Chapter Twenty-nine

Athena's POV

The crowd stands up, cheering as Jon run with the ball in front of him. They start to get louder and louder with every step he takes. My hands are freezing—it feels like I'm the one playing football. As Jon kicks the ball, aiming for the goal, one of their teammates run forward but the opponent team kicks the ball away.

Everyone sits back down, letting out cheers of dissatisfaction. I put my hands back down, looking around. Sitting back on my seat, I look up at the screen—seeing the camera focusing on Jon who walks toward Alex as he shakes his head. Alex smirks before rolling his eyes afterwards.

The camera follows as Alex head toward the side, waiting for the ball from the corner. Two of his teammates follow him but they stay further away from each other—protecting each side so that they might have a chance of capturing the ball.

From the screen, it shows that Alex has a five o'clock shadow. He looks directly at Liam who's giving him signs. As soon as he nods, the ball is now flying on the thin air, waiting to be caught. Alex's teammates separate from one another and they take their position, covering from every corner.

My eyes widen as soon as Liam kicks the ball toward Alex's direction. Alex jogs faster to the ball and once he gets it, he starts to turn around when the opponent team tries to kick it away. Alex turns around and start aiming for the goal. From afar, there's one of Alex's teammates jogging on the side, eyeing Alex—as a sign that he's free.

''Herrera kicks the ball and went straight to Abana. Running ahead toward the other side, giving a sign to Martinez.'' Bob says, fast. I can see the crowd standing up, jumping up and down as they cheer loudly, ''Abana gives Herrera an inner side of instep kick—'' The crowd went silent and everyone starts to hold their breaths.

The ball slides to the middle and Alex takes the chance to run forward. As soon as he did, one man from the opponent team rushes. Alex seem to notice that he's close enough—with Jon standing on the other side—so he push kick the ball.

I seem to get caught in the moment as I stand up, not quite satisfied myself in the luxury box, ''—and he—goal!'' Arnold continues the sentence from Bob as they both cheer for the goal.

Alex's eyes wide as he realise he just scored a goal. Liam run toward him before giving him a bone crushing hug. The rest of the team run pursuit after. Everyone in the luxury box are standing and cheering for the team. When I turn around, I see most of them are looking at me with a wide smile on their faces. My cheeks suddenly heat up.

''That was an excellent goal!'' Arnold says. Hearing Bob humming to the cheer, ''Excellent.'' And Arnold repeats, everyone still cheering for the last goal which determines the winner. At first they failed but they manage to do it afterwards.

''That was indeed, the end of our friendly match. Spain wins the game with 3-2 which is—'' It wasn't clear anymore as people stand up and start hugging each other from the winning. Someone pulls me and crush me into a group hug. I laugh as soon as they all hug together. Once they have finally break the hug, everyone eyes me.

''That was an amazing goal.'' One of them says to me and I nod my head, giving him a smile, ''Alex has always been a great defender—'' He is cut off with someone entering the room. They all turn around—blocking me from seeing.

I furrow my eyebrows and walk to the side, seeing Alex standing near the door, looking around. He is breathing heavily as he search the room—looking for someone. As soon as his eyes landed on me, his lips curve up into a smile and he run toward me, picking me up by the waist. I yelp at the sudden contact and within seconds, I let out giggles—which isn't normal for me. I don't giggle!

Alex chuckles as he let me down and in my surprise, kisses me.

My eyes widen as the group of people woo at our kiss. Alex then wrap tighter around my waist, deepening the kiss. My hands move up to his face, feeling sweat on the side of his cheeks before closing my eyes and enjoying the kiss. My body feels so small whenever I'm with him but somehow fit perfectly.

Both of us slows down the kiss and he rests his forehead on mine as he looks down at my lips. My hands are wrapping around his neck while he has his around my waist. He then lift his forehead and look down at me in surprise. His expression shows that he's surprised at what he just did.

He then turns around, grinning widely at the people who has been watching us.

My cheeks heat up in embarrassment as they clap and cheer.

Right now, Alex and his teammates are celebrating their win. I see Sarah jumping up and down from afar and when she sees me, her eyes widen before running toward me. She wraps her arms around my body, pulling me into a tight hug, ''Athena!'' She says through the music.

We break the hug and I see her smiling widely at me, ''Oh my god, Alex.'' She then turn toward Alex who has one hand behind my back, ''You did an amazing job as always. You haven't really scored a goal on the previous match so seeing you back all hyped is really great,'' She nods her head before drinking the bottle of beer, ''By the way, where's Jon?''

I turn to look at Alex who is looking around and pointing at Jon who is right now taking shots with Liam at the bar. Sarah pats Alex on the chest before walking into the crowd, ''Jon!'' She shouts his name and as soon as Jon turns around, he wraps her in his arms before kissing her lightly on the lips.

Alex pulls me out of the crowd until we find a place to sit. He takes a glass of water before gulping it down. I eye his every action and he peeks through his glass, looking at my face, ''What?'' He raises an eyebrow, putting the glass down.

Before I could answer, Sarah has already pull my forearm, ''Come on, Athena, we're going to have some fun!'' She says, giggling as she keeps on pulling my arm with no effort at all. My eyes wander to look at Alex who has a smirk on his face as he keeps on drinking water, ''If you stay here, you're not going to have fun.'' Sarah adds.

I stand up, following Sarah after not getting any respond from Alex. She then drag me all the way to the bar, meeting Jon. He has a huge grin on his face before pulling me into his arms and landing a kiss on the bridge of my nose. My eyes widen and he furrows his eyebrows as soon as he open his eyes, ''Shit, you're not Sarah.'' He mutters under his breath before letting me go.

''You're drunk.'' I laugh and push his arm away.

He groans, ''Clearly. Sarah made me drunk.'' Then he takes another sip of his drink, eyeing Sarah from her face down to her exposed legs. I narrow my eyes at Jon and back at Sarah before adding, ''Clearly.'' At the same time Jon says so.

''Let's get it started!'' Sarah shouts and everyone starts to woo. She turns to me, giving me a glass and giving Jon another one. With a grin on her face, ''Let's make it a night to remember.'' Then we both grin at each other before feeling the strong liquor burning down our throats.

We cheer loudly not even caring if the whole team are paying attention to us. Our hands are up in the air as we dance with the music blasting in our eardrums. Sarah's arm over my shoulder—jumping up and down with the beat.

Everything seems to move slow as we enjoy the moment. We are holding our drinks up in the air—letting ourselves free. Someone grabs me around the waist and when I turn around, I see a pair of brown eyes looking down at me—as we are inches apart. My lips curve up into a smile when I see him lowering his hand on my hips.

I take a sip of my drink as we move our hips. For once, I actually feel free and relaxed. One of my arm goes around Liam's neck and cling onto him—as the alcohol kicks in. He grips harder and pulling me closer toward him. I look up and our eyes meet instantly.

To my surprise, he leans in, brushing his lips against mine. I stand still but as soon as our lips meet, I couldn't help but respond back. Tasting alcohol on his soft lips mixing with mine—blasting my taste buds. No matter how drunk we are, he kisses me softly—not rushing even a little bit.

I break the kiss, licking my lower lip. He clenches his jaw, eyeing my lips before looking back into my eyes. My eyebrows furrow in confusion as soon as I realise what we were doing. Stepping back, I see his eyes widening but before he could say anything, Sarah pulls me by the waist—Liam slowly fading from my vision.

Within seconds, I am already taking shots.

''She did it again!'' Jon shouts and everyone cheers as I finish my shot. Sarah claps and starts to kiss Jon passionately on the lips. I take another glass and gulp it at once—feeling immune to the taste. I don't know how much I have drink but I surely can't get enough.

We are dancing once more on the dance floor. I feel myself moving my hips to the bass—running my hands in my hair, grinning to myself. A pair of arms wrap around my waist from behind before pecking on the side of my neck, causing me to smile seductively. The smell of his cologne turns me on.

He turns me around and his hands lower down to my hips. My eyes meet up with Alex's blue ones, seeing the green lights shining on the side of his face. I lean closer and brush my lips against his—completely not taking control of myself.

Alex stands still, just eyeing my body up and down, not doing anything else. He let me run my hand on his face, feeling his light stubble. My eyes are closed, intoxicated.

''Applause to the married couple!'' The DJ says, causing me to open my eyes and as soon as I did, I hear people clapping at us. Then the music starts getting louder, catching everyone's attention.

''How much did you drink?'' I feel Alex's lips on my earlobe as he whispers lightly.

Chuckling, I push him lightly but he still has both of his hands on my hips. I lean in and look down at his pink lips, ''Too much.'' I reply, my voice low but loud enough for him to hear, ''And I'm going to do it again!'' I say loudly.

Sarah pulls me by the arm and I follow her—chuckling as I do. I hear Alex calling out my name and trying to stop Sarah but we run until we reach to one of the seats where I see Jon and the rest of team are sitting. They are laughing and pretty much wasted themselves.

I feel myself gulping countless amount of alcohol—feeling them burning my throat. Hearing cheers and the music surrounding me somehow keeps me on drinking. As I try to take a sip of my drink, a pair of hand stops me from doing so. Turning around, I see Alex taking the glass and putting it back down.

''That's enough. You've had too much.'' I hear him say. Turning around, I almost trip as my knee hits the table but his arm goes around my waist—preventing me from falling. He has a frown on his face, ''Athena,'' he calls out my name but I just chuckle.

''We are going back to the hotel, okay?'' He says in my ear before pulling me up and I rest my head on his chest immediately, feeling comfortable.

Pouting, I cup his cheeks and pull his face closer toward mine, ''Can we please—'' I sniff in his cologne, ''—stay for a bit longer?'' I can't even recognise my own voice.

''Athe—'' I cut him off by kissing him and wrapping my arms around his neck. He stays still for awhile but he kisses me back seconds after. I lightly pull his hair and I can hear his teammates cheering but I ignore them as I keep on kissing him.

One of my hand tugs on his royal blue shirt, trying to unbutton the first button but he groans and break the kiss. My lips are parted as I look at him, disappointed. He lightly run one of his hand down my thigh and the other behind my back, carrying me bridal style, ''We're leaving.'' He says to his teammates.

''Man, already?'' Someone asks but Alex just frown and nod his head.

I chuckle unknowingly, ''Sarah!'' I shout her name before waving and giving her a flying kiss. She stands up and returns the same before waving back at me.

Gripping harder around his neck, ''God, my head hurts.'' I groan lightly as I feel him place me in the car. Holding my head tightly, I rub my temples and lay on my stomach, suddenly have the urge to throw up, ''Alex.'' I mutter his name under my breath.

I feel him looking at me but shortly after, the feeling is gone.

Feeling him carrying me once more as he walks. I hear his heart beating steadily and it somehow calms me down. I open my eyes as soon as I hear him opening the door. My eyes wander around to see a dim light.

''Put me down.'' I say. He keeps on holding me tightly so I kick my legs out, ''I said, put me down.'' And after a few minutes, I feel him putting me down lightly on the cold ground. I crawl toward the nearest warmth and see that the fireplace is on.

Turning around, I see Alex looking down at me as he unbutton the first button of his shirt. Then he let out another sigh before disappearing into the back. I turn my attention back to the fireplace, enjoying the warm sensation.

Laying my head on the furry carpet, I let myself relax as I keep on watching the fire. Sometimes fire can be calming but they can also be dangerous. The longer you stare, the more you feel like they're beautiful. I hear someone shift beside me and when I turn around, I see Alex sitting beside me while resting one of his hand on his knee.

Sitting up, I just look at him. At how his eyes are a light brown colour right now due to the fire he's watching. His eyes looks at mine and to my surprise, they just stare into my eyes—not bothering to look elsewhere. Slowly, I pull my knees up to my chin and end up looking at him.

A smirk appears on his face afterwards, ''You do know you're wearing a dress right?'' He says, without looking as he continues to look at the fire.

I keep my legs down immediately, feeling my cheeks heat up and this is surely not because of the fire. With my hands, I cup my cheeks and breathe out—puffing my cheeks. Alex looks at me once more, not saying a word.

He slowly moves toward me—so close that I can smell his cologne and feel his warmth. He's hotter than the fireplace itself. Looking down at his lips, he does the same. I feel him lightly touching my face and running both of his thumbs on my cheeks.

My lips are parted apart as he keeps on brushing his nose with mine. Within seconds, I feel his lips lightly touches mine—causing me to kiss him back just as soft. I taste alcohol on his lips yet they also taste like oranges. My hands move up to unbutton his shirt and he just let me as he keeps on cupping my face, kissing me like there's no tomorrow.

As soon as I finish unbuttoning his shirt, I just leave it there and trace my ice cold hands on his warm body. I feel him running his fingers through my hair as he lightly pull my head to the back and deepening the kiss. From the soft kiss, it turns out passionate. One of his hand brushes my arm and down to my wrist before he places his hand on my thigh.

I shiver when his hand softly up my thigh. His lips leaves mine and moves to trail kisses down my jawline and my neck. He lightly peck on my neck, testing my patience. His other hand doing wonders, turning me on just by a simple touch.

He lifts me by the waist so that I am sitting on his lap. My hands tug onto his shirt, trying to pull them off as he continues to kiss my lips. He tilt his head to the side, making it easier for me to kiss him. As I take the shirt off of his body, both of his hands move to my back and tugging slowly at the zipper of my dress.

Pressing my body on his, he kisses on my shoulder as he pulls the zipper down, stopping as soon as it reaches the top of my butt. Feeling his soft fingers running at the back of my body gives me more shivers—knowing that no one has ever made me feel this way. Not even Jeremy.

My head hurts from the amount of alcohol I consumed but with his touch and kisses, the pain starts to subside. I am only left in my underwear. When I turn around, I find him kissing the side of my neck. My eyes open to see my ripped shirt on the ground near me.

Both of his hands cup my face, making me face him. I see lust in his eyes and I'm sure my eyes shows the same. My feelings may got mixed up but right now, I just can't seem to process what's happening to me because I just let it go with the flow.

He lifts me up by grabbing onto my thighs—my legs wrap around his torso—as we still kiss endlessly and he starts to move backwards until I finally catch a glimpse of the king sized bed.