Possessive Rich Boys

Chapter 2

Playlist - Starlight by Taylor Swift

Luna

Oh, no!

Dread crawled its way through my chest and down to my stomach. No. No. No. This couldn't be happening. My senses were drained out as I struggled to breathe underwater.

My arms were drawing support from the figure that fell with me in the pool. After a few nanoseconds, I was pulled up.

I shrieked and clung to a muscular body. “God! Stop squirming.”

The familiar pounding in my chest echoed in my ears. It took me a few seconds to fathom what happened. My heart leaped in fear when I realized who fell with me.

Ares Torrance. He was my senior, followed by a bad reputation. Son of real estate mogul, Sedric Torrance, Ares simply made me afraid of my own skin. He oozed with gorgeousness and power and wasn't afraid to flaunt his title and power.

Why did I have to crash into him? Ares Torrance terrified me.

He dropped my arms which I realized were still clung to his neck, he was trying to detach himself from me. My cheeks flushed when I took in our positions.

He unwrapped my legs from his waist and glared at me with immediate displeasure. “When you can't swim then don't lurk around the pool.” His green eyes slightly reflected amusement.

His green eyes were locked on me, not even blinking. He stared at me with an intense gaze that was almost hostile. I suddenly felt vulnerable, like an antelope standing in the tall grass of the Serengeti.

The entire crowd had their attention fixated on us. It made me feel exposed. His eyes were still on me. I forced myself to stare elsewhere, anywhere but him I allowed myself to be intimidated. Who wouldn't be intimidated under the stare of Ares Torrance?

“Luna.” Mia’s voice came back ringing. I suddenly felt aware of my surrounding first time in the last few minutes. Ares made my senses vanish and only knew him for five minutes.

“You’re cold, C'mon, here take this.” She helped me out of the pool and wrapped a towel around my soaked body. “Woah,” I said, moving away from the infinity pool, shivering slightly as I hugged the warm towel around me.

I heard sound of water dripping on the floor, so, Ares was out of there too. “Axel is staring at you,” Mia whispered. If I wasn't leaning into her, I wouldn't have heard what she said.

I diverted my attention to Axel, I completely forgot about him. I looked up to see that girl sitting comfortably on his lap. An uncertain feeling erupted at sight of them. I was a fool to believe he would ever notice me and now that when he was finally looking at me, it didn't felt good.

I fixed my dress which was a little ridden up, despite my shaky hands. “Mia,” a gruff voice called out from where Axel was sitting and I immediately I recognised it. It was a her stepbrother, Chase Henry.

“What the hell are you and your friend doing here?” he demanded, storming towards us. His grey-blue eyes piercing her green ones. They were so intense, all of his anger was directed at her.

He inhaled a deep breath, anger running through her veins. “I can go wherever I want,” she stressed on the word wherever, “last time I checked, you weren't the boss of me.”

He chuckled, amusement invisible. “Crashing my friends party and throwing that sass on me won't work.” Their argument was gradually drifting onto a personal level, it was no more about the party or me falling in the pool. It was something more personal, intimate.

“If my presence bothers you so much then you won't be seeing much of me. I promise.” A look of panic crossed Chase’ boyish features at Mia’ words, but he quickly recovered it. “Thank you, I'll be glad to not see your face anytime.” He then added,”Soon.

“Let's get you out of here.” I nodded.

We sauntered out of there, I couldn't help but turn my face around and spot Ares Torrance still staring at me.

***

When I get back we'll have some Chris Hemsworth movie marathon.” My aunt and I FaceTimed each other as often. Work kept her away most of the time, but she still made time for me.

“Yeah, it's a tradition.” I smiled at her. We did some serious ogling at Chris Hemsworth. “Don’t forget to eat your breakfast before for school. Drink water.” She reminded me for the nth time.

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, yeah. I will.” She glared at me in return. “I'm going to be a senior soon and very soon an adult,” I reasoned with her.

“Don’t care, you're still my baby girl.” My aunt is so sentimental. She has pampered me all my life yet showed me where the boundaries ended.

She trusted me with all her heart and in return I didn't act rebellious, put a toe out of line. I was the ideal good girl.

“So, sweetie, how was the party last night, I heard from Mia, you were quite excited for it.” My smile instantly faded, last night's events rushing back to me. All I could think about was a pair of eyes greener than sss staring at me

I instantly shuddered at the thought of it. “Uh- the party,” I didn't wanted tell her what happened with me so I mustered up a partial lie. “It's not my scene.”

Her vibrant blue eyes were dull with fatigue, she worked to hard. I did not want her stress about me, she has already done so much for me. My mother died when I was six and since then my aunt Lucille was my everything.

“I mean parties are for losers and I'm too cool for such parties,” I said smugly as I lounged in my queen size bed.

She chuckled. “Only you can think that.” She ran her hand through her wavy blond hair, just like mine.

“And to say, it's like a month left till summer vacation and I was thinking about taking advanced classes to boost my GPA and make my Stanford application look lit.” She nodded.

“And what about your dance recitals? she asked.

“Oh, that, I have a few left till the final showdown. I hope that'll make my application more appealing.” I stated, excitedly. She smiled in response, we chatted for good few minutes.

“- and I want you to take care of yourself too and maybe you should finally explore Paris this time,” I suggested. I wish for once she would take care of herself instead of working. She wasn't even old, just 38 and too young to handle immense workload. Sometimes, I felt guilty for her absent love life.

She just smiled, ready to doze off. “Honey, I will.” We ended our FaceTime session and I lounged in my bed, just relaxing.

I busied myself in doing my pending homework, making stir fry chicken for myself and then texting Mia. She sounded a bit distant and I wondered what happened with her and Chase.

I need to talk to her at school tomorrow. By the end of the night, I sat on my windowsill, looking out my french windows, just gazing at the stars.

My stars were my lifeline, always shining brighter than anyone. Before the death of my mother, she and I used to have little picnics in our backyard, looking at stars, giving each a name, spending time under them. I believed my mother was one of them. Especially, the one that shone brighter than rest. That one was my Lake, my mother.

My stargazing was interrupted when a stone came flying at me. What the-

I looked down and saw no one then looked across me and saw a familiar pair of PJs sitting on the windowsill. Charlotte.

“Did you throw that stone?” I was a little angry at her.

My anger caused her to panic. “I'm not angry,” I assured her, controlling my anger. “If you wanted to talk, you could have just psst at me.”

“psst.” She tested out the sound. “I just want you to be my friend," She said reluctantly, it evident in her tone.

“Good for you, I'm very friendly.” She smiled. “I saw you at the dance recitals. You make a good ballerina.” My brows furrowed in confusion.

“You saw me? When?” She nervously shrugged and I questioned her self esteem. “I'm in your group too.”

She was in my group. Why didn't see her ever? To be fair I didn't even knew she was my neighbour. “I-” I began but she cut me off.

“I mostly stay at the back. My brother tells me people in back don't catch anyone's eye. I shouldn't catch anyone’s eye.”

This girl gave me the creeps. Was she a secret I discovered? “I don't know what say. That was the truth. I really didn't know what to say.

“Don’t say anything. Can we go to the next dance recitals together? It'll be good to have a friend for a change.” I said yes to that.

“But please don't let my brother find out.” Then she slipped into the darkness of her bedroom and I sat there dumbfounded.

I looked at the sky, the stars were concerned by the clouds forming. Good. My mom was gone too. I thought in frustration.

That night I went to sleep thinking about an unstable girl and dreamt about forest green eyes.