Chapter 40

Third Person

“So sorry, where are my manors? My name is Nicholas. We’ve met before Ms. Knight. I just so happen to see you during dinner and wanted to come over and congratulate you on graduating” admits Nicholas, his eyes still on Ella.

Suppressing a shiver, Ella tries to ignore the weird creepy vibe she was getting from him when he speaks to her again.

“Again, I’m terribly sorry for interrupting your dinner, I’ll just leave you for now.”

Then as if he was there he was gone, his tall 6’4 frame waltzing away as if he hadn’t just interrupted their meal to approach them, a silent shiver running through Ella at remembering his eyes as if they were piercing her soul.

Impossible, he must have mistaken me with someone else, come Ella’s thoughts, her mind attempting to ignore the way she felt with him present.

Glancing towards her brothers, Ella tries to see their faces only to notice how quickly guarded they had become, blank expressions covering their faces as if they were wearing a mask suddenly.

“Is everything okay?” asks Ella, hoping her brothers would answer.

“Peachy” grunts Reece, his voice clearly not in the mood to talk as he goes back to eating his meal, Ella trying not to let his tone ruin her evening, unsure if she should try and comfort him now or later.

“Ok than” whispers Ella, her eyes now glancing towards Dylan and Caleb, Ella unable to notice their change in behavior as well. Ella quickly looking at Hayden and Grant for help who only shrug in response.

Biting her lip, Ella decides to push past the events that just happened and tries to focus on the rest of the night's dinner. So much for an easy and enjoyable night, muses Ella, taking her fork and putting it into her food, twisting the fork within the pasta before lifting it to her mouth and taking a bite of food.

-2 Hours Later-

It’s about 2 hours into everyone's dinner and everyone was still on edge about Nicholas. Each of them now just sitting at the table lost in their own thoughts until Dylan finally moves to clear his throat, the need to speak rising as he moves to catch everyone’s attention.

“Ella… Sweetheart, are you sure you still want to go out?”

Taking a glance over to Kris, Ella slowly sees her pleading gaze, knowing that they totally earned this and more and even with what happened with Nicholas, Ella still wanted to go out and have a good time with Kris and her family.

“Yeah, I do,” answers Ella. “Besides, we’ll be in a private room anyways right? So it’s not like we’ll see him again, correct?”

“Correct. We’ll be completely sectioned off” sighs Dylan, as if he had been hoping that Ella would have said no to the dancing and instead said that she wanted to go back home.

Nodding, Ella moves to smile. “Then let’s go.”

Sighing and with nothing else to say, they all move to leave the table, Caleb moving to pay for the bill before having a nice little chat with the manager about Tessa and her behavior earlier that night.

-Nebula-

It’s now about 9 o’clock in the evening and Ella along with her brothers, Kris and of course Grant and Hayden soon find themselves pulling up to the front of Nebula’s front entrance. The limo stopping directly in front of the high class club. Ella’s eyes wide at seeing how tempting it could be.

“Whoa”

Chuckling softly, Reece moves to gaze softly towards his sister. “You like it?”

“Like it? It’s stunning. I can truly see why this club was so popular among many people. It’s not your average dive bar that’s for sure.”

“Sweetheart, Nebula is far better than any dive bar there is” chuckles Dylan, he along with Reece and Caleb carefully moving to exit the limo first before stepping aside to allow Ella and Kris room to exit followed by Grant and Hayden once more.

Once out of the limo does Reece and his brothers along with Grant and Hayden move to carefully escort the girls inside for while the club catered to more high end people there were still your typical drunks who thought it was okay to hit on young women when they saw fit. Caleb nudging Ella as they entered the building, music bumping on the dance floor as those who were there danced to the beat.

“Eh?” whispers Ella, her eyes on Caleb when she feels him nudge her, Caleb pointing to the rooms above the dance floor, individual rooms lining the walls above the floor with long glass windows for those to look down below if they so chose to.

“We’re going up” was all Caleb says as he moves to take Ella’s hand before leading her through the crowds who were dancing trying not to bump into those as they did.

“Stay close”

Overwhelmed by the sea of people, Ella begins to struggle with keeping up with Caleb, her hand eventually slipping from his when someone moves to shove into her, her body falling onto the floor as they did.

“OUCHIE” whimpers Ella, as she attempts to push herself back up and off the floor. Her eyes scanning the area for her brothers, Kris, hell even for Grant or Hayden. Unaware that she was being watched yet again from across the room.

Two tall and scary men carefully watching her from the corner of the room, the same men who had raided her home several weeks ago in an attempt to abduct her when she knew nothing about the so-called item that they were looking for.

Attempting to stand, Ella continues to search for them, her voice timid as she calls out, “Caleb?”

Scanning the room, Ella isn’t able to find him or anyone else for that matter. Feeling her heart race, Ella tries not to panic only to hear a voice coming from behind her, a voice she hadn’t heard since the incident at the mall.

“Ella?”

Freezing in place, Ella moved to see who it was, her body tense at seeing James. “J-James… Hi”

Watching as he approaches her, Ella tries not to cringe, the boy clearly having not learned his lesson the last time he approached her. “What brings you here sweetheart?”

Hating the way he called her sweetheart, Ella attempts to walk away only to be grabbed by James yet again. “And where do you think you're going?”

Whimpering, Ella tries to reason with him, “Please… just let me go… you're hurting me.”

“Come now sweetheart… Where's the fun in that if there wasn’t any pain?” asks James, about to pull her closer to him, his grip still tight only to be stopped by another, the voice clearly not happy with what they were seeing.

“Get your hands off her right now! She’s mine” growls the voice. A voice Ella knew instantly, the voice belonging to none other than Caleb, her Caleb as he moves to yank her back and away from James with a glare.

“Touch her again and I’ll personally see to it that your hands get removed.”

Not one to press his luck, James moves to leave only to glare at Ella again, her face now hiding within Caleb’s chest until James is gone from sight.

“Shh.. it’s okay, I’m sorry. I didn’t realize that we got separated from one another. Please don’t cry El” pleads Caleb, not wanting to see his sister cry.

“I’m not.. I’m just shaken up is all. Where’s Reece and Dylan?”

“Upstairs, come I’ll show you”

Then, with that said, Caleb moves to finally take Ella away from the downstairs area of the club and over to a flight of stairs that lead to where her other two brothers were along with Kris, Grant and Hayden.

Her body shakened at seeing James once more.