Chapter 67
Ashley’s phone vibrated against her lilac satin dress. The handsome and chivalrous man who sat beside her, with his right arm over her shoulder was engrossed in a rather important discussion on the phone.
The soft jazz music did nothing to calm her nerves, she continued to brush her sweaty palms against her thighs, ignoring the beeping sound from her iPhone. It could be anyone, including Kenji.
The vibration became too quick to ignore. She picked up her phone and pressed her thumb against the fingerprint sensor. She looked down at her screen and found the buzzing messages coming for her group chat with the girls. Curious, her brows furrowed on the screen and she narrowed her eyes at her phone. She clicked on the messages and it opened up.
The first message she found was a text from Zelda.
“Say what?”
The next was from Hadley.
“I swear that I thought my eyes were deceiving me too! At first, I thought wtf? And then, the Alpha took her hand and all that shit. I’m telling you, bro! Jojo is in that party with the alpha right freaking now!”
Ashley raised her head and looked around her, there was no sign of Jojo. She frowned and looked down at her phone.
“I’m at the venue now, no sign of Jo.” She typed away on her phone and pressed the send icon. It did not take thirty seconds for Hadley to reply.
“Don’t be silly. You were requested by a VIP. The Alpha is a frigging VVVVVVVIP!!!! Get your ass up from wherever you’re seated and go tell that your corny loml that she’s such a pretty sneaky bitch!”
Ashley found herself smiling at the screen. She typed again.
“Sure thing silly. Catch you guys later. Xoxo”
With that, she turned to look at the man. He was still engrossed in his phone call, so she was sure he would not miss her much, or at all. She tapped his knee with her polished fingers and he turned to her.
“Excuse me.” She mouthed. He nodded eagerly and allowed her to walk away from him. She rose from the luxury couch and stepped away from what seemed like the VIP section.
There was another hall, one that shared the same door with her. She moved past the door and it felt as though she had been welcomed into a whole new world. She pushed the loose curls of her hair that fell to her face behind her ears as she walked. Her eyes raked the room, searching for Jojo.
The classical music, Ashley recognized as Beethoven’s, filled the room with its melodious aura. She fixed her eyes on the dance floor. Perhaps, she would find Jojo and the Alpha there, hands around each other. Ashley had been wondering what it was with the Alpha and Jojo but thought it wise not to ask any questions. If Jojo wanted to speak to her, she would speak to…
Ashley was immediately cut off from that line of thought by a very familiar figure. No, it was not Jessica, the Alpha’s forced girlfriend who showed up at the casino every time, it was the man behind her.
Kenji Lockwood.
Clad in an all-white three-piece suit, with his right hand wrapped around the thin waist of a lady in a matching white dress. He had a glass of lemonade in his right hand, while he talked to the elderly man that stood in front of him. His date held on to his arm, deliberately pressing her breast to the side of his shoulder. He threw his head back in laughter, she couldn’t hear the blissful sound, but he sure did seem happy.
Without her.
Ashley felt her heart squeeze painfully. Her breathing seized for several seconds and she could not bring herself to bat an eye. Her fingers clutched the sides of her satin dress.
She blinked twice to stop herself from shedding tears. Here she was, thinking that their separation, or whatever it was that they were going through, was hurting him just as much as it was hurting her. Little did she know that he was here, living his best life.
Ashley was going to turn around and head back to her section when a strong arm came around her back. Her nostrils picked the scent of her VIP customer, whose name she had not even bothered to know. She stood straight and allowed him to plant a kiss on her cheek.
“There you are, beautiful. I was beginning to think you had abandoned me.” He whispered into her right ear.
Ashley was going to reply to him, but Kenji’s eyes found hers and she was immediately tongue-tied. His hand fell from the waist of the lady beside him, while he narrowed his eyes on her with a jaw that had fallen in utter shock. He did not expect her to be here. He did not think of bringing her here with him.
Everything he had done to avoid her, he had done on purpose.
The reality gave her a firm slap across her cheeks. She swallowed hard and forced a smile, while she turned to her VIP.
“My apologies, I was searching for a friend.” She muttered, and the man nodded while looking around the room.
“Did you find her?”
Bold of him to assume it was a lady, even though he was right.
Ashley cleared her throat.
“No, I didn’t.”
He rested his eyes on an image, and Ashley immediately prayed it wasn’t who or what she was thinking.
“Ahh! I’ve found my good friend. Kenji Lockwood!”
Shit.
As he walked, he held on to Ashley’s waist, leading her to the very man she wanted to be far away from right now.
Kenji exchanged handshakes with the man while keeping his eyes on Ashley throughout. Ashley, on the other hand, did everything to avoid Kenji’s gaze. While in the middle of their exchange of pleasantries, a lady in a red dress sequin dress walked up to them. Ashley recognized her as Kenji’s cousin. He had spoken about her before.
She had her hair undone, and held on to two glasses of champagne. From her sloppy steps, it was clear as day that she was drunk out of her mind. It wasn’t until she was close enough, and held on to Kenji’s arm, that Ashley fully recognized her.
“Ken, I’ve been searching for Lake everywhere, but I can’t seem to…” She coughed.
“Find him. Do you know where he is? I need to speak to him, I need to tell him I love him and…” She staggered backward. Kenji seized the drinks from her hands. He handed it to the woman behind him. Kenji’s date frowned at him and eyed the woman behind him.
Kenji seized Jade’s arm and spun her around.
“That’s enough, J. You’re already out of your mind. We are going home.” He spoke calmly and tried to pull the lady away from the scene, but she pulled her arm away from his.
“No! I’m not going anywhere until I see Lake!” She screamed. It was a loud one, loud enough to draw all eyes around them.From NôvelDrama.Org.
Kenji was both flustered and angry, Ashley could see his cheeks burn with internal rage. He tried to reach out to her, but Jade slapped his arm away.
“He is your friend! You know where he is! I’m not going until I speak to him and tell him how much I love him! He loves me too! You know that, right? And he…”
That was enough.
Ashley could not take it anymore. She could feel Kenji’s embarrassment for him. She pulled her fur coat off her shoulder and matched to the girl in front of Kenji. In one swift move, she placed the coat over the girl’s face, silencing her immediately. Kenji narrowed his eyes at her, but she only turned to him to speak.
“I’ll take her outside. Wherever your car is, turn it around before she suffocates.”
It took almost a minute for his jaw to return to its normal position. Ashley led Jade outside the hall, despite the woman’s muffled screams. On her instruction, Kenji ordered a valet to drive his car to the entrance of the hall.
The door opened automatically and Ashley shoved the girl into the car, she banged the door shut before the lady could jump out. She saw Jade frown and tumble in the backseat.
Ashley shook her head. It was indeed a pity. She turned around to look for Kenji, only to find him standing behind her, obviously stupefied.
He opened his mouth to speak, but Ashley was faster. She did not want to hear anything, not now.
“You should get her home before she throws up all over your car.”
She brushed past him, hot tears threatened to burn her eyelids, but she wouldn’t let them flow.
“Ash!”
She heard him call behind her, but she pretended to be too far gone to hear him.