CHAPTER 142: GAVIN LAUGHS?

They were outside.

Alice hadn’t known how much she really needed this until the night breeze just surrounded her. She almost wanted to just collapse there and look up at the sky. No thinking. No arguing. Just perfect peace and quiet.

The streetlights were so pretty. Not too bright, not too dim. Just perfect.

But she couldn’t dwell in the reverie for too long.

"Gavin."

Hades’s voice cut through the silence. Alice glanced at him automatically, noting the deliberate calm in his face, the kind that always carried an undertone of arrogance. "You drive back alone. Aurora and I will walk."

Alice blinked. "Walk?" Her brow furrowed, eyes darting toward him. The estate was massive. The path back to Block C was nearly twenty minutes at best. Well, that was exactly walkable. But it was inconvenient right now. And she wasn’t even thinking about the low heel she was wearing.

More importantly... why wasn’t he asking her first?

Before Gavin could respond, another voice broke in, sharp and edged with something almost frantic.

"Wait!" Suzy’s heels clicked against the stone as she caught up, her posture stiff with determination. "I need to speak with Aurora."

Hades finally seemed to notice her, his gaze sliding to her with all the weight of someone glancing at a fly buzzing around his wine glass. "She’s busy with me." His voice was slow, deliberate, dismissive. "Talk later."

Alice side eyed him. She’d been wanting to talk to Suzy too, not just because she was curious about the strange looks Suzy had been throwing her all night, but because she needed space. A moment. Anything. More than anything, she didn’t want to be alone with Hades right now.

The memory of his too-smooth, too-playful "little princess," still made her cringe but also annoyingly heated her ears.

There was also last night. The taste of his kiss— her kiss— lingered uncomfortably in her memory, wedged between dread and a flutter she refused to acknowledge.

Add to that the chaos of tonight, Paula’s presence just a few blocks away, and everything she was hiding from him... and the idea of a solitary walk with him felt suffocating.

"I can head back with Suzy," Alice said, sharper than she meant, her chin lifting. "We will catch up at home."

She couldn’t even bring herself to look at him.

Hades paused. He looked at her, his expression unreadable. Slowly, deliberately, his gaze slid from her to Suzy and back again.

"Think carefully, Aurora." His voice was deceptively soft, but each word curled like smoke, "Pick one."

He leaned forward slightly, his eyes locked on hers, then tilted his head.

"Me..." he said, pausing long enough to make her breath hitch. Then, with a flick of his gaze toward Suzy, "...or her."

Wait... what?

Alice looked... stunned? In disbelief?

She couldn’t believe it. This wasn’t a choice. This wasn’t even about Suzy. This was Hades being what? Childish? Petty? Testing her?

Gavin, the man who had tolerated a room full of shouting relatives and verbal warfare, simply let out a sigh and walked away. His steps were steady, unbothered, as he pulled his keys from his pocket. This wasn’t his fight. This wasn’t anyone’s fight. This was Hades being... Hades. And Gavin wasn’t paid enough to stand in the middle of that circus.

Suzy, however, bristled like a cat. Her face flushed red, her voice rising before Alice could even make a decision, not that he was even giving Alice the chance to in the first place judging by how intense he was staring at her and how consuming his presence was as he stood right in front of Alice. "Since when did you become so childish?"

Hades didn’t even blink. His reply cut through the night, calm and merciless.

"I’m the childish one?" he drawled, his tone almost bored. "You were the one crying inside just now."

Suzy’s disbelief hardened into fury. "Why are you so mean!?" she shouted, her voice cracking with genuine hurt.

He ignored her completely. His hand shot forward, firm and unyielding, wrapping around Alice’s fingers.

"Time’s up."

Alice stumbled forward as he began to lead her away. She couldn’t even pull free. His grip was strong, his stride unrelenting. All she managed was to twist back toward Suzy, looking guilty as hell.

"I’ll call you!" she shouted quickly, her words tumbling over themselves. "I promise! I’ll call you!"

Suzy just kept her dark glare on Hades’s retreating figure.

Meanwhile, Gavin reached the car, sliding the key into the ignition. The night was cold, but his chest burned from the heat of everything that had happened. He wanted music. He wanted quiet. He wanted to leave this block behind and not look back. For now, vape in hand, windows rolled down.

He was halfway pulling out when a blur of movement forced his foot down hard. Tires screeched, the car jolted, and he slammed his hand against the wheel.

"Are you out of your fucking mind?" Gavin barked, his voice muffled around the vape cigar clenched in his teeth. Smoke billowed out as he exhaled in frustration, the steering wheel creaking under his grip.

There she was. Suzy. Standing right in front of his headlights like she owned the damn road.

Before he could chew her out, she darted forward, heels clacking against the pavement, and yanked open the passenger door.

She climbed inside, slamming the door shut as if that made it final.

Her nose scrunched immediately as she tried to wave off the smoke with her hand.

Gavin turned his head slowly, eyes narrowing through the haze of smoke. His face was unreadable, but his voice was flat, dangerous.

"Get. Out."

"I—" She stammered, her boldness cracking instantly under his glare. "I just... I wanted to go to Block C with you."

"I’m not going to Block C." His voice was sharp, clipped. He turned his attention back to the road. "Walk your ass there if you want to go. And what the fuck makes you think you can just get in my car because I ignored you earlier?"

For a moment, the only sound was the low hum of the engine. Suzy stared at him, lips trembling, her hands clenched tightly in her lap. And then it happened.

Her eyes filled. Her breath hitched. And tears spilled over.

Gavin swore under his breath, throwing his head back against the seat. "Oh, for fuck’s sake."

The sound of her crying filled the car, soft at first, then louder. Her shoulders shook. Her hands covered her face.

"What the hell are you crying for now?" His voice was incredulous, sharp, almost panicked in its own way. "What did I do?"

Gavin glanced at his vape like it was the problem, then disposed it into the cupholder with a muttered curse.

She didn’t answer his question. She just cried harder, the hiccuping, uneven kind of crying that felt too raw for this confined space.

He groaned, rummaged through the console, then slammed open the glove compartment. A box of tissues tumbled out, and he shoved it into her hands with a frustrated grunt. "Here. Jesus."

She took it, fumbling, sniffling, dabbing at her face. For a while, it was just her uneven breaths and the quiet rumble of the engine. Then, slowly, she looked at him, eyes glassy, lashes stuck together with tears.

"Do you..." she hiccupped, "Do you think I look like a pushover?"

He blinked. "Why are you asking me that?"

Her voice cracked, but her tone was sharp, insistent. "Answer me!"

He flinched at the sudden snap, his hand tightening on the wheel. "Jesus Christ— What the hell is my business with you, anyway?"

But she wasn’t listening. She wiped her face furiously, her tears still spilling. "Everyone thinks it. I’m sure they all do. I’m weak. I can’t do anything. I’m nothing compared to my brother."

Her voice trembled, then broke entirely. "I... I was so scared in there. When I spoke against the matriarch... I thought I’d faint. And now—" she hiccupped again—"I don’t even know how to go home. My mother will kill me. She’ll kill me."

Gavin leaned back in his seat, staring at her like she’d announced the world was ending. His tone was flat, bored even. "Your mother didn’t strike me as that... insensible."

That only made her cry harder.

Gavin rolled his eyes, muttering curses under his breath. Consoling women was not his skill set. It wasn’t even in his vocabulary. And yet, here he was trapped in a car with a girl who could not stop crying. And he was always somehow trapped with her!

Or wait... he wasn’t trapped, was he?

I mean, he could just open the door and throw her out right?

Right?

With a low curse, he threw the car into gear and started driving, not even knowing where he was headed. Anywhere but here. Anywhere but Block A.

Her sobs eventually quieted into shaky silence.

Finally, he muttered, sounding like a man being forced to recite lines he didn’t believe in, "Look... just... do whatever you want. Alright? Have a dream or something."

She sniffled, looking at him through swollen eyes. "Do you... want to know what my dream is?"

"No," he said immediately.

"I want to be a boxer." The words tumbled out before he could stop her.

His head snapped toward her. He stared. Hard.

And then, against all odds, it happened.

A sound slipped from his throat, rough, dry, reluctant... half a laugh. And it seemed genuine because even his eyes and lips all seemed to have complied at that moment.

He caught himself, almost immediately, coughed into his fist, muttering something under his breath and looked ahead.

How the hell had he driven out far past Block C?

Meanwhile, Suzy blinked at him, stunned.

He turned to find her staring. So intensely.

"WHAT?" He snapped.

"I don’t... usually use swear words," she said quietly. "But, fuck, you are... pretty."

It came out slowly. Very slow and quiet.