~~
The date had taken a twisted turn and it was all thanks to my mouth that was not connected to my brain.
“You will let me what now?” Alex questioned for the second time. He wasn’t moving, he wasn’t blinking, I was afraid he wasn’t even breathing.
I tried to smile. “I will let you take me to another date?” I tried meekly.
Alex blinked, shaking his head and standing up.
“Fuck!” I cursed under my breath, knowing that the romantic moonlight date had turned into a drama filled night.
“You know who the hacker is?” Alex looked at me with skepticism and a little distress.
“Well.” I started, getting up as well. “Not know. Just a hunch, you know?”
Alex shook his head. “No I do not know. Who else knows this?”
I sighed, knowing it was time to come clean. “No one. Just I know it and I am not even sure about it.”
“Who. Is. The. Hacker.” With every word that Alex paused, I felt my heart drop and a strange feeling of guilt engulfed me.
“Ray Parker.”
Alex’s arms flayed around, the anger dissipating from him was too strong. “Who the fuck is that now?”
“He is in my hacking classes. He uses that ‘4-4’ signature that is how I think it might be him but I have tried to connect him to it, tried to get a proof but I have found nothing.” I explained, knowing no explanation would be enough for this.
“Why didn’t you come to me?” Alex asked, starting to pace from one end of the balcony to the other. “Really Myra, how could you hide such an important thing? What were you thinking? Were you even thinking?”
“Alex-”
“You know how important this is! You know how for the past 12 months all of us have been trying to catch this hacker. You know how much this is troubling me. And yet you decided to hide this fact?”
“Alex-”
“Out of all the people, I did not expect you. I would not have guessed that you would be the one to do such a horrible thing. Why did you do it Myra?”
“Alex!” I shouted, finally catching attention. I pointed at the fairy lights entangled around his neck still unsure how he could have not felt the lights hanging onto him as he paced fast. “You might want to get out of that.”
Alex blinked only now realizing what I meant. He took out the lights messily and threw them aside. “Inside.” He demanded and walked inside the room.
I had half a mind to take the basket and half eaten food and my wine glass too but I didn’t want to enrage him further. So I walked behind him, stepping into the living room.
There Alex was pacing, a look of frustration on his face. As I entered he stopped and stared at me. “Why?”
I didn’t have a valid enough answer for that so I just kept quiet, staring at my feet with guilt.
I heard him sigh. “Does anyone know?”
“No.” I quietly answered.
“When did you know?”
“At that fundraiser?”
“At my fundraiser!” Alex exclaimed, his anger peaking up again. “That was more than 4 months ago!”
“I know!” I said, walking up towards him. “I am sorry! I just didn’t know whom to trust, with Ray and Athena kissing-”
“Athena?” Alex inquired, he looked just about to burst.
I swallowed, now a little terrified of him. “Yes um Athena and Ray were kissing so I thought they were both in on the hacking and I wasn’t sure who else knew. So I just stayed quiet.”
Alex dropped down on the couch. “So now you are telling me not only do you know the hacker but you also know that my employee was in on it too. And you still didn’t tell me. You chose not to tell me.”
I bit my lower lip. “I don’t know about Athena.” I kneeled in front of him, palms on his knees. “I am sorry Alex. But I didn’t want to put the blame and make such a strong accusation. Plus we weren’t talking.”
Alex shook his head. “No no no, you don’t play that we weren’t talking card. You were avoiding me. You went on dates. You-” he paused thinking of what to accuse me of next. “You did everything.” He weakly ended.
“And you just got engaged.” I pointed out.
“It is a contract!” he said in exasperation. “What part do you not understand?” His voice increased a notch.
I stood up taking a step back, my eyes flaming with annoyance. “Don’t raise your voice at me.”
Alex copied me, standing up. “Then don’t lie to me.”
“I didn’t lie. I didn’t tell anything.”
“That is worse than lying.”
“What else could I have done?” I sighed in fury.
“Told me everything. I would have done a background check. I would have reported it. I would have asked Ajay to look into it. At least by now we would have caught him.”
I closed my eyes, trying to control myself. I knew what I did was wrong but the rising tone of Alex and the glare in his eyes wasn’t helping me lose this argument.
“You are right.” I slowly opened my eyes. “I should have told you. But I was looking for proof. It’s not like I hid it on purpose.”
Alex didn’t budge, his fingers into fists. “You do the stupidest things!”
I scoffed. “At least I am not marrying someone I don’t like.”
“Well the woman I like is infuriating and hides things from me.”
I blinked. “Well maybe she is infuriating because you are marrying someone else.”
“I wouldn’t have to if she could just be with me.”
“You didn’t ask her!”
“Be mine then!”
I opened and closed my mouth, only air coming out. Alex took a step towards me, staring down at me with residual anger and intensity. “Be with me Myra. My girlfriend or whatever it is you all are calling it these days.”
“Whatever it is you all are calling it these days?” I scoffed. “That’s like the worst proposal in history.”
Alex shrugged. “I don’t want to top that list. So?”
“And Diana?”
“I’ll handle her.”
I was blank, I truly didn’t know how to answer his question. So I stayed quiet, blinking at Alex’s restless face.
Alex sighed. “Fine, women!” He then disappeared out on the balcony and come in with a vase full of plastic flowers. He stood before me, shoving the entire vase in my arms. “Hacker girl, you are quite possibly the most maddening women I have ever met. You truly annoy me to no end but I love that. So please continue to annoy me?”
I let out a laugh, my heart glowing with unshed emotions. I took the vase, looking at the colorful plastic flowers. “They are fake.”
Alex groaned. “I’ll buy you the whole damn garden.”
I bit my lower lip, chuckling softly. I placed the vase on the table nearby. “Rich boy, you are so unpredictable and you bring out the worst and best side in me. So yes, I will continue to annoy you but only if you continue to never give up on me.”
Alex let out his hand, giving me a firm handshake. “You got yourself a deal.”
“Okay then.” I blushed, suddenly realizing that I had a boyfriend, a billionaire boyfriend. “So now?”
Alex took my hand, making me sit on the couch. He grabbed his laptop and sat next to me. “So now you tell me everything about Ray and Alex and then we go out into the balcony and make out like horny teenagers until sunrise.”
I smiled at him. “That sounds perfect.”
And it was.
After I told him everything, he was going to call Athena and fire her but I stopped him. It could be a rash and wrong decision. So instead I told him that I would talk to her, pretend to be her friend and try to get answers from her. He also ran a background check on Ray and the complete information from his sources would arrive tomorrow.
So until then, Alex did exactly what he had promised. He took me out again on the balcony, cleared the mat, redid the fairy lights, made me lay on the carpet and then we made out like a couple of horny teenagers right under the full moon. It truly was the best date ever! And romantic! And straight out of a movie!
And as the sun rose, I slowly opened my eyes, smiling at the blue sky and fresh air. I looked to the right expecting to see Alex’s perfect face with eyes closed and no worry lines. But instead all I saw was empty space.
I frowned, blinking and looking around. The lights had disappeared, the boxes were gone, and the balcony looked empty except for one bean bag, the carper under me and the blanket over me. I got up slowly rubbing my eyes and picking up my bra from the bean bag. We didn’t go all the way but we definitely did go long enough.
I walked inside the room, wondering where Alex was. “Alex” I shouted.
“In here.”
I walked towards the sound and entered a kitchen. And it was the best sight, better than sunrise to be honest. Alex was standing shirtless in the kitchen making pancakes.
“Wow.” I gasped in awe.
He turned back, winking at me and smiling proudly. “I told you I make breakfast.”
I smiled, walking words him and peeking. “I thought that was only the juice.”
“Oh there is that too.” He assured.
I couldn’t help myself as I slowly grazed my fingers up his bareback. He stiffened at the touch. I didn’t stop, I continued the journey until I reached his ears and very slowly with my nails trailed down the side of the neck.
Alex exhaled, closing his eyes. I felt a deep sense of satisfaction seeing the effect I had on him. “If you don’t stop that now. We’ll be eating burnt pancakes.”
I closed the distance between our bodies, dropping a small peck on his shoulders. “I can think of a better breakfast.”
“You vixen!” Alex muttered under his breath. He took a step back, pointing the big spoon at me. “Sit down.” He pointed to the farthest chair. “There.”
I shrugged, grinning like a fool. “If you say so.” I then swatted his firm butt and without a glance back walked to the chair.
Alex looked at me amazed yet amused. He smiled, shaking his head. “You are something else.” He turned back to making the pancakes.
And I enjoyed the view. The way his shoulders flexed and how his eyes would narrow in concentration. His bare chest was sight to witness and I just wanted to lick him and squeeze his firm butt. Maybe Zivah was right, I really needed to get laid, all this pent up sexual energy was causing me to have the dirtiest thoughts.
Alex put down the pancakes on a plate and picked up two bottles. “Honey or chocolate syrup?”
“Chocolate syrup always.” I quickly answered.
He poured the syrup on the plate and placed the plate in front of me. I smiled as I saw the smiley face on the pancake. “Real cute.” I commented.
Alex winked at me. “I try.” He took out Apple juice from the refrigerator and poured it into glasses. “Here, the juice I am so famous for.”
I took a sip of the canned juice. “Yum, real nice recipe.”
Alex sat on the chair next to mine, diving into his plate of pancakes. “It’s my great grandmother’s. We only make the juice on Christmas and it lasts the whole year.” He joked.
“Real smooth.” I snorted. I took a few bites of the pancakes and was pleasantly surprised. “These are actually delicious.” I stated, taking another bite of the pancake.
“Slow down. Do you not chew?” Alex noted.
“Well.” I swallowed. “I do but it’s boring.”
“Chewing food is boring?”
I nodded. “Yes it’s too much work.”
“Do you hear yourself?” Alex seemed truly flabbergasted. “Do you know that it not healthy?”
I rolled my eyes. “Yes Mother.”
“I am serious Myra. Chew the damn food.”
“Ugh fine.” I took another bite and chewed the pancake properly, under Alex’s scrutinizing gaze. After I finally swallowed the food, I fake smiled. “There, happy now?”
“Very much.” Alex nodded, finally looking away. “Now continue chewing.”
“So do you actually know to cook or just pancakes?”
“Oh babe, if I tell you all my secrets now where’s the fun then?” Alex teased. “There’s still so much to discover.” And the way his eyes ran down my body I knew exactly what he meant by discovering.
“Fair enough. So Diana?” I finally took out her topic, I had avoided that topic long enough.
“I talked her this morning.” Alex responded. “She wasn’t happy with it but she agreed.”
“So she loses the company now?”
“Oh no! She’ll just marry someone else. It is Diana we are talking about.”
“Wow.” I remarked, in a criticizing tone that wasn’t lost on him.
“It is her company. She has worked hard for it.” Alex defended.
I shrugged. “I am not saying it is bad. I am just saying getting married for a contract isn’t that selfish.”
“Welcome to this world.” Alex’s tone was insolent. He picked up our empty plates and dropped them in the sink. I knew this topic was over.
“So Lucas should be coming soon.” I said, looking at the time on my phone. “I have to go pick him up at the airport.”
Alex nodded but didn’t reply.
I sighed. “Look I am not judging her. But these sort of things aren’t common for me.”
Alex pressed his lip together. “I know that.” He stepped closer to me. “You want to know how I know Seb?”
“How?” I was actually curious and wondering how did this suddenly come up.
“We were together in college. We were really good friends and we liked the same girl. And both of us didn’t want to back down so we got into a fight, broke a few bones. She left both of us for some random guy. So now we are not exactly friends but we are not strangers. If I need him, he’s been there for me and vice versa.”
“That’s cute.”
Alex gave a blank look. “What I mean is we have a complicated relationship. In fact most relationships are complicated. What Diana and I have is complicated. What Zivah and I have is complicated. But with you, it doesn’t feel complicated. It feels simple. I like you and I would do anything for you. And I need you to trust me because I trust you. Can you do that?”
I smiled, ignoring the churn in my stomach and the sudden increase in heart rate. I also ignored the guilt that consumed me when he said ‘I trust you’. If only he knew the truth then he wouldn’t even look at me. “I trust you Alex. I am standing here in front of you because I trust you. And it is not going to be easy to let me go now.”
“I don’t want to let you go.”
I smiled softly, swallowing the truth along with the last thread of sincerity. “Good because I don’t want to go.”
Alex circled his arm around my waist, dipping his face. “Hacker girl.” He whispered.
“Rich boy.” I whispered back, slowly brushing my lips against his.
He lightly pecked my lips. “That name is growing on me.”
I swung my arms around his neck, standing on my toes. “Just kiss me.”
And that he did. His lips slowly moving against mine as I tasted him on my lips, on my tongue and realized that this would never be enough for me. The urge and intensity I felt whenever his body was so close to mine was something I had never experienced. A giddiness that made my head spin, made me forget everything and just cherish the feel of his lips, the sensation of his tongue on my parted lips, the shivers up my spine at his mere touch. Just him, all of him.
I clung to him, hoping that this kiss wouldn’t end, not now not ever.
But then his phone rang and he froze as he repeated the news. “Athena is in the hospital.”