ACE

Chapter 8: Ex

Play list for this Chapter: Right Where You Left Me by Taylor Swift.

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"Derek." I spoke, my whole body tense.

He looked so handsome in a tux and the girl on his arm, which I concluded was Angela, looked beautiful in a tight purple dress, her hair falling down in waves onto her back and shoulders.

"Is this the cheating boyfriend?" Nicholas whispered in my ear suddenly and I looked at him.

What? How did he—

My eyes said it all and the way his jaw clenched, he understood, because as soon as Derek came closer, an arm went around me and settled on the back of my chair.

Marking territory, huh.

I looked puzzled at Nicholas who looked at Derek with a cold look in his eyes, enough to make even my blood freeze over.

The temperature seemed to drop by ten degrees and Derek stopped in his tracks, looking at the arm draped over the back of my chair and at the man beside me, his face growing paler by the second.

"M-Mr. King. What an honour to have you here." He stuttered like an idiot and Nicholas smirked.

"Dove, what are you doing, get up from from there." He hissed at me and before I could say anything, Nicholas spoke.

"She's with me. You can leave now." Nicholas told him calmly but I could sense the anger rolling off of him and gulped.

"Right." Derek looked at him then me and dragged Angela with him to the seat farthest from us.

I breathed a sigh of relief once they were gone and relaxed, looking at Nicholas with a small smile.

"You didn't have to do that." I whispered and he looked at me.

"I did. No one should be treated like that. Especially you." He looked at me earnestly.

Woah, is it just me or are pink and red hearts circling him?

"Thank you, I really appreciate it." I told him and he gave me a curt nod. I glanced in Derek's direction, who was looking at me with an unreadable expression of his face.

Our food came soon and we all dug in, and I hummed slightly when flavour burst in my mouth.

"This is really good." I smiled and looked beside me to see Nicholas looking at me with a weird expression.

What?

I stopped chewing, and licked my lips slightly and saw his eyes darken, a dangerous glint in them as he glanced at my lips then back at my face, before I heard someone call my name, and I tore my gaze from his reluctantly.

"Dove, you look absolutely gorgeous today." Lauren told me and I smiled at her gratefully.

"Thank you, you look lovely too." And I wasn't lying, her grin becoming wider as she thanked me.

She wore a light pink shimmery dress looked beautiful on her, her light brown hair tied back in a sleek ponytail.

We ate in silence except the usual small talk people tried to make with Nicholas but he ignored them all.

After eating, Lauren cut her cake which was vanilla flavored with strawberry cream. We all got a slice and I dug in mine happily, savoring the sweet taste.

"Aren't you going to eat that?" I asked Nicholas, pointing to his untouched cake and he looked up from his phone.

"No." He answered.