Masquerade Ball Pt. 2

"Do you mind?" He asked while showing off his card key. I moved right away to let him swipe it against the gadget mounted into the elevator's wall and apologized for barging in before he report me to the authorities.

"I'm so sorry. I have no plans to cause any trouble I'm just here to… um… bring my friend's phone because she forgot it at home."

The tall, honey-skinned pale redhead just stared down at me and it's making me even more uncomfortable than ever. He doesn't look mad as the ripped guard in black suits earlier but he exudes an intimidating aura above the rest.

And even though his short, fluffy mullet haircut softens his cheekbones and v-line jaws, his presence still feels suffocating for me. It could be his thick eyebrows or bigger than usual brown pupils looking at me like some prey.

I don't know for real. He's really handsome and I've never been given a second look by men in my entire life which is an advantage for me but at the same time, made me feel I never belonged especially on smaller crowds where everyone's focus tends to be obvious.

I had to swallow a lump in my throat to be able to breathe.

The guy never spoke a word on our way up. He's just standing there wearing a dark red waistcoat under a dark grey pair of formal suits with a hand in his right pocket. Yet I couldn't take my eyes off of him.

I wasn't even aware we arrived at the top floor till the door behind me opened. I was forced to get off to give him space to walk.

I thought he was one of the guests at the party considering he looked like one, but after analyzing my surroundings I realized it was just a normal carpeted hallway in between private rooms.

I spotted a sign pointing to a staircase at my left, so instead of going back to the elevator, I figured it's better to try my luck over there.

For sure no one in their right mind would use it unless there's a fire or something catastrophic and by the looks of the weather today, that's not gonna happen.

I made sure the guy fully entered his room at the opposite end of the staircase before I rushed towards the door and quickly ran upstairs. Fortunately for me, the door wasn't locked. I scanned the ceilings for security cams yet there was none, as in even one.

"That's weird but I'm thankful for that." I mentally giggled at the streak of my luck. The hallway's red carpet was way different compared to the one below and there was only one pair of doors accessible at the right side the elevator.

I suddenly got cold feet because of the complete silence. However, Lara's safety is all that matters.

I engraved that thought as I gather all my courage to push the heavy metal door slowly and but it won't move. I was about to go harder when it opened from the other side and the corner instantly hit my forehead.

"Oof!" I groaned in pain. My vision got blurry for a second and it appears like it's more than enough for the shadows in front of me to notice my presence.

"Who are you?" One husky voice asked.

I barely heard him due to the mixture of rave music and crowd's voices coming from the penthouse.

"Uh…" I was still trying to compose myself when I realized my forehead got bruised and a bit of blood got smudged against my fingers.

"My dinner." The other guy behind him casually said.

"You got yourself two, why are you taking what's mine?" He growled back at him but the two sophisticated women next to them didn't even bat an eye.

In a split second, they hissed at each other like some wild animal and at that moment my legs just carried me back to the fire exit stairs. I never looked back even though they were both laughing and cheering me on.

"I love my dinner being hard to get!"

My knees are shaking at the thought they could be rapers and judging by their height and mass I'm definitely gonna get abused.

"Lara I'm so sorry…" I sniffed as I run like the devil's behind me, "I should call the cops…" I searched for my phone in all of my pockets as soon as I opened the staircase door and it's nowhere to be found. "Fuck… I must've lost it earlier…"

There's no turning back so I had to do my best to reach the elevator as fast as possible and to my surprise, it opened as soon as I pushed the button.

I finally get to pant as much as I need to, however, the elevator won't go down even though the doors have been closed already.

I kept pushing the ground floor but it appears to be stuck until I heard something fell over the mirrored ceilings and it cracked a bit.

The doors opened on their own so I made a run for it and bumped against something hard, I almost got thrown back inside the elevator.

"Hmm, so we met again."