Chapter 185: The Gala IV: Hannah
"Are you thinking it’s the guy who tried to grab you?" Roman asked, his tone gravely serious.
"I’m not sure. I just know that’s the car I noticed following us around. They could be correlated, they could not," I answered honestly.
Sighing, Roman nodded and pulled out his phone. "I’m going to call Ed and Marcus to let them know they needed to hurry their asses up."
After I gave him a confirmation nod, he raised the phone to his ear. "Hey. Hannah just spotted a car that’s been following her around at the gala. The guy looks familiar, but she didn’t get a good enough look to really describe him. Not sure if it’s the guy who tried to snatch her or not, but it is enough to make me concerned."
There was talking on the other end of the call and Roman nodded. "Are you sure there’s no way you two can get here any sooner?" He frowned.
"Alright. Just get here as soon as possible. If there’s anything I can do to speed things up, let me know. I’m willing to do it"
"Alright. Yes. Thanks."
He hung up and looked as though he was trying to swallow his frustration and anger.
"I guess they still are caught up with things?" I asked.
He nodded. "Yeah. They will be here tomorrow night, hopefully a little sooner. They are in an airport now."
"What did they say for us to do in the meantime?" I asked.
"Stick with security. Including just seeing the gala through. It’s best to be around as many people as possible right now. Don’t go anywhere alone, including the bathroom. Take your sister and one of the guards."
"Okay," I breathed.
I hugged myself to his side and squeezed him. I knew that he was stressed and anxious and I hated it. I just wanted to make him feel a little better, but I knew right then wasn’t exactly the best time to tell him to relax. "Let’s go try and enjoy the rest of the night."
He nodded and started back toward the building entrance. "I need a stiff drink," he muttered.
Just inside, we were greeted by a waiter, and he grabbed himself an old fashioned. Despite my promise to switch to water, the slight tremble to my hand caused me to grab a glass of wine.
As much as I wanted to be strong for the both of us, and to keep my resolve almost in protest to let whoever was against us to let them know that they couldn’t get to me like that, I was nervous. I didn’t know who it was I had just tried to track down. I don’t know if they were there to cause me harm. And I didn’t know why they hadn’t startled or scared me before. I told myself it was because I simply hadn’t gotten a good enough of a look.
Going back to our table, we found Freddy and Lauren giggling with one another with drink glasses lined up in front of them. They looked as though they had never left the table and had instead decided to enjoy the evening together in a drunken, giggly stupor.
I had many questions about what I was witnessing with them, but I kept them to myself.
"Looks like you guys are having a good time," Roman greeted as we sat down across from them.
"Rome! Rome, there you are," Lauren slurred. "I was just telling Frederick here about the time we went to Athens for Christmas."
"Oh, don’t get on that story," Roman muttered in response.
"Why not?" she grinned. "Don’t want your wife to know about your little secret?"
"We don’t have secrets, but not every detail needs to be shared," he grumbled.
Lauren turned to me, her wine sloshing as she did. "Hannah, dear, would you or would you not like to hear it?"
Roman gave me a pleading look, but I was all grins. I couldn’t help it. She had me intrigued. "I would eventually like to know what it’s about," I stated, finding the only middle ground answer that was still truthful.
"Well eventually is now," Lauren declared. She blinked and smiled drunkenly.
"Go on then, Lauren," Freddy chuckled, his arm falling to the back of her chair.
"There we were, at this fabulous ski resort. Our parents had joined together and reserved the entire place just for our family. Uncles, aunts, grandparents, and every cousin in the family was there. Having a grand time. Only Mr. Roman here was too nervous to ski, so he spent all his time with our grandparents in the lounge, drinking hot chocolate and stuffing himself with sweets. At some point, we had managed to convince him to come outside and play in the snow. He immediately moaned and crooned that it was too cold for him. He hurried inside and got himself in the hot tub. Only, the drastic change in temperature made him sick. Just as our uncle was getting in with him, he spewed chocolate and mini marshmallows all in the hot tub."
Freddy belted out in laughter and I had a little giggle, but it was more so one of sympathy. I patted Roman’s leg. It wasn’t really all that funny, more pitiful.
"You forgot the detail that I was six, Lauren," Roman muttered.
"Oh, what does that matter?" Lauren snickered.
Roman rolled his eyes and looked over at me. I gave him a soft look and snaked my arm around his. He didn’t need to feel so embarrassed. I was sure we all had embarrassing stories about throwing up when we were kids.
Yet, the miserable look on his face let me in on the fact it wasn’t just Lauren’s drunken ramblings about an embarrassing time in his life that was getting to him. It was also the situation at hand.
I rested my head on his shoulder and took in a deep breath. We would get through it. Just like everything else.
"Why the long faces?" Freddy asked. "Isn’t this supposed to be a party?"
"Right you are, Frederick," Lauren nodded. She stood and stumbled a bit before grabbing his hand. "Come on, let’s go dance." My brother scrambled to stand as well. Lauren looked back over at us. "I would recommend the two of you have some fun yourselves."
I wished we could.
Part of me wished I hadn’t searched for that face. We would have been able to enjoy the rest of the night in an ignorant bliss. However, the more rational part of my brain knew that it was in our best interest to know who was there and who wasn’t.
I watched as Roman motioned for one of the bodyguards to come over and the guy leaned down as Roman explained what happened in his ear. The guy snapped up and nodded before walking off to tell the others.
I squeezed Roman’s hand. "I know it’s hard to do, but we should try to have a good time. Like Ed and Marcus said, the safest place to be is around people. For the next couple of hours, there’s no place I think we could be safer."
"An army base," he muttered. When I shot him a look, he sighed and nodded. "Okay, okay. I concede."
Standing up, I pulled him to his feet and moved over to the floor again.
We stepped to one another and I rested my head on his chest. The song had a strange beat, a little too fast to slow dance, but it was what felt right. We swayed side to side and listened to the lyrics.
"If you’ll never see em coming, you’ll never have to hide. Take my hand, take my everything. If we only got a moment, give it to me now."
It was Slip Away by Perfume Genius. I was surprised I knew that. I supposed I had seen them in one of my indie playlists.
I closed my eyes and felt Roman as we tried to get lost in the music. It was all we had. Something about the rhythm and the vocals almost felt as though it was keeping us pieced together. It was keeping us tethered to the moment, to the place, to the event. Without it, I don’t know where we would have been. Then again, maybe I was a bit of a romantic when it came to indie music.
When the song changed, we stayed in the same position. It didn’t matter the
tempo or the mood of the song. We held to one another and focused on just being together, being in the moment, and processing what was happening, even if we didn’t yet know what it was that was happening. It was something. It wasn’t good.
I knew I could have cried and wept about how the Auction House and the hell it brought upon me was even ruining such a special day, but I didn’t want to give them that power. I wanted to forget to the best of my ability and salvage that night. No matter how difficult it seemed.
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