Chapter 37

Episode 37.
The following morning was a daze to me. I'd woken up to the comfort of the warm bed beneath my skin. I didn't want to wake up from this bed but I knew I had to. I laid still on the bed,my eyes wide open,calculating how much longer I could spend on this heavenly bed before leaving. Ric slept in the next room. He's so close to you. . . . so what,inner voice?
I tried to stand up and get washed up so I'd stop entertaining thoughts about Ric. In the bathroom,I started to think all about today. What was going to happen. Tonight is the masquerade ball party. A lot was gonna go down tonight, I didn't know how but I know it when i see Ric's eyes,the determination to make things right.
When I stepped out of the bathroom, the hotel's telephone rang from my bedside table. I picked it and a woman's voice came in.
"Good morning ma'am, Mr Marcello requests your service at the VIP eating room for breakfast"
"Oh. . . . ah,how do I get there?"
"I'm on my way to get you then"
I nodded to myself as the call disconnected. What the hell am I gonna wear. It's not like I have an option here,I've only brought two extra clothes. I decided to wear my blue slip dress and the grey slippers I'd brought. Just then,the door bell rang and I opened it for the woman who'd called earlier. She's the same woman who'd served me dinner last night here in the room.
I let her lead me through series of rooms till we got up to a room that looked like a roof top with a balcony at the far front,letting the morning light seep in and giving a perfect view of the pine trees around the front lawn of the hotel.
Mr Riccardo is seated on the opposite end of the small breakfast table in the center of the wide room,his eyes dropping to me the moment I stepped inside. The table is feasted with assorted foods.
"Good morning, Ashley" he greeted first,an amused smile dancing on his thin lips as I approached.
Pulling out a chair to sit,I replied "good morning to you too,Ric"
"Had a good night,yes?" He asked.
"Yeah" I nodded,remembering how comfortable the bed was. "What's for breakfast?"
"Just. . . taste them,you'll like them"
I gave him a small smile before eating. He was right I did like the food.
"I'll have someone come to your room later," he broke the silence "she'll get you dressed for the ball tonight"
"Um. . . about that. . . is there anything that I should know about this ball?"
"Why?"
"I don't know. . . it sounds so. . . grande"
"Of course it is," his smile widened "tonight's party is gonna be spectacular"
He was amused about something and that something isn't me. I couldn't wait to fill my curiosity tonight,whatever the hell is gonna go down tonight as he said.
He tried to take the wine bottle but he let it go abruptly, his face squeezed in agonizing pain. His eyes trailed over his upper arm as he flexes his fingers. Was he hurt? Muscle pulp perhaps?
"Are you alright?"
He shoots me a quick look before replying with a smile "yeah. . . .too much muscles in here"
I rolled my eyes at his remark and drank my wine. I caught his eyes again but he's not smiling anymore, his glance is far away from us,as if thinking about something. That's when I saw it. The pale crimson color on his upper arm. It's getting deeper and darker and soon I knew what it is. It's blood.
"Your arm," I gasped,pointing out "it's bleeding!"
I run over to him immediately as he checked it too. The moment I touched the crimson, he winced in pain.
"What happened?!" I asked him,frightened.
"It's okay" he tried to stand up.
"It's okay?! You're bleeding and it's okay?!"
He stood up, the blood seeping freely now,films of blood spreading across his upper sleeve.
"I said I'm fine" he replied before hurrying out in such fast strides like his arm didn't just hurt a few seconds ago. I watched him walk out before hurrying after him. Once he entered his bedroom,I was dashing in too. His sitting room is empty but when I heard the water running under his sink,I picked up race into the bathroom. There he stood facing the
"Are you alright?"
He shoots me a quick look before replying with a smile "yeah. . . .too much muscles in here"
I rolled my eyes at his remark and drank my wine. I caught his eyes again but he's not smiling anymore, his glance is far away from us,as if thinking about something. That's when I saw it. The pale crimson color on his upper arm. It's getting deeper and darker and soon I knew what it is. It's blood.
"Your arm," I gasped,pointing out "it's bleeding!"
I run over to him immediately as he checked it too. The moment I touched the crimson, he winced in pain.
"What happened?!" I asked him,frightened.
"It's okay" he tried to stand up.
"It's okay?! You're bleeding and it's okay?!"
He stood up, the blood seeping freely now,films of blood spreading across his upper sleeve.
"I said I'm fine" he replied before hurrying out in such fast strides like his arm didn't just hurt a few seconds ago. I watched him walk out before hurrying after him. Once he entered his bedroom,I was dashing in too. His sitting room is empty but when I heard the water running under his sink,I picked up race into the bathroom. There he stood facing the
My lips trembled as I fought for words to speak,my breathing intensified. Then I decided to just breathe and face this.
"Hello dad"
"Ashley," his voice is foggy "how you been?"
"I'm. . . . fine dad. You?"
"I'm alright. It's been how long,Ashley? A year? Two?"
I shot my eyes,pleading with my mind not to think about what was slowly resurfacing at the back of my mind.
"I've just been really busy,dad. How are you holding up?"
"I thought you weren't gonna pick my call,Ashley. It'd feel really nice to . . . . see you again" it was impossible not to notice his hard breathing.
"Dad,are you alright?"
He chuckled like he always did "yes,I'm fine. What about you?"
"I'm. . . ." I gulped "fine. How's. . ."
"Don't you worry,Ashley"
"I'm sorry I never called,Dad," my eyes stung and I could feel it's sudden wetness at the corners "I was gonna. . ."
"You don't have to apologize. I just wanted to know how you're doing. And now I know,eh?"
"Dad,I. . . . . . " He laughs at the background and it was like he was right here. And I smiled too. It was impossible not to smile. His laughter was always contagious
The disconnecting sound kept resounding to my ear after he cut the call. I brought the phone to my face,watching it till it went blank. And I heaved a deep sigh. I sighed more deeply as thoughts hits me like waves.
Suddenly, there's quick steps approaching along the hall. I couldn't careless who that person was as I continued to stare at my phone in hand.
"Come with me,now" Ric's deep voice shook me by surprise as he walked past my office cubicle. I looked up to see him walking towards the elevator, his hands dipped into his pockets.
I rose up,just as he stepped into the elevator and the doors closed. What the hell was wrong with him again? I didn't wait to find out from anybody. I wore my jacket and hurried to the elevator.
How did you read my mind?"
"Because I'm an angel"she winks at him.
He yearned to seek her face out, her smile was impulsive.
Suddenly she's in front of him,stopping his movement. He's just a bit taller than her and way wider too.
Her hands clasped behind her back, she speaks "why are you smiling,Jax?"
He could only stair. Like watching a hypnotizing object,he could only stair at her sensual lips that has left him feeling this lust in him for months. He could only imagine what they tasted like while he controlled every urge, every fiber in him to control the burning urge to grab her and kiss her senseless.
She had no idea,he thought. But she did. Yes,she would test him so far.
She saw how he held her gaze,she read every emotion in his eyes and he understood every single one of them. She was aware of how his gaze captivated her whole being. It was one of those rare moments when there's absolutely nothing of concern around you. The tress and every other thing seemed long gone. All disappeared into tin air.
"Kiss me Jax"Her smooth as silk voice was hard to ignore. Her words were commandments he's been spelled to grant even in his worst. That statement resounded in his head seconds later, his eyes scanning her delicate soft face.
She had no idea what he wanted. It was far more than a kiss.
In the shortest of moments, his hand slipped to her back, grabbing her close to him. She pushes him into the tree behind him, pressing her chest against his, causing his heartbeat to pick race.
God, there was something about her. Her eyes called him, drew him closer and his face inched closer.
With his lips just a line away from brushing against hers, her eyes Lowers and shuts close, welcoming the feeling of his warmer lips brushing against hers.
She could feel his steady breath brush her cheeks just before his lips crashed into hers, him jilting by the wild sensation.
He kissed her slowly at first, then more passionately and then hungrily, his hands caressing her slim back.
She suppresses a moan as their lips went apart and she smiles against his lips before reaching up to claim his lips.
It was the best Kiss anyone could wish for and yearn for.
And Lust for.
**end of flashback ***
The tender ringing of his cellphone just across my king sized bed wakes me up from my rather short nap owing to the interruption of the said phone. Really? When I finally have a moment of rest to myself, some idiot has to call me. Why the hell did I put it so close to me anyway? My workers knew better not to call me after work hours- that excludes my secretary of course - so who the hell had the audacity to be calling me at so late in the evening?
I tried grabbing the phone from behind, my head still plopped against the pillow, my intention to dump it into my draw. When I couldn't reach it before the ringing stopped, I decided to just let it be and rest on.
Just as I rested back on my pillow,as if on cue, the ringing begins again, this time with much power and urgency.
Reluctantly, I flip up onto my back and reached for the phone at the edge of my bed, grunting tiredly as I picked it without even as much as glancing at the caller's ID.
"What?"
"Jax?"
The tender and unsure voice from the other end brings me to attention and I quickly straighten up. Taking the phone to my face, the number is unsaved. But damn me if I didn't recognize that voice.
"Kira?"
Silence.
"Are you alright?"
I didn't know why she called. It looked like the one thing I've been looking forward to finally happened and I'm not ready for it. Maybe because, as Emil said too, I never expected she'd call. And now she called and all I sensed in her voice is uncertainty and this cold vulnerability. With straight urgency with just a call of my name,pushing me to wanna ask her where she was so I'd go to her.
"I ah...... I'm fine. Do you have a sec?"her voice is barely audible. Or maybe I spent too much time talking to only men on the phone -barely enough young women - to realize the tenderness of her voice is just about perfect.
"Sure. Yes"
"Um actually can we meet?"
I sensed trouble.
"Totally. Where are you? I'll come get you"
"I'm at Freezy Queens"
Something in me pushes me to smile even though the situation at least recommended that but the thought of her standing at freezy Queens and oogling at all the numerous Creams there was a cute thing to smile at.
"I'll be there"