Awareness and Something Something

TINA

I watched with wide eyes as Kelly downed another glass. This was her fourth. She definitely didn’t have a normal stomach.

“These so-called events may suck, but the drinks are A1 to the core.” She smiled, placing the glass on the table.

We were at the charity event. The venue was in a gigantic hall decorated to perfection. The guests all looked sophisticated and, as Kelly put it, they were snobby assholes and plastic bitches. Despite the fact that I wasn’t badly dressed in a plain white gown and white medium heels to match, I felt out of place.

Most of the attendants were dressed in attire that could pay my rent for two months. Kelly wore a bright red gown that matched her hair and hugged her curves with a slit at her left side, revealing her thigh and the tip displaying a decent amount of cleavage. She was a total babe. I felt a bit jealous.

She downed another glass and let out a cute burp.

“Ah, that hit the spot.” She patted her belly.

Hit the spot? This woman hadn’t even eaten anything. All she’d done was drink since we got here.

“How the hell are you not drunk right now?” I questioned.

“Because these things don’t do shit, babe.” She grinned. “It would take more than these suckers to knock my socks off.”

“I would have preferred food.” I frowned at the table, which was filled with only drinks. The buffet was still being prepared.

“A food lover, I see.” Kelly raised her eyebrows.

“That explains your bubble butt.” She giggled as she tilted her head down to look behind me.

“Hey!” I smacked her arm, a little offended.

“But seriously, you need to lay off the calories.” She feigned seriousness. “It would do a lot of good for you.”

I shook my head and glanced to the right. My eyes narrowed as I saw the perpetrator of my present misery. Alejandro, who looked irritatingly dashing in his tux, was talking with his father and another old man, probably a family friend.

I’d been thinking about his eyes, and I wanted him to look at me again. And at the same time, I just wanted to get out of here as fast as we could.

Besides, he had a date. A gorgeous woman clung to his arm as if she possessed him. She had long, wavy brown hair styled perfectly, brown eyes, and full, pouty lips.

The weird thing was, Alejandro looked uncomfortable. I could read it in his body language. So he hadn’t wanted to come either? I felt a dash of sympathy for him, even though he’d bullied me and the rest of the staff into coming.

Terrific.

I saw another guy walk toward Alejandro. This one was quite the looker, maybe even more beautiful than Alejandro. Were they cousins? The man had the same olive-colored skin, but he had black hair instead of brown, and deep blue eyes instead of green.

The two shook hands, and another round of discussion began between the group.

Alejandro looked at me then. It was fast, but I could feel his eyes on me. I couldn’t help but look back.

The woman he was with pulled him closer.

I looked away. I regretted having looked at him. “What was the point of today again?” I rubbed my forehead.

“Create exposure, awareness, and something something.” Kelly shrugged.

I made to question her but stopped because I saw her eyes narrow. I followed where she was looking.

The guy who was with Alejandro was walking toward us with a grin on his face.

“Please kill me right now.” I heard Kelly mutter.

He stopped before us and smiled.

“Ladies.” He greeted. His voice was a bit lighter than Alejandro’s, although the Hispanic accent was there.

“Tito.” Kelly frowned.

“Ah, Miss McPherson.” Tito grinned at her. “It’s good to see you again. You are looking as fiery and hot as the Mexican pepper as I remember.”

“Right.” Kelly rolled her eyes.

I thought this was hilarious, and I almost giggled.

Tito turned to face me.

“This is one of our CEO’s old friends,” she said to me. “His name is Tito Martinez.”

“And who is this magnificent beauty before me?” He smirked. “I’ve heard so many good things.”

“My colleague,” Kelly answered before I could.

“And she has a name, doesn’t she?” Tito’s eyes were still on me.

“Tina,” I said, offering my hand for a handshake. “Tina Campbell.” He seemed nice enough to me, although clearly he’d done something to get on Kelly’s bad side. And what did he mean he’d heard good things about me?

“Tina.” He accepted my hand and surprised me by kissing it. “A beautiful name for a beautiful damsel.”

As much as I wanted to roll my eyes at the cheesy line, it was sort of effective. I studied Tito’s face and saw a weird glint in his eyes. This man had an air of seduction around him. I found him charming.

“So, Miss Campbell,” Tito began, “any chance I could—”

Someone cleared his throat, startling the three of us. Alejandro was walking toward us with a huge frown on his face.

“Tito, I believe we came here for something else.” Alejandro put his hand on his friend’s shoulder and steered him away.

“Come on, hermano,” I heard Tito protest.

“Sorry, ladies.” Alejandro turned back to face us momentarily. “Good to see you.”

Kelly giggled as the two men returned to their spots to finish their discussion. “So Alejandro wants us here, but just as decoration. Not as people who get to talk.”

“I guess so.” I wasn’t sure what had just happened. “That man looks like he’s in the league of billionaires,” I said, referring to Tito.

“No shit, Sherlock.” Kelly rolled her eyes. “He is. That’s the owner of Club Martinez.”

My eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

“The strippers’ club?!” I raised my eyebrows. I’d never met a billionaire before Alejandro, and now I’d met two.

“Yeah.” Kelly nodded.

I studied the frown on her face. It seemed she must have some history with him. But whatever it was, I didn’t want to ask right now. Alejandro was enough of a problem. I was weirdly grateful that he’d pulled Tito away from us. I didn’t want another spoiled, stuck-up billionaire to worry about.

“Hey, you haven’t had a drink since we got here,” Kelly said.

She handed a glass to me. “Try some.”

“No, thanks.” I wrinkled my nose at the smell.

“Come on, loosen up.” She refused to back down. “If you want to get through this, trust me, this is the way to go.”

She wriggled her eyebrows at me. There was no way I was getting out of this.

I accepted the glass and sniffed it. I didn’t like drinking, but she’d had a point that getting a little buzz going could make this event easier.

Just as I put it to my lips, I felt someone bump into me from behind. The impact caused the red liquid to spill all over the front of my white dress. I gasped in horror and spun around to see who’d thundered into me.

My eyes blew with fire as I saw my assaulter. It was Alejandro’s date.

“Oops.” She gave me a fake smile. “Pardon me. My mistake.”

I examined my dress, which was now a mess. There was nothing mistaken about this woman’s actions. It was deliberate.

“What the hell is your problem?!” Kelly raged at the woman.

“Chill out,” the woman said casually. “I said it was a mistake.”

“Mistake, my ass!” Kelly retorted, advancing toward the woman. “You want to see a mistake? I’m going to mistakenly kick your slutty ass right now!”

I had to stop them, but it was as if I was frozen. I could see an incoming cat fight. And we had the whole room looking at us. I wished the floor would swallow me. Before the women could go any further, Alejandro stepped in.

“Natalie!” he snapped at the woman, making her back off.

This was the first time I had seen Alejandro furious. His green eyes looked even darker. It was scary. Even Kelly was taken aback.

“Go and stand with Tito,” he ordered.

“But—” Natalie made to protest, giving him the most revolting innocent look.

I could feel my insides churn with disgust.

“Now!” he barked.

The woman gave me a glare and walked away.

“That’s right, bitch,” Kelly called out.

Alejandro gave her a look, and she laughed awkwardly. He turned to me and examined my stained dress. His expression faltered a bit.

“Sorry about that,” he said.

I didn’t know how to reply as I didn’t know what to focus on: the fact that I was humiliated or the fact that Alejandro had apologized for it.

“Here, I’ll drive you home,” he offered.

That was another shocker. Alejandro being nice?

“It’s fine,” I replied. “I’ll take a taxi.”

“No, let me. I insist. Meet me outside in two minutes.”

The look in his eyes portrayed a message—and I understood. He felt an obligation.

“All right.” I relented. At least I’d be getting out of there.

He walked toward the exit, nodding to Tito on the way out. I recognized Alejandro’s father, Armando, in the crowd. I should have said hello to him.

“Is it just me, or did something just possess our CEO?” Kelly asked behind me as she walked me to the door.

“I wish I knew.”

***

This was the most uncomfortable silence of my life. And this was coming from someone who loves peace and quiet. The uncomfortable silence in his car wasn’t because of the stain on my dress, which made me look like a character from a horror movie. It was because I was in close proximity to the last person I would ever expect.

I tightened my hands and took sideway glances at Alejandro as he drove. His green eyes, which focused on the road, would cast a glow each time light from an incoming vehicle came into the car. And now that I was this close to him by the passenger seat, I took the time to study his face.

Up close, I now discovered that he had long eyelashes, which made him look almost feminine. His jaw, which clenched at intervals, looked even straighter. His hair, which had now become messy, formed bangs around his forehead. He looked even more attractive this way.

Great. Now I have bubbling weird feelings deep inside that I want to chase away.

“Would you like a camera, Miss Campbell?” he spoke, his eyes still on the road.

I flushed red, instantly regretting that I’d been staring at him. He knew I had been looking at him the whole time. But how? His eyes had been on the road. Then again, I’d forgotten who I was dealing with.

“What the hell for?” I coughed and frowned, taking my eyes to the road.

“So you could take a picture. It seems staring isn’t enough for you.”

“I wasn’t staring. You just imagined it.”

I caught him raise an eyebrow from my side view, but he said nothing. Another round of uncomfortable silence followed.

Then I couldn’t take it anymore.

“You know you didn’t need to do this,” I said. “Drive me home.” I almost said something about how I didn’t owe him anything, but I held back. I don’t think he was doing this for me. I think he was doing it for himself.

He didn’t reply.

“I could have just gone home on my own. Your chivalry wasn’t necessary.”

“Chivalry?” He took his eyes off the road and gave me that blank signature stare. “Is that what you think I’m trying to portray?”

“Why else did you volunteer to help out?” I folded my arms. “You’re trying to look good for whoever was at the party?”

He took his eyes back to the road. His jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed, then softened again.

“I felt the need to, Tina,” he replied after seconds that felt like eternity.

I was stunned. This was the first time he’d used my first name. And this time, it didn’t have the usual formal tone. And my instincts told me I was wrong about why he was driving me home. He wasn’t just acting out of duty or trying to look chivalrous. It seemed like he actually cared.

I hesitantly glanced again to discreetly observe him. His expression was soft now, and it made him look cute. Strangely cute. I had never seen him look like this. He almost looked like a teddy bear.

“She doesn’t mean anything to me,” he said, bringing me out of my reverie.

“Huh?” I blinked.

“That woman you had a squabble with. Natalie.”

I was furious as my memory flashed with the bitch who spilled the drink on my dress. She should count herself lucky that I was in a state of shock; otherwise, she would have been missing a lot of teeth and be in the hospital by now.

My past records weren’t completely clean. I may have been quite the scholar, but I also had a reputation for getting detention for violent conduct back in high school.

Ironically, Natalie did me a favor, though. Thanks to her actions, I was out of that sorry excuse for a party. I felt bad that I couldn’t get Kelly out, too.

“And why are you telling me this?” I asked. His relationship with his date was none of my business.

Alejandro turned to look at me. I couldn’t tell, but I could see either confusion or mild embarrassment in his eyes.

“Just to clear you up on things.” He shrugged.

I rolled my eyes. What did any of that have to do with me? Whatever drama he had with that slut should be kept between them and far, far, far away from me.

“Okay.” I shrugged.

We arrived at my building, and he stopped the car.

“Thank you,” I said and opened the door to step out.

“How do you plan to spend your Sunday?” I heard him ask behind me.

I paused in my movement and spun around.

“Is that important?” I questioned. I wanted him to know that just because I worked for his company didn’t mean he got my weekends too—or that he had any right to know about my life.

“Or do you have plans for me?” I smirked.

He returned my gaze with a stern one, and his lips pursed into a thin line.

“Just saying.” I raised my hands. “Goodnight, Mr. Gonzalez.”

“Goodnight, Tina,” his deep voice boomed behind me.

I froze at the spot. He’d used my first name again. His car drove off before I could spin around to question him on that.

I shrugged and stepped into the building. My heart was beating at an abnormal rate.

Maybe today wasn’t completely bad.