Chapter 3
Seminary: Chuck Bass has it all: the money, the lifestyle and the women... What happens when he comes home after the summer and finds out his stepsister brought home a friend. Who appears to be a female version of himself... What happens when that particular stranger turns his Bass-world up side down... Is it possible for Chuck to have finally met his match...?
Disclaimer: I don't own anything! The characters and gossip girl are property of the CW and it's creators.
The family dinner was a drag, mainly because the sole reason for his attending wasn't even there: she had left for a business dinner, as Lily explained, to the pleasure of his father who was happy to see that his latest investment was taking it rather seriously.
There are a few things he doesn't understand yet about Blair, like why would she need Bass money, when she has plenty of her own. Andrew, his PI, did a full background check on her: she comes from an old French family. Her mother, who died recently, was a great designer, so now, after her sudden death, Blair stepped in and made herself CEO of Waldorf Designs. She's very persistent and doesn't let anyone near her mother's legacy even though the resurge revealed that the two ladies never had the best relationship: after birth, Blair was left in the capable hands of a Polish nanny, Dorota, who later on became their maid.
Blair's name came up numerous times in the most prestigious boarding school throughout Europe, but never enrolled there. She attended school at the Lycée Louis-Le-Grand, a public high school, widely regarded as one of the most rigorous in France whichplays an important role in the education of French elites. The school is located in the heart of the 'Quartier Latin', the traditional student's area of Paris. Rich in history, architecture, culture, this area is the home to some of the oldest and most prestigious educational establishments in France, including the university of Paris, the Sorbonne. Blair also attended this, majored in 'international business' and graduated with summa cum laude.
She was always business minded, given that she had bought her first business only day after her 18thbirthday, gaining access to her trust fund. It was a former strip joint, much to her mother's dismay, but it turned out to be a solid investment, after she turned it into the exclusive burlesque club it is today, a place respected by the French elite but also popular to all the young rich and famous people. The fact that she had bought a strip joint as a young woman, caused a lot of uproar along the Champ d'Elysee, the French upper east side. Later on she invested in a few less scandalous businesses. Time after time she took a nearly bankrupted business and turned into a little goldmine. Of course, that would appeal to his father.
After what he saw before dinner, that seems to be her plan for her mother's company too. Eleanor was famous for her exclusive and gorgeous eveningwear. Designing dresses was her life. However Blair saw it bigger and better, but still exclusive. Waldorf Designs wasn't about to become the next H&M.
Looking around, taking in his surroundings, he realizes the club feels empty tonight. Chuck's sitting in one of the private booths of his club, shielded from the crowd by a curtain. He can look out, but they can't look in. His mind drifts back to the fake blond, who's sitting beside him. Trying to get his attention by giving him butterfly kisses in his neck.
"Make yourself useful." Chuck brushes her off of him. "Get that carafe refilled."
With a loud sigh and a glare thrown his way the blonde stands up, attempts to lengthen her mini-dress by pulling at it and leaves with the empty carafe in hand. Chuck doesn't even bother to look up and enjoy the view of her strutting her ass off… He keeps his focus on the folder before him, filled with little details of Blair's life. He turns the page and a few photos of her and Serena are revealed.
Paris, end of July...
Serena takes a seat at the terrace of 'Mamie Gâteaux'. She takes the menu off the table and goes through it, eyeing the many delicious choices. Her phone goes off in her handbag so she closes the menu before reaching down to her purse and retrieving her I-phone. It tells her she has a new text message from Blair: I'm running late. See you in five!
A young male waiter comes up to her immediately: "Bonjour, Mademoiselle. Est-ce que je peux inclure votre commande ? (Good morning Miss, can I take your order?)
Serena looks up at the gorgeous, blue eyed guy, looking down at her.
"Don't rush. I'm in good company,'' she texts back.
"Non pas encore. Je suis en attente pour une amie," (No, not yet. I'm waiting on a friend,) she replies with a honey laced voice, while playing with her hair, wrapping it around her finger.
The guy gives her a big smile back.
"Je m' appelle Serena." (I'm Serena) She holds out her hand to him. He takes it and kisses a knuckle gently.
"Henri," he replies.
Her phone buzzes again. Serena gently taps the screen with her finger to read the text : "Behave yourself! I'm a regular there..."
"Vous voulez quelque chose à boire pendant que vous attendez ? » (Would you like something to drink while you wait ?)
"Oui, un latte,s' ill vous plait." (Yes, a latte, please.)
"Un latte, qui vient ainsi." (A latte, coming right up !)"
Blair arrives, the moment Henri steps out with Serena's latte.
"Merci, Henri," Serena thanks him, while waiving at Blair, who smiles and waves back.
"De rien, ma cherie," he replies. He turns to look at who Serena's waiving. He grins widely once he recognises the approaching brunette: "Blair, ma petite cherie! Quelle surprise!"(Blair, my darling! What a surprise!)
"Bonjour, Henri." She hugs him.
'It's been too long!" Henri continues in broken English.
"Yes. It has been. So I guess you two have already met?" She eyes a blushing Serena.
"Yes, I was just getting to know your very pretty friend better." Henri grins widely.
"I can imagine you were." Blair eyes Henri out of the corner of her eyes with a smile, while taking the empty seat at the small table.
"Je vais devoir le petit déjeuner sain, s' ill vous plait, et pour moi aussi un latte. Merci Herni." (I'll have the healthy breakfast and I would also like a latte. Thank you Henri!)
"Hmm, I'll have the same please." Serena looks at Henri with her big blue eyes.
They both hand him the menu's back, he thanks them and walks away to another table.
"Have you heard anything from your friend yet?" Blair wonders.
"Yes, I found a note this morning that stated that she had left with him, the one she met in your Rubis two nights back. Apparently he's the son of some oil tycoon. They took his private jet to Spain. I was more than welcome to join them," she says the last words mockingly.
Blair bursts out laughing. "Did she state it like that?"
"Yes, she did…" Serena tries to keep a serious face. "I'm not planning on being the third wheel all over again! I owe you for that night, remember."
"It was my pleasure." Blair smiles and continues with a compliment: "You're a fun girl to hang out with."
Henri interrupts their conversation as he brings over their food: freshly made orange juice, a bowl of fruits and a thick slice of white bread, that has been soaked in a mixture of milk and egg, been baked golden brown in a frying pan and finished off with some white sugar on top, better known as 'pain perdu,' lost bread.
Blair's phone interrupts their happy chatter.
"Allo?" Blair answers her phone (Hello, in French).
"What do you mean: where am I? At 'mammi Gâteaux'."
Serena looks up worried at Blair's tone; it has gone from cheerful to panicked under half a sentence.
"Sacrebleu!" Blair shouts out. "Merde! C'est un désastre... Je viens!" (Damn it ! Shit! It's a disaster! I'm on my way…)
She jumps up, throws her phone into her handbag and starts apologising to Serena: "I am so sorry, but I have to go. A major crisis at work. If I can't fix this, it's a disaster…"
"What's going on?" Serena wonders. "Sit down. You can tell me…"
"I would love to stay and explain it all to you, but that won't get me my investor back…"
"I thought you owned 'Les Rubis de Paris'?" Serena asks confused.
"I do. It's for my late mothers company: Waldorf Designs. But I really have no time to explain it all. I have to find a new investor, or it all falls apart…"
"Rewind there for a second…" Serena shakes her head. "...what's about to fall apart?"
Blair sighs with her friend's persistence and sits back down: "My late mother's haute couture fashion house, Waldorf Designs. In her early days, my mother had a few successes oversea," Blair begins to explain. "A movie star wore one of her designs on the red carpet for the Oscars. It was an instant hit, but for some reason their enthusiasm ebbed away, so my mother focussed on her success here in Europe. Before getting sick, she started dreaming again, just like in her early days, and decided that she wanted to take her chances abroad once again. The original plan was that I was to move to America and build the brand from the ground up there. Now with her passing, I've made it my mission to fulfil her last wish, make her last dream come true. I immediately got down to business and started searching for an investor. Moving a company like my mother's abroad is a large investment. I couldn't do it alone, in case my plan backfired. I needed someone to carry half the load. After a long search, I finally found her and we had the date set: 6 months from now. I just heard she's backing out, that means I have to start all over again…"
"Perhaps you don't have to…" Serena replies.
Blair looks up startled; this was not the response she expected. Something among the lines: "I'm so sorry, but you'll find someone new. I believe you will..." would make much more sense to her. "This is not the time to play me." Blair warns.
"I'm not joking." Serena laughs. "Seriously now, I'm not."
Blair folds her arms sceptically.
"My step-father owns Bass industries. Fashion isn't really his cup of tea, but if you play it right with both him and my mother, you might have a new investor by the end of the night. All you have to do is come to the Aviation Club Casino tonight, be my plus one to this immensely boring gala dinner, and you might get lucky…"
Blair is all smiles again. "It's a date then…"
"Great!"
"You are not pulling some candid camera stunt on me, are you?" Blair wonders seriously once again.
Serena giggles: "I swear. I'm not…"
"Mister Bass?" a male voice wonders from behind the curtain, it instandly pulles him back to reality.
"What?" he barks annoyed.
"I'm truly sorry to interrupt, but I have someone at the bar who requests to see the owner."
"Tell them I'm busy."
"I've already said that, Sir."
"Well, then: tell them again." After that, he hears his employee leave. He really isn't in the mood for some nagging costumers, or old high school friends who think he'll help them score one of his girls. He wasn't a pimp back then and won't start now.
"Mister Bass?" a female voice wonders a few seconds later.
A woman? Those stupid employees always leave out the most important parts!
"I was told I should be able to find you here. However it would be at my own risk since you told your staff to tell me you were busy."
"They weren't lying. I was busy a minute ago."
"Oh, I know: I saw the blonde leave. She didn't look to happy though..."
Did she leave? I didn't even notice… Apparently she did, after bringing brought back a full carafe at which he's looking, sitting on the small table in front of him. Chuck stands up from his comfortable sofa and buttons his jacket before stepping forward. He knows that voice, he's heard it before... Not so long ago... Could it be…?
He pulls the curtain aside, revealing that the female silhouette is indeed Blair, just like he figured. He steps aside, holding the curtain for her, granting her access to the booth. Once she's inside, he lets the curtain fall closed and he steps behind her:
"Did you now, Blair?" he hums into her ear.
The scent of Chanel Nr. 5 fills the booth. She simply nods.
"I must say I'm surprised to find you here already." His fingers play along the bare skin of her shoulder, as he talks: "I actually thought it would take you about a week or so. Not two days."
"Well, I was bored out of my mind." She turns to face him, looking straight into those dark amber colored eyes of his. "And some people told me I to come here if I needed some fun!"
"Really?"
She nods, still staring straight into his eyes, making him do the same.
"So you're not just checking out your American competition?"
Surprised by his remark she lets a gasp slip.
"Yes." He smirks. His eyes darken and narrow: "Les Rubis de Paris! I know all about it."
"So you had your private investigator check me out." She shrugs. "No big deal. I have nothing to hide."
"You really don't mind," he states, as she walks away from him, taking a seat on the sofa. He watches as she lets her hands glide along the red leather fabric, clearly examining it.
"No," she replies, pouting her lips. She then gives him a one-over, just looking at him.
"What?" he wonders.
"I'm still deciding if it's a turn off or on."
"I hope the latter." He unbuttons his jacket before sitting down next to her. "Can I offer you something to drink?"
"I'll have what you're having."
Without hesitation, he pours her two fingers of scotch into a fresh glass and hands it to her.
"Do tell: why would a woman like yourself open up a burlesque club?"
"For the same reason you opened yours." She downs her scotch and nods when Chuck offers her a refill.
"So you could have unlimited amounts of sex?"
"Didn't you have that before then?" The sarcasm lies thick in her voice.
"I'm Chuck Bass! What do you think?"
"Oh yes. You are notorious. I forgot."
"That's me indeed." He throws a small cheeky smile her way.
"Booze, drugs, sex and women," she jokes.
"At first it was an attempt to prove Bart wrong, show him that I am the genius business mind I claim to be. He didn't believe in it, but I think I succeeded in this attempt." He looks around the establishment with a proud nod. "The fact that these things you stated earlier happen to come along with the establishment, the fact that I happen to enjoy all four of them, is merely a coincidence. To answer your question: mostly yes, I had them before, but the thing that really attracted me at first, is the obvious sexual tension that hangs like a cloud of thick smoke in the air. Everybody wants, needs sex after all. It's a primal instinct."
"Are you asking for a booty call?"
"Are you offering?" he answers huskily.
"I don't know... yet!" she smiles devilishly at him.
"Don't tease me Waldorf!" he growls.
"Scared you won't be able to handle it?"
"Can't stand them," he murmurs as he moves his body closer, trapping her between him and the leather booth, "those teasing whores, who make your mind spin but never put their money where their mouth is."
"I'm no teasing whore!" she defends herself fiercely.
"Good. Because you do realize that no-one can see you here," he whispers into her ear so huskily, it makes her heart speed up: "...let alone hear you with the band playing. I could have my way with you. Right here. And now. On the floor. Or that sofa. Without being interrupted."
Her nostrils fill with his musky scent, mixed up with the woody smell of scotch. He smells so good. She wonders if she would mind if he took her right here, and now. That man is an animal; so pure and raw. "You wouldn't... would you?" she whispers to him, almost inaudible.
"Just stating that I could," he responds in a more relaxed tone. Her reaction has scared him a bit, how she whispered her response to him with that delicate little voice of her: the last thing he wants is to scare her off and have her think he's some weirdo with crazy fetishes.
"But I'm always up for a game of cat and mouse." He kisses the skin behind her earlobe gently, before adding: "If you are."
#Blast_26061953#
Spotted: The French maiden entering Victrola…
Hasn't anyone told her it's dangerous to enter the lion's den alone and late at night…?
Especially if it belongs to Chuck Bass…
You know you love me,
Xoxo, Gossip Girl
AN: Things are heating up between Chuck and Blair... If you are curious about what's about to happen next, and you really can't wait... Leave me a review and i'll give you a little teaser on what's going to happen in the next chapter of 'the thin line between business and pleasure'.
Thanks to: , k. 7, TriGemini, , helen, SailorPikaAngel, dezert, livelovelaugh9704, VeraDeDiamant, , Paystin4life, lovetvtomuchxo: I want to thank all of you for reviewing and for the lovely compliments. They truely make my day ^^
And a special thank you to my lovely beta's for pushing me on making this chapter longer and better for all of you, my readers...
With love,
D.