Chapter 360: An uninvited guest
Everything was going so damn well that Andrew couldn’t even fathom that something bad could happen. It was an event hosted by the Beckett’s after all, and he knew that they cared about him deeply.
Maybe it was just an assumption on his part, but he was fairly certain that they had already looked into who his father was, and had cut ties as much as they could with him and his family. Andrew was pretty sure that was what they had done, so after Mr. Dalton had been pulled away by some colleagues who wanted to talk to him, Andrew was with Maxwell, Richard, Rose and Jordan.
He didn’t have his guard up, he didn’t even think that anything could ever happen. He was practically defenseless to it.
The murmuring came first, before loud, aggressive footsteps started approaching them. Andrew thought it was strange that he was able to hear the footsteps as much as he could, and he had his back to the sound approaching them. He was getting prepared to protect Maxwell, since he had assumed it was someone who was about to target his man.
Andrew was chatting to Richard, who also had his back to what was happening, and when Andrew glanced towards Maxwell and Rose, both of them looked ill. Rose, a little less so, but Maxwell?
He looked like he was seeing a ghost, and that had Andrew curious.
Maxwell reached for Andrew desperately, grabbing his arm.
"Get Richard out of here." He told Andrew softly, urgently. Andrew smirked. There was no way he was leaving his lover alone to deal with this asshole. Rose nodded aggressively, grabbing Jordan’s hand and yanking him towards Richard and Andrew.
"Get out of here, Andrew." She barked, but that was when the footsteps came to a halt behind him. Andrew could feel the air in the room shift, and the sound of other footsteps making their way urgently towards where Andrew, Maxwell, and the others were standing. Andrew didn’t know why everyone was glancing at him, worry and anger warring on their expressions until Andrew heard the soft chuckle behind him.
Andrew felt his shoulders tense. Every muscle in his body went into high alert, every joint stiffening, and Andrew felt his gut drop.
He recognised that sound. Even if it had been literal years since he’d last heard it, it haunted him occasionally. The easy way it came out of his lips, how little care it showed he had for the people around him.
Andrew could almost see him in his mind’s eye. What he was wearing, who he was. How the fuck had he gotten in?