On the LED dance floor, Ally danced happily, twisting her waist to the rhythm of the music. The alcohol was working, and she was more excited than she'd been in a long time. 'This is exactly what I needed, just one night with no worries,' she mused.
"Thank you for this, Sugar-daddy," she shouted over the loud music to Madison.
"No thank you for coming. I haven't had this much fun since hen had teeth," Madison responded.
Ally was charismatic as she continued to dance in the sexiest and hottest way in the nightspot and every move of hers was enticing, driving the men crazier. She ignored their invitations, all they wanted was to get into her pants. She dodged all their sneaky approaches easily.
The stroboscopic lights came on overhead and blinked in time with the music, fascinating her. She got more carefree at the minute and accidentally brushed her buttocks on someone's privates.
"Let me buy you a drink and then we can get a room close by. What do you say?" She heard someone whispered in her ears.
"Not interested," she rejected and moved away, closer to Madison.
The fellow didn't give up and continued to pester her. "Why not? You've already gotten my attention."
Ally ignored him.
"Is that your girlfriend, we can have a threesome if you are worried about leaving her alone," he gave them a sly leer.
"Fuck off! She's not interested," Madison shouted.
Their attitude dissatisfied him and he raised a ruckus, "Stop playing hard to get."
The girls walked off the stage and headed to the bar to avoid the man, but he followed them.
Ally was already tipsy, so when he cornered them, it caught her off guard and she stumbled. The broken glasses pierced her palms and scraped her exposed leg when she fell on the ground. She sobered up instantly.
Madison was pushed into a bar stool. She saw Ally fell on the floor and exclaimed, "Muffin."
Lexi and Toby reach to help Ally stand up. The couple's posse flocked around her and Madison with worried expressions.
"She's mine for the night."
The man interrupted them and tried grabbing Ally's hand, to which she dodged. She looked at him with furious eyes, but before she could take matters into her hands and she realized her hands were injured, Ethan grabbed the man's collar and begun his assault.
"What the fuck! Who the fuck do you think you are?" The man's anger flared and he stood, spitting a mouthful of blood.
Ethan glared at the man and walked back to the group.
The man was about to retaliate when Cade squeezed his shoulder. Everyone who watches the news knows him as the country's prestige. The drunkard was young but smart. He turned around and staggered away.
Ethan's action stunned everyone except for Toby. He had expected him to react like this, judging from his clenched fist when he saw Ally dancing and charming every man on the stage. He knew Ethan is having a tug of war with his mind and heart at this moment.
"We need to get you to the hospital," Lexi interrupted Ally's gaze.
Ally looked down at her lacerated hands and frowned, "I'm fine."
"But you're bleeding...."
"Honestly, I'm fine. It's really no big deal," she insisted.
"She's right, Ally. You have flints in your hands," Madison stuttered.
Ally lifted her hands and pulled out the glasses when a firm hand grabbed her wrists. She looked up and saw the stony face of Ethan.
"Stubborn," he uttered and his jaw clenched.
She pursed her lips and looked down quietly. Though he looked cold and indifferent, she felt warm by his concern. She was electrified by his touch and her heart skipped. 'I must be drunk. Ally, get a grip of yourself. Don't be a nincompoop,' she mused.
"Ok, let's go!" Toby said.
"Madison, do you need a ride home?" Lexi asked.
"Huh... No, I will take a….?" Madison was obviously inebriated and a little disoriented. It was a chaotic night for sure.
"You guys go, I will make sure she reaches home safely," Cade interjected.
Madison gave Ally a light peck on the cheek and said, "I'll talk to you tomorrow."
They walked out of the club and then separated. Cade and Madison got into his Range Rover, Zane headed home or maybe to someone's bed in his Rolls Royce Dawn and the others drove to the hospital in Toby's Bentley Flying Spur.
*****
Madison leaned her head on the window and closed her eyes, ignoring the man beside her. 'I must gave committed a bad deed in my previous life. I'm so unlucky,' she mused.
Cade drove away from the club and stopped after some time. He got out of the car and came back with a bag in his hand. He placed it on her lap.
She opened her eyes, looked down puzzled, and asked, "What's this?"
"For your face," he gave a gruff reply and a muscle in his jaw twitched.
"Thank you," she said quietly.
He continued to drive to her place. There was pin-drop silence in the ride to her apartment. She looked out the window, and he focussed on the road. Neither of them knew what was on each other's mind. It has been years and now they are just two strangers in a car.
He parked the car in front of the entrance of her apartment and she opened the door and jumped down from the van. She looked back at him with grateful eyes.
"Thank you," she said soft-spoken
He continued to look ahead and didn't reply. She understood it justified his reaction, and she closed the door and rushed to the elevator.
Before the elevator closed she murmured, "I'm sorry, Cade."
He is what she always desired, but has been forced to reject. Life is unfair. This world is cruel. No! The people in this world are cruel. Their biggest concerns were so-called wealth, integrity, and their bullshit happiness. Like puppets on strings, they swivel people along with their unjust reasons, insisting it's in their best interest.
Cade did not steer away immediately. He sat in the car looking up at her apartment window, waiting for the lights to switch on. Fifteen minutes had passed, and she still hadn't turned it on, and he was just about to panic when it finally turned on.
Cade gritted his teeth and suppressed his anger. Being hit by a man and then drowning her misery with alcohol and gyrating her body for men to see. It really pissed him off to see her in this state. She was the one woman he loved but could not have.
_._._._._._
This chapter is shorter than my usual release. I've had a busy time writing, editing on my own, and an 8-5 job, with added attention to my toddler.
I promised to publish only on weekdays but because this Chapter has less than my 2000 word count, I will release two more chapters over this weekend.
Spanks (Special Thanks) for reading and please CRV (comment, review, vote).
Love,
Su