Race (7 page)

"Ronan?" Noah said, alarmed. "What's wrong?"

Ronan removed the black Georgio Armani sunglasses from his eyes. "I proposed to Chantelle today." He gave his eye a bit of a wipe with a tissue - it was all part of the act. He began to bite his thumb nail.

"And?" Noah asked anxiously, putting his briefcases down.

"And ..." Ronan repeated, "SHE SAID YES!" He jumped up to hug his brother tightly, grinning broadly. Alice watched them both, touched. It was all part of Ronan's act. "She said yes, she said yes!" he repeated, over and over.

"That's great, bro," Noah exclaimed, breaking apart from the hug and patting his brother's shoulders. "That's honestly just great, Ronan. That's what I wanted to happen, too." He hugged his brother again, but couldn't help feeling the heartbreak inside because he and Chantelle were such an item before, however, now, she was getting married to his brother. Noah tried his best to be pleased. After all, Ronan meant the world to him.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

THE WEDDING

Ronan and Chantelle were walking out of the wedding hall, now married. Everybody was wearing white; Ronan was looking especially handsome in his suit and Chantelle was looking stunning in her white wedding dress. Noah was happily the best man.

At night time, the sky was pitch black. Noah was sat alone on a sofa, happy for Ronan, however, he had his head in his hands. He couldn't stop the feelings and thoughts that were rushing through his mind. Noah was the person who had sacrificed Chantelle for his brother just so that his brother could be happy, and he had seemed a bit careless about it until now. He couldn't get his head around the fact that Ronan and Chantelle were married. Noah and Chantelle had been such an item, yet as soon as he'd split up with her, she had fallen in love again so fast, and with an alcoholic. The wedding was
too
fast for Noah's liking. Everything felt like such a rush to him.

A single tear escaped from Noah's eye and rolled on to the floor. Then, he heard loud shouting and laughing outside. He walked up to his window, and saw Ronan walking out of a taxi with two giggling girls, who looked as if their clothes seemed to have fallen off, they were both so bare. The second that Ronan stepped out of the taxi, he collapsed on to the floor, as he was so drunk. Ronan quickly got back on to his feet, trying his best to laugh it off. The girls continued to giggle at him. Noah sighed long and hard as he watched his brother. Ronan looked up and caught Noah's eye. He waved at him, but Noah  made no response. Ronan drank more alcohol from his bottle, and then threw the bottle aside on to the grass because he had finished it. Then, he took off his jacket, and staggered into the house, unable to focus clearly.

Noah bounded into the main room, where Ronan had arrived. Ronan threw his beautiful white blazer on to the sofa casually, and gasped as he saw Noah enter.

"Noah, what are you doing up at this time of night?" Ronan asked his older brother.

Noah's face filled with rage. He clenched his teeth and slapped Ronan, hard, across the face. Ronan staggered backwards in pain. His hand sprung to his cheek, but not just in pain, but in shock.  He began to sob uncontrollably, unable to believe that for the first time in his life, Noah had hit him.

"You promised me." Noah's spit sprayed across the room. "You promised that you would never touch alcohol again!" he shouted.

"Noah, I can explain ..." Ronan tried, tears pouring down his cheeks. "I wasn't going to drink any alcohol, but then my friends pushed me to do it!" Ronan collapsed at Noah's feet, hugging Noah's left leg and sobbing into it. "I'm telling the truth Noah, I swear! You have to believe me!"

Noah snatched his leg away from Ronan's arms, and took a few steps backwards for good measure, his face still bitter and filled with anger. "You've betrayed me!" he roared. "Now, I can't trust a single word you say to me!"

"Noah, don't say that! Please don't say that! I swear by your life!" Ronan placed a hand on his brother's head. "I swear by your life!" he repeated, but did his best not to meet Noah's gaze.

Noah stared at Ronan for a moment that seemed to last forever. He slowly took Ronan's arm off his head. Noah couldn't believe what Ronan had just said. "Do you understand the meaning of what you're saying?" he said bitterly. "It means that if you drink alcohol again, something's gonna happen to me. Something's gonna happen to me!" He looked at his brother in the eye, which Ronan dreaded. "SOMETHING'S GOING TO HAPPEN TO ME!"

Ronan hugged his brother tightly and began to sob on his shoulder. "That's why I've sworn on such a big thing," he stated, trying his best to still sound upset.

Noah didn't want to hear any more of Ronan's excuses. He couldn't even bare to see Ronan's foul fac anymore. He pat his brother on the back, sighing and pulled away from the hug in a somewhat abrupt manner. "Just go," he snapped. "Chantelle's waiting for you."

Ronan nodded and stumbled into his room, his legs wobbling, where Chantelle was lying down on the bed. The second that Ronan closed the door, the upset expression on his face was quickly replaced with a dark and ultimately dirty smirk as he walked over to Chantelle. "What did you think of my performance?" he grinned.

Chantelle smiled, lifting the covers off herself. "It was absolutely classic." She raised the glass of alcohol in her hands. "Let's celebrate." Now she'd started to drink alcohol, she couldn't seem to get enough of it. Now she knew why Ronan was so addicted to it. She found it truly delicious.

"No," Ronan remarked. "Drinking is injurious to our plan. If we make the slightest mistake because of alcohol, then Noah won't even give me the chance to beg for forgiveness." Ronan threw his jacket on to the bed and began to unfasten his tie while he was at it. He threw his tie on to the floor carelessly, and then he sat down next to Chantelle on the bed, continuing to smile, but this time he had a bit of a devilish grin on his face.

"Then who is this drinking alcohol drama for?" Chantelle asked, because Ronan drank alcohol pretty much all of the time.

"That's all just a day to day thing. I want Noah to feel how it is for someone like you to be married to an alcoholic like me."

"I see," Chantelle nodded. "What's the plan ahead?"

"I think we've discussed enough of the matter today. We should call it a night," Ronan said sneakily.

"Why?" Chantelle enquired. "Don't you trust your wife?"

Ronan chuckled half-heartedly. "What should I do with you, baby? Something I've gotta say is that I don't really trust anyone except from myself ..." He lay down next to Chantelle in the bed properly. "I know that this wedding was a ... deal, but if you want ... it could be something more." He spoke in a flirtatious voice, running his finger down Chantelle's bare arm. He remembered the way he kissed her on the ship.

“I'm bored,” Ronan stated, his eyes shining under the light. Chantelle recognized that look on his face; it meant trouble for sure. For a twenty one year old, he sure acted like a child a lot. Well, that was probably why she liked him so much.

“Come with me, I have something to show you,” he ordered her, grabbing her hand, forcing her to get up and follow him. She giggled as they passed by other tourists on the ship; some smiled seeing two young people running around, clearly in love, and others just gave them a disapproving look that said they should act their age and not like two teenagers. They didn't care about anything; They were having fun.

Ronan led her through some narrow corridors that freaked her out for a moment because of the dim light. He looked her way over his shoulder every two seconds, making sure she was fine and was catching up with him, When he stopped, he placed his finger in front of his lips, asking her to stay quiet. She did, although she didn't know what the point of all this was, because the engine of the ship was making more noise than she could possibly do. He pushed the door in front of him open and Chantelle had to grab the rail nailed on the side of the corridor so that the air that got in abruptly, wouldn't throw her down. Ronan laughed and closed her hand in his, leading her out.

“Oh my God, Ronan; this so so beautiful!” she shouted, to be heard over the wind and the engine, when they stepped outside to the front of the ship. He pulled her near him, placing his hand around her waist and hid her behind a large crate so that nobody would see them. They weren't supposed to be there, but the unforbidden part was what they both loved so much. He cleared her face from her hair, placing some locks behind her ear and pushed her gently on the crate, to keep her safe, covering her body with his.

“Are you cold?” he asked, seeing her skin shivering. She shook her head, gasping because she had difficulty breathing. It wasn't because of the wind or the fear, it was because of him. He was the reason she couldn't breathe and why she felt dizzy and her knees trembled. He was the one that was making her feel weak and he knew it.

“If you're cold, we can go inside,” he suggested even though his eyes said otherwise.

“No, I like it here with you” she whispered, grabbing his t-shirt with both fists, forcing him to take a step closer. The wind was making her dress stick on her body like a second skin but she didn't mind because that meant she could feel his body against hers even better. Ronan bit his lip, looking at her with lust.

Kiss me, please kiss me, Chantelle thought with all her strength as his hands travelled on her side, first touching her elbow with his fingertips and then caressing her waist until it rest on her hip. His tongue made a small trip on his lips and Chantelle felt she couldn't take it anymore. Neither could he. He had to kiss her before he lost his mind completely. He took a deep breath, placing his forehead on hers for a moment before his lips touched hers tenderly, for a brief moment that was enough to make her weep for more. The moment her sigh reached his ears, Ronan lost the entire world around him. There was only her and no one else. He pushed her against the crates and kissed her hard, taking her breath away. She held onto him tight, responding gladly to it, and felt his lips tasting hers before he forced her to separate her lips with his tongue. He tasted so good, so familiar because of Noah, but she loved it. The moment it stroked hers, she felt electricity flowing all over her body that was now warm thanks to his body, and his kiss, and she knew she was lost; she was his forever and ever.

"You won't ever hurt me, will you Ronan?" Chantelle asked,

"Never," Ronan said, but it was hard to tell if he was telling the truth. He pulled her in for another kiss.

There was no going back now. Ronan had her under his spell: he owned her, and could do whatever he wanted with her, whether she liked it or not.

Chantelle ran a finger down Ronan's cheek. "It's not a bad idea, but" she began in a seductive tone, "I don't mix business with pleasure." She got up from the bed to sleep separately from him. "Good night."

"Whenever you're ready, baby," Ronan murmured, and then raised the covers to go to sleep.

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

ALICE'S CONCERN

"Noah, I got a phone call from a Cape Town estate agent today,"  Alice said to Noah, as she walked up to him on the balcony in the broad sunlight. "There is a client ready to buy our property. The deal can be made final in a few days.  I booked two tickets to Cape Town."

"Okay," Noah replied to her, nodding in approval.

"Erm, I've got some papers that I need your signatures for," Alice pushed on, opening a blue file. Noah nodded briefly, and then signed the papers.  A little smirk appeared on her face, because she was glad that Noah was signing the papers without even looking at them. Then, she quickly changed tack when he looked up, and she stared at him with lust instead. Noah turned around, and their eyes met.

"Anything else?" Noah asked.

"Well," Alice whispered, "I've noticed these past few days that you seem a bit disturbed, Noah. What's wrong?" She ran her small finger down his cheek in sympathy.

Noah turned away from her as if he was about to burst into tears, and he didn't want her to see this. Trying to act cool about it, he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "Ronan started drinking again," Noah whispered. "There's not been a day after the wedding that he's not been drinking alcohol. He promised me that he would stop. He promised." He remembered the scene.