Bad Boy vs Millionaire (16 page)

Eric
grabbed my arm and guided me inside. I was not getting that round of shots for Spud. I was tempted to push him off the balcony. But Eric didn't want me to go to the bar.

“
Let's hang out in here for a while,” he said. “It might be nicer than dealing with Spud.”

I
nodded. The inside was much nicer, with lovely couches tucked away in private corners. Much better than Skankland out there. But, on the other hand, sitting close together on a private couch with Eric could prove to be my undoing, especially if I had a few more drinks.

As
you’d expect from a bar like that, they had some hipster ukulele music playing on the stereo.

“
Strange choice of bar,” I said to Eric. “Are you a closet hipster?”

He
grinned.

“
You saw through my disguise? No, actually I had to drop some stuff for a project at an office near here and the manager gave me a drink card for this place. So, order anything you like. Fancy cider? Cocktail? It’s on me.”

After
a couple of drinks, I forgot about the whole Jack and Spud deal going on outside. I forgot about everything except for our corner of the bar and Eric's brown eyes, so deep I could drown in them.

It
was as if he just got me. He didn’t roll his eyes and look at me when I said stupid things but nodded as if he understood.

Then
he started telling me about his mother.

“
I think I need to go outside for cigarette,” I said. I didn't want to even think about his mother.

He
followed me outside. We squeezed onto the bench beside Jack. He raised an eyebrow when he saw us but Spud had his tongue down the girl's throat and didn’t notice a thing.

“
Get a room, why don't you?” I said but at least she'd shut up.

I
lit up my cigarette.

Jack
looked a bit bleary eyed. I could understand why. I was feeling a bit bleary myself. Everything felt fine. I leaned against Eric.

The
girl next to Jack whispered something in his ear. Jack laughed and I gave him a dirty look. It made me a bit worried seeing him with her. It was disloyal to Hannah.

As
though he read my mind, he looked at me.

“
She's not here, is she? She's out with her boyfriend, probably drinking expensive champagne and letting him touch her up. She's nothing to me.”

The
girl reached out and turned his face to hers.

“
Who you talking about?” she asked.

“
Nobody. Nothing for you to worry about.”

Her
hand dropped to his neck.

“
Let's go somewhere more exciting. Or a bit more private.” Her fingers slid down his chest.

I
hissed at her. I didn't mean to but that hiss just came out before I could help myself.

Jack
nodded. “Maybe we should.”

I
jumped up.

“
You can't do that. You can't take this scrubber home. It's not like ―”

Jack
glared at me. I couldn't say anything, could I? It was true what he'd said. She was nothing to him. And she was out with Tamaki. I didn't really understand what was going on between them but it was enough that I couldn't give Jack any shit about this chick he was with. Still, it felt wrong. It felt like I was betraying my friend. My jaw clenched and I swallowed, as though trying to swallow down all the words that I could say, that I wanted to say, but shouldn't.

Eric
reached out for my hand and wrapped his fingers around it. I could breathe again.

“
You leaving, Jack?” said Spud, finally breaking away from his new friend. “We might go with you.”

Obviously
, he couldn't take the chick back to his place. Not when he lived with his parents.

“
Why don't we all go back to our place? It'll be more comfortable than here.”

So
, it was decided. I debated sending a message to Hannah, letting her know what was going on but maybe that'd just make more trouble than it was worth. If I did, what would she do? It's not like she could leave the fancy party and join us. It'd just make things worse, one way or the other.

Then
it all got complicated. We were ready to go but Spud needed to go to the loo so Jack and I lit up cigarettes. Then Spud came back but his chick had decided she had time for another drink and had gone to the bar. So, Eric and I decided to get more drinks. About an hour later, it'd got dark and we were no closer to leaving.

There
was a funny tension going on. The two girls blatantly ignored me and I kept giving them dirty looks. One of them was sizing up Eric while Spud went to the bar so I moved in closer to him. He needed protecting. Meanwhile, Jack didn’t seem that interested but did nothing to deter them.

Finally
, we headed down to get a cab and Spud pulled a glass out from under his jacket that he'd smuggled out of the bar. The two girls laughed and Spud drank it down. We tried to flag down a cab but there were none around.

“
I wish they'd hurry up. I need to pee,” the girl with Spud said.

Spud
went to put his arm around her neck but he stumbled and knocked into Jack.

“
Watch it, mate. I think you've had enough.”

Spud
pushed him. “I'm fine. You can't tell me what to do.”

Jack's
eyes flashed dangerously. It was about to be on. I pulled Eric away. I wanted to stay well clear of this.

Next
thing, Spud swung a punch. It wasn’t a real punch. It had no weight behind it and I could’ve punched harder myself. Plus, his aim was right off and only grazed Jack’s ear.

But
that was enough. Jack retaliated with a punch of his own. The crunch against the bone sent shivers down my shine. That had to hurt.

Spud
barreled into Jack, fists flying. He had no control but he rained enough punches that some of them connected. Jack didn’t hold back either.

The
both of them ended up on the ground, fists flying.

“
Well, I guess this will clear the air,” I said. The two of them squirming on the ground had to be homoerotic enough for Spud to forget the girl he was with.

Eric
laughed. It wasn't as if they'd really hurt each other.

A
few people had gathered around. More watched from a distance. I noticed Eric's hand was still in mine. Maybe we could just slip off and leave them.

“
Shit,” said Eric. “Cops.”

He
pointed down the street. There were indeed cops coming our way.

Eric
shouted out to them then took off running, dragging me behind him.

We
didn't stop to look back at them, we just kept running. Let me tell you, those boots might look fabulous, they might be the most fabulous boots in the world but they were not boots you wanted to run in. I could hear steps behind us, almost catching up. The distance between us was getting smaller. My heart beat like a crazy, pounding machine. A steam engine or something like that. We were going to get busted. I'd be sent to the big house.

I
tightened my grip on Eric’s hand. He smiled at me, reassuringly.

A
big hand came down on my shoulder and I screamed.

“
Well, that was fun.”

Jack
grinned at me and flung his arm around Spud’s shoulder. The two girls had been left behind and it seemed as if all the tension between them had been forgotten.

Even
though I'd agreed to go to the cocktail party with Tamaki, I didn't realise he'd be introducing me to people as his fiance. I told him to stop doing that but he just ignored me and did it anyway and you can’t really call someone a liar mid-introduction, not without making a fuss. It made me feel creepy and wrong but I also remembered what Dad had said.

When
we were alone, I hissed at him to stop with the fiance talk.

He
kept his hand on the small of my back and guided me around the room, making sure we talked to everyone that mattered. I hadn't expected to enjoy myself but it wasn't so bad. We posed for photos and got to meet a few celebrities. And they had these cheese ball things that were freaken sensational. They were tiny, so I had to follow the waiter around the room so I could get enough.

After
a few glasses of champagne, I felt all fuzzy and rainbow-happy. Meanwhile, Tamaki charmed everyone with funny stories and total charisma. I’d never seen that side of him before.

“
We match well together, don’t we,” Tamaki said to me.

At
the end of the night, Tamaki came back to my place for a drink. We grabbed a bottle of wine and headed out to the balcony. A gentle breeze fluttered around us. I sat on the bench and Tamaki leaned against the balcony railing.

“
You shouldn't lean there like that. What if the railing gave way and you plummeted to your death?”

Tamaki
laughed.

“
It's not likely.”

“
Not likely but possible. I hate heights. I hate the thought of falling.”

Tamaki
moved over and sat beside me.

We
looked out over the lights.

His
leg touched mine. Just a light touch, a tickling of skin on skin. I wasn't sure if he was doing it on purpose or if he even realised we were touching. His scent tickled my nose, the scent that had wafted around me all night. Just a subtle woody scent that I could barely identify. I couldn't help but want him closer to me. Maybe he could drive the thoughts of Jack Colt out of my mind and make me normal again.

He
leaned in to talk to me, the vibration of his lips tickling my ears. His arm had moved around my shoulders.

“
Hannah, I have something serious to ask you,” he said.

“
Okay,” I said. “But are you sure you don't want coffee first.” I jumped up and headed to the kitchen.

Tamaki
grabbed both my arms.

“
I think we should talk.”

I
swallowed. I knew what was coming but I didn't want to hear it. If I heard it, I'd have to respond and if I responded with the wrong answer, Dad would have a world of trouble. If I didn't respond with the wrong answer, if I said yes, would that be a bad thing anyway? It's not as though I found being with Tamaki unpleasant. It's not as though it would be a great hardship being with him. It'd make a lot of people happy. It might even make me happy. Whatever happened, it wasn't as though I could prevent Tamaki from saying those words.

“
Hannah, will you marry me?”

It
wasn't as though my heart leapt with joy and my belly did flip-flops. I’d felt more of a stirring in my belly when I thought of leaning against that balcony and plummeting to my death.

Tamaki
's eyes sparkled like crazy and he was going to attack me with his killer smile, I knew it. At that moment, I could not think of any compelling reason to say the word “no”. But I couldn't think of any compelling reason to say yes either. I wished it hadn't come up between us.

Tamaki
's hands ran down my back. Maybe I should’ve stopped him.

“
You are amazing, Hannah. I have never met a woman like you.”

Then
he smiled and I smiled back. A little breeze blew strands of hair over my face, tickling against my skin. All the thoughts and issues and worries buzzing around my head seemed to settle down and I relaxed and leaned against him. He cupped my face in his hand and looked me in the eyes.

The
sensation mingled with the warmth in my body, his kiss so gentle it was like a fluttering against my lips.

His
hands moved down to cup my breasts without him moving his lips from mine. His touch was tender, much more tender than Jack. I pulled him to me, wanting his kiss to become more urgent. If he kissed me, if he kissed me hard, maybe I could erase all the feelings I had for Jack and build new feelings to replace them.

I
threaded my fingers though his hair, pressing against him, but his kiss never deepened. I wanted his long, thin fingers touching me. I wanted to see what else he could do to my body but he held back.

“
You are so beautiful,” he said and he ran his finger along my chin. “I want to protect you.”

I
shuddered with frustration.

His
kisses moved from my mouth to my neck, tracing down to my collarbone, still light and playful. Then he stopped.

“
I think we should wait until you can honestly answer my question,” he said.

I
nodded, even though I wanted him to continue. I didn’t even know what my honest answer would be.