Four

“I’m telling you, I may not be a drinker, but I’m going to drown myself in alcohol today!” I exclaim, looking at my best friend who also happens to be my cousin as she drives us to an A-class club. There’s a black and white party held there, and I need to get this whole marriage out of my head.

“I don’t understand why you agreed,” Thalia says. “However, it’s kind of refreshing to see my smart cousin making a stupid move,” she laughs, and I feel like slapping her.

“Stupid move? Honey, I’ll be getting ten million dollars in a year. Are you sure it’s a stupid move?” I smirk.

“Then if you don’t deem your decision as a stupid move. Why are you on the edge over this whole thing?” she wonders. Good question.

“Because at the end of the day, this is Nathan Rodriguez. One of the hottest bachelors in Florida who also happens to be the richest. This automatically makes him the cockiest bastard out there and let’s not forget that he loves annoying me,” I point out what I think is obvious. “It’s a year though. It will pass quickly.” That’s what I have been telling myself since I agreed.

“You know, maybe he won’t be that bad after marriage. After all, he will be getting something huge out of this marriage just like you. Being a temporary CEO is something and being the official CEO is a whole new thing. He needs to behave, Linnea. At least most of the time.” She tries to make mitigate the intensity of the situation.

Once we reach the club, Thalia and I get out of the car and she hands the keys to the valet before walking inside the club. The moment we get inside, darkness illuminated with flashlights meets us. The place is considerably full for an A-class party, but empty clubs aren’t my thing.

One may think that since I’m a geek and a nerd I don’t like it, but the truth is quite the opposite. I like partying and I love dancing. I’m just not fond of drinking. I barely drink.

Thalia has already booked a table for us, knowing how much I hate sitting at the bar.

“Is that Nathan?” Thalia says over the loud music. I squint in the direction she’s pointing at and surely, Nathan is there with his friends. My brother isn’t here though. Maybe he has taken Zoey, his girlfriend, on a date. “Aren’t you going to say hi?” I shake my head at her question. When I decided to come here tonight, I was aiming at freeing my mind from Nathan, but the universe has another opinion. Here I am, at a party that Nathan is attending. Kill me now.

“I want to dance,” I blurt, standing up. Thalia and I pave our way through the sweaty bodies towards the dance floor.

I allow the music to move my body according to the rhythm and I feel all the stress evaporate. I need this. I need to breathe so I can start this journey with an open heart.

“I want to dance with you, beautiful,” somebody breathes down my neck from behind and I tense.

“Not interested,” I say, pushing the stranger’s hands away from my body.

“I can be fun,” he rasps, and I take a deep breath, turning to face him.

“I said I’m not interested,” I grit my teeth.

“Don’t just reject me before giving me a chance.” He brings himself closer to me and I block him with my hands. Surprise takes over me when the guy stumbles back. I surely did not push him that hard.

I look beside me and find Nathan, looking as angry as ever. Okay, I don’t want to cause a scene here.

“I believe the lady said she’s not interested,” he growls. I look around me and we certainly managed to grab people’s attention.

“Chill man,” the guy laughs, “I thought she’s alone. I didn’t know she was with you.” He raises his hands in surrender and my blood boils. So, what if I am alone here? Is this an invitation for others to not leave me alone?

“Being alone doesn’t make her available. She said no and pushed you away, so fucking respect her wishes.” Nathan is getting angrier.

“Hey,” I say, turning to look at him. “It’s okay, I’m fine. Let’s not attract any more attention, please,” I say. I look beside me and find Thalia.

“Let’s go,” Nathan mutters, turning towards where my table is. Did he see me earlier? How would he know where my table is if he hasn’t seen me?

“Look at you,” the guy chuckles, making us glance at him again. “Taking the lady from me and letting her tell you what to do.”

Before I even get to say anything, Nathan moves faster than the lightning and punches the guy square in the face, making him fall. This is apparently not enough for Nathan because he positions himself upon the guy before he even gets the chance to sit and punches him again.

The chaos is enough to attract the bodyguards, but Nathan is untouchable. He has always been. He is a VIP individual in all these places.

“Take that trash out!” he yells at the bodyguards. “Fucking harasser!” Angry Nathan is scary and… hot at the same time. What the hell am I thinking? I shake my head and carefully grab his hand.

“Are you alright?” he asks me as he faces me, and my astonishment grows. I am not the one who has just punched a guy twice.

“Yes,” I assure him. He guides me and Thalia back to our table and stays with us. I stay silent for a while, not knowing what to say. He still looks fuming. “Thank you for defending me, but you didn’t need to punch him. This may make the frontlines of the tabloids tomorrow,” I tell him.

“I don’t care,” he says, taking a sip of the whiskey the bartender brought him.

“Maybe we shouldn’t have come alone,” Thalia comments, taking a sip from her drink.

“Nobody is going to bother you again tonight, you can do whatever you want and I will tell one of the bodyguards to keep their eyes on you,” Nathan offers.

“Thank you,” Thalia smiles at him.

“But it seems like your love for dancing never changes, Lenny,” he smirks, looking at me, trying to lighten the mood and I roll my eyes at him.

“You’re definitely bipolar,” I say. “And why would my love for dancing cease?” I ask.

“You’re a busy woman.” He shrugs.

“And you’re not a busy man?”

“Good point,” he nods his head.

After a while, Thalia and I leave Nathan and head back to the dancing floor. That’s the thing about Nathan, he’s the guy who annoys the hell out of me, and the one I will run to if I need help. He’s an expert at giving me whiplash.

I look back to our table, but I don’t find him there. Did he leave? I look at where he was sitting before joining us and I find him there, having a laugh with his friends.

“Are you sure that he’s bad?” Thalia asks me when we get back to our table.

“Is that even a question? Weren’t you with us at school or something?”

“We’re no longer in school, Linnea. Things have changed. I sometimes feel like Nathan likes you, but he doesn’t know how to voice his feelings to you,” she admits and I almost burst into laughter.

“Your imagination is playing games on you, my friend,” I tell her.

Just when she’s about to say something else, I find Nathan stumbling towards us. Oh no. He got really drunk again.

“I’m… I’m leaving. Do you need anything?” he slurs his words.

“How are you leaving?” I ask.

“By car.”

“A car that you’re planning to drive?” I raise my eyebrows.

“Yes,” he shrugs.

“Hell to the no! You’re not going to drive like that!”

“My driver didn’t bring me here,” he says, rubbing his face. “I will be fine.”

“Thalia, is it okay with you if I drive him home? Are you going to be able to drive yourself?” She didn’t drink a lot tonight. Just one glass.

“Sure,” she nods. “I was thinking about leaving anyway,” she tells me. “But are you going to spend the night at my place just like we planned?”

“I will call an uber or something. I will come by your place,” I assure her.

“No, you won’t take an uber wearing that beautiful dress. I won’t let you walk out of my place alone while wearing this dress,” he may be drunk, but he looks stern.

“Then, bring him with us. He can spend the night at my place,” Thalia suggests.

“I’m not leaving my baby here,” Nathan tells us, and I look at him in confusion. “My car.”

“I will drive it,” I sigh. He loves his car more than anything in his life. The three of us leave the club and I get in the driver’s seat of Nathan’s car. It’s my first time driving a Ferrari.

“Relax,” I hear him mumble beside me. “You’re a good driver,” he assures me.

I take a deep breath and turn the engine. This isn’t how I thought I would end up spending my night. I didn’t think that I would meet Nathan, have him defend me, then I would be driving his car because I feared that he might get into an accident. Not what I planned at all, but if I’m going to be honest, this version doesn’t seem to be so bad.

“I would go anywhere with you, Linnea.” For the rest of the drive, I do my best to ignore this utterly random sentence that Nathan said.