Free Web NovelChapter 146: Chapter 146: Preserving the Original Heart
"I don’t want to."
Nina Halloway’s refusal was sharp and decisive.
Seeing the feather duster in Mandy Halloway’s hand rise, she quickly changed her tune. "I guess it wouldn’t hurt to get to know him."
Mandy Halloway’s expression softened slightly. She put down the feather duster, only to hear Nina Halloway add, "But if we get to know each other and it’s not a good fit, you can’t force me to be with someone I don’t like."
"Just promise me you’ll give it a proper try."
Under her mother’s menacing pressure, what else could Nina Halloway do but nod in compromise?
"From what I know, Leon Grant has a lot of women around him."
Alaric Blackwood interjected.
When he saw Leon Grant at the bar, the guy wanted to put on a live show for him. His level of depravity was appalling.
"And you have few women?" Mandy Halloway shot back. "Are you unaware of your own reputation? You have the nerve to talk about others."
Alaric Blackwood was speechless.
’That was all just for fun, I was never serious,’ he thought. ’Even if I did flirt with girls, I never did anything out of line. I stayed true to Sophie Shaw.’
It was all thanks to his constant flirting over the past two or three years. Otherwise, how would he have the skills to make a girl’s heart flutter today?
The old Alaric Blackwood was lofty and serious, and a bit dense when it came to romance.
The day Sophie Shaw accepted Damian Morgan’s confession, Alaric was hit hard. After that, he became a completely different person, frequenting bars and never lacking female company.
He continued his freewheeling lifestyle after going abroad, flirting even with blonde-haired, blue-eyed foreign girls. But he never truly let himself go, always preserving that initial piece of his heart.
Perhaps he just didn’t want to settle.
"I’m not the same as Leon Grant," he said seriously.
The words had barely left his mouth when Mandy Halloway’s feather duster came swinging at him.
He instinctively raised a hand to block it.
SMACK! The feather duster struck the back of his hand.
In an instant, a red welt appeared.
Mandy Halloway’s heart sank. ’Why didn’t the little brat dodge?’ she thought.
When she used to chase him with a feather duster as a child, he ran faster than a rabbit. She could never catch him, let alone hit him...
The living room instantly fell into a dead silence.
The farce finally ended with Alaric Blackwood taking a hard hit.
Mandy Halloway tossed the feather duster onto the coffee table and turned to go upstairs, grumbling as she went, "The old, the young... not a single one of them gives me any peace of mind."
As the woman’s figure vanished up the stairs, Nina Halloway quickly helped her ’delicate’ father up from the floor.
"Alright, it’s late. Alaric, you should head back,"
Quentin Blackwood said, wrapping an arm around his daughter. "Nina, don’t leave tonight. I wouldn’t feel at ease with you driving back alone. Stay here, and I’ll have the housekeeper make your favorite dishes tomorrow."
Nina Halloway nodded repeatedly.
She helped Quentin Blackwood upstairs, not forgetting to glance back at Alaric Blackwood, gesturing for him to go home quickly.
After the father and daughter went upstairs, the butler appeared from some unknown corner. Staring at his swollen hand, he asked, "Young Master, should I get some ice for that injury on your hand?"
"No need."
He stubbed out the nearly-finished cigarette in his hand into the ashtray on the coffee table and strode toward the entryway.
With the butler seeing him off, he got into his car and drove away.
’All that trouble in the middle of the night, just to get hit once?’
’I shouldn’t have rushed back if I’d known.’
He was feeling frustrated when his phone suddenly rang.
It was a call from Jaden.
He put on his Bluetooth headset to answer. On the other end was the deafening blast of a DJ’s dance track and a clamor of voices; he could barely hear Jaden’s voice.
"It’s too loud on your end."
He glanced at the time as he spoke. It was almost twelve.
’Jaden’s still out partying?’
After a moment, the music from the receiver grew fainter. The person on the other end had clearly moved to a quieter spot.
"Mr. Blackwood, Jaden’s had too much to drink. Could you come and pick him up?"
The speaker wasn’t Jaden, but Oscar Lynch.
Alaric Blackwood’s brows furrowed slightly. "Location."
Oscar Lynch told him the address of the bar. To his surprise, they were at The Eighth Day Bar—Leon Grant’s territory.
He drove over to find Jaden already sprawled out on a booth sofa, completely wasted.
Fortunately, Jaden could still recognize him.
Seeing him, Jaden immediately scrambled up and hugged his thigh. "Alaric, don’t push me away."
"Why did you drink so much?"
"I’m in a bad mood."
Jaden clung pitifully to his leg, refusing to let go. "Jasmine and I are planning to get engaged."
"Congratulations."
"Do you mean it, or are you just humoring me?"
"Stop your drunken antics."
Alaric Blackwood grabbed his arm and pulled him up. "It’s late. I’m taking you home."
Seeing this, Oscar Lynch brought over Jaden’s jacket. One of them supported Jaden while the other helped put the jacket on him.
"Mr. Blackwood, sorry to bother you this late," Oscar Lynch said with an apologetic laugh. "I still have friends here and couldn’t get away, so you were the only one I could call."
He helped Alaric Blackwood support Jaden, walking him all the way out of the bar and helping him into the car.
Jaden’s apartment was far from Maplewood Estate, not even in the same district.
Alaric Blackwood drove for nearly an hour to get him to his apartment building. He turned to look at the man dozing off in the passenger seat and patted Jaden’s cheek. "Don’t fall asleep. I have something to ask you."
Reeking of alcohol, Jaden leaned against the seat back and mumbled drowsily, "Go ahead."
"Why are you hanging out with Oscar Lynch and his crowd?"
"He invited me."
"Just maintain a superficial relationship. Don’t get too close to them; they’ll be a bad influence on you."
Even though he’d had a lot to drink, those words still warmed Jaden’s heart. "I thought you were done with me. Weren’t you going to push me away?"
Alaric Blackwood didn’t answer.
Those were just words spoken in anger. If something really happened to Jaden, there was no way he would ignore it.
"Can you get upstairs by yourself?"
Jaden’s lips formed a pout. "You should probably carry me up."
"..."
A few minutes later, Alaric Blackwood keyed in the password for the apartment door, pushed it open, and walked in.
The living room lights were on, and so was the TV. A petite woman was reclining on the sofa.
It was none other than Stella Yarrow, Jaden’s publicly announced girlfriend.
’They’re living together now?’
Stella Yarrow had been waiting for Jaden and was growing drowsy. When she saw him, back from his ’social engagement’ and dead drunk, slung over Alaric Blackwood’s shoulder with one arm, she froze for a few seconds. Then, she threw off the blanket covering her and got up to greet them. freēwebnovel.com
As soon as she got close to Alaric Blackwood, she was hit by the strong smell of alcohol on Jaden.
"How much did he drink?"
Alaric Blackwood ignored her and strode toward the bedroom.
This wasn’t his first time at Jaden’s apartment. It was large and very spacious, but there was only one bedroom. He headed for it with practiced ease, but halfway there, Stella Yarrow caught up and blocked his path with her arms outstretched.
"Jaden reeks of alcohol. Don’t take him to the room yet, just put him on the sofa."
Alaric Blackwood’s face was cold, his gaze sharp as a knife. "He’s this drunk. If I leave, can you even move him?"
"I’ll make him some soup to sober him up."
"You know how to take care of someone?"
Stella Yarrow tilted her chin up, her chest puffing out with it. "Who are you looking down on?"
She was wearing only a flimsy, pure white nightgown that was both translucent and revealing under the light.
Alaric Blackwood averted his gaze, not bothering to look further, let alone waste words on her. He strode back to the living room, dumped Jaden onto the sofa, and turned to leave.
"Mr. Blackwood, would you like to stay for a bit?"
"No."
Alaric Blackwood didn’t break his stride, nor did he look back.
BANG—
The door had just been slammed shut when the man on the sofa sat up, grabbed the trash can, and started vomiting.
Stella Yarrow stood to the side with a disgusted look, letting Jaden finish vomiting before he collapsed back onto the sofa, dead to the world.
She pinched her nose, clearly not wanting to deal with him. She simply snuck back to the bedroom and locked the door from the inside, terrified that the reeking drunkard might wake up in the middle of the night and crawl into her bed.
