Chapter 6

I was going through some files when the door to my office flung open. 

"You should get a life." My best friend and pain in the ass Xander says.

"What do you want?" I ask not even sparing him a glance.

"I'm here to save you from yourself." He says. "Let's go out tonight."

Sighing, I look at him. "I have some work to do."

Taking the seat in front of my desk he says with a sigh. "Look it's been two weeks now and you can not still be hung over that one night stand."

He just had to bring her up. I wouldn't say I was hung over her but yes I still couldn't get her out of my head. After that day she left my apartment, it was like she disappeared into thin air because I never saw her again, and trust me I have been looking for her but now I was slowly starting to give up. 

I guess you can’t find someone who doesn’t want to be found. I didn’t care if this made me look desperate but I liked and wanted to get to know her more, so as someone who's always determined I wanted to find her and at least have a date with her. Say what you will but I am just that kind of person. I mean come though did she not like me? She seemed to have enjoyed our time together, or was I coming off as a pushover? Nah. She just probably had her reasons.

“Hunter?…” I hear Xander's voice. “ Are you even listening to what I am saying.?”

“What are you saying?” I ask.

Sighing he looks at me with a defeated look. "I was saying you need to forget her, let us go out and I am going to find you, someone, even better." He says with confidence. "We are in Vegas crying out loud! And all you want to do is work."

"Xander, can you drop this already? We both have work to do so let's wrap things up and go home okay."

Standing, he says. "We're going out at lunch hour, we need to buy you some jeans you can't keep on walking around in your suits." 

Leaving my office he turns to say. "Oh and Hunter...brace yourself for this weekend." With that, he leaves.

Shaking my head, I got back to work. I need to get some work done before Xander comes back at noon.

I was dedicated to my work and still trying to put my mark on the world as a self-made billionaire because I had already passed the millionaire mark and I am an overachiever. My father had made his bills from the ground up and I didn't want to live in his shadow and be known as ‘Reids' son’ so I set out to make my name in the world.

So my work was my priority and I never strayed from doing many leisure things. The night I met that girl at the club was one of the only nights I let Xander drag me from my workspace and into a club and for once I didn’t regret it. I have been told that I sometimes come off as uptight and that I am a stingy man when it comes to spending, but why spend money on expensive things you know you can get at a cheaper price, I mean it is only reasonable to look for the cheapest alternative, right?

Hours later...

As promised Xander did drag me out of my office at lunch hour. He was serious about getting me some casual clothes and that's how we ended up walking into a shopping mall.

"So tonight we should visit this club." He starts. "It is the best and you just have to go there once in your life."

“ That’s what you said about the last one as well.” 

“But this one is different, trust me.” 

"Let's just get over this, okay," I tell him.

Grinning Xander leads me to some shops inside the mall.

An hour later we were seated at the food court having our lunch.

" Hunter, can I ask for a favor?" Xander asks, eating his fries.

"What."

"So you know this girl I am seeing at the moment, right?"

"Yea...some model," I say while eating my burger.

"Yes. So here is the deal, she wants me to go see her fashion show in Paris."

"How does this have to do with me?" I ask, not getting his point.

"Come with me to Paris and after the show, I was planning on going to the Maldives with her..." He tells me. "She has this nice friend I know you will like."

"No." I flat out say.

"Oh come on, I-" 

I tune him out as something catches my attention.

Entering the restaurant are two tall buff men in black who look like bodyguards but the thing that catches my attention is the woman with them. She was in black jeans and a black oversized hoodie hiding her face with her head down, her frame so small you can miss her walking in between those two large men.

They sat in the chairs in front of us, with her in the middle and something about the way she was acting just seemed off. One of the men goes to order their food and the other says something to her which she just nods to.

I was so curious about everything happening at that table, that when she lifted her head and I could see her face clearly, my eyes went wide and my heart skipped a beat.

Yes, as cliche as that sounds my heart skipped a beat. Literally.

It's her.

It was her, she was right in front of me, a smile found itself on my lips and every fiber in me was fighting the urge to go to her. But a frown immediately found my lips when I assessed the situation she was in, why did she have bodyguards? Were her parents strict or something? Her boyfriend maybe? But then again her frame looked small, weak, and more tired than the last time I saw her. Was she in trouble? I try not to think much about it, I should just go say hi, I mean what would go wrong?

Her eyes travel across the room until they stop at me. Her eyes go a bit wide telling me that she recognizes me and that tags at my chest, her hazel eyes lock with mine and I notice the dark circles under her eyes as though she hasn’t been getting enough sleep or she’s been crying a lot and they don’t carry the life and daring attitude she had when we met. For a split second, I notice tears lace her eyes, offering her a smile she immediately looks away, confusing me more. Okay?

The man sitting next to her says something to her and she only nods, pulling the hoodie further down and keeping her head low. She doesn’t look back up which just makes me frown more.

"Dude, are you even listening to me?.." Xander draws back my attention.

"It's her..." I told him.

"Who?.." He asks, confused.

"The girl from my apartment," I say.

He turns to look at their table.

"Are you sure.?" He asked me.

"Yes, I am."

Looking back at her, her eyes find mine again and it is like she's trying to tell me something because the look on her face is pleading and calling to me.

Something in me unsettles when she looks up again and her pale, puffy eyes glassy with tears look at me, her lips are dry and chapped. I notice them trembling, and her lips part to mouth. 'Help me.' I don’t read lips but she mouthed that.

She immediately looks down again when the man next to her notices her actions and he looks in my direction, I don’t back down my stare and he just glares at me with a hard expression on his face.

Yea, something is off about all this, my hands ball into fists as I go to stand up but Xander stops me.

"What are you doing?" He says holding my arm.

"Something is wrong," I tell him. “ I need to check if she is alright.”

“Don't do anything rash man, it might not be what you think,” Xander says. “ And trust me, we shouldn’t get in trouble with people around here.”

I look at him in disbelief. “But what if she’s in trouble and needs my help, I won't forgive myself if that’s the case and I let her go.” 

I look back at their table when the other man who went to get their food comes back, his friend says something and he looks at me with a frown. He nods to his friend who puts a hard grip on the girl's forearm lifting her with him to stand and they leave the restaurant.

"Am not letting her go again," I tell him.

Getting out of Xander's grip I rush out of the restaurant but they are nowhere in sight.

Frantically looking around, I go around the mall looking for her with Xander on my trail, but she is nowhere to be seen. Stopping to catch my breath I pace around, running a hand through my hair.

Fuck!

"Hunter!" Xander runs up to me. "Can you stop already?"

"She was right here, Xander..." I say frustrated "Right here and I just lost her!"

"Calm down okay..." He tells me. "She must have left already."

“You don’t get it, she didn’t decide to leave.” I told him. “ She wasn’t making the decisions, she looked scared.”

After looking some more we give up looking for her, leaving the mall I try to settle on the possibility that they already left.

"Something was off with the two men who were with her," I tell Xander, as we make our way through the parking lot to our car.

"Don't think ahead of yourself, they might have just been her friends or something."

Scoffing I say. "More like bodyguards. I caught her asking for help, you know."

"Now you're just being delusional." 

Reaching the car I hear Xander say. "Is that-"

Looking in the direction he was looking at, a girl in a black hoodie was running towards us.