Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 52384 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 262(@200wpm)___ 210(@250wpm)___ 175(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 52384 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 262(@200wpm)___ 210(@250wpm)___ 175(@300wpm)
Inch by inch, a rather awkward-looking scene outside the VVIP room was revealed to the men.
All private rooms of the nightclub were located on the second floor, and its hallway was built like a wraparound balcony that offered guests a bird’s eye view of the dance floor below. At that moment, the hallway was empty save for one person – a petite and wonderfully curvy woman whose boyishly cut hair and olive green dress made her seem like an adult male’s sexual ideal of Tinker Bell.
Unfortunately, this woman wasn’t as cheerful as the animated fairy. Rather, she had her face hidden behind her hands, and it was easy enough to guess how hard she was crying, with the way her chest was heaving and her shoulders shaking with every shuddering breath she drew.
Something about her seemed strangely familiar, and Nathan wondered if he had met this woman before. Across the hallway, the door to one of the other VVIP rooms opened, and a strikingly tall black-haired man in an elegant Italian suit came striding out.
Nik Alexandropoulos, Nathan thought with surprise. The Greek billionaire was a few years older than him and his friends and had been rather infamous for his zealousness in protecting his privacy. Seeing Alexandropoulos advancing on the woman with a grim look on his face disturbed Nathan for some reason, more so when the other man demanded in a rather hard voice, “What the hell’s happening?”
The woman only shook her head.
“Alyx---”
Nathan frowned. Alyx? Why did that name sound so damn familiar?
“Go away.” The woman’s voice came out muffled.
The Greek billionaire’s jaw clenched. “Not until you tell me what’s wrong.”
“You can’t help me.”
“Try me.” Nik Alexandropoulos gently but firmly pried the woman’s hands away from her face.
Nathan’s eyes widened as soon as her features were revealed. A moment later, and he realized that all of his friends were staring at him. He stiffened. “What?” His tone was just the slightest bit defensive. Why the hell were they looking at him like he had something to do with the woman’s troubles?
“Isn’t she the woman Fredericka Spears tried pairing you up with?” Derek asked finally.
“Tried being the operative word,” Nathan clarified bluntly. “She stood me up.”
Outside the room, Nik Alexandropoulos and Alyx Marshall were staring at each other in what seemed like horrified silence.
Nathan’s gaze narrowed. There was something about the way Alyx was looking at the other guy---
Her lips started to tremble, and tears began to glisten in her eyes once more.
And just like that, understanding dawned.
Everything they had to know was in that one syllable, everything that Alyx probably wouldn’t want other people to realize was spelled out in the tremulous, hoarse way she uttered the other man’s name.
“Nik.”
The Greek billionaire flinched.
“I’m sorry.” Pain poisoned her tone, making it thin and weak. “I tried so hard to stay away. I never wanted you to know---” Her voice cracked.
Nik whitened.
And then he was taking a step back---
“We will never talk about this again.”
Releasing a broken little cry at the billionaire’s harshly spoken words, Alyx spun away and rushed towards the stairs.
A moment later, Nik stalked back to the other VVIP room, slamming the door shut behind him.
Inside their VVIP room, the silence amongst Nathan and his friends became strained and uneasy.
After a full five minutes, Christien said finally, “That was unbelievably…awkward.”
Nathan grunted. An understatement definitely, considering it involed Alyx Marshall.
Nick raised a brow at Nathan. “Aren’t you going after her? She looked rather distraught.”
Nathan slowly shook his head. “It would be better if I don’t.” Although he barely knew Alyx, he only had to be in her company for a few minutes to know that she was the type to abhor wearing her heart on her sleeve, much less appreciate strangers becoming aware of her heartbreak.
“Did you ever find out why she stood you up?” Jason asked curiously.
“I never cared to ask,” he answered honestly. He had his suspicions, of course, but at that time it had been too much of a hassle to bother asking.
Derek studied Nathan’s face with interest. “And yet you look like you care now.”
“Perhaps.” But this wasn’t exactly the truth because Derek wasn’t exactly wrong.
The first time he and Alyx met, Nathan found her gorgeous and sexy, but that had been it. She wasn’t the first to turn him on at first sight, and she was unlikely to be the last. When she had made her disinterest in him obvious, he had been more amused than annoyed, but he hadn’t even considered pursuing her.
As far as Nathan was concerned, she was just another pretty face, made just a little bit more interesting because she had been the type whose feistiness had been often misread as bitchiness.
But tonight changed things, Nathan thought. Alyx Marshall, you’ll be mine after all.
Alyx
The man on the screen began to advance, and the woman began to back away simultaneously, a terrified look on her face. “No…please…” But oh, behind the fear was the unmistakable quiver of desire, and they both knew it. She was the typical housewife: loving but unappreciated, her needs left unanswered by her selfish, workaholic husband.