Chapter 26
TWENTY SIX
RUELLA
The night has been even better than I ever thought it could be.
We have all chatted, laughed and danced like we have all known each other for years, Asher’s two friends included to a certain extent. Even Deena has let her hair down metaphorically.
I am a little more than tipsy but not quite drunk as we jump around singing to a Taylor Swift song.
Piper has her head back and arms in the air, finally finding her rhythm, albeit with Jacob attached to her.
But she doesn’t seem to want it any other way.
Asher’s strong hands are placed at my hips, keeping me close to him while he sings along.
Every so often I feel his hips press into mine from behind and my mouth dries at what I feel.
I want to push back more, feel his hands trail all over my skin, have his lips on my neck.
Even though all the faculty have called it a night and only the students and servers are left, I still don’t take it any further, and neither does Asher.
I glance back over my shoulder and Asher grins down at me, a red blush to his cheeks and looking completely relaxed.
It’s the first time I have seen him resemble the twenty-three-year-old he should.
No pressure to be good enough to run an empire or take care of his siblings by taking on the family load.
No, this man looks like he can finally breathe and is enjoying a night with his friends, not thinking of anything else other than right now.
He leans down and places a light kiss to my cheek. I could push for more, lift and brush my own mouth against his, but I hold back. Tonight, I want to let him have this moment.
“I’m going to go get another drink,” he whispers in my ear. “Do you want one?”
I shake my head. I am happily buzzed right now, and I want to remember everything about tonight.
“Stay put,” He shifts to Daylan. “Watch her,”
Daylan nods as he steps a little closer to me. My spine stiffens and I lean away from him as Asher heads to the bar.
“I don’t bite,” Daylan grins, the look he gives me almost predatory.
I scowl. “No, just attack girls who are running all alone then?” I decide to address my suspicions. Could it be the alcohol running through my veins, quite possibly.
The smile flattens and his thick eyebrows furrow. “What are you talking about?”
“Don’t play dumb. I know it was you who attacked me behind the sports centre,” I whisper shout while the others are oblivious. “Was it you who put the note under my door as well?”
“Attack you? Note? Ruella what the fuck are you talking about?” He pulls my elbow, so we make more space away from the group, but everyone is still in screaming distance if he tries something again.
“I have never even spoken to you let alone touch you, until this moment right here,” He says nodding down to his hand still on my elbow. Not hard or threatening, but keeping us close. “Are you talking about the time you and Asher were in the gym when I walked in?”
I scoff. “You may have taken your hoodie off before you came back in and held my face in the ground so I couldn’t see you, but I saw your trainers,” I rip my arm from his grip. “It was you,”
At first, he glances to the side as if trying to wrack his brain for the memory, and for a second I think he actually doesn’t have a clue what I am talking about.
Then he stands back and chuckles, hands going into his suit pockets.
“You mean the academy issued sports trainers for all sporting activities?” One eyebrow raises and his smirk makes my blood freeze.
Academy issued sports trainers. That can’t be. I would have seen more people with them on. Wouldn’t I?
“I will take an apology now, thank you,” Daylan stands waiting for me to speak.
“Just because they are academy issued, doesn’t mean it wasn’t you,” I snap.
“Trust me. If it was me who attacked you, I would have made sure you knew it without a doubt. Look directly into your eyes,”
I sigh at the honesty in his gaze. Shit. If it isn’t Daylan, who is it?
I nip the bridge of my nose. “Sorry!” I grit out.
“What was that?”
I drop my hand and give him my attention. “Sorry for thinking it was you who attacked me. But you did look all suss,”
“Apology accepted,” He crosses his arms over his chest and a seriousness takes place over the amusement. “So, about this note,” I sigh. Crap. I am never drinking again. “What did it say and does Asher know?”
I glance over to him and see he is still waiting to be served at the bar. With faculty and doners gone, the students are taking full advantage of the free alcohol.
“No,” I clear my throat. “And it told me it was my last chance to leave,”
“He needs to know,” He nods.
“Tonight is the first time he hasn’t looked exhausted and with a weight on his shoulders.
I want him to enjoy himself before everything goes back to normal,” I shrug.
“I will tell him tomorrow,” I promise, and I will keep it.
I keep hitting brick walls and I need all the help I can get.
I will still hide Marlowe, but the rest I can open about.
Daylan smiles and it doesn’t have a hidden meaning behind it. “You really care about him, don’t you?”
I laugh. “Yeah, me and every other girl here,”
“No,” he shakes his head. “You really care for him. See him. Understand him,”
I feel the blush on my cheeks. “Yeah, I do,”
Daylan looks into the crowd lost in thought. Or a memory. Before locking eyes with me again.
“If you hurt him, you won’t have to guess if it is me trying to kill you,”
As threatening as his words are meant, I smile at the brotherly bond the three boys have. Like they have made their own little family and will die for each other. “Understood,”
“Come on, Let’s get back to the others,” He holds his hand out for me to take, but I am hit in the back by a shoulder and almost fall to the floor before I catch myself.
“Watch it,” I turn to shout at the drunken dancer, until I notice who it is.
“I warned you!” Darcy shouts as she pokes a false nail into my chest. “I told you to stay out of my way,”
“Darcy,” Daylan berates her, but she doesn’t quit. Her fingernail digging in so hard now it has broken the skin.
Her face murderous, black mascara smudged down her cheeks. “You think you can just turn up one day with your shitty clothes and wacky hair and steal what is mine without a consequence,” I feel the students around us turn to watch the show.
My jaw clenches. I have had enough of this; I am sick of taking peoples shit to try and lay low.
I grab her fingers that are still at my chest, squeeze them hard and twist. Not enough to break her wrist, but enough to show her I can if I wanted to.
Her eyes widen in shock and pain, her mouth opening with a gasp. Murmurs spread around the crowd, audible over the music.
“Darcy, Darcy, Darcy,” I say with a smirk, getting into her face.
“When are you going to realise, I don’t care about anything that comes out of your mouth,” She tries to pull her hand from mine, but I hold strong.
“You see, I didn’t have to take anyone. Never even tried.
He came to me willingly. Happily, even,” Then I release her hand back to her with a shove.
“I am sure there are lots more billionaires in the world that Daddy can force into marrying you. One of them might like you back this time,”
I see a commotion to my left and watch as Asher tries to fight his way through the crowed from the bar, a thunderous look on his face as he glances from Darcy to me.
A guttural scream comes from the woman in front of me. Darcy charges, hands up ready to scratch my face, or slice through my jugular, who knows.
However, she never gets close enough to touch me.
My fist clenched and I pull my elbow back, my mind fills with all the vile things she’s said to me and done to me since starting at Marrowton.
Then I release it. My fist hits her cheek and gasps sound around the room as she hits the floor.
I climb on top of her and slap her across the face, the sound louder than the music still playing.
If I was in a real fight I would keep punching, but this girl has no clue how to defend herself, and I am not a monster.
“Get the fuck off me you psycho!” She shouts trying to reach for my hair.
“Don’t dish out what you can’t take,” I pull my hand back to slap her again, but then strong arms circle my waist and pull me straight off the screaming mess on the floor.
I am lifted straight over a broad shoulder as my head hangs towards the floor.
“Hey!” I pound on the back. A very muscley back.
“Calm down little vixen,” Asher chuckles. “Or should I say little psycho,”
I stop fighting the hold. “She started it,” I huff.
“Well, you definitely finished it,”
“I think she broke my nose,” Darcy’s shrill voice makes me grimace. “Asher, she broke my nose. Do something about this,”
I sit up slightly, peering over Asher’s other shoulder at her as he keeps his grip firmly on the backs of my thighs. “Why would I do that?”
“I could have broken it, but I didn’t,” I shout. “You should be thanking me really, now daddy won’t need to pay to get it fixed,”
I feel Asher chuckle beneath me and that’s when I realise his hand is rubbing up and down on my thighs. The movement shooting straight to my core. My hips shift of their own volition as his hand squeezes my flesh.
“Fuck you!” Darcy shrieks as she stands and runs away, hand to her nose dramatically. Some students following her out, the rest going back to their night.
I roll my eyes.
“You can put me down now,”
“No chance,” Asher turns and makes his way over to Daylan who is stood with a smirk.
“I thought I told you to watch her?” Asher snaps.
“Seems like she doesn’t need watching,” He shrugs and meets my eye. “couldn’t interrupt the show, I have been dying for someone to put Darcy in her place,”
“You are a prick,” Asher says. “We are going,” Then he turns to head over to his sister and a smug looking Corden.