124 - The chapter where Rose finds out about the surprise

Rose

I remained standing in the same place, watching Christian walk away. Yes, I was still annoyed with him for his insistence on that subject, and I was willing to make him suffer at that party, but his last sentence broke me.

Of course, I didn't think that people would replace me just because my parents made those jokes, after all, I know it's not for real and they love me, but... Why did that make me want to cry?

" Rose, aren't you coming? " Sky turned to me as Christian followed without looking back.

"Of course,” I forced a smile, walking back towards the stairs.

We followed the staff's instructions, passing through a glass door and down a small staircase before reaching another opening covered by a curtain where the lively music was coming from.

Liam pulled the curtain aside for us to pass through, and as soon as I found myself in the hall, I lost my breath a little. The place was large with double"height ceilings, exposed brick walls interspersed with large panes of glass that joined the vaulted glass ceiling.

At one end, a marble staircase led to a mezzanine where a dance floor had been set up and on the other side of the pool was the bar, where countless drinks were made and lined up for the hired waitresses to distribute among the guests who were divided between the large pool that took up much of the hall, the mezzanine or the landing that surrounded the pool.

The steam of the hot water mixed with the colored lights that flashed with the lively rhythm of the music, and it didn't take us long to reach the pool that had several levels of depth. We went down the first steps, feeling the pleasant contact of the water with our ankles.

" Wow, he really knows how to throw a party," Sky commented, looking around.

" I've never been in a place like this," Cam whispered.

" Come on, let's get you something to drink," Theo wrapped his arms around the girl's waist, pulling her towards the bar.

I watched the two of them walk away together, Cam was attracting attention wherever she went and I couldn't help but smile at that. She deserved every second of that attention!

" Van Derr Waal, there you are " The voice of the party owner made us turn around.

Wayne approached us with a smile on his face, greeting everyone before taking a long and not at all discreet look at me, much to Christian's displeasure.

" Happy birthday, Wayne," I wished, trying to divert his attention from my body.

" Campbell, you look stunning," he approached, much to my surprise.

" And when am I not? "  I smiled, feeling a little awkward.

" This is getting better and better," I heard Christian mutter.

" Van Derr Waal, you should take advantage and get something for Skyller to drink, we have great non"alcoholic options, I specifically ordered it on her account " Wayne smiled at his friend before turning to Christian " Davis, nice tattoo, I'm sure it will be a hit with the girls, you should take advantage of it.”

I widened my eyes when Wayne slung an arm around my shoulder, pulling me closer to him.

"Looks like today's my lucky day, so I'm going to take advantage of it and get Campbell a drink, but I hope you'll make yourselves at home." He smiled with satisfaction, while I continued to stare at him, receiving a meaningful look from Skyller.

"Great, you know what, I could really use a good drink," Christian forced a laugh, starting to walk away.

"Chris, don't forget you're driving,” I tried to get his attention.

" I got a room key, did you forget? I think Brigitte will be fine! " he turned around, staring at me with his cold eyes.

I felt terrible about the situation. I didn't want everyone to know about Christian and me, but I didn't want to get involved with anyone else either, I just liked my privacy!

" Who is Brigitte? " Wayne frowned.

" My mustang, Wayne, I want you to have a great birthday, and....”

" I'm already having one, everyone's dying of envy that I'm with you " He joked, guiding me to one of the waitresses walking around the pool with a tray full of cocktails " What do you want to drink?”

" Wayne, I don't know, I don't think..." I tried in vain to shake him off once more, looking around, noticing that Christian had settled into a lounger in the shallow end of the pool, sipping something from a glass without taking his gaze off the two of us.

" Don't you know? How about a sex on the beach, I can get you a great one " he winked at me.

I felt my face flush, letting out a mirthless laugh at the situation I had gotten myself into.

" A sex on the beach! That's great Wayne, you have a great sense of humor," I replied still laughing, trying to get rid of him.

"I'll get you one," he nodded to the waitress, picking up a glass of cocktail.

"But you know, I think I should check on Chris, he's alone and..." I said.

" Don't worry about your friend, he won't be alone for long,” he tried to reassure me.

I frowned at his sentence, accepting the cocktail he handed me, taking a sip before formulating a way to figure out what he meant by that.

" Isn't he going to be alone?”

" No, someone is preparing a surprise for him,” he winked at me, “so I got him a nice room.”

I raised both eyebrows at that information, taking a long sip of my cocktail before smiling.

" A surprise? Wow, Wayne, why don't we talk more about this surprise while we dance? What do you say?”

" You want to dance here? " he was surprised.

" What's the big deal? " I looked around, realizing that the people in the pool weren't really dancing, some in the deep end were moving to the beat of the music, but where we were, the water barely covered our feet.

" You could slip and fall, we can go up if you want, the dance floor is there " he explained, pointing to the mezzanine.”

" Well, I'm not afraid, and I know that if I slip, I have you to hold me, right? " I winked at him, putting my free hand on his shoulder, starting to move to the beat of the music, feeling the gaze of our colleagues on both of us.

A sideways smile appeared on his lips, he was surely thinking he was going to get along that night, but I needed to know what was going on there.

" You never cease to amaze, Campbell.”

" Never, but speaking of surprises, you were telling me about the surprise for Chris. What do you know about it? " I smiled, looking into his eyes.

"Girls are always the same, you can't know a gossip, can you?" he laughed, wrapping one of his hands around my waist.

"You know everything about girls," I followed his laughter, even though I felt like hitting him with a good knee, "But come on, you're not going to make me curious, are you?"

Wayne spun me around, pulling our bodies together as he hugged me from behind, still moving to the beat of the music. But I didn't mind that, not when my gaze focused on Allie, who was in Christian's line of sight, waving discreetly at him, accompanied by her friends.

" The two had made out over the last week, but he had left. She asked me to book a room, because she plans to finish what they started. I had only booked one big room for Van Derr Waal and I thought you guys could share, at least the rest of the group, after all you can get a better place, and..." the boy's voice sounded in my ear, making my blood boil.

" And you're helping your ex-girlfriend have sex with someone else? " I pulled away, forcing a smile.

" What's the problem? We didn't have anything serious. I don't even consider her an ex.”

" No? " I was surprised " Why not?”

" My parents hated her in every way, so... We agreed it wouldn't work out " he explained, trying to pull me back to him.

"You know, Wayne, I need to talk to Sky, happy birthday, thanks for the drink," I half handed him the glass, then pulled away.

" But…”

" It was great dancing with you, I'll see you later " I reinforced, not giving him the chance to retort.

I walked over to where Christian was, taking a seat on the empty lounger next to him. He gave me a brief glance, before ignoring me, turning his attention to the contents of his glass.

" I hope it's nothing strong, you're driving. Or were you serious about spending the night here? " I tried to make conversation.

He ignored me, taking another sip of whatever it was. Annoying me with his silence.

" Chris, we'll talk about this later, okay? It didn't mean anything, it didn't change anything in my mind, I still want to be only with you " I lowered my tone to a whisper.

" Rose, let's pretend we don't know each other, okay?  Go drink, dance, do whatever you want.”

" I can do all that with you. Like we always have." I retorted, "Will you come dance with me?”

He gave me a weary look, merely shaking his head in the negative, going back to drinking the contents of his glass.

" Fine, if you want to sit here for the whole party, that's what we'll do," I muttered, crossing my arms.

" Are you never going to learn to respect my personal space? " he turned his face towards me.

" Being an annoying pain in the ass is what I do to apologize when I recognize I'm wrong, so the answer to your question is no," I said, still with my arms crossed.

"You must want to apologize all the time then, because being annoying is all you know how to do," he muttered.

" Don't you get tired of being a complete asshole? “

"Not with you," a small smile appeared on his lips, making my heart race knowing that we would be okay.

"What are you drinking? I can get you some more. I can drive today " I offered a peace deal.

"It's a mojito,” he explained.

" 'I'll get another one then, so we can sit here and judge each one that…” I stood up.

"Rose, this time I really want to be alone," he denied.

"I've already apologized," I stammered, sitting back down and looking at him with concern.

"I accept your apology, and I will respect your time. But I meant it before. I'm not going to pretend that we're just friends, so if that's what you want, you'd better stay away from me," he shrugged.

"But…”

" 'You'd better go and get something to drink. Go have fun with the others, I doubt we'll leave tonight, I'll stay here " he nodded " but be warned that if someone tries to dance with you like that asshole did, I'll break the face of the unfortunate.”

I forced a smile, nodding before walking away. Okay, I could accept the situation on his terms, we'd have no problem with that. I had no interest in dancing with anyone else in that place, and knowing that Christian wasn't angry with me was a relief.