No Time

Chapter 31

When we arrived at the gala we were immediately greeted by the usual crowd of paparazzi who swarmed to these kinds of events.

Jasper let me go first as per usual so we could get pictures by ourselves, but of course, like every other event we've been to the paparazzi demanded we take some pictures together.

"You know, if we don't want people to think we're dating we could always just refuse to take pictures together," Jasper commented as he wrapped his arm around me to pose for the press.

"Well Mrs. Whitlock seems to think that us 'dating' is good for your companies publicity," I reminded him, trying to ignore the knot forming in my stomach as a result of his words.

He  mumbled something I couldn't hear underneath his breath before moving his hand to the small of my back and leading me inside.

Once inside I hooked my arm around his, determined to stay by his side the whole night in order to try and prevent another fiasco.

After what seemed like hours socializing with all kinds of businessmen and celebrities but in reality was probably only about thirty minutes Jasper seemed to pick up on my bored mood and picked up two glasses of champagne from a passing waiter before pulling me to the side of the room.

"Why do I have a feeling this gala is boring you?" He asked as he handed me one of the glasses.

"I suppose I've been too busy getting myself in trouble to realize how boring these things actually are," I lightly joked.

"Well you wouldn't be getting yourself in trouble if Benjamin wasn't around," he commented, a dark expression taking over his face as he fixated on something across the room.

"But he wasn't at the first gala though, remember?"

"Yes he was," Jasper revealed. "I imagine you just didn't realize because he didn't try to speak to you, although I suspect that he's the one who slipped something into your drink."

"That bloody bastard," I mumbled. "He's not going to be here tonight is he?"

"Rumor has it he's left London for the holidays, but I wouldn't put it past him to disappoint us by showing up," he explained.

"Well then here's to hoping he gives us at least one pleasant evening by staying away," I grinned, clanking my glass with his before proceeding to drink the whole thing.

"Let's go dance!" I demanded, grabbing Jasper's arm and dragging him to the dance floor.

I wasted no time in placing his hands on my hips and putting my arms around my neck, forcing our faces inches apart.

"So how's the movie coming along?" Jasper asked after a moment of somewhat awkward moment of silence.

"It's going pretty well, I just wish they would give me time off to spend Christmas with my parents," I sighed.

"I'm sorry," he said. "I know how much you wanted to see your family."

"It's alright," I assured him. "It's not like spending Christmas without them is anything new to me."

After dancing through a couple more songs I began to feel incredibly dizzy and lightheaded.

"I need to go use the bathroom," I stated before turning away from Jasper to stumble my way to the bathroom.

Something in the back of my mind was screaming at me to stay with Jasper but the front of my mind chose to ignore it and finally made its way to the bathroom where I immediately went to the sink and began to splash water in my face.

Suddenly I heard the door behind me close compelling me to look up into the mirror, only to be met with the last person I ever wanted to be stuck in a bathroom with.

"Hello my dear," Benjamin smirked, slowly stalking his way over to me.

"What the bloody hell do you want Benjamin?" I asked, trying to ignore the pounding in my head.

"Well that's no way to great an old friend now is it?" He scolded, backing me into a corner. "But since you asked, I want to relive the good old days."

Before I had the chance to say anything else, Benjamin slammed me against the wall, and in the blink of an eye his hands were going places were they hadn't been in years, and where I never wanted them to be again.

I tried my best to shove him off of me but to no use, my limbs felt like jello and my attempts to shove him off of me did nothing to deter him.

Eventually my mind put two and two together, and I realized that Benjamin must have somehow managed to slip something into my drink.

All I could do while he felt me up was cry out for help over and over, but to my dismay my cries sounded more like mumbles that no one would be able to hear unless they were right outside the bathroom door.

When I heard the sound of a zipper and felt my dress being pulled up I closed my eyes and began to sob, begging for him to stop while I tried as hard as I could to ignore the sickening feelings that came with being violated in this way.

It felt like hours before he finally stopped, zipping himself back up and leaving me to slowly fall to the floor and curl up into a ball barely able to comprehend what just happened.

"Thanks for the trip down memory lane Clara," Benjamin smirked before finally leaving the bathroom.

I sat on the floor, unable to stop replaying what happened over and over in my head, until finally I couldn't help but rush over to the toilet and puke up all my stomach contents from the day.

"Clara!?!" Jasper called out as he frantically slammed into the bathroom to find me hovering over the toilet bowl.

His first instinct was to reach out to rub my back to which I responded by violently flinching away and begging to sob again.

"Clara, what happened?" He asked, his tone revealing his fear and confusion.

"No, no, no, no," I mumbled, shaking my head.

"Clara, look at me," he demanded, causing me to look up from the toilet and find his eyes, which immediately managed to make me feel more at ease. "What happened?"

"I can't," I protested, unable to get the words to explain what happened out of my mouth.

"Okay, How can I help you?"

"I need to go," I cried. "I can't stay here."

"Okay we can go, can I help you get up?" He asked, waiting for me to give him permission to touch me.

I slowly nodded my head and reached out to grab his arm to pull myself off of the bathroom floor.

"I'm going to put my arm around you so we can hide your face on everyone," he warned me before wrapping me up in his embrace.

We walked through the banquet hall and past the paparazzi as swiftly as possible and once we reached the limo we arrived in he released me from his grasp to allow me to go inside where I promptly curled into a ball.

Jasper sat just far enough away from me so that he was still close enough for me to reach out if I needed him, but also at a distance where he wasn't touching me at all, which I appreciated more than he knew.

Eventually my exhaustion overwhelmed me and I feel into a deep sleep, tormented by the events that occurred.