-FIFTY ONE-

"Why are you blushing?" Kade asked, studying my reddening face.

I blinked in surprise before my lips curved into a cheeky smile. "Well, I hate to tell you this, but you might have some competition," I said, briefly glancing in the direction Darren has just gone.

That was a blatant lie but teasing Kade was fun.

Kade raised his eyebrows in amusement. "Is that right?"

I nodded, giving him a grin.

He immediately tightened his hold on my waist, bringing me even closer. My breath involuntarily hitched in my throat and my eyes widened a little as our bodies pressed together. I tried to keep the flashbacks from the day of the pool party out of my head as I breathed in his delicious scent.

"Too bad I don't intend on losing you, huh?" Kade whispered, his low baritone sending shivers down my spine.

I was short of words. I just stared into the swirls of blues that held the promise of his words. It sent up chills up my body while simultaneously spreading warmth in my gut.

I don't know how long we stood there just staring into each other's eyes. I didn't even know if we were moving, dancing or just standing still because all I could focus on was him. We probably would've kept standing like that if it wasn't for another dancing couple bumping into Kade, making us both stumble a little.

I didn't realise I was holding a breath. I let out a long exhale, blinking back to reality. Kade's hands steadied me on my feet and I threw him a grateful look in return.

He opened his mouth to say something to me but something behind me caught his attention, making him go stiff. His soft eyes slowly hardened at whoever he was looking at and his hold on my tightened a little involuntarily. 

I tried to look where he was looking but with the amount of people present at the ball, his was hard to pin point the exact cause of his tense posture.

"Kade?" I called out, slight worry lacing my tone.

He looked at me, probably reading my expression. He gave me a reassuring smile and slight squeeze to tell me everything was okay. Going by his expression, I knew something was bothering him. Before I could try and lift up his mood, he looked at me.

"Kyra, why don't you wait by the food stalls? I'll be back soon," he said, briefly looking at me.

"But-," before I could say something in return, he was already making his way to wherever he had to go.

I watched his retreating back for a minute before making my way to the food stalls. At least I could keep myself busy in the best way possible. The food anyways looked mouth-watering. Finding my way to the dessert section first, I had to keep myself from drooling as I took in the vast variety in front of me.

They looked absolutely delicious and I already knew it was going to be hard for me to stop myself from devouring it all. I took my time surveying the treats and chose to start with the chocolate eclair. 

I had to physically restrain myself from moaning when the delicious goodness almost melted in my mouth. Would it look too weird if I went in for thirds and fourths?

I mentally made a note to ask Allison where they had ordered these from. 

I chose the strawberry champagne flavoured cake bites next and lets just say I had to stop myself from licking my fingers because the flavour was outstanding. Yep, it was official. I was going to spend the rest of the night right by this table.

My eyes scanned the table for my next target, slowly feeling the sugar entice my happy hormones. My eyes landed on the banana caramel pudding and right before I could pick up the one closest to me, another hand blocked mine and picked it up.

I looked up in surprise to see a man seemingly in his mid-forties standing there looking at me. He smiled at me but I felt unsettled with how he was looking at me. Add on the fact that his eyes took their slow time scanning me from head to toe. Cringe.

He seemed pleased at what he saw. Immediately, the siren in my head was going off. Escape!

I gave him a small polite smile and made a move to leave but he blocked my path with his body. "Here, you were going to pick this one, next. Weren't you?" he offered the pudding cup to me.

Had he been watching me?

Discomfort settled in my stomach and I quickly ran my eyes around to spot any familiar face but I couldn't see anyone. I knew he was someone of high profile, especially if his appearance was anything to go by. He wore a branded tux with cuff links that I knew costed in triple figures. His hair was professionally set and his confidence told me enough about his social standing.

"Ah, thank you," I took the cup from his hand out of courtesy, not planning to eat it.

"Why is a pretty lady like yourself all alone at this ball?" he questioned further, taking a step closer.

I took a discreet step back. "Um, I'm here with a friend. Which reminds me, he is probably waiting for me. I should go," I motioned to a random direction, hoping to make a quick escape.

"And who is this friend of yours, may I ask?" he took another step forward.

I took another small one back. 

I couldn't afford to make a scene here. I had read way too many scenarios where these rich people preyed on people they knew couldn't do much in the situation. I had a feeling that if I offended this person, it wouldn't end well for me at all. Plus, I couldn't possibly think of creating a scene where there were too many important people all around.

The chances were, even if I did say something, the blame of the situation would only fall on me.

"I'm not sure you know him," I tried to counter, not knowing if mentioning anyone's name in this situation was ideal.

The man smirked in front of me as if he knew something I didn't. It was safe to say that I didn't like that feeling. Instead of asking me more about my friend, he motioned towards the pudding in my hand. "Aren't you going to eat that?"

He was looking at me pointedly and I gave him a hesitant smile before taking the smallest of bites, which was mostly the whipped cream on top. 

His eyes were fixed on my lips and I was desperate to get out of here. I wracked my brain to think of an excuse. "Um, if you'll excuse me. I need to go to the washroom," I said politely backing away.

"No worries. I'll escort you there," he replied and I froze. 

How do I get out of here?

"Thank you but that won't be necessary," I tried again, hoping he would drop the subject.

"No, I insist. I can't possibly let you go unaccompanied. What kind of a man would that make me?"

A fucking decent one.

Going by the smug look on his face, I had a feeling that he knew that I was doing this to get out of his presence. If that was true, it basically meant that no excuse I offered was going to get rid of him. 

I didn't even know where the rest of the Elites were so I couldn't even go directly to them. If he found me roaming aimlessly again, I knew he wouldn't let go at all.

I was startled out of my thoughts when he took a bigger step towards me, his hand inching towards my face. "You have something on your mouth."

My immediate reaction was to blanch backwards, a move he clearly didn't appreciate. I took another step back and before I could do anything else, someone bumped into me and I felt liquid seep through my dress right at my waist.

I looked to my right and saw a guy around my age holding a half-empty glass and looking at my dress in horror. "I'm so, so sorry. It's my fault."

I quickly tried to brush off as much liquid off the dress as I could 

Let me help you get that cleaned," he offered and I saw that as a golden opportunity to escape.

"Um, thank you. That would be great," I replied and taking the tissues he offered, I quickly backed far away from the man in front of me. 

He held a frown on his face, having lost the chance to corner me. Throwing a quick excuse his way before he could offer to help instead, I followed the blonde guy towards the other side of the hall, where the washrooms were.

Once I was out of the creepy guy's line of sight, I let out a deep sigh of relief. Once I was sure he wasn't following or anything, I turned to examine the damage to the dress. Thankfully the liquid in the blonde guy's hand was clear so it wasn't going to stain that bad. But I still should run it under water to avoid any possible residue.

"It's water."

I lifted my head in surprise at the blonde guy in front of me. "Huh?"

He offered an amiable smile in return. "It will probably dry off in a couple of minutes. It's just water."

I blinked, a little confused. "Then why..." I trailed off, not knowing how to put it into words. Why did he say he would help me clean it up if it was just water?

He probably understood what I meant to ask. "Mr. Gibbs has a reputation. He likes to flirt with anyone he thinks doesn't have much of an influence here or someone he can overpower," he explained, rubbing his neck sheepishly.

A chill ran down my body at that information. My intuition was right. I would definitely have landed in some sort of trouble had this guy not been there. He had bumped into my purposely to get me away from Mr. Gibbs. 

"I don't know how to thank you enough for this," I said, feeling supremely grateful for his help. Not everyone would interfere in a situation like this, especially in a setting where there were well-known people present.

He offered a genuine smile in return. "You don't have to thank me. I only did what I felt was right. He is a creep in every form."

That I agreed with. 

"No, but seriously. Thank you. I don't know what I would've done if he tried anything," I said, low-key grateful that my fight or flight instincts hadn't kicked in that time.

Lord knows that it would either would have ended with him adorning a black eye or me embarrassing myself in front of hundreds of people by running and most likely tripping while I ran from him.

Either of those options weren't that appealing.

"I'm Kyra, by the way," I offered my hand for a handshake, which he obliged sweetly.

"Jace. It's nice to meet you," he gave my hand a soft shake before letting go.

From the little time I spent talking with Jace, I learnt that he was the same age as me and was totally clumsy, proved by the two times he was about to trip within the ten steps we walked. He was nice enough to agree to give me company until I found someone I knew to avoid getting into  a situation with Mr. Gibbs again. 

Jace was honestly a refreshing surprise. I was a tad bit ashamed to admit that I had a small stereotype regarding the kind of people I would run into here and I had assumed that most of them would be arrogant or high headed. 

"Kyra!" I heard a very familiar voice from behind me.

I turned around to see Kade dodging a couple before walking towards me, his hand running through his head, tousling them sexily. I pushed the dirty thoughts out of my mind. This was not the place.

I smiled as I watched him near us. 

"Where were you? I almost panicked when I didn't find you anywhere near the food stalls and you wouldn't pick up your phone," Kade said and my eyes widened in realisation.

How could I forget? I had handed my phone to Madison because hers was hanging up and she needed to call Mae. 

I gave him a slightly apologetic grin. "Sorry, Maddie has my phone."

He simply shook his head with a knowing smile. His dimple peeked through and it took all of my physical restraint to not plant a kiss there. Ugh!

"Kade, hey," Jace spoke up from beside me. I almost forgot he was there for a second. Kade really had that effect on me.

Jace offered a hesitant but sincere smile that strangely looked... hopeful? He was looking at Kade as if nothing more would excite him than a conversation with the blue-eyed boy standing in front of me.

Kade seemed to realise that someone was with me for the first time.

"Oh yeah. Kade, this is-"

"Jace," he finished, all the humour in his expression went away instantly. His gaze hardened and the curve of his lips fell flat. His entire body went rigid, just like it had when we were dancing.

Looking at both the contrasting expressions, I could barely make out the situation. Little did I know that I had just stepped into the world Kade had been trying to keep me away from.

******

Hi Guys!

Happy Lunar New Year to all my Asian readers! I hope this marks fresh beginnings with positivity and fulfilment. 

For some reason when I tried to upload the chapter earlier, it showed that it got uploaded twice? I was seeing the same chapter twice. Please let me know if you see this problem as well.

Q: What is one of your New year's resolutions?

A: Mine is to be more productive with my time. I have not been as productive as I knew I could be in the last year and hopefully I do better on that in this one!

Thank you for reading <3