash. "Why didn't you join?" she snapped,
"Why? You'll choose me instead?" Ash replied, his voice was low and starting to get a little husky. "Don't get shy with them, it's just a game." He added.
Catalina's eyes darted at Levi who was sitting silently beside Riley. "I'll choose that pretty boy, then,"
Ren and Riley looked at Levi in unison.
"That's Levi and he's not pretty," Jules interjected,
Levi straightened on his chair, his long, lustrous hair shuddered smoothly against his neck as he pulled his chair closer to the table. Then he tried to read Catalina's gaze, but it's too plain and shallow. It could've been easier if it's his friends since he knew them well enough.
That closed, Catalina could see flecks of silver in his eyes, and she noticed his lashes were impressively thick, it could be illegal.
"I know it's hard since you don't know her, Lev. It's like reading a bluff from Ash." Lorenz said with a laugh.
"Its bullshit," Levi mumbled after a while,
Calix whistled again as he rested an arm behind Lorenz chair. "Dude, are you really trying to win over her?" He said playfully, "You can't seriously make a girl drink two barrels of rum, just be a gentleman." He added, grinning.
But Levi just looked at Catalina, challenging her to reveal her cards,
Catalina stretched out her hand, Levi noticed a note of hesitation in her.
"He's being a gentleman, Calix," Ash suddenly said, "Well, against his will, though," he added before Catalina could even flip her second to the last card.
It's Four of Diamonds.
"Damn." Levi murmured, while the others laughed, even Catalina couldn't help to laugh as she looked at Levi.
Jules stood up, holding the two barrels of rum as he sang an awarding song to Levi. Ren and Lorenz clapped their hands loudly beside Levi while Levi was just looking at Jules displeasingly.
Catalina turned to look at Ash, "How did you know I wasn't bluffing?"
"I saw your cards," Ash replied, making Catalina to scoff.
Moments later, they played for another game, making Catalina to learn a new one.
"Oh, crap!" Ren suddenly yelped while in the middle of the game.
Catalina saw that she was looking at something far behind them.
"Schiller, I think your happy days are over," Ren muttered, looking troubled, and her attention fixated at someone further from their table.
Everyone in the table turned to see a lady stunningly standing in the middle of the basement, a few people were chattering and laughing with her.
Catalina felt Ash tensed beside her, he even seemed to curse under his breath.
"Your self-proclaimed fiancée is back, Schiller. Doesn't it sound like hell?" Ren continued,
"Didn't she send you a dm that she's going home?" Riley asked to Ash.
"I haven't checked any of my social media accounts," Ash replied, glancing over to the girl.
Catalina was silent when Ash's gaze suddenly landed to her, his eyes lingered at her for a moment, "Can I ask for a little help?" he mumbled,
Catalina raised an eyebrow,
"Be my baby for a while," He quickly said, his voice was mistakenly gentle and husky, enough for everyone in their table to hear.
Jules gave Ash a sidelong look while Ren's mouth fell open.
Catalina's hands froze beside her and her stomach churned. She didn't know if it was because of the alcohol or something else.
"Schiller, you know you can impregnate a girl just by saying that, damn," Ren mumbled, slowly shaking her head in disbelief.
Ash lashes were lowered at Catalina, there's hesitation on his gaze, but without even bothering to wait for her reply, he encircled his arm around her waist, pulling her closer.
The movement sent a jolt up her spine. Catalina could smell the aroma of rum from him, pleasingly blending on his nice scent of men's perfume. She swallowed hard, but didn't pull away.
"Stop staring at us, idiots." Ash snapped at his friends who immediately look away and went back on their game.
"She's coming, Schiller." Ren muttered in a low voice, but her eyes focused at her cards.
At the corner of Catalina's eyes, she saw a figure walking closer to them, but her attention cut out when Ash swiftly turned his face closer to her ear to whisper something, Catalina twitched in surprised that her ear slightly brushed over Ash's lips. She felt Ash briefly tensed up, but he didn't move away.
"Can you act a little sweeter for me?" Ash whispered, his voice sounded soft and warm and deep.
A tingle of surprise rushed through Catalina. She wanted to yell at him but there's a strange heat rushing through her veins, stopping her from opposing with Ash. This was making her light-headed but she's aware what Ash was trying to do.
So, she forced a sweet, low laugh, as if Ash had said something flattering and lovable to her. Then, she tilted her face towards him, attempting to whisper back. Her gaze caught sight of the lady they were talking about, now just two steps away from them, but she purposely made her gaze passed through her, as if she really didn't know who she might be.
"You just demanded your boss to be your baby, but since you saved my life, I'll grant you the privilege, Schiller."