Burned 2 (3 page)

When I sat down with Ethan, I felt eyes of envy on
us from the audience in the floor seat. Yes! I had the best seat in the house! I was beyond excited. I had passed the hard part and now I could enjoy the show. I leaned on Ethan a bit, smiling.

“Ready for the show?”
Ethan looked at me with amusement.

“Since a week ago, Ethan,” I grinned.

“Good,” Ethan nodded at me with a small smirk on his face. He was thinking something as his eyes traveled downward and rested on my lips. I was immediately alerted as if his gaze could touch my skin. He couldn’t be planning to kiss me right now. His parents were right next to us. If he kissed me now, I might jump out of my seat and knock over all the fruits and champagne on the table beside us.

The light in the theatre deemed. The a
nnouncer gave the last reminder to the audience to turn off cell phones. Ethan turned and shifted his attention to the stage. The prologue of Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake filled emotions and struggles in the theatre and my heart pounded with it.

Chapter
4

The ballet was simply phenomenal. I was on the edge of my seat the entire performance. When the prince was seduced by
the Black Swan and forgot the swan princess he swore to rescue, I almost cried tears.

For some reasons, I feared that one
day, a sexy and hot Black Swan would sneak up and took Ethan from me as well. My insecurity had never vanished since I met Ethan. I felt like I had no control over the situation what so ever. Dating Ethan was not like taking an exam. For an exam, I knew if I studied hard then I could get a good grade on it. Dating had no grading system I could work for. I felt like Ethan was with me only because he wanted to. He could be gone the next day and I could do nothing about it. I didn’t even know if he was really into me. Heck, we never even kissed. But still, I tried. I tried to make him happy in the ways I could.

When the prince and princess finally defeated the evil and the sun rose on the stage, Ethan put his arm around me. His arm was so strong
and I felt protected. He gently squeezed my shoulder as the prince and princess on stage embraced each other. The gesture felt like Ethan was telling me that he would be the prince to rescue me if I was even turned into a swan by a monster. But I could be over-thinking it. I leaned into Ethan’s arm never the less, enjoying his warmth.

After the ballet was over, Ethan and I said farewell to his parents. Mrs. Lancaster gave me another tight hug and reminded me again to ask Ethan to get anything I want
ed for me. Mr. Lancaster said the two of us were welcome to go visit them at their place near the golf resort anytime.

When they walked away, Ethan grabbed both of my arms and pulled me in for a hug. I was surprised by his excitement and nearly lost my balance.

“I am so glad you come here with me, Dana,” Ethan let out a breath of relief. “They really like you.”

I beaned at him
, happy and confused at the same time. Of course I was happy that Ethan’s parents liked me but I didn’t expect Ethan to be more excited than me.

“Jeez, you work like
lubricant!” Ethan smiled back.

“What?” I let go of Ethan and stared at him with wide eyes. What did he just say?

“I meant,” Ethan explained quickly. “Social lubricant. You know? Like wine. You make everyone happy,” he cleared his throat and winked at me. “What did you think I mean?”

“Nothing,” I looked away, feeling my cheek burning. Holy fudge! I must have lived with Vicky for too long. I felt dirty.

Ethan busted out of laughter. He never laughed so loudly in front of his parents. I guess being the heir of Lancaster had his pressure. Since it was getting late and the elderly audience needed to hurry home and sleep, Ethan and I could relax a bit without everyone’s eye on us.

I was not laughing with him. I was embarrassed like ostrich with her head in the sand. I crossed my arms and stared at my high heel shoes. Vicky’s heels didn’t fit me perfectly. After standing so long before the show, now I could feel some pain on my toes.

“You are so cute, Dana,” Ethan was still laughing. “I will never get tired watching you blush.”

“Shut up,” I said in a low voice.

Ethan smirked and looked around. “How about we walk the other direction? Too many people here. I can almost smell the grave yard. Let’s find some privacy.”

When I heard the word “privacy”, I was alerted again. Did “privacy” rhymed with “private activities”? It was late at night and the road outside looked dark. I hesitated. I looked at Ethan and studied his crystal green eyes. His smile was harmless. Well, harmless in appearance but it was doing all sorts of things to my awakened body. Did I trust him enough to further our physical contact? He had always been a gentleman to me and today I met his parents. He wouldn’t hurt me, not after all this, I thought. So I took his hand.

I felt good going outside the theatre as the night wind brought fresh air to my face. Ethan seemed to be relaxed as he walked with me. The wind brew on his blond hair-it was messier than it was earlier today. I wonder what it would feel like to run my hand through his messy hair.  He looked way too sexy in the tuxedo. I wanted to play with the bowtie on his neck, or just loosen it and take a peek at what was under the pure white shirt. I wondered when I would actually get to do something like that, or even have the guts to do it. I felt weird that even Ethan and I were hand in hand and side by side, I still couldn’t be absolute at ease with him. I was still shy but eager at the same time. It drove me nuts.

“Your parents are very nice, Ethan,” I said, feeling t
he need to talk about something. Maybe Ethan would like to talk about his extraordinary parents now.

Ethan chuckled. “They are,” Ethan paused, considering. “Generally,” he added. I assumed he meant that all parents had their moments.
He didn’t seem to want to elaborate.

“My parents are nice, too,” I
said, changing the topic. We were walking away from the crowd now and were on the back street behind the theater. A fountain was entering my sight and there were some benches around it. No one was around. It must be approaching mid night.

“Oh?” Ethan
also saw the fountain and led me toward its direction. “What are your parents like?”

“Well, my mom is a
librarian. She is very sweet,” I trailed off, scanning my surroundings. I wasn’t sure if it was because of the night wind or the darkness on the street- there was a strange chill down my spine. I felt like someone was watching me but I couldn’t tell from where. The feeling was not from Ethan as he was holding my hand, looking forward.

I scanned the dark corners of the street and saw nothing. The downtown area in town was infamous for its uneven structure and criminal activities. One part of the downtown was nice and full of fancy stores and entertainment but the other part of it was run down with homeless camps. We were almost on the edge between these two territories. The survival instinct I got from my Dad had been sending me warnings. 

“Sweet and nice like you, huh?” Ethan teased, smirking.  Obviously Ethan didn’t sense the chill that I felt. He was a tall and strong man with much confidence. He probably was not as sensitive as a girl like me toward the potential danger of dark streets and midnight hours. Maybe I was being overly suspicious. I was with Ethan after all. Whoever, and if there was a “whoever”, hid in the corner had to deal with Ethan’s hard muscles if he wanted to do anything to us. I should be able to feel safe.

“Maybe even sweeter,” I gave him a tight smile, not wanting to ruin the mood. Besides the chill on my back, I could also sense a kiss coming from Ethan. I wanted that kiss. I had been waiting for my first kiss for forever now, even I was still nervous about it. “My Dad is the tough one,” I said without thinking. “But he is also a very cool guy,” I quickly added.

“Really?” Ethan asked without looking at me. We were near the fountain now, far away from the crowd. I could hear the crickets singing and my own heartbeats. Under the moonlight, I saw the statues of Cupid and Venus in the center of the fountain. They were facing us, smiling, as if giving us blessings.

“Yeah, he was in the special forces. He doesn’t know how to do a proper business handshake like your Dad. But he taught me quite a few tricks of army stuff. He can teach you, too,” I said. I didn’t know why I was mentioning the tricks. Maybe it was because that the chill on my spine was still
dancing on my bones.

“That’s cool,” Ethan nodded and stopped in front of the fountain, facing me. “Did you have a good night, Dana?” His voice was now soft and tender. His thumb was rubbing my hand gently, distracting my focus. His face looked flawless under the moonlight, like one scrupled by Michelangelo himself. I watched him blinked a few times as I reminded myself that he was made of fresh and blood and not impeccable marbles.  

“Yes, I did,” I answered him as if I was enchanted. I looked into his eyes under those thick long eyelashes. Ethan smiled and moved closer to me. He warped one arm around my waist and pulled me closer. Our eyes were still locked together. I felt warm and dreamy to be so close to him. It was happening! And my heart was in my throat. I tried to relax my muscles and fell into Ethan’s embrace. I would let it go and let Ethan guide me. I was ready for my first kiss, I told myself. He was perfect and I was ready, I confirmed again. For some reasons the back of my head still had this tiny little voice asking: what if we kissed and the magic and butterflies wasn’t there?

Ethan murmured something and cupped my face. His touch was gentle and careful like he was trying to tell me he would never push me to do anything. He paused for a few seconds, searching for my permission, giving me time to consider.

At the exact moment, I saw a shadow lurking in the darkness. It was coming toward me and coming fast. By the time I shouted out, a hand grabbed my shoulder rapidly and pulled me away from Ethan. Ethan was shocked as I saw an arm locked on his neck and the refection of a blade. Instantly, I felt the sharp cold knife edge on my neck. We were caught by two thugs, far away from the crowd.

Shit! Fudge! Shit!

“Sorry to be the third wheel. But why should you fucking rich folks have all the fun?” I heard a thick rusty voice said.

I grasped for air, not wanting to faint. I should have listened to my instant. I thought one man wouldn’t dare to attack Ethan. But now there were freaking two of them! Judging from their clothing, they were
homeless and reckless. I smelled alcohol from the guy who was grabbing me. His breathe stink like a rotten sewer. I wanted to vomit but I knew I needed to stay calm. I had to be able to think.

I looked at Ethan and scanned his situation. The man grabbing him from behind was almost as tall as
Ethan. The blade on his neck was long and sharp, and already cutting Ethan’s bowtie off his neck. It could be worse, I thought as I panted.  They could have slid his throat.

Thank goodness they didn’t have a gun. I must think of something. Something my Dad taught me. I must get Ethan and
myself to safety. Fudge! We hadn’t even kissed yet. Why was I so stupid? Our lives were on the line and I was still thinking about the kiss.

“Take what you want, but don’t you dare
touch
her,” Ethan growled. He was furious and struggling, ignoring the blade on his neck. I feared for his life.

I locked gaze with Ethan with wide eyes and he gave me the are-you-okay look. I nodded quickly. He needed to calm down or things would spin out of control. Who knows our eyebrow talking thing could come in handy.

“This necklace look…shiny,” the drunk man grabbing me said. I could see his yellow teeth out of the corner of my eyes. I felt sick. His hand pressing the knife on my neck was shaky. He was really drunk. And my hands were still free. If I move quickly, I could probably disarm him. But I didn’t know about the guy behind Ethan. He could hurt Ethan if I did anything. 

“Give it to them, Dana,” Ethan’s voice was gentle again as he talked to me. His tone was so concerned. He was worrying about me. In fact, he could probably fight with the guy
who was seizing him if I didn’t have a knife on my neck.

Sadness washed over me. A day ago I wouldn’t even give a damn about the necklace. But now I had worn it to meet Ethan’s parents and the memorable Royal Ballet. It was a gift from Ethan and I knew he loved it. I hesitated.

“Anything is replaceable, but you are not,” Ethan tone was almost pleading. His words made me melt. I was under the knife edge and that didn’t shake me. But Ethan’s words made my knees weak. Not helping! The homeless guy behind Ethan snorted like he knew better.

But Ethan was right. Since we couldn’t risk fighting, we better bet on giving them stuff and hoped they would let us go. No one was on the street at this hour. We were on our own.

The man with yellow teeth behind me was getting impatient and wanted to get the necklace himself. He let go of my shoulder and went to grab the necklace. If only he could get the knife off my neck…

“You don’t know want to break the necklace,” I said urgently. “It will worth nothing.”

The man hesitated. He was drunk and slow. I was trying to get into his head.

“Please move the knife and I will take the necklace off for you,” I said as calm as I could. I made eye contact with Ethan and tried to give him the I-can-take-this-guy message to him. This one was more difficult to send with my eyebrows but Ethan seemed to get it. He must remember the conversation we
just had about my Dad being in the special force. He looked at me as if asking “are you sure?” I nodded at him. Wavering, Ethan nodded “roger that” back to me.

The drunken man didn’t move his knife. He was not drunk enough.

“Come on, I won’t do anything. I am just a girl,” I said nicely, pushing my luck.

The drunken man laughed. His laugh was wicked and dark. I was sick to my stomach. He did lower the knife from my neck, however.
But not much lower. The knife rested on the strap of my dress. What was he doing? Panic shot through my veins. My mind went blank. I couldn’t think about what he was going to do.

“Now I want to see just how girly you are,” Yellow-teeth’s voice was hoarse. He was about to cut the strap of my dress.

“No!” Ethan shouted. He hit the face of the man behind him with his elbow hard and wrestled with his blade.