Ava's Roulette

Chapter 6: Recognition

My smile froze onto my face out of shock. I swallowed hard. Oh, fuck me. I was done for sure. Nobody could have convinced me otherwise.

Harry adjusted his suit as he stood up and extended his hand out. "Pleased to meet you."

Charles followed suit. He was not wearing his sunglasses this time. I could see his sapphire eyes look at me with curiosity. I felt my body burn as he scanned me, up and down.

"Madam." His hands were large and soft, but his shake was firm, like his father's.

"I am equally as pleased" I lied. But I was too practiced in this circus to be off balance for long, at least as long as I only focused on Henry. Charles made me nervous. I wondered if he had recognized me yet as I stood next to my mother pretending to listen to her. Doubts and wonders circled through my mind.

Suddenly, she clasped her hands and said, "Well, why don't you give Charles a tour of the house, so he doesn't get lost during his stay. Henry and I will be busy for a while."

It took every ounce of self control to contort my face into a quick smile and nod. I had to process what she had just said, and pretend I knew what she was talking about. Pretend I knew what I was doing. I motioned for him to follow me and turned to leave. Charles' steps seemed to echo behind me. They're staying over, are you fucking kidding me?! I should have turned my damn phone on... But even then, the chances of my mother telling me would depend on how busy she was, and she was always busy. This was the first time she was not glued to her phone, probably just to be respectful to this tycoon.

I proceeded back to the foyer and started the tour from there. I would have started with the basement, but the gym was down there, and I did not want to run into him for whatever reason. In any case, they were visiting, no reason for him to work out then. So, I showed him the kitchen and game room, I would have shown him the living room, but he'd already been there. Then we went upstairs, and I tried to show him the guestrooms and bathrooms. But as we went on, I could tell he was not paying attention to what I was saying. I turned to see him, he walked with his hands behind his back, and returned a cold, amused expression.

"Did you get all that?" I asked innocently, while my frustration started to bubble inside.

"How long are we going to do this for darling?" I do not respond, and he chuckles. "Oh, come now..." He moved closer towards me. We were at the end of a hall, and I had my back against a wall. He did not stop and closed the distance between us. I raised my hands in response, but he grabbed them lighting fast. I could tell he was not willing to get punched again. I was not threatened by him, but I felt increasingly uncomfortable by everything that was happening. He moved my hands down beside my waist and did not let go. I blushed at the involuntarily proximity. He moved his head closer to mine, surveying my stiff face. He smelled like spearmint. Slowly, he moved towards my right ear and whispered.

"I know you were the girl at the café"

---

"If you don't move or let go, I will kick you in the groin" I said evenly. For the record, I was not going to do it given it was my parents house, and his father was there. Still, he chuckled and let me go.

"Of course, why would you not?"

"So did you get all that?" I asked again, not trying to hide my frustration.

"Well, the house is so large I was lost the second we left the foyer." I glared at him knowing he was lying or exaggerating, but his deadpan delivery made it difficult to tell. He then smiled sweetly. He was getting on my nerves.

"Why are you here? In this house?" I asked suddenly. He threw me a quizzical look and tilted his head. He thought for a second, and then his eyes lit up.

"You are the only one complaining darling" I grit my teeth. Darling. I was surprised at how such a sweet word sounded so poisonous as it left his lips. "Everyone loves me -"

"Not everyone"

"Don't interrupt me." His eyebrows knotted in frustration, briefly. Despite the thick, fiery liquid that angrily burned in my stomach, I felt compelled to shut up. His eyes were piercing. They seemed to darken. This was surely a trait he'd learned from his father by watching him dominate rooms of people, or tough investors. But he wasn't the only one with a father as a businessman, in fact, my mother was also in the game. So, I continued to look him in the eye despite the discomfort. We challenged each other to look away.

"Everyone loves me – everyone but you, and I haven't a clue why."

"Why would you? You're too engrossed in yourself to notice anyone else Narcissus"

"So, you do think I'm handsome" He smirked.

I groaned in frustration and pushed past him. The last thing I heard from him was a door open and close. I assumed he walked into the room assigned to him but did not bother to turn around and check. I walked to the other end of the hall, and house, to my room. I wanted nothing to do with him. But as I lay in my bed, I began to recount all the things he was and had done to explain my burning hatred.

The party that we had met at had been when I was seventeen, he was twenty. My parents hosted, and they had invited a lot of people. Possible investors, partners, other businesspeople, all with their families. So, it was full. I remember he'd been with his friend Richard. Another rich kid with parents in the circle of businessmen, his mother was English, and his father was American, hence he actually went to my high school. He was all right, I honestly did not remember him much. But Charles, he'd been after every woman he wanted, competing with Richard I supposed. Tall, petit, athletic, plump, older... I was amazed that none of them noticed his overt flirting. Younger. Not anyone he knew would land him in hot water, he was not that stupid. It was all a premeditated. Strike one. Single or taken. Strike two.

He had been collecting numbers, but he'd also gone off with two other girls at different points and had had fun with them, and I was sure of it. I would not have cared if it weren't for the fact that one of those girls was in my class at the time. She was bubbly and sweet to everyone with no hidden intentions as was expected in a private school full of arrogant, rich kids that wanted to one up each other whenever possible. I don't know, I had a lot of respect for her, she was kind because she wanted to be, and took no one's shit for it. Still, a lot of people took advantage of her because of it. The party was on a Saturday, and I found her crying Monday morning. I inquired. Turns out Charles had sex with her, of course, both of them agreed to it. But then he never called her back. She managed to find his phone number over the course of the weekend and when he picked up, he had no memory of her. He told her she must have imagined all of it.

He had no respect.

I know you may think she was exaggerating, at least my parents would have told me that if it had happened to me. Hence, they did not know anyone named Ace Reeves. Regardless of my or my parents' opinions, she was really torn up about it. It hurt to see her so down, she reminded me of Liz. Strike three.

He was an arrogant womanizer.

And that was just the first of his many exploits. I rolled my eyes as I thought. You could find all of them on a list on various online articles, and even print articles. Models, actresses, college students. No woman was off his list as long as he found them attractive. Oh, then there's his taste. Just what you would expect from a tycoon's son. All he cared about was the book cover. Skinny, top heavy, bottom heavy, ladies with elegant faces. Beautiful. I felt sorry for all of them, they deserved better.

As my thoughts slowed down, I noticed that the light outside of my window also diminished. I slowly fell asleep to the memories of that party and the faces of women who had been screwed over as a result of the guest down the hall.