CHAPTER 7

CHAPTER 7

"Brent!" she squealed gleefully like a high school teenager as soon as she reached them. Allison lost her grip on Brent's arm as Rebecca spun around and wrapped her arms around his neck, swaying her body between his parted legs. She shook her head in disbelief. Here goes Rebecca and her hopeless ways of seduction again.

"Becca..." he almost sighed in exasperation. She pulled him closer with all her strength that made him fall off his stool, "C'mon Brent! Dance with me!" she squealed once again and pulled him roughly into the sea of crowd, like a hook of a fishing rod that is grabbing a fish out of the sea. Brent, who took the role of the fish was forced to let Rebecca grab him.

"Drew!" he screamed but the hopeless woman was quick and Allison never got to pull his arm extending to her. It was one of Rebecca's agenda of seducing him, and Allison knows it won't work out. Never would, perhaps.

"Well here's you... oh, where's everybody?" John asked when he noticed that it was only Allison alone.

"Left me," she answered shortly as he placed the requested sherry on the counter. "They'll come back anyway." She gave him an assuring smile.

"Uh-huh, I'll just leave their drinks here then," John said as he served the other drinks when someone addressed him. He looked over a certain direction before leaning down to her and said, "Got some business to take care of, I'll come back later." She nodded and he immediately vanished like he's a part of the wind.

Allison took her glass of sherry and had a sip, feeling the alcohol's texture against her throat while looking from afar. A familiar sting stabbed her like a knife when she caught sight of a man dancing on the dance floor, his curly, hazel brown hair bouncing as he sways his body with a black beauty. The man had the same hairstyle that Dane has. Pain constricted her chest when she remembered his name.

Here we go again, she thought before taking a sip. She finished her glass of sherry in a single gulp while reminiscing the memories she'd shared together with him, enjoying the same old pain that dared to leave her alone.

"Who do we have here?" a velvety voice asked as a large figure sat on the stool where Brent formerly sat. She turned her head, automatically.

"Mr. de Vries..." she breathed out his name and she felt him smile as he leaned close to her, causing her breathing to become hitched especially when she finally had a full view of his Greek god-like face. He was wearing a white dress shirt under a black vest that was freshly spritzed with expensive cologne and was matched with black slacks. He looked neat and attractive with his clean-shaven face and pitch-black hair was combed neatly to the back, not to mention that he looked immensely hot with his relaxed sitting position with his legs in de-Quatro while holding a glass of whiskey. 'Sexy", she thought, unconsciously while biting her lower lip.

The loud music dissolved in her ears, the painful, burning sensation in her eyes caused by the lights dispelled and the people's erotic, sensual movements vanished in her mind when his shadow cast upon her. She suddenly got oblivious to everything that was around when she got a glimpse of his stormy grey eyes. Dawson, Rebecca, John, Johnsy, even the empty glass she was holding was completely forgotten.

Hades' smile grew wider at her expression. "We meet...again."

"Y...Yeah." Allison felt the uneasiness invade the atmosphere. She couldn't imagine that a man like him would be in a place like this, she thought he would be in his office, having stacks of papers tucked in folders and paperclips on his desk while he's signing proposals, making demands, and answering urgent telephone calls. That's what business moguls like him do, right?

"What brings a pretty little lady to a chaotic place like this?" he asked, his grey eyes dropped from her adorned face down to her luscious body that was embraced by a skimpy, tight outfit.

She cleared her throat, trying to sweep the awkwardness away. "Just chilling around, taking a little break from college and all the stress," she answered his question while trying to keep her cool, staring into his marvelous eyes. Allison's not really comfortable with men around like Hades; overwhelmingly powerful men who were dominating, and wealthy. She did come from a wealthy family but what she wanted was just a simple life. She dreamed to be a fashion designer, build her own atelier, marry Dane, and having children, but that was before. With the man of her dreams now gone, her dream of living the married life in a comfortable house with a huge garden and front yard popped like a bubble. She suddenly became afraid of getting into relationships.

"Well, I could see that. But you look troubled, Miss Allison." Hades shifted his face and took a sip of his whiskey then turned his face back to her, "You can open up to me... if you want," he then offered with a soothing voice, like he was speaking to a child.

The ear-splitting, loud music suddenly stopped and changed into smooth, slow music. Everyone on the dance floor stopped dancing. The women wrapped their arms around their partner's nape, while the men wrapped theirs around their partner's waist. When the singer's voice in the audio infiltrated everyone's ears, they started dancing slowly, sensually but at the same time, romantically.

"I don't think I ha..." her words were cut off when she turned her head and saw a couple slow dancing. Staring into each other's eyes passionately and lost in each other's thoughts, oblivious of the people around them who were also dancing, they all acted like they're the only people in the world. Allison felt a lump in her throat as she watched the crowd.

A tear slipped from her eye as nostalgia kicked in. That's what she and Dane used to do when they go on bar hopping. That was how they look at each other's eyes whenever their bodies touch and embrace each other tight into some slow music.

"Are you all right, Allison?"