CHAPTER TWELVE

'Did he think he could just call anytime he wanted to and I would just pick up his phone?" Astra threw questions to the wind like as though somehow, the wind would answer any of it, she thought as she drove away from the magnificent house faster than she intended.she wanted to get far away as possible from Nicholas and from every misery that envelopes the house.
What was she thinking? That she could magically just forget what had happened in the house? That somehow she could work for the same man who had promised her forever and still threw her outside in the rain, even though she had pleaded and begged, he had turned deaf ears to her please, making her begging seem like thrash and her crying look pathetic. Astra got it,she really did, Nicholas was engaged and happy but why on Earth did he have to rub it in and the timing?
Perfect timing. The way she waltzed into the area where they had sat down, was it all planned? Was the whole thing a set up? Get her to come over and then insult her with a stranger and a young one too. Was she satisfying him better than she ever did? Was she the same woman she had caught walking into the shop with Nicholas, was everything that was ever said to her by Thompson actually the truth? She pounded her hands against her steering wheel,as if hitting it would magically erupt some sort of answer but it didn't. It just brought a ferocious stream of angry tears making even angrier lines on her face. She was going to get drunk today and nobody was going to stop her from getting shit faced.
***
Nicholas paced the woodwork of his house, he so badly wanted to hit a wall and destroy it. He was pissed off and surprisingly not Astra. He was pissed at himself for the embarrassment, pissed at the guards, the butler, himself... hell! Everyone but Astra which was an uncommon philosophy but the truth nonetheless. He punches the air multiple times, sure he hated when he didn't get his way but what he hated more was being at fault like the way he was right now and Astra was proving stubborn,not answering his texts or his calls. She had nearly no right to be upset, he thought to himself. She had no right to be upset at all but he knew she was and while a part of him didn't want to understand the reason behind her anger, the other part just felt it was kind of unprofessional.
He wanted her to pick up her phone, he wanted to cool her down, wanted to tell her to get her ass back to the house and that she was only a staff but she refused to pick up the damn phone and Nicholas grew more impatient than reasonable. He pinched the bridge of his nose, already feeling a headache creeping on. The things Astra did without even trying...
***
She had gotten home safe, sound and with twenty-five missed calls from one number specifically. She didn't want to ruin anything for him,he shouldn't ruin anything for her. Astra strolled into her apartment, deciding she was going to have solo fun today. She fucking deserved it, she thought to herself. Nothing was going to stop her from achieving her happiness, not some young Blondie and not Nicholas Michaelson. No.
She entered her house,leaving her work load in the car, not wanting to have a glimpse of one thing that was going to remind her of why she wanted to have fun in the first place. She cracked a bottle of him and began to pour in her mug,the trickle of the gin brought back memories of how she would cry with gin,sleep.with gin and wake up with Gin and still be fully functioning for work.
Nobody knew that side of her except her and while she appreciated that, she hated how pathetic it was and how pathetic she was. She was the one who waa divorced, she was the one who waa thrown out and she was the one who was put on the streets, in the rain with not a penny on her back or any in her account. No extra clothes, nothing. Every ounce of sense was removed and nothing logical, not attempts at dialogue, attempts at begging, kneeling, changed his mind as he forcefully threw her out in the rain that night and yet she was the one pouring gin into her mug...
The fucking irony of it all was that the same forever man wanted her to be his lawyer, owned her work,what she struggled for, just by snapping his fingers and throwing some bills around. She snorted in disgust,well not anymore. The bird had broken her cage and was about to fly the fuck out. She told herself and cheered with the quarter cup of gin.
***
She knew that despite how pitiful she was looking right now, if Nicholas decided to grace her with his presence that she was too weak to defend herself or shut him out. Ah would shamelessly let him sleep beside her and she would enjoy it. She didn't want to be spooned or babied. She wanted to teach herself a lesson she would never forget, maybe now she would have the best courage there was on the market and kick him where the sun doesn't shine.
She didn't know how the hell she was supposed to evade him,she stood in front of the mirror with the mug still in hand and took a sip and then it struck her. Her hair, disheveled, her coffee mug stank of gin and her breath smelled of tears, her face was a mess but here she was fully excited on the best way possible to avoid her ex if he ever came to her house unannounced on a day like this.
She was going to have to look dazzling for this one,she whispered to herself and so she went to get ready.
***
Ten thirty saw her busting moves on the dance floor of a nearby club as they played killer jams, she flexed and twisted her body to the sounds that came from the walls and all around. She swirled to the rhythm of the music, moving her body to the movement of the bodies that surrounded her in the red, green and blue lights that moved to and fro, side to side and then all at once. She kept on drinking, shots after shot after shots of tequila, vodka, dry gin, shots after shots. This was her moment and she was owing to it. She loved what she was doing, she kept on reminding herself as she walked carefully to a well pointed bathroom.
The queue was long but what was longer was the question that randomly popped into her head, questions that needed an answer; what if she randomly called Nicholas? Just to let him know she was having the best time of her life, she was happy and she was content. She was going to sound like the world was giving her a gift after the rubbish that happened today. At first Astra thought it was just a thought but It kept hammering until she picked up her phone,fetching it from her back pocket and dialing the one number that had managed to give her thirty missed calls. He answered on the first ring.
"Helloooooo" Astra slurred, a smile creeping on her face even though it didn't seem like she was smiling.
"Hello? Astra?" He asked into the phone, his voice hoarse as though he was just woken up from a deep slumber.
"Yes! That's mmmee. How are youuu?" She sounded happy, content and drunk.
"Where are you? Where are you right now?" He thundered.
Astra frowned into her phone "that's not nice! You big meanie! I'm at a party, relaxxxxx I called to tell you I'm enjoying my damn selffff and you shouldn't tell me anymore. Byeeee '' she hung up on him, feeling fulfilled and giving a tiny hiccup.
***
Nicholas tried reaching her again,time and time again, he tried to call her but she wasn't picking up. He was furious, how could she be so reckless! He knew that she had decided to go alone to whatever party she was at and how the hell was he supposed to know which one. He called again, that time hoping she would pick up the call, when she did he jumped out of his seat and began re-pacing.
"Tell me where you are! For fuck's sake, I'm coming to pick you up! Tell me where you are and I will pick you up" he shouted into the phone, he could hear her talking incoherently into the phone.
"Astra! Tell me where the fuck you are!" Nicholas was going insane not knowing, he needed to be sure that she was safe and with him.
"The bulls" she said weakly, it was past twelve now, he hadn't realized it when he grabbed the keys to his Lamborghini and walked straight to the garage "Astra! Can you hear me? Stay in the line right now. Stay there I'm coming" she didn't respond directly to him but what he heard made him start the engines so fast and move right out of the house.
The line went dead and he kept on trying to reach her, luckily for him he knew where exactly bulls was located, one of the clubs located in the area. Why on Earth would Astra do some dumb shit like this? Go to a club alone and get shit faced alongside it. Was she hoping she got carried by predators? Was that her plan? To kill herself?
The thought, the sick thought that she may have planned the whole show made him want to press the accelerator past it's limit but at this rate if he didn't cause traffic or beat it, he wasn't going to get to her on time and he needed to get to her.
She sounded like she was having a bit of conversation in the background and the conversation wasn't a good one, any conversation that involved one party telling the other to get lost wasn't a good conversation and that was exactly what he had heard before her phone went off suddenly, he tried to redial and focus on driving while it worked,she didn't pick up her phone and his heart moved in such erratic speed, he said fuck it and presses for two-ten on the scale. Off he went.
***
He pulled the brakes, warming a banshee shriek from the car as he stepped out, immediately putting the car on lock without having to so much as touch the car. A man was hovering round Astra,he had caught them with his headlights, which earned a frown from the man. He had placed a hand on the wall,blocking her from escaping and she was frantically trying to push him off of her, just so that he could escape.
Something about that image screamed red to Nicholas,he surged so fast, neither one of them caught up. He swung the man forcefully out of the way,Nicholas had the upper advantage with him being six foot six and the man at a rough five foot eleven and still taller than the five foot four Astra who looked like a child in the midst of both of them.
The force moved the man out of the way, giving room for Astra to be held by the hand and dragged towards his chest Ina defensive manner. The unknown man looked so pissed off,Astra buried her face into the chest of Nicholas, the unknown man walked menacingly towards Nicholas but Nicholas was pumped up and ready. He was ready to defend Astra, no matter the cost,no matter what happened here today, he was ready to protect this petite woman with everything he owned and everything he was made out of