FF: Seducing the Throne::NEW Thread PG 1 - Page 73

Great update. Can't wait for dinner to start. I'm sure there's gonna be fireworks...

NICE update!

OMG!! The next chapter is gonna be dramatic and so HUGE!! Seriously cannot wait to read it!!

You got me hooked on this one .. :D

update soon !

- Supper, Secrets and Scandal -

Part I

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Present day,

Bass residence, New York.

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Aasha looked herself over one last time in the floor length trio of mirrors that surrounded the panels of her walk in closet. God, she'd had this room forever, this same room, these same people, and yet walking out of this closet seemed to require super human strength.

Maybe it was because- she knew very well what the word on the street had been once she'd been stood up at her own debut.

Aasha Singh Raizada, the darling of both Raizada and Bass house-holds stood up, by none other than the one man who had never bothered to use his proximity to his advantage'at least not with her.

The man who considered everything that moved fair-game, had stood up the girl one dejected youngster had once called ' too frigid to f*ck.

A thousand whispers, a million thoughts, and each one about how Damien Bass was why she had turned her back on Manhattan Society.

The irony, was that the truth was much worse.

Aasha Singh Raizada could deal with a lousy escort.

It was a lot less easy to deal with lousy friends.

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Present day,

The Hacienda, New York.

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"She's not here yet."

"I can see that." Drawled Damien leaning back to glance over at the particular table Joseph had kindly informed him was booked for a particular Mr.Shergill, Renee's tendency to state the obvious grating on his already frayed nerves.

He let his fingers trace the rim of the shot of whiskey he'd ordered over half an hour ago, as he sat in the alcove of the table for six he had had Joe, reassign and agree to lead Mr.Shergill and his date to once they arrived.

The Aasha he had known abhorred being late. She'd claimed it was an excuse top-heavy Upper-East- Siders used to draw attention to what no one really wanted to pay attention too. And she'd said it with a wicked smile that one would itch to kiss of her lips.

He missed her smiles.

She had been a spitfire, his Aasha, and he would be damned if he let this ultra-polite, facade of her s to go on, he thought to himself , as he unbuttoned the top button of his crisp white shirt, as if it was guilty of attempting to suffocate the very life out of him.

He missed her.

And as if conjured by his very thought, a perfectly poised beauty appeared at the restaurants foyer , which his perch provided a direct view of . A beauty with dark kholed eyes, and a daring knee high dress in the deepest of blues, with its material molding to curves that could stop New York traffic.

She suddenly flashed a smile at Joseph , Dear Lord.

Half of the people here today were going to go home and fantasize about those curves and dream of that laugh.

The other female half , were going to attempt to spend the next few hours glaring her to death.

Carefully standing up and motioning in her direction, Damien took two deliberate steps out of the alcove, as he watched Renee leave to lead a confused Aasha to their table.

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Even with Joe cracking his usual pathetically lame jokes with his butler-face as Damien had once called it, Aasha was nervous.

That wasn't to say that she hadn't laughed at his initial muted whistle, having a Maitre D who'd once been forced to face the wrath of both Charles Bass and her mother during the week she had refused to wear shoes as a 10 year old, whistle at her was worth at least a smile.

Her eyes lit up as she spotted Renee weaving her way through the other tables, and smiling softly if a bit awkwardly.

"You look gorgeous!" Aasha whispered as Renee drew in for a customary hug, only to frown as her blonde head merely bobbed with a quick nod as acknowledgement. Was she nervous about meeting Mohit? But that made no sense, yet, somehow that was the only thing that came to mind.

*

Renee, shook her head firmly as if to rid herself of the lingering feeling that she was being a traitor, as she lead her once best friend to the alcove, after having convinced her that Joe would show Mohit, who had claimed to be almost there, to the table.

The least she could do was make sure she faced Damien before Mohit got here. She wondered briefly her hand still on Aasha's elbow as she guided her there, how mad she was going to be about his bit of obvious treachery.

She realized suddenly that Aasha had stiffened, two feet away from the alcove.

She looked up at her friend, only to have her look back with barely masked horror.

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James Archibald, despite his VanderWoodsen heritage loathed subterfuge, not that Damien hadn't known that before, but having him hiss his it into his ear as he counted each step Aasha took towards the was a bit aggravating, in effect he didn't even bother turn as he replied- "Look like it or not, the fact of the matter is there is only one way to get a Raizada to talk."

However evidently James did not think so, but then again James Archibald was never particularly known for his thoughts so his ' "That is not a good idea!" ' didn't really bother Damien.

"It worked last time." He pointed out instead, his eyes still on Renee and Aasha's evidently leisurely stroll between the tables.

"It wreaked havoc last time!" James trilled unnecessarily, only to have him finally draw his eyes away from the approaching ladies to point out-

"But it worked."

Unfortunately James was evidently not in the mood to deal with Damiens matter-of-fact logic, however all of that didn't particularly matter at the moment, because Aasha had finally laid eyes on the exact six foot two pain in the ass that had been gnawing on her sanity since she'd walked into his hotel room that blasted night , and she was not pleased.

"Damien?"

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Aasha was furious!

Her hands itching to step up and call Damien out for the audacity to showing up here tonight, and for evidently deciding to crash her bloody date, she too in a bracing breath, shooting a murderous look at Renee and James before she allowed her gaze to narrow solely on Damien, when Mohit's voice carried out behind her.

"Friends of yours darling?" asked the amused young Punjabi, allowing a hand to wrap itself around his fiance's waist in a mute mark of possession.

The fiance in question however was far from amused, her darkly kholed eyes shooting murderous glares at the odd array of friends she'd encountered, Aasha very carefully placed her hand over her fiance's and with a pointed look answered '"Very busy one's, Mohit, you'll excuse them for not joining us."

But before she could turn away and mentally countdown the seconds till she would tear Renee into uncountable tiny pieces, Damien Bass, the bane of her very existence decided he evidently hadn't had enough fun in her absence the past six years-

"Too busy to meet your fiance sweetheart?!" he drawled in a voice of mock-outrage.

"Sweetheart?" asked Mohit lightly, shifting his gaze now from James ho had been uncomfortably looking for the Maitre D.

Aasha shot a venous glare at the offender in question, knowing that if he had an inch of self-preservation he would walk away and let her do damage control. However she noted her eyes sliding to the still fading bruise around his eye, Damien never had been one for intelligence over ass-holic behavior.

Sure enough Damien allowed his gaze to shift from her fiance to her for a fleeting second, and for a fleeting second his mask of sociability dropped.

His proffered hand forcing Mohit to release his hold on her as the two men shook hands, Damien firmly motioned Mohit towards the bar with a explanatory ' "Aasha and I have a some-what special relationship, how about you two join us and I'll tell you all about it. Unless of course - you two would rather be left alone."

This was war.

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Authour's Note:

Scroll down for Part Two

- Supper, Secrets and Scandal -

Part II

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Present day,

Bass Offices, New York.

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"Darling, I still think you're taking on too much stress." Drawled a multi taking Chuck Bass as he simultaneously signed a sheaf of papers and attempted in vain to simultaneously reassure his wife their son was much to civilized to be pulling a stunt the day before Aasha's birthday despite his unnatural silence on the issue.

Privately, Chuck had his doubts.

He recalled vividly how impatient Damien had been for information on Aasha's whereabouts six years ago. He recalled how he'd relaxed only once he'd been informed by a then cuttingly-cold ASR that his daughter was fine and would appreciate Damien maintaining a safe distance from her. In truth, he was almost waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop, since the day Damien had got himself decked, with good reason, intimating intimacies he knew would rile up the present crowd.

Only it hadn't.

It had riled Arnav and Chuck himself had been obliged to dole out a customary bruiser, but Aasha, while coldly furious, had covered herself with an impenetrable calm veneer that made his skin crawl. Aasha had never been this …. Paitient…it was unnerving almost, usually quick to anger and quick to forgive, it was almost as if he was watching another person entirely.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts he turned his attention back to the sheaf of papers at hand, he would deal with Aasha's new persona when he had to, for now he had an empire to run and a pregnant wife to attend to.

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Present day,

The Hacienda, New York.

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If ever a dinner had been doomed to awkward silences, one would think this would be it. With the five seated at the six person table in the secluded alcove in the restaurant's west wing, even the waiter was hard pressed to maintain his unflappable composure.

The waiter's composure however was not due in any part to the table's silence. For much expected, the silence had failed to rear it's head and instead Damien Bass was doing perfect imitation of an amused host as he regaled a positively fuming Aasha Raizada, and her fiance with tales of Aasha'a apparent youth.

"…Anyway…I've been unpardonably rude in dominating the conversation for so long," drawled a impeccably polite Damien, as he leaned back, and motioned with one hand saying, "…Tell us how did the two of you meet?"

Aasha who was alternately glaring prettily though her heavily lashed eyes at both Archibald's and refusing to even make eye contact with the other particular uninvited guest at the table, stiffened imperceptibly.

Her fiance, evidently unaware of the keen vibes of inquisitiveness, floating around the table, as he answered with a smiling, "Well one fine morning, Aasha was decked out in the most impossibly high heels a woman could wear, and suddenly out of nowhere it started raining like cats and dogs, and I'm sure you all know how Aasha detests being anything but immaculate, not that I'm complaining…" he clarified, pausing to give his apparently riveted audience a slow smile of mutual understanding, only despite their polite smiles each Upper East Sider there was contemplating with no little amount of horror that evidently Aasha's slightly on edge fiance was describing a woman who had no similarity to the carefree, daredevil that had haunted the streets of Manhattan with her outrageous refusal to conform.

Damien allowed his gaze to linger blatantly on the downward tilted face, the stiff posture and the barely visible mortified blush, creeping up her bare collarbone as her dimwit of a fiance continued to relate the impossibly clich tale of how he'd generously stepped out of his cab on the corner of Broadway and offered to give Aasha his cab, a gesture she had accepted with the provision that he share the cab with her. And if there was one thing Damien hated more than a missing Aasha it was a meek Aasha.

"…in fact it was her sweet amiability that drew me to her to begin with, Aasha has none of the modern day improper tendencies women tend to display in contrast, she's very well mannered and …"

Dabbing at the corner of his lips with the cloth napkin as he reverted his attention to the idiotic outsider who was now extolling Aasha's many polite virtues with no clue as to how his idiotic litany was affecting her. Part of him wanted to lean back and relax with a glass of his best wine, in honor of the fact that her fiance was nothing more than a pretentious joke, the other part wanted to deck him for relegating Aasha to the stature of demure socialite. He shot her one last piecing look, willing her to look up at him before he interrupted the pretentious prick, "You are so right. If I remember correctly Aasha was once so …shall we say…obsessed by the need to be proper…that she would seek out etiquette lessons on practically every topic imaginable…" he mused with only a trace of lingering amusement, that caused Aasha to bolt upright in her seat.

Well at least he had her attention.

His tender rough, voice dropping yet another octave as he let Aasha squirm in the damning silence before he continued, " In fact if I remember correctly you had quite a few questions on …etiquette …of the French variety was it?"

Damien smiled as Aasha finally looked dead at him, and by god was she beautiful.

Her dark-kholed eyes, the color of burnt-honey, seared through him, with promises of dire retribution.

So …cool little Miss. Proper wasn't so cool after all.

Utterly oblivious to the silent exchange going on before him Mohit interrupted with a quaint, "Did she?"

Damien however was much too busy trying to entice a well deserved scathing put-down to bother answering. He did not want to have to tip his hand but….if he had too…

He had just begun with an amused, -"Actually Shergill, French etiquette aside ….I believe one of the questions also had something to do with …role play was it?"

*

"UP!"

"I beg your pardon?" asked Damien, his excellent imitation of a nonplussed Manhattanite , making Aasha want to strangle him then and there propriety be damned.

"Darling?" Mohit asked in his nerve grating actual slightly flummoxed tone, sending Aasha to her feet as she shoot a telling look at Damien, daring him not to follow her out, as she stepped decidedly out of the alcove.

*

Damien Bass who had mere moments ago with an unbridled wealth of charm excused himself and the already departed lady he was about to engage in what he was sure, would be one of the most exhilarating verbal duels of his life.

One hand at sunk deep in his left pocket as he sauntered out of the alcove, into the secluded narrow foyer on its left, Damien was not disappointed.

"You Conniving, Back-handed, Treacherous ASS!!"

The corner of his mouth quirking in a tell-tale sign of amusement, Damien allowed his gaze to drop precariously low from the modest scoop neck, of her figure hugging damn-backless scrap of silk. He'd nearly swallowed his damn tongue when she'd walked away from the table, the deep-blue cocktail dress, which he had assumed was chosen with Mr. Prim-n-Proper's taste in women in mind, had boasted nothing more daring than the clingy material and the understated knee high cut which had in itself relegated it to the 'little-black-dress' category. And then she'd turned around.

For the first few moments Damien had been filled with an urge to find out exactly how flimsy the string of pearls holding the back together was. But then she'd decided to flatter him in all possible ways.

"You wound me." He whimpered, with a look of intense pain, only to watch as his obvious mockery brought forth even fiercer fires in the promise of hell in her scorched eyes.

"I detest you." She bit out.

And finally she got to him. Her wannabe fiance, her pretense of propriety, her aloofness- all of it was irritating, but this. This go to him

Particularly because it held a tinge of truth, despite his conviction that she did anything but.

Menacingly pushing himself up off the wall he'd been leaning over, Damien, slowly closed the distance between himself and the girl he had once spent ages looking after in his own way.

"What if there are braces involved?"

"You don't wear braces."

"But what if the boy I want to kiss has them?"

"You UN-want to kiss him."

His mind still a million miles away, he braced a well placed hand on the wall behind her an blocked her into the darkened corner, as he replied with cool authority, "No you don't. In fact if I didn't know better, given your reaction to that mess six years ago I would say it was a vastly different sentiment that kept you away all these years sweetheart."

But far from cowering under his display of outright callousness, the beautiful spitfire in his armed looked back at him with her speaking eyes and in a low tone of disgust asked –

"Oh, please don't tell me that you've deluded yourself into thinking you have anything to do with that."

His anger swiftly fading into regret as he realized how difficult that day must have been for her, Damien none the less decided to force her to deal with the issue outright, his husky tone full of apology as he reiterated the events of that day – "You saw me in bed with your best friend, in a state of undress hours after I'd told you, you were too young…It's not that I can't…" but before Damien could explain exactly what it was he could see and commiserate with he caught sight of the now horror stricken beauty staring up at him. He had been just about to ask her what was wrong when, the beautifully defiant spitfire of mere moments ago stared at him in repulsed shock, and loathing only this time it was self loathing.

" Was I such a blind little fool over you six years ago that you would think that after seeing you with my naked best-friend my first thought would be about you?!" she asked a trace of actual pain threading the shocked realization.

And in that one moment Damien realized that he was indeed an absolute ass.

There had been more.

All this time there had been more.

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Hey Upper East Sider's, Gossip Girl here.

Your one and only source into the scandalous lives of Manhattan's Elite.

Why is it i wonder that all the wonderful things in life start with the letter 'S'?

Scandal, Secrets...and dare I say Sex?

You know you love me.

XOXO

Gossip Girl

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Authour's Note:

Freaking huge UPDATE so DO READ and REVIEW!!😳

As yo know very well, you people are what keep me from abandoning this fic every time I face writers block!

Also New PM account '

NmyraPMAccount

Aww loved part one !
It was awesome!
Wow wonder what aasha's going to be like!
Cant wait for part two

very intresting finally mohits here wounder how damien treats him

amazing update..waiting for next part