A Millionaire, His Suit, And Poor Me

“Seriously, Noras, how long have we been dating?” I was grumbling as Liam took me with him through the chaos. “For too long, apparently.” “Two years." He replied, ignoring my comment with an annoyed expression on his face. “After two years, I can guarantee tt I can feel when you cry.’ Rolling our eyes, we passed another couple who were a little too explicit and headed to the dance floor until we found a slight gap between the pile of sweaty bodies. Liam pulled me to his familiar chest and I wrapped my arms around his nec starting to move as best we could in the limited space. The only thing I could think of was how familiar Liam was. From the way one of his hands held me just below my pelvis, t his musky aftershave, everything about Liam was comfortable. “Henris is coming to usHe whispered in my ear, destroying the comfort I felt with these few words. “If I get hit, I will repo you!" I got a little closer to Liam out of nervousness, hoping maybe to absorb some of his rather positive mood. “Turn it over. You'll have more money." “Good. Did you tell her I had a girlfriend?” “No, and you won't tell him anything either” said in a low tone. “Now, how far away is that?" It wasn't Liam's solid voice that answered. Instead, I received Henris' baritone voice and his powerful arms around my waist, pulling me against him, letting out an annoyed growl from my mouth. “Ym going to dance with Noras."He announced. I could feel the anger emanating from her body; she probably had to grit her teeth while staring at Liam like he was the devil himself and not an extra large puppy. “Noras?” Hearing my heart pounding in my ears, I turned around, and found him staring at me instead of Liam. Henris was standin in front of me, a scowl on his handsome face and his hands in the pockets of his jeans. “Come and drink with me," he ordered in a low voice, at the table. With me." I tried to have the most insolent expression possible. “I'm good here. Thanks anyway." “Noras.’ As I took a step back, I felt my back come into contact with Liam's arm and I shook my head. “Ym going to dance with Liar He fixed me with a cold look and brought his arm closer, and for a second I thought he was going to hug me and dance w me, as he wanted, but instead he lightly ran his knuckles over my arm, frowning. Then he turned around and left. I felt anger all over my body, then disappointment, then annoyance. I turned around to Liam and grabbed him by the coll of his leather jacket, pulling him towards me and practically forcing him to dance with me. “Well,” he said amused. “I gue: it didn't go very well” I dropped my head on his chest with a grunt. “Fuck you, Li. It's so frustrating. I mean, is it that hard to dance with me?” “since you keep stepping on my feet, a little, yes.’ A high-pitched laugh escaped my lips and I started dancing again. Liam strutted around me, one hand raised, shamelessI practicing the worst moves I could remember in college. He kept teasing me and trying to make me smile. I could barely concentrate on him, my eyes kept coming back in the direction of Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome, leaning against the wall, a glass in his hand. Each flash of blue and red light illuminated his green eyes that looked at me from across the room and his joints were white from holding the edge of the table. The fact that he was wearing a white shirt that he had probably worn to work a few hours earlier, with a few buttons oper revealing a hint of his tattoos, didn't help. These damn tattoos attracted me every time; they practically asked to be trace by my fingers. Or by my lips. imploring in a low voice, I turned to Liam. “It's so frustrating."l said, annoyed, pulling my arms back around her neck. “Wh gave him the right to stand there, so perfect, while I'm here, in a rage?” Liam chuckled as he looked at me. “Well, to be honest, he looks pretty angry too.” I shrugged my shoulders in agreement with him and tried to get rid of the feeling of being observed. It didn’t work out ve well, until Louis staggered through the crowd and half of his weight fell on me, a drink in his hand and a drunken smile o his face. “Noras."He mumbled. “You seem to be in desperate need of a drink." “tam. The blue-eyed boy took my face in his hands. “We're going to get drunk. We're going to get drunk, really, really.” I didn't need to hear more, given that Henris was practically spewing venom at that moment. Three minutes later, Louis a I were sitting at the bar and were on our third drink. With a laugh, I put my head on his shoulder. “It may not have been t best of our ideas.” “Probably not. But Jace is boring"Louis has stammered. “I'm, like, mad at him, I guess. You're also mad at your boyfriend. Another shot?” “One more.'l agreed, without even correcting him for his inappropriate use of the word “boy”. We took it down like champions and slammed our glasses on the bar, before looking at each other with a smirk, as if to say “We are completel drunk’. Laughing, he wrapped my hand in his and started walking, towards Liam, who was doing the robot or some other crazy movement. We were about to enter the crowd when another hand, bigger, grabbed me by the wrist, just above where Louis's was. “Louis! said with surprise that the hand, which I recognized as Henris's thanks to the familiar rings and its smell, tightened its grip. “I have been captured” jace’s boyfriend raised and lowered his eyebrows several times. “Traitor’l exclaimed. “You can't leave me here!"He slippe away as if I hadn't said anything, walking through the crowd and leaving me to take care of Mr. Tall, Dark and Handsome. “Noras."Henris said in a hoarse voice when I turned around. “Just dance with Louis and Jace.’ “Or you could dance with me.” His eyes briefly fixed on my lips. “I don't want to dance.” With the confidence that alcohol temporarily gave me, I moved closer and ran my fingers over his prominent jaw. Henris stared at me emotionless until the tips of my fingers reached his lips; then his eyes slowly softened and his shoulders relaxed. “0; I repeated. “you could dance with me. Because I am yours, and you are mine, and I want to dance with you." A spark of uncertainty passed over his face, and disappeared in a second. “No. Don't dance with Liam."I turned around annoyed, wondering if she had really been there or if it was just the lights that gave that impression. I went back to Jace and Louis, feeling better after having had several drinks and shots. Somehow, being with angry Henris always seemed to make me sober. “Guys, I complained as I approached them. “You can't dance without me!” Liam laughed loudly. “Hurry up then!” Laughing at his bad shots, I put my arms around his neck and started moving again, too angry to care that Henris was looking at me from afar. We danced as best we could, given that Liam was more than a little drunk; it consisted, mainly, o him stumbling and me supporting him, but it worked. “turn around, Noras."she laughed, waving her hand. “Do it!" I continued to laugh, turning under his arm. “Done."l announced. “Now you turn.” Liam gave me one of his usual smiles. “Too drunk, I would fall for sure.” “As if you weren't falling?” with another loud laugh, he carried me to his chest as the song changed. We tried not to trip or bump into the other people who were dancing while keeping the rhythm, but we failed when, once again, he tripped. “You,” I said, laughing, trying to hold him and not bring him down. “you are very drunk." with a grunt, he put his head on my shoulder. “Sophia will kill me if I don't die before” “Well, apparently you're going to die anyway."l teased you. That's when I felt Henris’ hand grab me by the elbow and pull me back. I staggered slightly as he guided me through the crowd with a frosty expression. “Let go of me."l moaned as we walked past another drunk couple. “Ym dancing with Liam." “No. We're leaving” I pulled my arm out of his grip, my head full of anger. “No, I'm staying here. And I'm going to dance with other people because you don't want to dance with me. So you have absolutely no right to arrest me.” “Noras."she warned, running a hand through her tousled hair. “Not here." Abitter laugh crossed my lips as I stared at him, tall and scowling. He was so attractive, and so boring that my foggy min could barely understand him. So I spat out the eloquent “F**k you, Henri”. The aura around us changed in a second. He turned around without a word and walked out of the club. Her hands were clenched into fists at the sides, and her right shoulders were pushed back. People got out of his way, and if they didn’t move, he did. I swore under my breath and staggered in his direction, following his slender figure. “Henris, wait!” He walked through the doors into the cold New York air and kept walking. “Henris!” The company CEO turned around with an icy light in his eyes. “What, Noras? What could you possibly want?” “It's just that... you... you can't leave like that!"l stuttered. “You can't leave like that!" “Oh, but can you dance with any guy who comes within a meter?”. Is that how it works?"He said bitterly, taking a step in n direction; I could see the pupils taking the place of the green one. “You can't dance with whoever you want and expect m; not to leave.’ My lower Lip began to tremble, and suddenly I found myself in his arms, in a heap of tears and sobs. Henris put his hands on the hem of my pants and made circular movements with his fingers, trying to calm me down. It took me about a minut to come to my senses and withdraw from his arms. “Stop itI sobbed, wiping off the mascara that had surely run under my eyes. “Stop, now." “Why are you crying?” I stamped my foot on the floor in frustration with the man in front of me. “Why are you so whimsical. You yell at me and then you give me a hug!” “I screamed because you were bothering me. Then you started crying, so I hugged you." “Well, you shouldn't do that because it's messing with my head."I shouted at him. “You shouldn't dance with all the guys looking in your direction in the club He whistled. People in club outfits were walking past us on the streets of New York, looking at us with curiosity and probably trying to understand why an angel in a white shirt was screaming at a mortal with frizzy hair and a gin and tonic-stained shirt. The immediately looked away when Henris sent deadly glances in his direction. I looked at him with malice. “Then you should have danced with me, if you are jealous and angry, then you should just dance with me’ “I didn’t want to dance!” “Oh my God."I put my head in my hands. “You are so stubborn, and boring, and you... you're always so calm when I feel li yelling at you. And you think you can control every fucking thing” My bitter laugh interrupted him. “You? You what? You just want to yell at me and then fuck me? Well, congratulations, because that's exactly what you're doing anyway. You change your mood in the fucking blink of an eye and I can't keep uj with you” Henris squeezed his upper lip between his thumb and forefinger and looked at me with a troubled expression on his face stared at the less interesting macadam and tried to hold back the tears that had quickly formed on the line of my eyelashes in the heavy silence. “If 1am so terrible,” he began in a low, hoarse voice. “then why don't you leave? Why don't you leave, Noras?" There were so many things that I wanted to shout at him at that moment. I wanted to shout how it was because sometim he has that look that lights up his whole face and turns him into a child on Christmas morning, or his voice as soon as he wakes up in the morning, or the way he makes me feel protected. Instead, with my hands in my hair, I shouted: “Because I'm in love with your". Henris froze where he was; it's like the nerves in his body are down, like the filter in my mouth. At that moment, I didn't know who was more shocked than the one who had just escaped from my mouth. His prominent jaw, due to his clenched teeth, was enough to bring me back to reality. “What?"A maniacal laugh broke through my lips, which almost sounded like a sob. “Is that what you wanted to hear? That am pathetically, hopelessly in love with you and that you don't even call me your girlfriend?". He let out a slow breath from his mouth. “Noras...” “If you're going to tell me that we don't have a relationship, please don't do it” “Can you come to my apartment so we can talk?” “Don’t do that! Don't start. You said you were going to try"I almost laughed at the idea. “Last time you said you were goin to try and you sent me flowers. Flowers, because I asked you to. And there were a ton of them. My f****g kitchen still smells like stupid roses.” I cried again and he moved closer, running an inch over my cheek to wipe away the tears that I hadn't even realized had flowed. His eyebrows were furrowed and he was staring at me with big worried green eyes. “There were way too many flowers. whispered as he wiped away another tear. “There were, like, too many flowers, Henri “ was." I withdrew his hand gently. “Please stop. Please, not now. My feet hurt, I'm not even drunk anymore, and I'm desperately love with you. So please Henris." With that, I turned around and started walking towards the club, ready to look for Louis, Jace and Liam and get me out of there. He didn't even hint that he wanted me to stop until I was practically at the entrance. “Noras!"He shouted. I turned around, finding him with his hands clasped in his hair, of which I was sure that all the curls would be pulled out instantly. “Noras!” I turned around, blowing. “What?” The young company CEO didn't seem to expect my answer. Her lips opened to form words, then closed a few seconds late I fixed him with a desperate look, giving him a chance to say something, anything to stop me from leaving. Instead, he shifted his weight from one leg to the other. The huge bouncer next to me coughed, distracting my attention from the “cold gaze and endless legs” that was Henris Steve. “Miss, are you coming in or are you leaving?” “Are you serious?" replied, annoyed, turning to him, tears running down my cheeks. “Can't you see that I'm breaking up with my fid... F**K... we're not even together! We've never even been together!” The man's eye narrowed slightly. “So he's coming in?” “You know, I guess it wasn't even technically a breakup.”l sobbed. “I mean, really, if we've never been together, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter that I love her, because you know it. The technique, and all that” “Um, should I call you a taxi?” I looked at it with regret. My kitchen always smells of flowers. Henris Steve can go fuck himself. And then, like, buy me a Febreze. Cinnamon. The one that only comes out at Christmas."l tapped my index finger on my chin. “Yeah, that guy. I hat Henris Steve." With that, I returned to the lively club, leaving behind a confused and annoyed bouncer. The lights seemed to dazzle me : I made my way through the crowd. It was too noisy and too hot, and the whole situation was too much. It was too much a Henris was too much. when 1 finally found Jace, I immediately collapsed into his bony arms. He held me tight to him for a second before lifting me up and looking me straight in the eye, discovering cheeks covered with flowing mascara and reddened lips. For one o the few times since I've known him, Jace was silent. “We need Febreze.'l sobbed. “With cinnamon. For, uh, you know, the flowers. Our kitchen always tastes like flowers."

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