It stepped into the light, and my breath caught. It was the man from earlier this evening. The low lighting lit up his high cheekbones and strong jaw; it dipped and curved along his brow line. His dark eyes glittered as he moved. I’d never seen such a beautiful man before, or one that exuded such sex appeal.
“You know,” he said conversationally, “assaulting a customer is prohibited in my club. Especially one as highly influential as him.”
He walked closer and nudged the moaning heap on the ground. “However, he did have it coming to him.” He smiled. “Andre,” he said holding out his hand.
So this was Andre de Leon.
“Gabrielle,” I said, not bothering to take his hand. “You watched the entire thing? And you did nothing to stop him?”
“I wanted to see how it played out. You seem like you can take care of yourself.”
I huffed. “And you seem like you flatter people for a living.”
He flashed me a grin that quickly turned devilish. “Okay Gabrielle, I’m feeling … nice tonight. So I won’t report this incident, and you can return to your friends—” I raised my eyebrows, “on one condition.”
I paused and considered his words. “Thanks, but I don’t think so.”
“Pardon?” Now it was his turn to look skeptical.
“You heard me, no.” I wasn’t going to be blackmailed for a situation he could’ve prevented.
He scrutinized me. “Well aren’t you just a feisty little thing,” he said. I guess this didn’t happen to him often.
“Are we done?”
“Come to dinner with me tomorrow.”
I rolled my eyes. “You can’t be serious?”
“Great,” he said. “I’ll pick you up at 7:00 p.m.”
“Uh huh. Do you even know where I live?”
“Of course. You’re a Peel student,” he said as he began to move back towards the main area of the club. “And all of you live on campus.”
I opened my mouth, but he cut me off. “And, to answer your next question, I know you’re a student because I’ve never seen you before—and trust me, you don’t have a forgettable face.” He winked.
“Well, isn’t someone a seasoned cradle-robber,” I said.
He only smiled, the bastard. “See you Friday.”
“I never agreed to the date!” I shouted after him, but he had already disappeared into the crowd.
***
Almost as soon as I walked out of the hallway Leanne pounced on me. “Where have you been? I was really worried something had happened to you.” She eyed our surroundings nervously.
“Something did happen to me,” I said. “Andre cornered me in the hallway.” Leanne’s eyebrows shot up at the mention of Andre. “And he saw me knee a wealthy club patron in the crotch.”
Leanne’s eyebrows nudged up even further. Behind her Oliver extricated himself from the crowd and wandered over. “Hey ladies, stop being wallflowers and come join me on the dance floor.”
Leanne ignored him. “So what happened after Andre saw all this?” she asked.
Oliver balked at the mention of Andre. “Whoa, what? You ran into Andre?”
I nodded. “He blackmailed me into going on a date with him.”
“Wait—WHAT?” Leanne’s eyes bulged.
“Oh my God! No way!” Oliver whooped. “You go girl! Way to make some fine lemonade out of lemons.”
“Would you just shut up?” Leanne said. “This is not good.”
“What do you mean not good?” He cocked his hip. “Andre’s practically a god. Let Gabrielle be flattered—she just got asked out by an international celebrity.”
“Yeah?” Leanne said. “Well, he’s also a womanizer, and he has a criminal record a mile long.”
“And has he gotten arrested yet? No.”
I watched the two argue back-and-forth. It seemed useless to tell them I wasn’t going on any date with Andre.
“That’s only because everyone’s too scared of him to do anything about it,” Leanne replied.
“Or it’s because his crimes aren’t that severe. Just stop acting like going on a date with this guy is a fate worse than death.”
“It could be,” Leanne said darkly. Oliver just looked at her.
“Okay, okay guys,” I said. “Let’s just forget this whole conversation. I think I’ve had enough fun for one night.”
***
An hour later Leanne and I sat outside our dorm room, passing back and forth a thermos of coffee she had made. Oliver had already gone back to his dorm to get his beauty sleep.
“You know, you are so screwed now that Andre got you to go on this date.”
I shrugged. “I’m not planning on going.”
Leanne raised her eyebrows. “Andre is not exactly the kind of person that gets rejected.”
“Well I’m not exactly the kind of person that gets blackmailed into a date.”
She laughed. “Okay, it’s your call. But this isn’t going to end well.”
Before I could answer, I heard voices in the stairwell across from us. “Did you see Andre de Leon checking me out?” The girl’s voice echoed up the stairwell.
Next to me Leanne groaned. “That’s the dreaded Doris,” she said.