Chapter 9

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You know that feeling when you have known someone for a while and then one day you see that person looking so drop-dead gorgeous that you realize you're totally, madly, irrevocably in love with him?

Yeah well, I don't know that.

Or so I thought.

"Hey." Colton took a step towards my speechless frame.

I blinked, taking my eyes away from his chest. He was dressed in an oxford blue tuxedo with a crisp white shirt underneath. The bow tie matched his tux perfectly and made his eyes just pop out. The pants fit him so flawlessly that you'd feel sorry to take it off him and yet here I wanted him to take everything off so I could admire God's flawless beauty.

Where was God when I had to receive a good body?

"Hey." I replied, my voice sounding breathless. Yes, my hormones were starting to take control! I cleared my throat, glancing away from him before my brain disposed of everything but Colton's image. "Nice hotel. “I muttered meekly.

"Yeah, shall we?" he came closer, his eyes roaming all over me before offering his elbow.

I stared at it with horror. Should I? The trouble of controlling my feelings wasn't enough and now I had to touch him too. Hormones please behave yourselves.

"Smith?"

I sighed and latched my hand over his elbow. The sudden sensation of getting electrocuted and my responsive flinch didn't go unnoticed by him. I took a deep breath. "Let's go Hastings."

As we entered the FIFTY7, I felt too many curious gazes thrown at us. And apparently, these rich people didn't know the meaning of whispering.

"Who is she? What is Colton doing with her?" Some rich old lady whispered or she thought she was whispering to the other lady with her.

"Is that Colton Hasting's date?" another woman spoke.

"She doesn't even look that good." A young lady muttered.

"I think she looks pretty good." The guy beside her replied earning a slap on his shoulder.

My hold around his arm tightened as I tried to block out their comments and stared at the beautifully decorated place. Small chandeliers were hanging from the ceiling and round white tables with red chairs. A few people sat on their designated chairs while some were standing and talking with wine glasses in their hands.

"Colton." A voice called and I sighed with relief at seeing a familiar face.

"Nathan." I almost screamed with joy, pulling him into a hug.

He hugged me back but pulled away almost instantly. Colton had his hand on my lower back and I bit my lip from groaning at the sensation that flowed through my veins at his mere touch.

"You are my date." He whispered right into my ear.

I glanced around and saw a few people staring at us with interest.

"It was just a hug." I whispered in protest.

"No that was a bear hug. Here you just put a hand on the shoulder and lean and barely kiss the cheek, that's it." Colton replied, pushing me ahead as Nathan followed closely behind.

"I hate this." I muttered under my breath, thankfully he didn't hear me or if he did, he ignored it. I turned to Nathan with an apologetic look. "Sorry, you wouldn't be in trouble right?"

Nathan smile reassuringly. "Nothing compared to the time I kissed a girl while my father was making a speech about a donation to cure STDs."

I bit my laughter. "Must be bad."

He snorted. "You have no idea."

"So what does your father do?"

"He's a surgeon, a cosmetic surgeon to be exact. And a pretty famous one too." He looked around and then pointed with his eyes at a lady wearing an extremely tight red long backless dress that had two slits up to her waist, showing off her long tan legs. Her breasts seemed to be struggling to get off the confines. "Her name's Victoria Ponte, Italian. She has had a boob job done twice and a buttock lift and a few other things my dad won't tell me about. My dad actually hates her but she pays a lot, like wayyyy lot."

I glanced at her breasts and butt which seemed too big for a lady of her age or any lady for that matter. "It's written cosmetic surgery all over her." I murmured.

Colton and Nathan let out a chuckle. "That's the rich for you." Colton shrugged.

I gazed up at his grey eyes and seemed to be more alluring tonight. "You are all not the same."

He stared back at me and then lifted up a shoulder nonchalantly. "I guess not."

I frowned at him. "You haven't done some Phalloplasty or something right?"

Nathan turned his bark of laughter into an innocent almost immediately as soon as Colton scowled. "Of course not. I don't need any of that. I have a big one thank you."

I hummed casually. "I wouldn't know that now, would I?" sending him a wink I walked away, swaying my hips. I didn't know what was wrong with me, maybe I wanted him to prove me wrong.

Sighing, I sauntered over to my mother who was engaged in a conversation with some hot man in a black suit while Josh glowered at him as he stood beside mom.

"Hey." I meekly greeted, smiling at them.

Mom grinned widely, snaking her arm over my shoulder. "And this is Racheal, my daughter. Racheal this is Jake Douglas, a very endearing man." He had black hair and green eyes that twinkled with flirting traits and a small French beard. His smirk defined that he was used to ladies throwing themselves at him and his pride stance suggested that he did very little to protest. All in all his aura screamed of a person that would rather sleep his way around than work hard. What the hell was my mother doing with him?

I smiled at Jake politely and sent a discrete 'what the fudging eff' look to mom. She just smiled innocently and asked us to go and make friends while she chatted with this Jake bloke.

As soon as we were out of earshot, I turned to Josh with a questioning look. He sighed. "He's some suspect. She's getting friendly and trying to find out information. In my opinion, she's getting over-friendly." He glared at mom's hand over Jake's.

I rolled my eyes, slapping his arm. "Don't glare or stare. He might suspect something. And give her some space."

"You weren't there when she strolled over to him and expressed how handsome he looked." Josh grumbled, gagging at the memory. "It was gross."

"She's doing her job Josh. We both know she wouldn't settle for that kind of an asshole." I patted his back reassuringly.

"What's your mom doing with Jerky?" Colton asked, staring at them.

"Her case demands it." I answered vaguely.

"Oh yeah that Nick Mills case, right?" Nathan piped. "It's all over the news."

"Ah yeah." Colton whistled lightly. "I remember now. Jerky is a suspect though he had a beautiful woman as an alibi."

"Who?" I inquired curiously.

Nathan and Colton gave each other secretive smiles and slowly nodded in a direction.

"No way." I gasped as I stared at Victoria Ponte, the walking Photoshop looked with hidden nervousness as mom and Jake conversed.

"Who is she?" Josh questioned.

"A bitch." Was my flat reply. I felt bad for judging her without even knowing her, but people who knew her didn't like her too.

I watched as she hardly listened to the young man talking to her. Her attention was more focused on what my mom was doing with Jake. I turned to Colton with a mischievous smile, an idea forming in my Sherlock Holmes brain. "Hey boyfriend, care to introduce me to her?"

He grinned with amusement, his thoughts reaching my wavelength. "As you wish girlfriend."

Nathan's eyes twinkled too, clearly wanting to be a part of this secret mission. "There's another suspect present here. Mr. Abel McKenzie." He slowly tilted his head to a middle-aged man dressed in a classy grey suit with rimless glasses. He wore two gold chains in plain display, a golden watch, and three rings in each hand. Clearly stinky rich and loved to show his wealth to the world.

"He has an alibi?"

Nathan nodded. "His butler."

I shrugged. "He probably paid him to lie."

Nathan turned to Josh with a challenging look. "Care to find out?"

Josh smirked back. "Hell yeah dude!"

They walked towards Abel, who was now slowly sipping his drink as he flirted with a young lady, who wasn't immune to his charms and blushed furiously. I wrinkled my nose, he looked old enough to be her father. "What does he do?" I asked Colton.

"High post in Nick's company. Lost his wife two years back, ever since then he's a famous customer in many brothels. Loves to spend on a good-looking woman and Italian and Indian food. Apparently his motive of the murder is after Nick's death, he would become the next benefactor. A lot of profits go in his name."

"Hmm seems a good motive. What about this Jake?"

"Nick's first partner in the business but Jake cheated by sleeping with Nick's girlfriend of that time. After that Nick cut Jake off and didn't give him a penny, he was on the road for weeks. Suddenly Jake got a job in the rival textile industry. From then Nick and Jake have always tried to get the highest profits and are at each other's throats." Colton answered slowly, making sure no one was hearing. "Revenge would be his motive."

"So when did this murder take place again?"

"Saturday morning at 3.30 am, 29th August. Gunshot in the forehead."

"Wow, I think I might go into law." I said, my interest increasing from zero to a thousand.

Colton smiled. "You just might. Now let me introduce you to Victoria Ponte. She's into trading jewels internationally by the way." He put his hand on my back again, the feel of his hand through the thin layer of cloth made me feel I was naked. I gulped, clearing my mind as we neared big bo0bs.

"Ah, Miss. Ponte." Colton greeted, dazzling her with his million-dollar smile. "Always a pleasure to meet you." He gently leaned and pecked her cheek. Even though the ten layers of her make-up I could see the blush rising. I rolled my eyes, is there any woman he doesn't affect?

"A pleasure to see you again Colton." She smiled, her red lips widening. She didn't even spare me a glance. "How are you?"

"Wonderful, and you?"

"Same." She nodded, licking her lips sensually.

Colton pressed his hand harder on my back, making me take a hesitant step forward. "This is my girlfriend, Racheal Smith."

Her golden eyeliner covered eyes finally turned me with a disapproving look. "Girlfriend?"

"Yes, girlfriend. Beautiful isn't she?"

I barely managed to hold my choke of surprise. He called me beautiful, beautiful! I bet people in Australia could hear my sudden rise in a heartbeat. Victoria choose to ignore that question, instead she put her properly manicured hand over Colton's bicep. "My niece, Charlotte has been missing you."

The urge to open my mouth and shout 'Eff off, he's mine' was almost intolerable. But Colton spoke before me. "Ah, could you tell her that I have a beautiful girlfriend now and ask her how her nose job went? I heard it was bad and she had to get another one."

She scowled and spared me another disapproving glance. "Sure and no she is still as gorgeous as ever."

I bit my lip from cussing at her and laughing at Colton's discrete jibe. However, I had information to get out of her and she would only speak if I somehow became friendly with her. Tough but not impossible. I have made a cat meow a reply to me, comparatively, this is easy.

"That is a beautiful dress." I pleasantly said, giving her my fake best smile.

Her scowl lessened but didn't fade. "Thank you." After a pause, she added. "So is yours."

"Colton here spoke a lot about you." I lied and ignored Colton's cough of warning.

This time her scowl completely disappeared and a giddy smile took its place. "Does he now?"

I nodded. "Yes, you have a great eye for jewelry."

She smiled reveling in extol. "Oh yes. I have many shops all over the world. Diamonds are my specialty."

"Is it a dangerous business?"

She frowned. "Dangerous? How?"

I shrugged. "Diamonds and such precious gems, you surely must have a gun in case a theft happens."

She seemed to look offended. "Dear Lord no! What do I pay the bodyguards for? Just sit and frown all day long?"

I feigned a look of surprise. "Wow, that is so brave of you."

She looked a bit taken aback at the compliment. Clearly it was her first time being called brave. She nodded slowly. "Yes, I guess."

"I should go and attend the other guests." Colton interrupted. "Will you two be okay?"

"Of course honey. Bye." I instantly replied, smiling up at him.

He sent me a discrete warning look to not mess up and then grinned and bid farewell.

I turned to Victoria with a small smile. "Sometimes men forget to give space."

Her eyes widened but then she slowly smiled. "Oh yes, they can be pretty possessive."

I exhaled deeply. "Don't you find it irritating?"

She shrugged, stopping a waiter and taking a glass of wine from his cup. I shook my head as the waiter turned to offer me. "It is, in my business I need to go out and have contacts with lots of people, my boyfriend clearly doesn't approve."

My eyebrows rose at the boyfriend's part. Did she mean Jake? "Surely he should understand."

Victoria snorted, taking a lop sip of the red wine. "Tell that to him."

I pretended to look around with interest. "Is he here?"

She bit her lip with worry, realizing her slip up. "No no, he uh he's away."

"He can go but not you, such a shame." I spoke with a sympathetic face.

One thing I knew about rich people was they could never stand sympathy or someone hurting their pride. "Oh no! He's with men on business. He wouldn't cheat on me." She assured, finishing the remaining wine in one large sip.

Deciding it was time to change the subject, I turned the subject. "What do you usually do on Fridays? I don't like parties much and I was hoping you could give me some advice on how to spend my time."

She sighed gratefully at the change of topic. "I usually do the accounting and stuff. It's the Saturdays that I keep for enjoying."

"So you rarely leave your place on Friday evenings?"

She shrugged. "Depends, if there is something important only then."

I nodded. "So in this month, how many Friday nights have you gone out?"

She frowned with suspicion at the question and I instantly spoke. "Just asking, it's okay if you're uncomfortable to answer. I didn't know what to ask such a respectable and charming woman."

Her smile once again made its way into her face at the compliment. "Oh, it's okay." She thought for a second. "Just one, I had gone of a mini-vacation to visit my sister. Charlotte's mother."

I froze at that. Maybe she wasn't lying about Charlotte actually missing Colton. Did they have a thing or something? I blinked and shook my head. This is all fake anyway. I inhaled, shaking off the green demon. "And last month?"

"Once I think, or twice. Some party was there." She vaguely replied.

"Both the times?" I pressed on, staring at her face of any sign of fib.

"No, just once. The other time I was at a friend's place." Her answer was fast and practiced like she'd said it more than once. "Oh look there's Anne! I have to talk to her about some business, see you later." And without waiting for my reply, she walked towards her old friend.

I blew a breath, scowling at her bareback. What a rude bitch!

"How did it go?" I jumped at the sudden voice near me. Turning to Josh I shrugged with weariness. "I wouldn't want to talk to her again. In ten minutes I had to tell around ten thousand lies."

Josh let out a bark of laughter. "Same, though he was a bit more cooperative. He loves to talk."

Nathan continued. "He said he thinks Rodrigo is the murderer but if not him then Jake. Apparently the day Nick died, Abel had just come from Greece and was tired and sleeping, his butler saw him enter his bedroom at 12, checked upon him at around 4, and then went to wake him up at 7 for an early meeting."

"Does the butler not sleep?" I questioned with skepticism.

Nathan shrugged. "Butler heard their dog bark at 4 and woke up but it was a false alarm."

"Seems like he's lying." I pressed my lips, scanning the room for mom but couldn't find her. "Hey Josh, seen mom?"

Josh shook his head, looking around too. Just then Colton came, "Looking for mom?" I nodded.

"She's making new friends." He answered, pointing over at a huge group of people. Mom was in the middle, smiling and talking. Jake didn't seem to be in the group.

"Where's Jake?"

Nathan elbowed me, looking at the side of the balcony. We followed his eyes and saw Victoria and Jake speaking in hushed tones as they entered the balcony and closed the door behind them.

"Well, everyone seems to be so suspicious now." Josh groaned miserably. "Hey, Colton any chance you guys have some food here other than wine and those weird snail-type things?"

Colton chuckled, looking at his expensive watch. "Will be served in twenty minutes."

"And I guess it wouldn't be something delicious like burgers and fries?"

Nathan rolled his eyes. "No, Thai and Indian cuisine are the options. I think there's Italian too."

Josh whistled appreciatively. "Sounds delicious."

"Let's go find our seats." Nathan said and Josh trailed behind him into the crowd.

I bit my lip realizing I was alone with Colton, even with so many people around us I could only feel him. "Hey." I croaked out, clearing my throat awkwardly.

He smiled amused. "Let's go meet my parents."

"Parents?" my voice rose a few notches and I blushed in embarrassment as nearby guests turned their curious gaze at us.

"Yeah, they want to meet my girlfriend. Plus I met your mother, it's only fair you meet mine."

My fingers tapped on my thigh instinctively. "I don't think that's a good idea."

"Why not?" his eyes seemed to harden.

I shrugged nervously. "It's um fake right? Plus you guys are so rich."

This time Colton's eyes turned glacial. "Oh I get it, you can meet Kevin's whole family but not mine. Cool."

"What? No!" I exclaimed in shock. Where did Kevin come from? "I didn't-"

He raised his hand to stop me. "I get it." And with that, he walked away.

I kept staring at his back until he turns a left turn and completely disappeared from sight. I took deep breaths. Well, that escalated quickly!

I found Nathan and Josh sitting around a table and I grabbed a nearby chair to join them. They completely ignored me continuing their extremely important debate about which Pokémon was the best. Nathan kept rooting for Arcanine and Josh for Charizard.

I sank lower into the white chair, staring at my phone, pretending I was busy chatting. I saw Jake step out of the balcony first and after a few minutes Victoria stepped out, pretending like they never even knew each other. I stared at the now-empty balcony. Finally, after ten minutes of arduous internal debate, I texted Colton.

'Meet me at the balcony in 10?'

Now to wait and watch.