Trusting Betrayal

Chapter 13

     I apologize for any grammatical error.
 

     Nathan stared. Was he imagining this? If he was not mistaken, that was
Alexandra looking like she wanted to vanish any moment soon. His eyes
couldn’t leave her face. Mouth suddenly dry. His gaze roamed her face…  and lower. Shit!She was beautiful and....  those curves. He gulped. He downed his wine, starting for her amongst the crowd only to be stopped by a hand on his arm.

Nathan looked down at the hand and traced it to the face of the owner of the hand. Andrea!
      “Hey, Nathan. Where are you off to?”. Nathan’s gaze roamed the crowd. He couldn’t see her anymore. “Nowhere? Where’s your man-friend?”

Andrea smiled. “I have no idea but I was hoping you could help me”

    Nathan winced. Luke was in for it. “About?"

        "Luke’s behavior. Shall we go somewhere private? Too many ears
around here”

  Without waiting for a reply, Andrea steered him to a balcony. Nathan’s
gaze continued to roam the crowd. Still couldn’t find her.

     “So?” Andrea prodded.

      “Huh?” Nathan questioned in reply.

“About Luke.I feel like he is hiding something from me and I really
want to know what it is, Nathan”

Nathan stared out the balcony. “Andrea, Luke is your boyfriend. If he
is hiding something from you, then that’s for you to inquire from him. I
am only his friend and it won’t be right if I… you know”

Andrea sighed. “I know. I know. Okay. I will ask him again and I will
make sure he doesn’t distract me again”

Nathan raised a brow. “He has tried to distract you?” Smart guy! He
grinned inwardly.

    “Yeah. With sex and wine. He can be very persuasive ”. Andrea smiled fondly. “You look great today, Nathan. I mean you always do”

Nathan grinned. “You too, Andie. I am probably blushing inwardly”.

Andrea giggled. “It would look totally adorable on you. Everything does."

I hope she is not coming onto me. Nathan thought. “I know. Th-”

“Andrea!”. A voice sounded behind them.

Andrea tensed as she whirled around. “Hey, baby. I was just wondering
where you were”

Luke chuckled awkwardly. "I was talking to a partner. How is the party?
By the way, Jason asked after you”

“Did he?” Andrea squealed and kissed Luke before rushing off.

Luke ran a hand through his hair. “Fuck!” He made his way to Nathan
and stood beside him, staring out.

Nathan glanced at him and saw that Luke was definitely agitated
and guilt-filled. “She is suspicious, Luke. She knows you have been
distracting her”. Nathan grinned slightly. “Nice tactic, though”. With that, he walked away.
***********************************************************
Luke was talking to a business partner when Andrea came over. “Luke hon. I need you” she pulled him away. “Excuse us” she said to the man.

Luke was confused. They were still not on their normal relationship
ground but they had to carry on normally, the public didn’t have to know everything about their lives. “Where are we going?”

  Andrea pulled him along. “The Gilliards want to speak to us .”

      Oh God!Not again. That family loved to complain. He looked around for Nathan…at least he had a way of excusing himself from any unwanted
meeting. Instead his eyes met with Mark’s grey ones. With a look of
disgust, Mark turned away. Well, Mark couldn’t be bothered with him. He was screwed.

They got to the Gilliards and the conversation started. After long minutes, Luke turned to look at Andrea. Her eyes were already glazed out of boredom. He knew she was looking for a very plausible excuse to get the hell out of there.

    “Hello Samuel. Heard about your daughter. Congratulations”.

Luke and Andrea looked up gratefully. Nathan had come to their rescue.
Thank Goodness!

Nathan winked at them as he gently led the man away from them. He
threw a glance over his shoulder that meant you owe me big time and
something else that Luke had a bit more troubling figuring out.

“Allison love!” Andrea squealed.

Too late. Now he understood. He was royally screwed now.

“Andrea, why can’t you talk to her alone…. After all you haven’t seen her
in a long while?” He tried to make an escape.

Andrea was having none of it. She pulled him to Allison who was
already making her way rather reluctantly, a smile on her face which
looked false from Luke’s perspective. He could see she was having as much
difficulty meeting and so much guilt over their actions.

   “Andy!” She kissed her friend’s cheek and forced a smile on her face for Luke. “Hello Luke”

      “Allison.” He managed a nod, trying to look normal as much as possible. She was so damn beautiful. He remembered her satin-. Fuck! What the hell was he doing?

Andrea stared at Luke. He looked like he was forced to eat a pickle. “Are
you alright, Hon”

Luke nodded and readjusted his tie. This room was suffocating him.
“Yeah. I need to use the men’s room pronto”. He made his escape.

At his speedy exit, Andrea raised a brow at Allison. “I don’t know…He
has been acting weird lately. I just can’t figure it out”

Allison laughed nervously. She hoped to God that Andrea didn’t figure it
out for her own sake. “That’s how they all are.” She swiped a drink from a passing waiter’s tray. “So, how have you been? Tell me all about it” She needed to change the topic.

Andrea was all too glad to oblige. God!She had missed her best-friend. “Come on. Let’s go somewhere private”
**************************************************
      “Oops!Sorry. I was not looking”. Lexie profusely apologized.

      “Of course, you weren’t, bitch. You just freaking ruined my dress. Do you
have any idea how much this dress cost?” The lady screamed.

    "I am really sorry ,ma’am”. Lexie apologized again,her eyes still
trained on the floor.

The lady continued to make a scene. “You must-”

“Brittany”.The singly uttered word commanded quiet and respect.

Brittany spurned on her heels. “Hey,baby. I have been looking for you”. She clutched his arm.

Nathan ignored her hand. “She has already apologized, hasn’t she?"

"Yes, she has but-”

Nathan turned to look at Alexandra. “Are you okay?”. Concern was
evident in his voice.

Lexie stared at him, surprised that he was here. She had thought that it
was only rich people that were present here. Maybe he was rich?No!she gave herself a mental shake. He drove a Mitsubishi truck that looked like
it had seen better days for crissakes. “Yes,I am. Thank you”.
She made to leave when Nathan put a firm hand on her arm.A shiver went through her at the contact.
    “Wait”. He turned to Brittany. “Excuse me”.He disengaged her hand
from his.
    Without waiting for a reply, he pulled Lexie along and walked out.

A/N: Umph! I would have been suffocated had I been Luke too*smiles*. Go Lexie! So don't forget to vote, comment and share. Unleash your thoughts! I want to hear them all! Special hugs and kisses to @oladsadesky for all her comments. I loved them all. Love y'all❤