“No, thank you Ingrid.” He took both glasses of wine and handed one to me. “Don’t drink it too quickly Lola, I don’t want you getting drunk.”
“Then you shouldn’t have given me a glass of wine.” I took a large gulp. “You can’t tell me how quickly I can or can’t drink it.”
“Lola.” He frowned at me. “Don’t be impertinent.”
“Don’t be impertinent.” I muttered, feeling daring. I was annoyed that I had no idea where we were going. And I felt slightly intimidated to be going to a ball with a Prince, when it seemed like no one was really fond of me. His parents friends hadn’t spoke to me, Tarquin and Sebastian’s friends hadn’t been super nice and I couldn’t imagine that Xavier’s friends were going to be much nicer or care anymore.
“Are you okay, Lola?” He turned towards me. “You look stressed.”
“I just wish I knew exactly where I was going.” I sighed. “I want to know what to expect.”
“Lola, you need to relax. The not knowing is part of the fun.”
“It’s not fun for me. I want to know what’s going on.”
“We’re going to a party. We’re going to hang out. We’re going to have some fun. You’re going to meet some of my friends. It’s just going to be a fun night.”
“So we’re flying on a private jet to another country just for a “fun” night.”
“It’s going to be the most “fun” night you’ve ever had.” He grinned. “You’ll see.”
“I sure hope so.” I took another sip of wine and sat back. “Fine, I’m going to try and relax and see what happens.”
“Good.” He sipped some of his wine and then he ran his fingers along the rim of the glass.
“So there is something we need to talk about.”
“Oh?”
“We need to decide our names.”
“Our names?” I cocked my head. “I’m Lola and you’re Xavier, unless you’ve been lying to me.”
“No, we need club names.” His eyes bore into mine. “We don’t go by our real names once we enter the party.”
“Oh fancy.”
“We’ll also have to wear masks.”
“Masks?”
“Yes, I have one for you.” He smiled and called Ingrid over with his fingers. She seemed to know exactly what he was calling her for because she brought a small black bag in her hands and handed it to him. He opened it and handed me a small gold mask to cover my eyes.
“This is like Phantom of the Opera or something?”
“Or something.” He grinned. “More like Eyes Wide Shut.”
“Eyes Wide Shut? What’s that?”
“It was a movie.” He smiled. “But it’s not important. Let’s think of names.”
“Uhm, you should call yourself Alpha because you think you’re number one.”
“I like that.” He grinned. “I shall be Alpha and you shall be Omega.”
“The end.” I frowned. “Why are you the beginning and me the end?”
He grabbed my hand then and stared into my eyes. “I am the first and you are the last and we are together. You must remember that Lola. No one else can come in-between us. At the club, you are mine.”
“And you’re mine?”
“I’m no ones.” He shook his head, his eyes dark.
“How is that fair?”
“Life’s not fair, but it is what it is.”
“Whatever.” I looked out of the window at the orange night sky and all I could think about was Anna and how I wished she was here with me. I needed someone to talk to that wasn’t Xavier. Tarquin was someone who I liked, but I knew I couldn’t tell him the things I wanted to talk about.
“You’re upset again?” Xavier tapped me on the shoulder. “I don’t mean to upset you Lola. I’m a very honest guy. What you see is what you get with me.”
“It’s fine.” I shrugged without looking at him. “I don’t expect you to be any different.”
“I’m not the sort of guy you take home. I don’t want to be the guy you take home. You might not even realize it, but you don’t want me to be the guy you take home. We have chemistry. I like you. You like me. We’re having fun. Like I told you when I first met you, this isn’t forever.”
“I don’t want you to be mine forever.” I looked at him angrily. “And to be accurate, you said that ‘this’ whatever ‘this’ was, was for one night. And it became a lot more than one night.”
“This isn’t love, you know that right?”
“What are you talking about?” I laughed, though inside I could feel the beginning of my heart breaking.
“I don’t know.” He sighed and his expression changed. “I’ll be honest with you, Lola. I don’t know what I’m feeling. And that upsets me sometimes. I don’t want you to think that I’m leading you astray. I want you to be here. I want us to experience this passion together, but I don’t want you to get the wrong impression. I’m not a guy that commits.”
“Why create a fake engagement then?”
“I don’t know.” He sighed. “It was a rash decision, one I don’t fully understand.”