Chapter 46
Bryan’s POV
I take long strides towards the VIP section where Eric is sitting with two half-naked girls, dancing and giggling. I had told my bodyguards to stay outside and wait for me since I have no plans to stay long. I wouldn’t be here if my father wasn’t involved.
He said Eric is remorseful but I doubt him and I am here to prove him wrong. I am going to deal with Eric silently and make him know the kind of stuff I am made of. As for my father, when he is eventually back in New York, I am going to reveal everything to him.
The moment he sees me, his face lights up in surprise. He must be thinking I won’t come here like I promised to. Eric and I once came to this particular club a few years ago to have fun. When he told me he wants us to meet here, I knew instantly that it is the same club we went to the other night.
“See who we have here”, he beams, grinning widely and throwing his arms up. The girl’s attention shifts to me and they gasp in recognition.
Ignoring them, I enter the section and sit without waiting for his permission. One of the girls whispers into his ears and he nods. She smiles at me shyly.
“Good evening, boss”, he smirks proudly as I lean back in the chair I am sitting, watching him intensely and waiting for the explanation and apology father said he wants to give. Eric is not remorseful for what he did.
“Can we move straight to business? I have no intention to stay longer than expected”, I utter with all seriousness. I am still dressed in my suit, I haven’t been to the mansion yet because I came here directly, after leaving the office. I got his call at noon.
“Hey, come on. Relax, man.” He waves his hand in my face and gulps a large content of the champagne in his mouth directly from the bottle. “Call the girls”, he says to one of his slut.
I watch her walk past me after winking at me seductively. Eric has no idea how irritated I am. He has no idea how much I want to punch him in his face and how much I want to be done with whatever shit he wants to say so I can go home after a long day at work.
He no longer regards me as his boss, the respect is absent now. He now regards me as his cousin brother but I see him as an enemy. He wouldn’t be doing this to me if he is really my brother.
“Eric, I have a lot to do at home and I would appreciate it if you just say whatever you want to say…”, I grit my teeth in annoyance but he cuts me short with a mischievous smile on his face.
“Loosen up, bro. Have some fun. I know it’s been long since you had fun”, he mutters, and anger courses through me at the statement.
What the hell is wrong with this idiot? Is he trying to mock me for not having a woman in my life?
Two girls appear beside me and before I can fully take in the fact that they are here for me, they attack me with their hands, pushing me back in the chair and rubbing their hands on my body in an attempt to seduce me.
I glare at Eric angrily, being careful not to cause a scene here. I am not surprised that I feel nothing despite the girl’s touch. Emily did the same thing to me a month ago and I felt nothing, absolute nothing.
No woman moves me anymore. No woman can be like my Helena. Helena is the only woman who knows the right button to touch to get me in the mood. Besides, my feelings are dead with her.
I am too irritated to stop myself from snatching my hand from their hold. I lean forward. “If you will excuse me”, I say to the girl and turn to Eric. “Eric, are you going to say something or you will continue to watch…”
“Bryan…”Nôvel/Dr(a)ma.Org - Content owner.
“Don’t fu****g call my name. I am here because of my father and because business is involved so say whatever you want to say so I can get the hell out of here.”
He raises his brows. “How can you reject beautiful damsels like these?” He points at the two girls and my gaze shifts to them.
For the first time since they began to touch me, I notice their appearance. They are in nothing but pants and bras and one of the girls looks Chinese.
“They are yours for the night. For free. After having fun, we can talk.”
I hit the desk in front of me in anger, making the girls rise abruptly in fear.
“F***ing say what you want to say.”
A look of amusement flash across his face and I realize he is doing this on purpose. He wants me to annoy him and have me humiliate myself.
He didn’t call me here to reconcile our differences by telling me what actually happened. Eric is not remorseful like I told father and I am glad everything is recorded, even though it isn’t what I intend to play for father.
He isn’t saying anything but watching me intensely and sipping his wine so I get up furiously, to leave. I no longer care about what he wants to say. I am going to take laws into my own hands and have him dealt with.
I will make sure he is going to be the one to come looking for me the next time we are going to see each other.
“Bryan”, he stops me. I turn back with red blazing eyes. I have been treated like a fool and I am trying so hard not to grab and strangle Eric before leaving this club. He deserves no sympathy from me or my father.
“Since you are no longer interested in hearing what I have to say to you, say hello to Jason for me. Your child”, he winks and my mouth drops open in shock.
****
Celine’s POV
His body is shaking and he is sweating profusely on the bed. Panic strikes me as I watch him struggle with another nightmare.
Instead of running towards him, wondering if it just started the moment I entered the room to wake him up or if he has been like this for some minutes even before I entered.
His body twists on the bed and he cries out in pain like someone who has been crushed to death. I clasp my hands over my mouth, forcing my feet to move closer to his bed, thinking about what to do, and how to ease this pain.
I hate seeing him this way. I want it to stop. I can’t keep experiencing this. I can’t keep watching him go through this. This is too much for Bryan. He is strong on the outside but he is going to break down completely with this.
With urgency, my feet let go and I run over to his bed. I need to wake him up. I need to stop this nightmare.
“Bryan, wake up. Bryan, wake up, Bryan, wake up!” I keep shouting and I struggle with him. He is pushing, kicking, turning, and twisting his body.
He isn’t calming down, instead, he becomes restless. I don’t know when a tear rolls down my eyes as he continues struggling with me. I can’t let go and watch him continue this way.
Without thinking, I slam my body onto his on the bed and surprisingly, his body goes calm.
I sob in his chest with closed eyes, feeling the pain emitting from his body and sniffing it in. His sweat reeks of his cologne but I am too sad to enjoy the moment.
His body goes stiff for a while before he relaxes. Suddenly, I remember Camilla’s chat yesterday about Bryan’s favorite drink.
I thought his favorite drink was the coffee he usually requested when I was his secretary but I was nailed wrong when Camilla told me how much he loves chocolate drinks. I knew instantly that Jason got his love of chocolates from Bryan.
Without wasting any more time, I rush out of his room and run all the way to the kitchen. I grab the jar of cocoa powder, sugar, milk, and marshmallows out.
Within minutes, I am done making him a hot chocolate drink and I run back to his room careful not to spill the drink.
The moment I step in, I know the air in the room has changed. I turn to his bed to see him sitting up with a distant look on his face. I can’t say if he knows of my presence because of how I slam the door shut behind me in a hurry.
I walk briskly to his bed with the cup of hot chocolate drink, hoping he won’t reject it. As soon as I am close by, he lifts his eyes to meet mine and we stand staring at each other for a while before his gaze shifts to the drink.
I am standing with doubt and numbness as I watch his vulnerable side. He looks like another man and not the Bryan who is always harsh to me. He looks broken and helpless but I can’t offer a hand of help to him.
When he stretches his hand to take the drink from me, I realize I have been standing there for too long without presenting the drink to him with the hope that it will calm him down and soothe his nerves.
I wish I know what to do to ease the pain and make it go away forever, to make it oblivion, and to make the wounds heal faster.
I wish I can do something, even if he won’t appreciate it. I want him to be healed from the pain of the past. I want him to move on from the past.
I want him to think less of the past hurt and the mistakes he had made. Apparently, Bryan is not healed yet from Helena’s death and he is still blaming himself for her death.
I know what it takes to lose someone you love. I know it creates a hole in the heart that can never be reinstated.
Bryan lost his wife and two children but I lost everyone in my family. I am the only survivor. When my grandmother died, I thought I wouldn’t survive it but I did.
Bryan is stronger than I am right? He needs to survive it too.
“Celine”, his broken voice that sounds like the voice of a man pleading for alms utters. He stretches his arms further for me to drop the cup of drink into it, jerking me out of my trance.
I know I need to give it to him before it gets cold. I know that his love for this drink is out of the world. I know that Bryan is stronger than I see him as and he will surely come out of this stronger than expected.
I move closer and drop the cup into his open hands slowly. He flashes me an appreciative look but I can’t wait any further to watch his switched personality. I turn back abruptly as he lifts the cup to his lips to take a sip.
I rush to the door with tears streaming down my eyes as he splurts the drink all in one go.