CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

GWEN POV

Cole draped his arm around April’s shoulders. "Yeah, we should probably go say hi to your dad. I mean, Mr. Douglas," he corrected himself quickly.

I definitely felt that Cole was only interested in the money and power April had because of her father. Aaron’s frown told me he was probably thinking the exact same thing.

"We don't want to bother them," I said. Honestly, the last thing I wanted was to see Nolan right now. Just the thought made my stomach twist.

"We will just quickly say hello. We won't stay and party with them," Cole insisted, though I was sure he secretly hoped to join their group once we were inside the private room.

"Yeah, sure, we can say hello," April agreed easily.

I tried hard to think of a good excuse to avoid going with them, but I couldn't. I was swept up by the group as we started walking towards another part of the club.

Watt opened a heavy-looking door to a private room and stepped inside first. He held the door open and announced loudly, "Hey, look what I found."

April walked in, followed by Cole and Aaron. I tried my best to stay outside, pretending to be looking at something else, but Watt noticed me. He raised an eyebrow. "Come on in, Gweneth. Don't worry. Despite his bad reputation, he won't bite you."

Taking a deep breath, I forced myself to step into the room.

My eyes immediately locked onto Nolan. He looked incredibly handsome and sexy in his black tuxedo. My breath caught, mixing a feeling of wonder and sadness. That beautiful moment stopped right away when I saw the woman sitting on the plush couch right next to him. She looked completely fake, like a plastic doll. She was practically sitting in his lap, and her tits were almost in his face. He seemed to be enjoying it very much—his hand resting firmly on her ass showed me that. A painful feeling of jealousy flared up in me, even though I knew it was foolish.

Nolan frowned for a moment. Then, he started to move away from the woman. "April. What are you doing here?" His eyes quickly scanned our group, moving from April to Cole, then to Aaron, and finally resting on me. For a tiny second, I thought I saw a reaction in his face, but he quickly turned his attention back to April.

"Doing the same thing as you, Dad. Celebrating the New Year. This is Cole, and Aaron. And you remember Gweneth, right?"

He gave a short, stiff nod. "You didn't tell me you were planning to be here."

April tilted her head slightly, acting as if she was just now realizing her father was not happy to see her. She put her hand on her hip and looked at him sharply. "And you didn't tell me you were going to be here. Don't be so grumpy, Dad. We're not going to crash your party." She turned to Cole, Aaron, and me. "Come on, guys, let's go get some drinks and dance."

I was out the door as fast as my feet could carry me. We were almost at the bar when a club worker walked up to us. "Mr. Douglas has set up a special area for all of you to enjoy the New Year’s celebrations," he said politely.

"Hot damn," Cole said, his eyes shining with excitement.

We followed the man to another part of the club that seemed to be for very important guests. There were soft, expensive-looking couches and chairs, separated from the main crowd by ropes, but still close enough to feel the excitement. We sat down, and the man who led us over signaled a server, who quickly came to take our drink orders.

"Come on, let’s dance!" April suddenly jumped up, grabbing Cole’s hand and pulling him toward the dance floor. "You two as well, Aaron, Gwen! Come on!"

I looked at Aaron, who simply shrugged. "If you are anything like me, you are going to go along with whatever they want and get out there on the dance floor," he said with a little smile.

I laughed out loud. "You’re right. Why do they have so much power over us?"

He stood up and held out his hand to me. I took it, and he helped me up from the comfortable couch. "I guess it’s because they are charming in a way. Cole can be a bit selfish, but he is a good guy deep down. I just wish he would act a little more grown-up."

I nodded, often feeling the exact same way about April.

We walked onto the dance floor. Even though I felt a bit self-conscious in my tight dress, I let the music guide my movements. I really enjoyed dancing, but one look at Aaron told me he did not. Still, he tried, bouncing and stepping from side to side awkwardly. I was about to ask him a question, but I saw he was watching Cole very closely. Was he worried about him? Then again, maybe Aaron was watching April. In fact, the way his eyes went down and then up, as if he was slowly looking over her whole body, suggested he was checking her out. Huh? Was he interested in her too?

The dance floor was packed with people, making it impossible not to be bumped. Another dancer stumbled and hit Aaron, pushing him right toward me.

His hands shot out, landing on my hips to stop himself from running straight into me. "I am so sorry. I probably should have warned you that I am terrible at dancing."

"That’s okay. It’s very crowded," I replied, feeling a little flustered.

I looked over to where April and Cole were dancing. I was thinking again about their relationship and Aaron's possible feelings. Just then, a movement behind them caught my attention. Looking past them, I saw Nolan watching us, specifically watching me. He had that same gloomy, serious look on his face that I had gotten to know at the cabin. I could only imagine that he was furious to see me, since we had agreed we should never see each other again.

Another dancer bumped me from behind, and this time I was thrown right into Aaron.

"I am so sorry!" I said quickly.

He laughed lightly. "It’s really okay, Gwen."

I took a step back, feeling a wave of panic. "Excuse me for a minute, I need to go find the restroom."

"Yeah, sure. I will meet you back at the table," he said kindly.

I gave a quick nod and hurried away toward where I thought the Ladies' room might be. The problem was, I had never been to this club before and didn't know the layout. I walked down a hallway, but it was clearly the wrong place. There were several closed doors, but none of them said 'Women' on them.

I turned around to go back, only to walk headfirst into a solid wall of man. His hand immediately grabbed my upper arm, and he pulled me quickly into a nearby room, shutting the door firmly behind us.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Nolan demanded, his voice low and angry.

"I didn't know you were going to be here! I didn't even want to come. April convinced me," I stammered. Why was I talking so fast? I had every right to be here.

"Is that Aaron kid the one from your class? The one you were telling me about?"

I looked up at him, surprised by his memory. "No, he is not," I said clearly.

"Are you planning on fucking him?" he asked, his voice dark.

What? I shook my head, wondering if he had been drinking too much. Well, of course he had; we were in a club. But had he gone over the line? "No. I have only just met him," I explained, trying to stay calm.

Nolan took a step closer to me. I stepped back quickly until I felt the closed door hit my back. "You had only just met me when we both fucked," he reminded me, his eyes burning into mine.

I put my hands against his chest, intending to push him away, but I just couldn't do it. The scent emanating from him, the heat radiating from his body—it all brought back those intense, powerful memories of our time together at the cabin.

"Now that you know how to fuck so well, I bet you could show him a really good time," he whispered, his eyes narrowing.

When his horrible words finally made sense in my brain, my mouth dropped open. I pushed him hard this time. I wanted to slap him across the face. "Suddenly, I am wishing I could erase you from my mind and brain all over again!" I spun around to open the door, but his hand slammed onto it, pushing it shut again.

"Are you lying to me again, Gweneth?"

I turned back to face him, feeling completely fed up. "What is wrong with you? I am not here to see you. I am not stalking you. I am absolutely not going to tell you who I am going to fuck or not! And I don't know why you even care, when you clearly have a woman who is ready to sleep with you in the other room!"

He leaned in very close, his gaze dropping down to my lips slowly. "Yeah, but her tits are fake," he said, his voice a low rumble. His eyes drifted back up to meet mine. "I much prefer your tit."