It was, according to every media outlet there was, the wedding of the year. Hallie thought so, too, but for vastly different reasons. Although the wedding ceremony was only held at a university chapel and the reception that followed took place at what could be described as an impossibly large and luxurious “frat house”, no one really cared about those things.

With events like this, it was always about who was invited and who was eager to come, and this wedding definitely had one of the most enviably star-studded lists. The handsome groom, after all, was no ordinary post-graduate student. Aside from being a member of one of Greece’s most famous political clans, Helios Andreadis was also the president of Afxisi.

Afxisi meant ‘rise’ in Greek, and on paper, it was the name of just one of the many collegiate clubs in Christopoulos University. In reality, however, Afxisi was a billion-dollar underground racing club, and tonight, its mercurial leader had just sworn his love and fealty to nineteen-year-old MJ Vlahos.

Hallie tried her best not to smile as the bride asked the university’s sun god to dance with her.

“Dancing is for sissies,” she heard the President mutter with a pained expression, but when his bride’s face fell, that was it.

“Don’t give me that look.”

“What look?”

The innocent question only had Helios shooting a more violent glare at MJ. “That look. Like I’m breaking your heart or something.”

“You’re not.”

A valiant smile accompanied the protest, and the sight of it had Hallie grinning. That look was always a winner, and just as she expected, the President had succumbed to it with a sigh. “Fine, brat,” MJ overheard Helios grumble. “But only for tonight, because it's our wedding day, and I want you to know how much I love you."

And so it was that MJ Vlahos-Andreadis blushed the whole time Helios danced with her. She also ended up laughing out loud as Helios, who hated dancing, whirled around every second, faster and faster, so no one could ever capture their faces clearly with their cameras.

It was surreal, seeing the couple together, looking blissfully happy and in love, after what they had gone through in the past year. It was even more surreal that in this huge crowd, only a few of them truly knew what had happened.

Other people would look at Helios and MJ and probably think that a tomboyish Cinderella had found her Prince Charming in the person of a handsome, rich, and notoriously aloof bike racer. But Hallie and the rest of Afxisi knew better. And because she knew better, it made her want so much to have her own fairy tale ending with the man of her dreams.

The thought had Hallie searching the crowd for a glimpse of Andreus, and eventually she found him at the back of the room. Tall, dark, and dangerously beautiful, exuding such raw power it just left her speechless at times, wondering how it was that being born with a silver spoon in his mouth hadn't been able to smooth and polish the rough edges of Andreus' personality. It was as if he was born with a gritty kind of manliness that no amount of sophistication could ever soften, making him stand apart from the rest without ever trying.

Wherever he went, whatever he was doing, he always looked like he was just one roar away from losing his temper, and always…always…always…

His gaze found hers, and just like always, there was so much in it she could barely breathe.

She and Yuri had been living in Miami for two years now, which also meant it had been two years since she started running after Andreus, continuously, but also ineffectually. And yet here she was, still in love with him, more than ever.

Which was his fault, too, Hallie thought with a sigh.

The problem with Andreus was how he treated her differently – and how everyone knew it, too. He would be a grouch with everyone else, but with her he was almost…sweet. Well, as sweet as someone like Andreus Economou could be that was.

If someone had dared wake him up with just one hour’s sleep, that idiot would’ve ended up in a coma. But if it were Hallie, a scowl and maybe a curse word here or there – but never directed at her – would have been Andreus’ equivalent to a light slap on the wrist.

Hallie peeked at him from across the room once more, and this time she saw one of the club’s so-called volunteers come up to him, cleavage rubbing against his arm as she rose on her toes to whisper something into his ear.

Andreus pulled away a moment later, and the other girl walked away with her chin up in the air and a look of affronted pride on her lovely face.

The sight did not surprise her, but even so it still made her heart squeeze. Hallie knew Andreus hadn’t been at all celibate in the past two years. Even so, he did go out of his way to prevent her from actually seeing him with other women. She was grateful for that, she supposed, but…it wasn’t enough.

She checked her watch, which was fashioned like a bracelet, its straps made of rubies and gold. It had been thirty minutes since the dancing had started - and she just couldn't take it anymore. She had told herself she wouldn't embarrass herself tonight, but...she loved him. Maybe tonight, it would be different?

Damn her. Andreus’ litany of curses continued in his mind as he watched Hallie pick up her skirts in the corner of his eye, and he swiftly turned his back on her the moment she started heading towards him.

The past two years had been hell, and it had started the moment the Athanas siblings moved into Afxisi’s headquarters. Although Hallie had never made an overt attempt to flirt with him, everyone still knew – just as everyone also knew that while he had never asked her out, he had always treated her differently, too.

He never meant to, but the moment her blue eyes met with his, logic went to hell.

He would find himself walking her to school, having lunch with her at the cafeteria, and sometimes, when he simply had a burning need to just be with her, he would even keep her company while she was washing dishes and actually dried the plates with her. Kellion, being the prankster he was, had even managed to take a damn photo and had it printed on the university paper.

He found himself changing, too, just because he knew it was what she wanted. He tried to curse less in her presence, attend more classes, and he even ate his fucking vegetables when she was around, just because she had this thing about making him “healthy”. It was all Yuri’s fault, though; that damn brother of hers ate more greens than any self-respecting red-blooded man should, and he had corrupted Hallie into thinking a kilo’s worth of spinach and broccoli per day was the ideal consumption rate.

Kellion, Helios, and occasionally Yuri were the only ones he spoke to at length about anything personal, the only people he considered his closest friends. Hallie, however, was a whole category, and she had this bewitching way of making him spill his guts without intending to.

How was your night? What kind of work does a Treasurer of Afxisi do exactly? Did you miss me?

It was always like that, questions that ranged from casual to curious to outrageous, and although he tried his best to stay on his toes, she’d flash that uniquely sweet smile of hers – shy, provocative, and adorable all at the same time – and he would find himself answering almost everything.

Or at least everything except about the nature of his work, but in the end, she had found out about that, too.

It had been the eve of her eighteenth birthday, and she had convinced him to sneak into her room because she wanted a gift from him. He had fallen for it, and that was when Hallie, sitting on her bed and ordered by Andreus to hide every inch of herself under her covers, had dropped her bombshell on him.

I know the truth, Andreus.

When he realized she was talking about his work, he had decided to tell her the rest and see for himself just how much she could take before she pushed him away. He had given her blow by fucking blow of what he did under the guise of being the club’s treasurer, had told her that as Afxisi’s debt collector, he had gotten really good at playing stab between the fingers. There had been a few instances he did miss, but they were all deliberate. He had told her that, too, in an effort to scare her away, but after all his stories of blood and gore, she had only asked him one thing.

When you need to go out of town doing your…job, do you have other girlfriends waiting for you in those places? Like how seafarers tend to have a wife at each port?

It had literally stunned him speechless for several seconds before he could burst out at her, asking, Seafarer? Who uses the word seafarer now?

Like a pirate then, Hallie had easily corrected herself. Do you have women waiting for you like a pirate –

Jesus Christ, no! And when she had only breathed a sigh of relief at his answer, he had asked incredulously, Did you not hear the part where I told you I cut fingers off?

I did.

And? He was still in a clear state of disbelief at her easy acceptance, but he had quickly gotten over his shock as soon as Hallie had thrown the covers away and came crawling towards him. He had cursed and tried to get away from her, but she had managed to corner him still by straddling his lap and locking him into place.

Why are you being silly, Andreus?

Blue eyes had gazed down at him in gentle reproof.

I know you. I know you’re a good person. If you had to hurt someone, that person deserved it.

And that had been that.

The pain Yuri’s father had caused her should have made Hallie run away from jerks like Andreus, but instead she had forgiven his checkered past and insisted on seeing something good in him. She was nothing he expected, nothing like what he needed her to be – a girl he could fuck and forget, a girl who was just like the rest, or even just a girl who could at least be marginally within his reach.

But instead she was perfect.

She was beautiful but not vain, smart without being a smartass, funny without being an attention whore. Despite her privileged upbringing, Hallie hadn’t a single spoiled, lazy bone in her body, and her hard work had eventually made Helios appoint her as the club’s manager.

The role had allowed Hallie to take over the household and manage the volunteers, a position much envied by the latter. She had done a damn good job at it, too – except when it came to the kitchen.

Memories of her culinary outputs almost made him smile – they had all been inedible, and one had even been bad enough to send a couple of unlucky rookies to the hospital for food poisoning. It was why, as much as the bikers loved Hallie like their favorite baby sister, they had all cheered as well when MJ came in and made the kitchen her domain, and Hallie herself had sheepishly admitted that she was getting sick of eating her own badly cooked food as well.

Like he said, perfect.

And it was because she was that he had no choice but to ignore her now. No choice but to pretend he didn’t feel her heart beating with his, no choice but to ignore the way his soul could recognize hers even amidst an ocean of humans around them –

He had no choice.

No fucking choice.

Hallie had been waiting for Andreus to turn around for one minute now. She knew Andreus was aware of her presence. He always was, but he could just be so stubborn about it.

Rising on her toes, Hallie tiptoed to let her fingers drift on the muscular slope of his shoulder. Just once, but slowly, with Hallie unable to help savoring the excuse to be in contact with him.

A few more seconds passed, and Hallie only released her pent-up breath when Andreus finally turned to face her. His handsome face was intimidatingly grim, but she fought hard to keep her smile in place. He did this all the time, she reminded herself. He liked to play tough this way, pretending there was nothing between them.

But it had been two years, Hallie thought achingly. Two long years of having to pretend there was nothing going on –

“Andreus?”

The light in her eyes made his guts clench. It was a look that he knew she reserved only for him, and that was what made it wrong.

So damn wrong, especially after…

Hallie started in surprise when Andreus suddenly cupped her elbow and led her away from his usual crowd of fans, women who only seemed to get hornier the more he ignored them.

“Don’t bother me right now, princess,” Andreus muttered under his breath.

Oh.

Hallie hadn’t seen that coming at all. Andreus had always been rude and unfailingly blunt, but he had never been this cold to her. She tried to search his face for a clue but couldn’t find any, and her smile faltered. What was wrong?

“How am I bothering you?” She fought hard to keep her voice light. “I’m not sure I---”

“Just stay the hell away from me. That’s all you need to know.”

His fingers suddenly released her arm, and its abrupt withdrawal made her feel empty. Lost. Scared.

“Andreus?” The change in his attitude hurt, but neither could she shake the feeling that he was hurting, too. “Is something wrong?”

“I just want you to leave me alone,” Andreus gritted out. “Is that so hard to understand?”

“But---”

“You’re getting on my nerves---”

Snickers from behind them erupted, and both Hallie and Andreus stiffened when they realized several of the club’s fourth-year volunteers had heard his words and were now staring at Hallie with smug contempt.

“You should listen to the Treasurer,” one of the girls said derisively. “It’s time you found out you can’t always enjoy special treatment just because you’re Yuri Athanas’ sister.”

There was enough truth in the words to hurt, but Hallie managed to retort, “I’ve never asked anyone to treat me differently.”

“That’s because you don’t have to,” the girl shot back.

“That’s right, I don’t have to. I know my own worth, so I don’t need anyone to make me feel special. You, however, seem to think otherwise---” Hallie let out a little sigh. “I think that’s quite sad.”

It was a good set-down, and she knew it, which was why she turned to leave as soon as she finished speaking, chin up, her gaze focused straight head. Tears threatened to spill any second, but she struggled to keep them at bay.

That Andreus hadn’t defended her from the other girls’ accusations didn’t matter. She wasn’t a kid. She could fight her own battles. What mattered, however, were the things he had said before it –

Don’t bother me right now, princess.

I just want you to leave me alone.

You’re getting on my nerves.

Regret brutally stabbed him as Andreus watched Hallie disappear into the night. He wanted to call her back, wanted to beg her forgiveness, wanted so many damn things with her.

But he could not.

He would never be able to.

His life was compromised, and Hallie deserved someone who could offer her forever.