CHAPTER TWO: ESCAPE

JESSIE

Cold air hit my face, but it couldn't cool the fire burning in my veins. I just let the five years I had spent doting on him turn into ashes. 

I hailed a cab, my hands still trembling from shock and the adrenaline of being free. When I arrived at Tina’s Villa, the gates glided open too easily. A life that Allen could only dream of. I caught my reflection in one of the windows. 

My hair was all over the place from Freya’s fistful action earlier, and my eyes were all swollen from all the crying I did. 

“Oh my god! Jessie,” Tina greeted me with two glasses of champagne at the door. “You finally dumped that bastard; he was no good.” 

Tina had always turned her nose up at the sight of Allen. She handed the glass to me and dragged me in until I collapsed on the Italian leather couch. 

“I have an idea to make you forget.” 

“I just want to rest.” 

“Hear me out, I have the perfect heartbreak cure,” she leaned in, a sinister smile climbing her face as she added in slow, low tones. “Six feet tall, abs for days, and they don't talk back.” She wiggled her eyebrow, obviously having more fun than she should. 

“I don’t know, Tina; it seems a bit” 

“Ughh! You've been a nun with him. You need to celebrate.” 

“Celebrate what?” 

A voice covered in ice cut through the room. 

We both froze, our grip on the glasses tightening. I didn't need to turn around to know who that was. Stephen – Tina’s older brother, who hated her lifestyle a little too much; he never failed to show her. 

I turned to him; he was leaning against the doorframe in a crisp white shirt with the sleeves rolled up, revealing forearms that looked as if they had been sculpted. His presence was so heavy it sucked the life out of it. 

Tina winced and leaned in. “Yeah, I forgot to mention…he is here for the weekend.”

She could have said that as soon as she opened the door. I didn't need him judging me with that perfect face. He pushed himself off the doorframe and walked closer, dark, intimidating eyes staying on me.

“Jessie, you look like you’ve been in a war.” 

“Well, I won.” I raised my glass in the air before I downed the contents, feeling it burn its way down. I ignored his gaze that was firmly planted on me. 

He tilted his head, his eyes still fixed on me. “Clearly, but Tina’s plan for call boys is cancelled,” he said with a tone of finality. 

“Stephen, we are going to a club, and you can't stop us.” Tina raised her nose in the air in defiance. 

“I wasn’t planning on stopping you.” His voice was sharp as he dragged his eyes from her to me. “I am driving you.”

We both raised our eyebrows because Stephen was never one to be caught in such places. He didn't seem to mind our expression and just gestured. “Why don’t you get ready?” 

He turned, and as he left, he pretended to murmur. “That white dress Allen liked... it never suited you anyway.” 

Tina and I exchanged looks, but didn't dwell on it for long; she dragged me to her closet and gave me a black dress that fit every curve of my frame, showing off all my curves. I paired it with sky-high heels and a coat of red lipstick. 

“Girlll, every eye is going to be on you,” Tina squealed as she made me catwalk for her pleasure. 

“You flatter me a lot.” 

“Only because it is true,” Her voice deepened, and a smile climbed her face. She pulled me out of the room until we were out of the house. 

Stephen was leaning against his Rolls-Royce when we got out, and I watched his relaxed demeanour suddenly go upright as his hand over the door handle tightened until his knuckles turned white. 

The ride was silent and suffocating; our eyes met several times in the rearview mirror, his gaze lingering on me. The iciness I was used to was gone and replaced with burning. 

The bar was packed with bodies gliding against each other to the rhythm of the bass playing loudly over the speakers. After three shots of tequila with Tina, the world blurred a bit, and my head felt light. 

I found myself in the middle of the dance floor, moving my body to the beat of the music still blasting all over the room. I felt the lingering gazes of the men around following every movement of my body.

I didn't care! I was not there for them tonight; I was celebrating my freedom from that jerk. 

My movement stopped at once when a firm hand pulled me, my back colliding with a strong, muscular chest. The warmth of the arm pressing against my stomach. 

“Jessie, that’s enough,” Stephen growled in my ear. 

I wiggled out of his embrace and turned my hand and wrapped it around his neck, pulling his head down.

“Why, Stephen? Am I embarrassing you? Am I too fat for your standards?” I asked, trying to sound confident as I felt my insides shaking. I felt the veins in my head throb too heavily. I let out a hiccup, and then a giggle followed. 

His eyes darkened to a dangerous shade; he leaned in, his breath fanning my cheek first before his lips brushed mine. I froze, feeling my finger dig into his neck. 

“You aren’t embarrassing me, Jessie,” he murmured, snapping me back to reality. His voice vibrated through my chest because of how close we were. 

 “You are making it difficult for me to remember that you are my sister’s best friend.” 

Before I could let out a response, his mouth crashed onto mine, softly at first, but then so urgently it felt like I couldn't breathe. We pulled away, and he buried his forehead onto mine, his thumb tracing my now swollen lips. 

“Let’s get out of here.”