Kidnapped By An Alpha Jerk

Chapter 40

April's POV

"And you're done!" Octavian announced, whirling me around. 

I complied and shifted in my seat, slightly apprehensive. My mouth opened in surprise. My hair was in waves, an intricate braid forming a headband, looking a far cry from my usual sorry excuse of a hairstyle. 

To my surprise, I found I was still able to recognise myself. I still looked like April Evans, but my eyes and lips were bolder, making me look far more confident than I felt. My dress itself was in a league of its own – it was  Grecian in style. Mint blue, long from the back and shorter from the front, just reaching my knees. It was cinched from the middle and embellished with rose's protruding like vines from the bottom. 

"Like it?" 

I nodded, smiling at him widely. 

"I'm glad." He raised a sharp eyebrow. "You're new to me so it took me a while to choose a look."

"This is amazing, Octavian. Thank you." 

When I ended up leaving, I thanked the stylists again. We reached the gardens and I gulped, self-consciously smoothing down my hair and pulling my dress down, a frown already forming upon my features. The sound of chattering and glasses and rustling leaves drifted in, leaving goose bumps along my arm. 

"You look beautiful," I heard Carlos say – I looked up and found him kissing Emma lightly on the nose as she blushed.

Seeing several glasses of water sitting upon the tray, I realized how thirsty I was – I made my way through them, until I reached the dappled shade where the water sat untouched.

"I don't think you want drink that." A hand pushed the glass down. I looked up in surprise and my breath hitched when I saw him. Damn him for looking so handsome in that moment. 

"Why?" I managed to stutter, still taken aback. 

"Because it's not water, it's white wine." He explained, gently prying it from my hands and setting it down on the tray.

"Oh." I let out awkwardly. "Thanks for telling me." 

He tilted his head like a little bird, watching me closely. Then, he stepped towards me and I swear, my heart skipped a beat. "Did you want something?" I managed to say, raising an eyebrow at the look of concentration on his face. 

"We're going out to meet people now, so can I put my arm around you please?" He finally managed to say, looking up from his dark lashes. I paused, a smile pulling at my lips. 

"You were actually going to ask me this time?"

He shrugged, smirking. 

I burst out laughing. "Aiden Knight gets all nervous over a girl."

"Shush."

"Okay okay. Yes, you can put your arm around me." I hesitated whilst saying that – this was the first time I had ever allowed a guy to invade my personal space out of my own will and I felt weird doing it too. His cheekbone went up and I could see he was smiling, despite not seeing his lips.

We emerged into the gardens properly and I took a deep breath, calming myself. We spent the next hour with Aiden calming me every 10 minutes and whispering praises and encouragement to me and veering me away from certain groups of people. It was strangely nice. I was afraid I wouldn't know how to act or what to say, but Aiden usually handled the situations and I only really fell into easy conversations with a couple of people. 

The afternoon sun was now fading, pale strands of light falling onto the gardens, leaving everything in a mellow glow. It was as though a blanket of tiredness had fallen over the gardens, and, murmuring people began to shuffle inside for dinner.