Chapter 77 – The Gala Event

**Warning. This chapters deals with physical abuse. If you are sensitive to physical abuse then please do not read this chapter**

Octavio yawned as he flipped through the stations on the television. He stopped when he saw the World's Edge arena. At first he thought it was just an advertisement but as he watch few he realized it was live. He watched Lisa Stone as she announced something called 'The Old Ways.' From what Octavio could make out from the broadcast, it was a series of trials that involved killing prowlers and winning prizes for doing so. Currently it was just Bloodhound running through the trials. It was a cave, just outside of Skyhook, that housed the trials and the prowlers. Octavio played with Ajay's hair as she slept on his chest.

Ajay opened her eyes in a half awake state. She looked up at the television to see Bloodhound and the prowlers. She grew tense in Octavio's arms. Octavio looked down at her and continued to play with her hair as he turned the television to a different station. "Hey Che. Remember that night we went to the gala? The last time that we ever went to the gala together?" He had a smirk on his face that she couldn't see.

She relaxed into him, "Yah." She yawned and closed her eyes, "It's not like ya were forced to go." He laughed, "Yeah but what kind of friend would I be if I didn't go." She started to drift off, "The kind that ya got kicked out…." He shrugged, "It wasn't my fault. Ban me for life suckers." He waited for her response and then realized that she had fallen back to sleep again. He smiled and flipped back to the trials.

The black dress clung tightly to her body. It was long, strapless, and left little to the imagination. Ajay knew it was classy enough to get her into the gala and trashy enough to piss off her parents. She left her long brown, red hair down; just one more thing that would make her parents mad. Ajay debated putting makeup on as she stood in front of the mirror.

Octavio walked into her room without any introduction. They had been inseparable since they met. He was wearing black slacks and a black button up shirt with the sleeves rolled up just below his elbows. "Hey hermana. You read…." He lost his words when he saw her adjusting her breasts in front of the mirror. He had to do a double take as his eyes wondered to her ass. The dress she wore was tight against her every single curve.

"Yah. I don know Silva. Should I wear makeup?" He stood there and stared at her backside from top to bottom once again. "No way." Those were the only words he could manage to get out. He crossed his arms over his chest as she sat down on her bed. The slit that parted her dress showed more than enough of her left leg for Octavio to handle; he needed to find something to occupy himself. He sighed and walked over to her, kneeling in front of her, trying peek up the silt of her dress without making it look too obviously.

He grabbed her black heels and helped her into them, one foot at a time. He gently threaded the strap through the buckle on each heel. He couldn't resist touching the side of her leg and tracing his fingertips all the way up to her thigh as he stood up. He had always thought of doing unspeakable things to her and tonight was no different. But they were friends, even though they had done stuff that wouldn't fall under the just friend's category. But any time they did anything, things seemed to get awkward between them and he really didn't know where they stood. So he restrained himself to save their friendship. He pushed his thoughts away and offered her his hands so that she could stand.

She smiled and took his hands to stand up. "Do ya think this will piss off my parents?" Octavio shrugged, "Turn around?" She began to turn around. "Slower Che." He tried not to sound too creepy and eager when he asked. She sighed and turned around as slow as she could. Octavio shuddered as he watched every single curve of her body and imagined what it would be like to touch her skin and taste her. He did everything he could to hold himself back from pulling that tight black dress off of her gorgeous body, throwing her onto the bed, and having his way with her.

"So?" She was standing in front of him waiting for him to answer. "Si." He didn't even realize what he was agreeing to at this point. She smiled and took him by the hand, dragging him out of her room and down the stairs. But really she wasn't dragging him anywhere, he would follow her to ends of the world if it meant that he could be with her. He was pleasantly surprised when they stopped in front of the liquor cabinet.

"Che I don't want to drink alone. It's so boring." Ajay popped the lock off of the cabinet and pulled out a bottle of unopened vodka. "Who said ya were drinkin alone Silva." Octavio gave her a confused look, "Che, you drinking?" He took the bottle from her and opened it, "You hate this shit." She grabbed the bottle and took a long drink. Her face scrunched up with a weird look overtaking it as the vodka burned all the way down. He laughed and took the bottle from her, taking a drink.

She watched him. "How do ya drink that shit without it burnin?" He shrugged and handed her the bottle, "Practice." Ajay took another long drink and tried not to make any faces; she was only semi successful on the not making faces part. Octavio laughed and took the bottle, "I don't hate this Che." He took a drink of the vodka and looked at the bottle before handing it to her. "The rest is yours."

She took the bottle and drank what was left. Her face felt warm but it wasn't from the vodka, she felt Octavio's hand on her ass. She lost her words for a moment as she grew warm and wet between her legs. She set the bottle down on the nearby table and stepped away from him, "Silva…" She swallowed hard, "We should get going." He smiled at her, "Yeah. We gotta go piss off the folks." He watched her face briefly before she turned towards the door, "Che?"

Ajay stopped in her tracks but she didn't turned around, her face was too red. "Silva are ya coming?" Octavio rubbed the back of his neck. He wanted to tell her about his feelings for her but he really didn't know how to put what he wanted to say into words. He also didn't want to put their friendship on the fringe again. He sighed as feared her rejection and didn't want to risk their friendship at this point, "Nothing." He followed her to the door, "Let's get going."

It wasn't long before they made it to the Bonsai Plaza where gala was being held. For Ajay and Octavio the gala was just a bunch of useless antiques, sculptures, and artwork. Ajay had been to so many of these events that she had lost count. Her parents forced her to go and since she lived with them she really had no choice. She was always allowed to bring someone but he parents never liked her choice because it was always Octavio Silva.

Silva was always her plus one to everything and she was always his plus one to everything as well. She was always his camera man, or woman, for all of his videos. She was also his accomplice for all of his little side missions. They were always together in the thick of things. If there was ever any trouble on Olympus, it was usually Octavio and Ajay as the driving force behind it.

Ajay didn't ever hear her parents outright say they hated Octavio but she could feel her parent's disgust towards her best friend. Octavio was the one person she was not willing to give up or bargain about with her parents. So often her parents just let Octavio hang around. Even though they would try to separate them at times.

Ajay and Octavio entered the gala arm in arm. She put a fake smile on her face, which was pretty easy with all the vodka in her system. She greeted a few people before her mother grabbed her by the arm, "Hi Octavio. May I have a word with my daughter?" Octavio shrugged and Cherisse pulled Ajay into a private room where Darion, her father, was waiting. Cherisse closed the door behind her, still clutching Ajay's arm. She pulled Ajay in front of her, "What the hell is your problem?" Cherisse hissed at her.

Ajay stared at her but didn't say a word as her mother continued to speak, "You look like a whore." Darion touched Ajay's hair, "This is no way for any daughter of mine to be dressed." Ajay stared at her mother as she pulled her arm away from her, "I look fine. Why don ya worry more about profitin from the war and less about what I'm wearin." Darion sighed and dropped his hand from her hair. "I am going to go keep an eye out for that Loba character. Can't be too careful with the valuables nowadays." Cherisse nodded as Darion left, closing the door behind him.

"I don't know what has gotten into you tonight." Cherisse was inches from Ajay's face as she spoke to her. Ajay shrugged, "It's not just tonight. It has been like this for a long time." Cherisse grabbed Ajay by the back of the head and pulled her by her hair to force her gaze to hers, "Have you been drinking?" Ajay smiled and blew a breath of air into her mother's face before she spoke, "Yah." Cherisse frowned, "It's that Silva kid. I swear."

Ajay interrupted her, "It's not Silva. He's the only one that gives a shit about me." Cherisse slapped Ajay across the face with her other hand, "Don't you talk to me like that." Ajay continued to laugh, "It don matter what I do. Ya gonna do what ya gonna do and we ain't gonna agree." Cherisse slapped Ajay again and pushed her to the floor, "Watch your tone with me." Cherisse straightened her dress out, "You need to go home before you embarrass our family." Ajay sat on the floor with blood dripping from the corner of her mouth as Cherisse left. She sat there for a while until Octavio came in.

A look of concern washed over his face Octavio's face when he found Ajay sitting on the floor. He knew that Ajay had it bad with her parents but he never knew it how bad it really was. He helped her to her feet, "Che?" She stared at the ground. "It's okay Silva." She forced herself to smile as her eyes met his. He frowned and gently wiped the blood from her busted bottom lip. He took her by the hand and led her to a back service elevator. It didn't take too long before the elevator doors opened and they got in. Octavio pressed the button to get them to the roof top.