Hollywood Zenith

" How did it go? Was she really fighting him?" Bella was mindlessly walking downstairs when someone interrupted. She saw all the employee gathered beside the stairs waiting for her.

" It should be. I know our boss is short tempered but she would never do anything to risk her business."

" Of course, they would surely hash it out."

" But that scream was weird right? Can you tell us what you saw?" Not getting any answer from Bella they began discussing among themselves again after which turned toward her for answers.

The scene again flashed in Bella mind and she could help but remember the large 'tent' that she saw. Anyone could tell that he was packing quite a big thing underneath- she immediately flushed the idea out of her mind!

" It was nothing. I w-walked in and resolved everything. What about you guys? Did you finish cleaning everything?" She changed the topic but her blushing face didn't go unnoticed by her coworkers.

" Is everything alright? You look a little red."

" I am fine, just tired after the long shift. We should probably head out and let them talk for a while."

" But-"

" It's alright. I will handle it if anything happens." After getting Bella's reassurance they didn't feel there was any need for them to stick around. They needed to sleep early and get ready for the night shift again because Sundays were the busiest. 

Right when they were about to leave, Samuel and Kate came downstairs. They were surprised to see everyone together especially Kate who didn't know how much everyone knew. If Bella did spill the beans she would have hard time showing her face in front of them without thinking about this incident.

Unlike Kate who was looking around, Samuel observed them closely. Everything appeared to be normal, the bartenders were still scared of him while the staff gave him dissatisfied look. After which he turned to Bella again, she was hiding her face refraining to even look at him.

Her previous angry look was nowhere to be seen, it was the first time he look at her more closely. She was typical british girl with slender frame and her black hair was tied in ponytail probably because she just came out of the kitchen. She was even shorter than Kate with a pretty face and her persona could best be described as the girl next door look.

Since no one was saying anything, Samuel decided to come clean with everyone. He bowed his head a little before saying," I am sorry for causing a scene. I should have ended it when I learned Kate wasn't here."

His sincerity showed making everyone calm down a little. Even the annoyed glint in his eyes was gone, it was replaced by a warm and approachable look.

" So it was a prank?"

" I knew something was wrong when he barged inside Kate's office. Hahaha, you got us good."

" Once again, I apologise for that." Samuel started mingling with others while Bella took Kate aside for a well deserved conversation.

" What the hell were you thinking? I can't even believe it! What if someone else walked inside that door? Do you care about your reputation at all?"

" I am sorry, I didn't know that the door was unlocked."

" Is that the problem here!? You were climbing- god, I can't put it out of my head!"

" I was not doing that, he was the one that-"

" Shut up! I don't want to hear your lousy excuses! Do you even know him or were you so enamored in his beauty that you forgot basic ethics!"

" Didn't you hear what he said? We met few days ago, Dhia was the one that brought him over to my house. He helped her when she was out partying and after which we sort of drank together and things sort of escalated."

" Oh my god! I can't believe it! How sexually frustrated were you to snatch away your own niece's boyfriend!" Bella couldn't believe what was coming out of Kate's mouth. This was completely opposite to what her usual Kate would do!

" You bitch! How can you even say that? They are not dating. I would never do that to her."

" Are you sure? Because the timing is too perfect. With Dhia leaving yesterday night and him coming over today, don't you think he is trying to avoid her." Bella made a good point.

" I am sure. She would have told me immediately because it would her first relationship beside I didn't even know that he was coming over. It was Dhia that contacted him because....you know-"

" Is everything good here?" Samuel disrupted their conversation.

" Yeah." Bella turned away from him while Kate answered him positively.

" Yes, everything is fine."

"Alright." He knew something was up but he continued," I was just talking with them and I thought it would be good for you to take a break. They said you were working too hard and since the holidays are coming, it seemed like a good idea to take couple of days off. What do you think about that?"

" What?" Bella exclaimed. She could believe he was demanding her to take a break! There was no way Kate who only had her business on her mind would ever agree to it!

" Yeah, I am fine with that but only if you accompany me during the whole break." Kate said excitingly.

" Of course, I have few things planned already." He touched her face lovingly and she seemed to purr like a cat!

" Fuck! What did this man do to his best friend to make her so submissive!" Bella was absolutely stunned looking at their interactions. She wanted to say something but decided not to make a scene.

They interacted for few more minutes before everyone left to rest after the long shift. It was almost eight thirty, Samuel wanted to take Kate somewhere but knew she was too tired to do anything. For some reason Bella stayed behind with them quietly inspecting his every move. He could clearly feel her gaze because she wasn't even trying to hide it!

" Do you want to go home? I can bring my car around." Samuel ignored her for time being and asked Kate. They were standing at the entrance after shutting down the bar.

" That depends whether you arrive here in that golden car or not?" Samuel shrugged signalling what she was thinking was true.

" Renting a car is not that impressive." Bella commented. She still didn't know his true identity and was suspicious about his motives of involving himself with her best friend.

" Bel!"

" It's fine. I can understand why you don't want to go inside that car, I was only trying to act a part after all and sometimes one have to be desperate to make lasting impression."

" She is usually not like this. I don't know what gotten into her." Kate tried to salvage the situation.

" What gotten into me? Are you seriously don't know what he is trying to do?" Bella lashed out.

" That's enough!"

Samuel was watching from the sidelines thinking whether he should intervene or not. He should have introduced her more clearly and probably shouldn't have acted like a douche. It seemed to taken quite a affect on Bella's perception of him.

" He is just trying to take advantage of you! Can't you see it? Just because he has a... you know.. you can't throw away yourself at him! Didn't you learn it a hard way during your first relationship!?" Bella brought up a touchy subject.

" You-" Kate was furious. She never wanted to remember that event but Bella mentioning it immediately made trauma surface with full force. Samuel felt Kate would definitely attack her friend so he came in between them ending the fight.

Bella realised what she did and instantly regretted it looking at her face. Samuel was grabbing Kate while she started cursing so he had to cover her mouth before situation became irreparable.

" Calm down now. It's alright, you should say such things to your friend. Look she is already feeling sorry about it." He didn't know what was going on but he could feel her body shake. It was not like when one shake because of anger, it felt more like she was scared all of sudden.

 " I am sorry. I don't know why I said it." Bella apologized promptly making Kate stop her verbal vengeance.

" Kate."

" I am also sorry for lashing out."

" Since you guys made up. Let me drive you home." Samuel knew they would need some time to reflect. He was only here to see Kate and since he achieved his goal, he thought it was best to leave her be for the time being.

" Are you leaving already?"

" I don't know. Both of you look tired, so it's best we met up some other time."

" No, you guys should go. I will take a cab home." Bella added. She felt Samuel wasn't as bad as she thought.

" What no! Let's go home together." In the end, Kate had the final say. Samuel called someone to pick up the Audi as he hopped into Kate's car to drive them home.