Chapter 323: Lightweight

Olivia was out at a bar with Bastien. They had been chatting about Dom's sudden disappearance when the man hit her with a heavy statement. He had told her that she needed to find someone who liked her from day one, and the first person to pop into her mind was Peter.

Disgusted with her brain's betrayal of herself, Olivia downed her drink rapidly. She had been babysitting the same drink for a long time, and it tasted stale to her.

Olivia was not a lightweight drinker, but she felt the effects near immediately and she did not feel like it was the classic drunkenness she had experience with. What she was feeling was scary.

"Something is wrong," Olivia said. She felt her body swoon and she knew it was not because she was drunk.

"You drank too fast. You are drunk," Bastien said. He stood up and helped Olivia to her feet. "let's go home."

Olivia wanted to protest, but instead she nodded, which further lent to her confused state. Her mind was telling her that she was in danger, and that she needed to call Cylus, but her body was moving of its own accord; allowing itself to be pulled along.

Olivia tried to open her mouth to speak, but no words came out, and before she knew it, she was outside of the busy bar, and standing in front of Bastien's car.

On the way out no one even bothered to see if she was okay. She passed by several people she knew, and each of them ignored her as if her clearly unnatural intoxicated state was nothing.

Even worse was that because Olivia had gone out with Bastien, Cylus had not insisted for her to bring anyone else along. He had been friends with the man since grade school, and Bastien always brought Olivia home on or before her curfew. Both Cylus and Olivia trusted the man.

"Where are you taking me?" Olivia tried to ask, but no words left her lips. Even her legs had stopped moving under her and Bastien had to pick her up.

Olivia did not want to believe that Bastien had anything to do with the state she was in, but he kept saying little things to her that made her doubt him.

----

Peter and Matthew had met for drinks in a local bar where people of their kind mingled. The bar was nondescript and had a strict no camera policy, which made it ideal for actors and actresses, who wanted to let their hair down for a while.

It was also the same place where Mary was photographed cheating on Peter, but that did not bother him. What bothered Peter was the fact that people had read too deeply into his nonchalance. Instead of them believing that he was unaffected by Mary's betrayal, they chose to believe he was turned by them.

It was the reason Matthew had called Peter out for drinks. He wanted to tell his friend about all the things he had been hearing. The open setting was to help his friend maintain his composure, and to perhaps send him home with a willing actress to help put to rest some of the easier to refute claims.

Matthew expected his friend to become enraged, but Peter was silent. It was not because the rumors were too much to handle, or that they had made him angry to the point where he could not speak. The rumors about him were harsh, but that was not what turned Peter mute.

Peter was silent because Olivia was right, a friend would have said something when they heard something. It was what Matthew was doing, and what he should have done for the girl he had met when she was just fourteen.

Back then, Olivia was too young to be attractive to Peter, but he liked her personality. As she grew older, she became much more beautiful, but all Peter could see for the longest time was the fourteen-year-old Olivia. The girl who loved to tell funny stories, and make people laugh.

Peter's revelry was interrupted by Matthew's interjection, and Peter was grateful. He was not enjoying his trip down memory lane.

"I don't know what Mary's angle could be. Telling people that you prefer men does her no good. I doubt she is the one behind the stories," Matthew said.

"I will ignore them for now. Mary wouldn't have spread rumors about me knowing I have pictures of her." Matthew knew that Peter could not have been talking about the photos of her kissing her now fiancé. Peter must have been referring to something else, but he was too distracted to ask.

"Sh*t," Matthew said. His face grew serious and Peter turned to face what had made the man react as such.

What Peter saw was a drunken Olivia, being guided out of the bar by a man he recognized as Bastien Pence. The man was a close friend of CEO Cylus Rue, but for whatever reason, Peter did not feel comfortable with what he was seeing.

Matthew could see the wheels turning in Peter's head, but he was not going to stop the man from doing whatever he wanted to do. He just hoped the situation was as it appeared. He knew Olivia had a terrible reputation, but according to Peter, she was the victim of wagging tongues.

Whatever the truth was, Matthew just hoped Peter knew when to quit. The man had only just been released from under the thumb of CEO Rue, and he knew it would be worse if it happened a second time.

----

Before he could think of a better approach, Peter's legs carried him toward where he had seen Bastien take Olivia. He could hear the man whispering to the woman and every so often he could clearly hear what was being said.

Bastien was complimenting Olivia almost as if he were trying to sweet talk her into his car. To Peter, the woman did not appear drunk. She looked confused, scared even, but she was not putting up a fight.

Eventually, Olivia's legs began to wobble, and Peter watched Bastien scoop the woman up bridal style.

"Don't worry. I'll be responsible for you," Bastien said to Olivia, whose face took on a panicked expression.

They were at the back of the bar where cars were parked, and the few people that were around were not paying attention. Olivia's eyes darted around the parking lot, looking for someone to help but there was only one man nearby.

When Olivia saw Peter, she shot him a look that was begging; begging him to call Cylus, begging him not to allow her to be taken away. She knew what he thought about her, she knew what other people thought about her, and she was afraid that Peter would interpret the situation as her drunkenly leaving with a friend.

Peter instantly recognized the pleading gaze Olivia gave him, and it literally pained him. He had seen her happy expression, her angry expression, he had even seen her indifferent expression, and now, he had seen her terrified expression. Without thinking, he picked up something from the ground and hit Bastien on the back of the head.