Cadence.

"Seriously?! Oh my God, how did so many things happen to you in just one day?!!" Monica shrieked slightly spilling her coffee on the table.

"Can you keep it down? It's not that big of a deal." I picked up the tray and headed back to the counter.

Monica and Jasmine were at the cafe I worked and I was telling them the events of the day, including how Courtney Stone threatened to rip us apart and how I helped Ryder Florence with the history class and what happened at the Collin's mansion.

I hadn't started working at Hugo's yet. Although Hugo wanted to do that ASAP, but he didn't have my uncle's official permission yet.

"How was Hugo without any clothes on?" Monica's eyes grew big as she gave me a toothy smile.

"What?" I blinked, letting her inappropriate question sink in.

"Moca!" I hit on her shoulder playfully. "Shut up!"

"What? Everyone knows he is hot stuff." Monica returned to drinking her coffee.

I ignored the thoughts about Hugo which were gathering in my head and turned to Jasmine. "Jass, do you need anything else?"

She didn't look up. 

"Jasmine?"

"This doesn't look good." She kept her phone down.

"What happened?" I sat beside Monica opposite to Jasmine. "Melody! Can you please take over a for few minutes?"

"Sure!" She answered back from behind the counter. Seriously, she was such a sweetheart.

"Tell us." Monica held her hands. 

Jasmine certainly didn't look good. I knew it was about her boyfriend.

"I know I've never told you about my boyfriend." She struggled to talk, but looked a little relieved to get it out.

"He is a college dropout. He works at a garage and I met him few months ago. Just before high school started. At the beginning things were going great. He would treat me so gently and he was very sophisticated." She paused.

"So what happened?" Monica urged. She was the kind of person who had to know everything all the time.

"His ex returned last week."

"Oh no." Monica and I exclaimed at the same time.

"Suddenly he started acting weird. I had to ask him so many times what was wrong, but he won't tell me." I squeezed her palm which I held.

"Finally, he told me about his ex. He hadn't really gotten over her." She glanced out of the window. "So we broke up."

"So what's the problem now?" Monica spoke and I nudged her in the shoulder. What was wrong with this girl?

"Ouch!" She glared at me. I should be the one glaring here.

"I get it. So it's hard to get over him now, right?" I rubbed her arm.

"No!" She jerked away. 

Monica and I exchanged a look which was called what the hell?

"I wasn't in love with him or anything, I just liked him. I liked the way he treated me. Thought he was cool and all but that's all." She flipped her long pony tail back. 

"Seriously, just tell us what the problem is now." Monica gulped all of her remaining coffee at once.

"Yesterday he came back saying it didn't work out between them. He wanted to date again. Talk about being selfish." The chocolate cookie in her hand got crushed. 

"I said no and-" she stumbled. "He has started to threaten me." 

"WHAT?" Monica shouted forgetting she was still in a public place. 

"What is he saying?" I looked around to see if anyone had noticed Monica's shriek yet. Thankfully, most of them were just couples who were busy making out.

"He's saying that he'll destroy me." Jasmine tried to look strong but I could feel her hands shaking. 

"We have to do something." Monica quietly said. 

"Yeah." I nodded. 

Just then I saw a silver Porsche pulling up in front of the cafe and glanced back at the clock. My shift was over.

"Hugo's here." I said and both of them glanced outside.

"Oh my! Your prince charming is here," Monica gushed, looking at her wrist watch, "On time!"

"I'll be back in a minute." I rolled my eyes at her and hurried into the changing room.

When I returned I saw Hugo sitting with my friends. "Hey." I greeted him and his lips stretched into a smile. Wow, did Hugo just smile at me? This must be my lucky day!

"Jasmine are you going to be okay? Do you need me to drop you home?" I rambled on fully knowing that I didn't even own a car to drop her at home. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Hugo curiously watching me.

"I don't know." She mumbled lost in her thoughts. Jasmine lived with her Aunt who worked late night shifts at the hospital so it was clearly dangerous for her to go home alone. If circumstances at my house were normal I could have invited over in a heartbeat. 

"Do you want to stay at my place?" Monica asked after exchanging a look with me instantly knowing what I was thinking. I wished she got it every time. 

"No, Aunt isn't working today. I'll be fine." She started gathering her stuff.

"Hugo." I whispered in his ear, leaning onto his side. "Can we please drop her home first and then head to my house?"

His eyes widened with surprise as I never minimized the proximity between us by my own will. He thought for a few seconds and then nodded. "Sure."

"We'll drop you home." I grinned at Jasmine, who gave me a puzzled look.

I glanced at Hugo and she followed my gaze. "Thank you!"

"No problem." He smoothly said making Jasmine sigh. Oh god, not you too Jasmine! I always thought that if there was one person who wouldn't get affected by Hugo's charm it would be Jasmine.

I sighed, seeing how he had conquered her heart as well now.

"I'll just help Melody with locking up everything you guys can go ahead." Three of them nodded and walked out.

It was the least I could do. She had managed most of my customers today after all. 

***

I explained Hugo about Jasmine's situation when I got in the car and after that it was only silence who accompanied us. I took a look in the rear mirror and found Jasmine enjoying the experience of riding the Porsche. Her life was similar to me. She used bus for the school because she didn't own a car. She loved to invest her time in studying and had lost her parents when she was five. Although that was something which was different between us.

"Thank you so much." Jasmine said as we pulled up in front of her apartment.

"Anytime." I grinned at her.

She was about to get out, but froze in her seat when her eyes fell on something. I followed her gaze and found a guy standing right in front of the gates.

"Is that your boyfriend?" I threw a panicked look at Hugo who was cool as a cucumber.

"Yes. That's him. That's David." Jasmine stuttered.

"What do we do now?" I helplessly tried to wrack my brain, but nothing helpful came in my mind.

"Should we beat him?" I blurted. "But he is a college student. He must be strong."

"Will you calm down?" Hugo gritted through his teeth. "I'll handle it."

"Are you going to beat him or stab him?" I stopped him from sliding out of the car.

"Your thoughts are surprisingly violent. It will be better if you keep them to yourself." He commented and brushed my hand off his arm before sliding out of the car.

I fidgeted with my fingers. If anything happened to Hugo it would be my fault. Oh God

Silently I saw him talking to David and after a few minutes he returned.

I gaped at him as he sat calmly in his seat adjusting his rear mirror.

"What did you do?" Jasmine asked.

"I gave him what he wanted. He won't bother you anymore." He said looking at me for some reason. 

"Well," Jasmine got out of the car. "Thank you so much Hugo. I owe you one." 

He smiled at her and I saw her making a dreamy face for a split second. 

"Bye Cade, see you tomorrow." She kissed me on the cheeks and left.

I looked at Hugo, who was already staring at me. I felt incredibly thankful towards him.

"Let's go I still have to talk to your Uncle." He said breaking the eye contact.

"What did you give to David?" I quietly said after a few minutes.

"Money."

"What? What if he comes back for more?" I slammed my hands on the front and Hugo glared at me.

"He won't. If he does Ryder will handle him." He took a turn to left. My house was within a minute distance now.

"Ryder? What, is he like your sidekick or something?" I giggled finding it amusing. 

He gave me a weird look. "It's called being a friend, Cadence." 

"Yeah, right." I mumbled. I wished my mouth could filter things before they escaped my lips.

"You didn't have to go that far." I glued my eyes to my fingers. "I mean technically it has nothing to do with you."

"By any chance, are you trying to thank me?" He said, a smirk played on his lips.

I stared at him, unable to say anything. It was really a last minute request but still he didn't say anything about it, took care of it so easily. Everything went so smoothly with him. I thought that for the first time.

"Don't just stare, it's awkward." He muttered. Yeah, he was still Hugo.

"Let's go." I got out feeling terribly embarrassed.

But I didn't know more embarrassment was still waiting for me. As we got out and walked towards the house I saw Uncle standing in front of the door. His eyes darkened and hands were crossed across his chest. His eyes were intensely locked on Hugo.

"Why are you two so late?"

Here we go.

__END OF CHAPTER__

A/N : Thanks for reading!! Do comment and vote if you like my book <3 

See you next time!