Chapter 9- Catch me if you can

Iris's POV

My face is caked with makeup and its feeling really heavy. It’s always the same every time we go to an event like this. I must wear a new dress that’s really pretty and make sure to tell whoever is doing my hair and makeup to make me ’beautiful’ which is pretty much their way of telling them to go over the top crazy and make it hard for me to breath.

This time I’m wearing a beautiful sparkly black dress with a slit on the right thigh. A few days ago, I had realised that it wasn’t really my parents controlling everything. They didn’t choose my clothes or pack my bag every morning or design my room. They had people doing all those things for them, but they made sure that I thought they were looking at me all the time and controlled everything about me. I couldn’t believe I hadn’t realised that before.

I was pulled out of my thoughts when the door opened, and I realised we had arrived at the venue. I stepped out of the car with my family and the first thing I saw was cameras flashing at us.

I wanted to roll my eyes at how my family was so unbothered by this, but I didn’t want to get that camera, so I maintained a fake smile like my mother’s and walked with my family inside.

I marvelled at the sight. I had been to these events, but they never ceased to surprise me. It was huge. People were spread around with wine glasses in their hands and waiters moving around with appetisers.

I was instantly pulled out of my thoughts when my mother tugged at me. She gave me a sharp look that told me if I did anything wrong, I would be in trouble. It used to intimate me so much but now all i felt was a slight pull at my heart.

I followed my parents when they went towards a woman and a man talking to each other. When we got close to them, I saw how beautiful the woman was. Her blonde hair was in an elegant bun and her red dress with golden embroidery clung to her figure highlighting all her best curves. But none of that caught my eye, instead, it was her deep green eyes.

They had a certain softness that showed her motherly love. They weren’t the exact same, her’s were a little lighter in colour but I could see it. I could see the resemblance. She was Adrian’s mother and when I looked at the man, I knew I was right. He looked exactly like Adrian or rather Adrian looked exactly like him. The same black hair and god-like face, the only differences were that he looked older and the eyes.

I was pulled out of my gawking when i heard my name “And this is our daughter, Iris.” I instantly pulled up a smile and pretended to be listening the whole time, but my mind was reeling at the possibility that if Adrian’s parents were here then maybe he was here too. “Ah, Hello Iris, a pleasure to meet you” The man said in a sincere voice. “I’m Keith Roberts and this is my wife, Ellie Roberts” Yep. They were definitely Adrian’s parents, so, where was he?

It was as if she read my thoughts Ellie said, “Our son, Adrian is here somewhere as well, He is around your age, In fact, I think you might have some classes together” Just as she finished the sentence Adrian showed up beside her.

He looked handsome as ever in his dark blue suit bringing those beautiful green eyes that I loved so much. “Adrian, Nice of you to join us after wandering off for the millionth time” His father said to him in a playful voice. He gave a slight nod, but his focus was on me. When his parents noticed that his mum spoke up “This is Iris, She the Jones’s daughter. I think you have a few classes.”

I blinked my eyes away and heard him respond “Yeah, we met in class.” His voice sent shivers down my spine and my mind instantly went to the kiss.

As my eyes trailed back to his, I gave him a small smile. “why don’t you two spend a little time together, get to one each other” My mother said, probably seeing how handsome he is. Without looking her way, I stepped towards him and we started walking away together.

He silently led the way and I followed, not knowing what else to do. After a few twists and turns, we were in front of a door. He twisted the knob and entered without hesitating. We both entered and before i could get a look at the room, I was pushed against the wall. I gasped as I felt the cool wall and slowly trailed my eyes up to meet his.

His arms were on the wall on either of face. I could feel his breath was fanning on my lips. “What are you doing here?” It took me a while to process his words because of our close proximity and when I did, I was confused. “What’s anyone’s reason for coming to an event like this”. I wanted to say that that out loud, but my mother’s sharp gaze stopped.

When I heard him chuckle, I was confused again until I realised that I had said it out loud. I guess I couldn’t help. I was too comfortable with him and our current position had frozen my mind.

My eyes went down to his lips which were pulled into a gorgeous smile, and I couldn’t help but stare. I could feel his eyes burning holes in me and I could tell without looking that his eyes had darkened. It happened every time we got even a little intimate, I found it strange but also loved it, so I never questioned it.

He cleared his throat and moved back. My eyes instantly snapped back to his only to find them closed as he took a deep breath. When he opened them, they were back to their deep forest green colour.

“Come with me,” he said as turned back to open the door. When I didn’t follow him, he turned around to look at me. I’m guessing the confusion I was feeling showed because he took my hand and led me outside, and like every time we had, the sparks flew across me, filling me with a sense of completion.

I let him take me wherever he wanted and before long I realised that he was sneaking us out. When we were out, the first thing I noticed was trees, so many trees it almost looked like a forest and he led me right into it.

Anyone would have been scared at this point, I mean he could be planning to murder me and was taking me in there so no one would hear me, or he was gonna kidnap me or maybe he was involved in the Mafia and was gonna sell me off (I read too much) but I didn’t believe he would do any of that and if the tenderness and protective nature were anything to go by then I knew I was in the right hands.

My thoughts were proven when we stopped at the edge of a beautiful glade. I gasped softly and let go of his hand to step forward. For the second time today, I felt amazed at my surroundings. A thought crossed my mind as a small smirk crossed my face and I started to take off my shoes.

I turned around to face Adrian with amusement clear on my face. I slowly started moving back and said, “Catch me if you can.” I started running at soon as I finished the sentence. I heard a heavenly chuckle from behind me, but I kept running. I knew he was fast, but I wasn’t worried.

When I reached the other side of the glade, I looked back only there was no one there. I stopped and turned around. Just as I was about to call his name, I felt a hand around my It was deeper, more intimidating. I kept my eyes closed as I felt him nipping at my ear, my body filled with ecstasy.

But his next words brought back the feeling of mischief “What’s my prize.” As soon as I processed the words, I jumped out of his arms and started running the running while laughing at playful growl I knew all too well now.

And that was how the rest of our night went. Playing and chasing each other, but my favourite was when we danced together in the rain, not caring about our clothes or about someone seeing us. All we cared about was each other and when our lips connected while dancing in the rain, in the middle of a glade in nowhere, it sealed a silent promise between us and i knew from then on, I would never be alone again.