The Girl Next Door (18+)

05. Of Tuxes and Deals

(Edited) Word count;

3106

Next update: Friday

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Barely ten seconds in the room full of guests decked to the nines, and Adonis already felt like fleeing.

The ball room was perhaps the most exquisite room in the entire house. His mother had always paid extra attention to it, saying it was the only place the guests would see.

As everyone could tell, public opinion and image were very important to his mother. She thrived off it. Off being number one in everything exquisite.

He tugged on his bow tie, inhaling deeply as he felt it dig a little too deep into his throat. Then again that may have been his imagination. He did hate wearing a tux. He also hated socialite gatherings, he hated this ballroom, and... he looked up at the ceiling where the 'magnificent' Boulle had been hanged, and for a split second, he thought of taking its place. God, he hated that fucking chandelier.

As he emptied the contents of his champagne glass he realized, he hated a lot of things. Maybe he was the problem, everybody else seemed to be having a good time.

The live classical music being played actually massaged his nerves a little, almost making him forget the man in front of him. Who for the love of God, could not read his face and understand that he didn't want to be part of the conversation - if you could call it that.

Then again, Mr. Lavaux was a lot of things but observant and courteous.

He had been his mother's business partner for a long time, managing the vineyards and champagne factory in France for as long as he could remember. But all those years and he could never get used to the strange man or his stranger habits.
The scent of cigarettes lingered on his grey tux, and all the perfume he had applied only seemed to enhance the stench.

He was speaking, holding a glass in one hand while his other reached out to a passing waiter, grabbing a plate of canapes. He wasted no time digging into devilled eggs, swallowing them whole before washing them down with whatever was remaining from his glass.

He had to admire his willpower, he had withheld his sneer, and the urge to walk away from the man. If his mother heard he walked away from a guest, the world would implode on itself.

"...it requires skill, is what I told her. But you know your mama, always looking to help the family." He smacked his lips together, and Adonis found himself fixating on the piece of egg yolk stuck in Mr. Lavaux's mustache. He could feel his lips lifting in a sneer, so inwardly he chided himself while taking a mental note of the time with Mr. Lavaux large watch.

"...speaking of family," the man smiled showcasing all 29 colored teeth, he was missing three of his molars, and Adonis could see that even from his distance because of how wide he had smiled. "I have a niece, pretty young thing as you boys say-"

No one says that. No one.

"-she's a student in Paris, studies fashion. She's also very single." He wiggled his eyebrows and Adonis was sure he had never seen something more silly than that. And he was friends with someone like Gabi. "If you're interested I could give you her number-"

And we're done here.

Stopping the man with a soft grip on his shoulder, he offered the brightest smile he could manage considering he was at his wit's end. "I apologize, Mr. Lavaux, but we're going to have to do that some other time. I hear my mother calling for me."