by L. A. Casey
“I'm up, I'm up... you miserable sod,” I grumbled.
I opened my eyes and looked up to Alec when he walked around to my side of the bed. I smiled as he gazed down at me. I stood up and ran my hands up his bare arms until they slid up his shoulders and neck and were buried in his hair.
He was stunning.
He was mine.
“I can't believe you're goin' to cut your hair,” I said, frowning.
Alec leaned forward and kissed my forehead. “I know.”
I tugged on it. “Don't do it.”
Alec sighed, “I lost a bet, Keela. The terms were if I lost the bet then I had to get a buzz cut.”
I shivered. “Don't get a buzz cut... can you not just get a tiny trim?”
Alec smiled and shook his head.
I growled, “I hate your brother for makin' you do this.”
Alec laughed and leaned his face down to mine. “I'm not Dominic's biggest fan right now either, Kitten, but a deal is a deal.”
I grumbled, “Stupid fuckin' bets.”
I loathed bets, and for good reason too.
The last time I was involved in a bet my life exploded into a very bad Irish version of The Godfather.
Alec chuckled again, pecked my lips and hugged me to him. “I'll get a short buzz cut on the sides of my head then leave the hair long enough on top that you can still knot your fingers in it. It will meet the terms of the bet since Dominic never said I had to get a full buzz cut, he said just a buzz cut. I'll pick up the truck then get it done, okay?”
Nice.
I snickered, “It's not me you should be tryin' to accommodate. You know Aideen loves your hair, she does be delighted when you let her style and plait it. You're her very own human Ken doll.”
Alec smiled. “I let her do that just because she likes it and it keeps her quiet... besides, it will be long enough that she can still play around with it. I'll explain it to her.”
An explanation? Ha.
That wouldn't be good enough for Aideen Collins.
I harshly chewed on my inner cheek. “She may kill Nico for this.”
Alec grinned. “I'm fine with him getting roughed up a bit.”
“I didn't say he would get roughed up a bit, I said she may kill him.”
Alec snickered. “I'll talk about it with her.”
I nodded my head. “Good, because I'm sure as hell not settin' foot in that death trap.”
Alec raised his eyebrows. “You'd let me step foot in it though?”
Hell to the yes.
“Mate, when Aideen and her temper is involved in a situation, I'll throw you head first into any trap she sets. You best believe that.”
Alec stared at me with wide, shocked eyes then tackled me back on our bed. I screamed with laughter and playfully struggled when he pinned me beneath him. He leaned his face down to mine and I giggled when the ends of his hair tickled my face.
“I'm going to miss your hair,” I said for the umpteenth time since he told me last week that he had to cut his hair.
Alec lovingly kissed my nose. “It'll grow back.”
“I know, but still,” I murmured and lifted my hands to his head and ran my fingers through his hair.
Alec chuckled when I stuck my bottom lip out and pouted.
“It's only hair, baby.”
To him, maybe.
I shrugged my shoulders. “I've never seen you with short hair... I may find you ugly.”
Alec applied a large amount of his weight down on me when he started to laugh.
“Crushin' me,” I rasped and slapped Alec's back because my chest started to burn from lack of oxygen.
Alec continued to laugh as he leaned up off me. He brushed his nose against mine again then pecked my lips before he stood up off me completely.
“C'mon, up you get,” he chirped.
This again?
I groaned. “You suck!”
Alec looked down at me when I stood up from the bed in front of him.
“You do the sucking in this relationship, sweetheart.” He grinned, wickedly.
I narrowed my teasing eyes. “And you do the kissin'... arse kissin'.”
Literally and figuratively.
Alec winked. “Only when I'm naughty.”
I grunted then smiled when he tickled the side of my mouth with his finger.
I hated when he did that.
I snapped my teeth at him making him retract his fingers to a safe distance away from my choppers. I grinned as I turned around and made a move to grab my duvet so I could shake it out and make my bed, only to find I couldn't because Storm was lying on top of it.
I didn't even hear him come in.
“Hello, my baby boy,” I cooed.
Alec gasped from behind me. “How does he fucking do that?”
I smiled as I leaned over and scratched behind Storm's ears. “Because he is a cool dog.”
“This is not funny, he doesn't make a fucking sound... it's not right, not right at all!”
I grinned. “I told you,” I said as I turned around to face Alec again. “He is a ninja dog.”
Alec huffed and leaned to the right and lifted his hand to his face, pointed two fingers at his eyes then pointed the same two fingers at Storm. “I'm watching you, big man.”
Storm farted in response.
I burst out laughing then fled the room before the death like smell filled my nose.
“Damn dog,” Alec muttered as he quickly followed me out of the room, and down the hallway. “In the new house he isn't staying inside, he will learn to sleep outside in the backyard in his dog house.”
Yeah, like that would ever happen.
“Alec, there is a better chance of you sleeping in the dog house than Storm sleeping out there.”
Alec muttered something to himself as he passed me and entered the kitchen.
“What was that?” I asked, smiling as I followed.
He glanced at me. “I said I wouldn't be surprised.”
I cackled, “Good, because he is me baby. He was here before you were, big lad—don't forget that.”
Alec looked at me and deadpanned, “How can I forget? When he is in the room and I even attempt to cop a feel he comes over and pushes his way between us. In dog speak, he tells me to back the fuck off his mama.”
I burst out laughing.
“That's so true,” I beamed.
Alec's lip quirked before he shook his head and looked down to the kitchen drawers. “Are you eating and then packing or packing then eating?”
Was that a serious question?
“Eatin' first... duh,” I replied.
Alec blew out an extra amount of air from his nose as he smiled. “Sit down then, I'll make you something.”
I shook my head. “Thanks for the offer, but I'm just goin' to have some yogurt and fruit.”
Alec raised an eyebrow. “Why?”
I deadpanned, “I've been talkin' the past week about dietin'.”
Did he listen to anything I say?
Alec glanced down at my body then back up to my head. “It's working, you look great.”
He was so full of it.
“Oh, bite me!” I grunted. “I haven't lost any weight yet, you lick arse. Stop lookin' to get some extra points with your silly compliments.”
Alec grinned. “I'm not fishin' for points, I was just pointing out that you look great. Even if you lose a little bit of weight you will still look great. What does that tell you?” he asked.
I shrugged my shoulders. “That you're a chubby chaser?”
Alec laughed. “No, smartass. It means you look great as is. Nothing you do can improve how beautiful you are, Kitten. You're naturally stunning.”
I stared at Alec and snorted.
“I'm not having sex with you today.”
“You say that every day and guess what? We still have sex every day... twice yesterday if I recall, three times if you include last night.”
“I get it,” I growled. “I have a weakn
ess for your cock. No need to rub it in me face.”
“There is always a need to rub my cock in your face.”
Alec said this with a straight face and serious tone. I just laughed and shook my head. “Go get the movin' van and I'll get a start on packin'.”
“It's a moving truck,” Alec casually said as he walked by me and slapped my arse.
I yelped as a stinging pain spread across my behind. “It's a van here, not a truck. Get it right or I'm kickin' you out of the country.”
Alec chuckled as he headed down the hallway to our bedroom where he got dressed. Not two minutes later he came back down the hallway fully clothed and grabbed the keys to his recently bought SUV. The bloody thing was huge, but it was what he wanted so I didn't open my mouth. It was his money after all—he could buy whatever he wanted for himself.
I drew a line on what he could buy me though and that frustrated the hell out of him.
“I'll be back in an hour,” he said and put on his coat.
I nodded my head as I opened the fridge door. “Drive safe.”
“I always do,” he said. “Love you.”
I smiled as I scanned the contents of the fridge. “I love you, too.”
With that said he was out the door and on his way to get Kane so they could get the moving van. I looked around my apartment and groaned out loud. I really wished I started packing during the week when Alec asked me to, but once I was in my writing cave, it was hard to drag me from it.
Alec knows that all too well.
I was going over edits for my first novel that I had been writing for the last year. I must have read the manuscript a million times, and each time I did re-writes. I changed something every single time I read it, whether it was a new sentence or a single word change and that freaked me out. I was worried in case I wouldn't be happy with the final product when I eventually self-published it so I kept putting it off.
I shook off the thoughts that have been worrying me lately and gazed out at my sitting room as I leaned against my kitchen counter. I swallowed down the sorrow that filled me. I have lived in this apartment since I was nineteen, and now I was going to be moving into a house so big my entire apartment could fit into the sitting room. Maybe not the whole sitting room, but definitely half of the downstairs.
Alec and I were moving to Upton... across the road from where his brothers and Branna lived. It was the exact same styled house, same layout, same number of bedrooms, same everything and it was facing the Slater/Murphy residence. It was too big for Alec, myself, and Storm, but Alec insisted when we had children the size would be perfect. It was a six-bedroom house, one was ours and that left five empty rooms. I don't know how many kids he planned on us having, but I wasn't a bloody oven. He couldn't just fill me up with his buns and set a cooking timer for nine months.
I groaned to myself and felt sick that I was having doubts. I didn’t doubt Alec, I was just doubting how fast we were moving with our relationship. I knew him all of two weeks before we said I love you and got engaged. It wasn't even a whirlwind, love at first sight kind of romance either. I actually couldn't stand Alec when I met him, but I warmed up to him when he came to the Bahamas as a favour to me. His experience as an ex-escort served me well in the Bahamas, but it was also the cause for the heartbreak I felt after escaping the Bahamas.
Alec's past 'clients' caught up with him, and revealed some very... sickening information. It turned out a previous lover of Alec's was my uncle Brandon's wife, Everly, my cousin Micah's stepmother. That's not all, as if that knowledge wasn't migraine inducing enough, I found out my uncle had a shady side to him, a dirty and illegal side to him. I loved my uncle Brandon, God knows I did, but ever since learning his true colours back in the Bahamas, and watching men die in Darkness by his orders, I felt somewhat disconnected from him.
I felt like everything I thought I knew about him was a lie, that my life was a lie. Being in a brand new, fast paced relationship with Alec took up my time and thoughts, but now, thirteen months later, we were out of the 'honeymoon' stage of our relationship and I wasn't as wrapped up in him anymore.
I loved him dearly, but he wasn't acting as my shield to reality anymore. Everything that happened to me, to us, over a year ago was starting to stomp its way back into my mind, and it was starting to bother me. I would have nightmares of vile things I witnessed in Darkness, the dreaded club my uncle owned, a place I was taken to against my will by an old boss turned enemy of Alec and his brothers.
I would also have flashbacks of Alec and two people doing things that churned my stomach and hurt my heart with one single thought. I forgave Alec for that... situation. I understood that he had no other choice, and that he had to do something so gut wrenching so it would break us and force me away from him. My uncle ordered Alec to engage in sexual intercourse with his wife, and his new employee, Dante—an escort.
My uncle wanted me to have zero connections to any of the Slater brothers, especially Alec. By this time though, I was having strong feelings for Alec and wouldn't allow anyone to tell me that I couldn't have him. My defiance pushed my uncle's hand. He forced Alec to end things with me by threatening to harm his brothers and their girlfriends if Alec didn't do what he was told to do. Simply breaking up with me wasn't enough though—no, my uncle wanted me to hate Alec and he succeeded. For days after I left the Bahamas I hated Alec. I hated him for tricking me into falling for him. I hated him for breaking my heart. I hated him for a lot of reasons, but I mainly hated him for making me miss him.
God, I missed him so much that it hurt.
I was terrified about how intense my feelings were for someone who I barely knew, but I couldn't switch them off. Believe me, I tried. I didn't know it at the time, but I loved Alec, and I had to endure loving him and hating him at the same time. When Alec's old boss, Marco, came to seek revenge on Alec I was in the way so he kidnapped me along with Alec and Bronagh, Nico's girlfriend, who were in my apartment at the time. Long story short, Alec's brothers along with my uncle Brandon, saved us. Marco and his men died, and we were free to go home.
The problem is, now that I could see past Alec and his wonderful reality shield again, I didn't feel so free. I didn't feel trapped either, I just felt... restricted. I didn't know why I felt that way because Alec was my everything. I wanted to be with him... I just didn't want to rush things and inadvertently ruin things. We jumped headfirst into our relationship, and I felt like we needed to slow way down, but I was terrified to tell Alec any of this because I knew how it would sound.
It would sound like I wasn't certain about us anymore.
I sighed and shook my head clear of my thoughts, and like many times before, I forced them to the back of my mind and focused on the task at hand.
Packing.
A lot of packing.
“Damn it,” I grumbled.
I placed my hands on my hips and shook my head.
This wasn't a one-woman job.
I walked into my sitting room and picked up my phone from the coffee table. I tapped on the screen of my phone, unlocked it, then scrolled through my contacts till I found the person I wanted to call.
I pressed my phone to my ear and after three rings the phone picked up. I glanced around my apartment once more and said, “It's me. I need your help.”
“Hello? Royalty is in the house!”
I rolled my eyes and turned my head to my apartment door. “Close the door before Mr. Pervert comes out to see what all the racket is.”
Aideen Collins, my best friend, rolled her hazel eyes and kicked my apartment door shut.
I hissed. “No damages. I won't get me deposit back from the landlord otherwise.”
Aideen snorted as she dropped her bag and keys on my kitchen table and walked into my sitting room. “Please, money is the last thing you need to worry about. You're loaded.”
I wasn't loaded with money—Alec was.
“I'm broke, Alec is not. Learn the difference.”
Aideen grinned. “Al
ec would give you whatever you wanted, you know that. Money isn't an issue with him.”
“I don't need or want his money, and it will be an issue if one of us doesn't earn a steady income. Sure, Alec has a lot of money in the bank, but it won't last forever. Not with the way he spends it anyway.”
Aideen chuckled, “I don't think an SUV and a house will break his bank account.”
I shook my head. “The house was three hundred and twenty thousand outright, and the only reason we got it at that price was because the buyers wanted a quick sale. Then there was his SUV that was thirty thousand... altogether that's a lot of bloody money.”
I didn't think I would ever get my head around the fact that my partner was rich. I was used to minimum wage, and surviving on noodles when I didn't get enough weekly hours at my old job. I wasn't used to being able to buy whatever I wanted without thinking of the financial consequences.
I used to work at my local supermarket, but when all the bullshit happened last year I missed too many days without a viable excuse and I got fired. I hated my job, but it paid the rent. I know I didn't have to worry about paying rent now that Alec bought us a house, even if he did put my name on the deed too. I still wanted to earn my own income. I didn't want to rely on him for my finances.
Hopefully my writing would become more than a passion and turn into a full-time job. God knows I needed it.
“Did you tell him how you feel about him spendin' so much money?” Aideen asked as she sat on my sofa, behind me.
I turned to face her. “No.” I frowned. “It's his money, I can't tell him what to do with it.”
Aideen nodded in understanding. “I think you should ease him into the conversation. Just explain what life was like before he came along. Your uncle is loaded, and so is your ma, and you wouldn't take a penny from either of them. He can't expect it to be different with him just because you're both together.”
You would be surprised.
“He thinks a lot of things now that we're together... He went out and bought us a house without me knowledge and he thought that was a good idea. He isn't aware of things right in front of him.”
“You don't want to move out?” Aideen asked, her eyes wide.
