An hour later, Alexander and Jace are back on the front portico, waving as Barry travels back down the driveway and out of their hair. Once he's out of sight, Jace turns to Alexander, eyebrows high with a look that can only mean trouble for Alexander. "Aren't you just a big fat liar." she declares poking his side hard but laughing."Ow! Okay, okay. Yes. I lied! Luke let me use his name and I told everyone I grew up here privileged and spoiled." Alexander exclaims back but he's laughing too. But then he sobers up before asking, "Do you hate me for it?"Jace pauses his torment, "No. I don't hate you.""Not even after last night?"Shaking his head, curls bouncing, Jace says, "Not even then."Alexander looks away, afraid he will see the tears trying to gather along his lashes. Relief floods through him, because if Jace doesn't hate him, then maybe the others don't either."Look, Alexander," he says gently putting his hand on his shoulder, "Everyone talks about you leaving Samantha all thos
By late afternoon, Alexander finds himself at the transformed town center. The festival has just opened for its first night and people were beginning to filter in. The roads have been barricaded, music is being played through speakers and lights have been strung between the buildings. The sounds of carnival games mix with the squeals of children. Vendors line the street and at the center of it all, a stage has been erected. A small child pushes past him dragging his mom toward the petting zoo area, she only has a quick second to send Alexander an apologetic look. Still wondering around, Alexander sees a booth selling hot chocolate, and even though Alexander preferred drink is either caffeine or liquor now, he makes a mental note to come back for old time's sake. He continues his apprehensive search through the growing crowd looking for three specific faces. This was the last, and probably most intimidating, stop on his apology tour."Alexander over here!"He rises on his toes in the di
An hour later she has finally joined her friends who immediately provided her a funnel cake and beer. Keeping her promise, Samantha purchases a corndog for Shadow who inhales in two bites. Then the group walks around the festival perusing the booths and listening to the live band in the background, surrounded by friends and with Shadow meandering behind her obediently, Samantha feels content, even with Alexander presence always hovering in her peripheral. Their earlier encounter had been stilted and awkward. Samantha hated it, but she didn't know how to fix it. She wished Alexander understood that there was very little Samantha wouldn't forgive him for. Alexander has always had this aura about her. This energy. You want to be with him because the energy he radiates alights every room he's in and every person around him. Samantha fell under that spell so many years ago. Samantha came to the revelation that her draw toward Alexander was no longer a friendly affection, but something deep
Samantha has always considered herself a strong-willed person, able to keep her emotions in check and school her features to give nothing away. But in this moment, sitting on the hard bench surrounded by hundreds of reminders that life is short, Samantha is completely and utterly weak. The tears shining in Alexander' dark brown eyes, his face open and vulnerable and his voice thick with guilt tears at every fiber of self-control Samantha possesses. So, she finds herself leaning forward toward the man who still carries a part of her heart. Alexander must have moved toward her as well because the next thing Samantha is aware of are her lips pressed against Alexander'. It's not the most skilled kiss they have shared. Shock seems to be running through both of them. This is actually happening. She's kissing Alexander. Samantha shuts off the growing panic and allows herself to get lost in the softness of Alexander' lips. She runs her tongue along them both tasting and silently asking for mo
A few minutes later he's about to head upstairs to find his wallet when he hears Ady and Jace coming down. They walk into the kitchen, Ady in a silk robe, pajama pants, and her signature messy bun; Jace in leggings and an old high school tee-shirt; both chatting with the familiarity of lifelong friends. At first, Alexander had brought Ady to be a sort of life preserver, to have someone who'd pull him to safety if the weight of his old life tried to pull him down, overwhelm and drown him. But she quickly became more of an experiment. A small test to see if his two lives might one day merge and peacefully coexist. As she and Jace laugh, their backs to him while making their morning coffee, Alexander sees a small beginning of that future. He might need the distance from Samantha, but that doesn't mean he's letting everyone go again."So, what are you doing down here so early?" Jace asks as he turns around to face him, leaning back on the counter and sipping lightly from his mug. At the sa
"Hello Moni." Samanath says with a smile.."Well thank you, Samantha. Nice to meet you again." She offers to shake her hand and he accepts. Moni then points to the home and asks, "This is the Damon place?""Yea. Let me take you inside." She turns to the dog standing next to her, "Go play Shadow." The dog bounds off across the yard in search of mischief.Samanatha gestures for Moni to go first and they ascend the stairs to the plantation. She ushers the woman into the front door and pauses in the entry. Samanath motions to the armchairs, "If you want to have a seat, I can find Jace for you. I'm sure he's expecting you."The woman looks from the chairs and back to Samanatha, brows pinched, "Jace? Um, no. Actually-?"The squeaking hinges of the swinging kitchen door down the hall snatch both of their attention. Jace startles a bit at the unexpected guests standing just inside the front door. He approaches with a polite smile on her face. "Hey, Sammy. I didn't hear you come in." The two ex
The car crest over the top of a hill. Beyond they see another hill with tents, campfires, and people dotting its landscape. A parking lot sits at the base of the battlefield and Samantha stops the truck there. The sound of cannon fire and muskets fill the air along with the cries of the "dead". Samantha offers a hand to help Moni navigate the grassy path in her heels as they make way toward the roped-off spectator section. Both survey the small crowd for Alexander.Moni is the first to spot him and points him out to Samantha. They wade through the people, Dot picking up her pace in anticipation. Samantha takes in Alexander, sporting a green military-style jacket with detailing on the shoulders, black fingerless gloves and hair perfectly coiffed, unaffected by the autumn breeze ruffling everyone else around him. Ady stands next to him wrapped in a trench coat and boots, hair whipping around her face. Samantha allows herself to linger a few strides behind Moni, none too eager to witness
Ady reaches over and runs her fingers through the back of hair and down his back to gently rub circles across his green coat. Alexander finds her movements soothing and then feels guilty for allowing someone to comfort him when he's the one that's done the hurting. Ady's voice is just a notch above a whisper when she speaks again, "Then you wait for the person who sees you, sees the damage and see something valuable and worth repairing."He turns to look at her, not even trying to hide the tears or the redness he knows she sees around his eyes, "Right now, I don't know who could look at me and see anything of value."Ady is opening her mouth to reply when a verbal "Knock, knock" comes from the exterior of the car. Jace is peering in, hands stuffed in the pockets of her leather jacket and a worried look on her face. Alexander opens the door, and she leans in, "Everything okay?"Ady leans over the console and partially over Alexander to better see Jace, "Condensed version: Samantha lear
Like, honestly, what Samanath should be more focused on is Alexander’s heated mouth wrapped around her neck, sucking territorial marks into her bare skin as she alternates between teeth, tongue, and lips. Because the sensation of the dangerous combo leaves prickles of tingling pleasure down Samanath’s spine to the curl of his toes. And the way Alexander’s body spreads her own, pushing Samanath’s thighs and legs wide to fit his broad frame is something Samantha’s definitely grown to love about the physical part of their relationship. But that’s about as far as they’ve gone..Which was actually related to a part of Samantha’s current problem. Not the statement, that wasn’t an issue for either of them. It was just, kinda well known Alexander wasn’t a stranger to sex. Samantha hadn’t told Alexander yet but earlier, she’d overheard a conversation between a couple girls. They had been boldly discussing Alexander’s and her relationship. She wasn’t purposely trying to listen in on their goss
"I have to say, after hearing Ashly constantly praise on about the mysterious sweet love, I never imagined it would’ve been you.” Alexander said to Mike as he snagged two glasses of champagne from a waiter passing through. “Definitely not what I expected at all but now I can’t see anyone else fitting that role.”Mike accepted the drink offered to him and smiled gently. “Yes, well, she came into my life and plastered herself there. A broke college student waiting buy me a coffee after I paid for her groceries.” the man snickered fondly and waved off the expecting doe eyes. “Another story for her to tell. And thank you, I’m taking that as a compliment. He makes me happy.”Alexander felt oddly warm hearing that and nodded. “That’s good. Really. I know last time we saw each other was a bit jumbled..” Alexander scratched his cheek while the memory of him with his hands all over Samanath as they tried to leave Mike’s office surfaced, “I didn’t get the chance to personally thank you for your
The next to arrive was Mike and Ashly, bickering lightly as they trudged through the door. “Don’t be mad at me, I offered to carry it but you were all like ‘No, I got this’ knowing damn well you didn’t.” Ashly scolded her scowling partner as he toed off his boots carefully, mindful of the stacked items in his arms.“It was the damn rock sheathed in the ice.” Mike grumbled and Sen poked his head around the corner.“Did you really just say ‘sheathed’? So specific.” the younger chortled softly and brushed past his sulking man.“What happened?”“Sweet love broke the cookies out on your sidewalk.” Ashly sighed and allowed Sen to take half her load from her to him. “They’re the ones on top, they’re crumbled now, sorry.”“DAMN IT, MIKE.” Nial bellowed from somewhere deeper in the house.“Fuck off, you can’t talk shit.” Mike moodily tossed back as he followed the voice of his friend.Sen lead Ashly into the kitchen, rolling his eyes. “We’ll live.”Suran beamed when Mile finally came into view
Ken’s voice might’ve as well been muted. Whatever he was telling Samantha on his end of the call, every word and switched tones he made, it all went in one ear and out the other.Samantha can't remember how she even answered her best friend’s call with him being caged down to the bed, face down, ass up, and fucked into the mattress and all. Alexander had rendered her mind a mush and her brain shut down, commuting nothing but white blinding pleasure with every deep stroke her body received. It was all she could do to stay quiet, little breathless barely slipping through her clenched teeth, wanting to spill loudly from every thrust her lover pummeled into her, tip of her heated thick gourd kissing her prostate head on every glide. Stars were her world, her view, her focus. And the way Alexander held her in place with strong arms as he took her from behind had Samanath’s arousal course hotter. They were locked together, Alexander pressing hotly against her with his chest fused against Sam
"Fuck. Samantha.." the younger sighed heavily. "I'm sorry, I ruined everyone's night with my screw up attitude. I'm ordering a uber now but uh, I need the password for you wifi if you don't mind."The woman blinked before shaking her head as she walked over. "Sorry, but you really think I'd give you the password so you can get access to an uber?" Samanatha settled beside the other and rested a comforting hand on her arm. "What do you take me for. Don't feel bad at all for what happened, Liam, you're fine. I just wanted to make sure you're alright and no, you are not leaving my house in an uber. Do you want to talk about it?"The man stared at the ground and chuckled dryly. "I just put my business out there..." Liam sighed, frustration carrying the harsh breath. "I'm fucking irritated. And tired. Maybe it really was a bad idea to come. I know myself better than anyone, I knew they were going to be here and I knew, even though I promised myself I wouldn't say anything to start shit, it w
The regret flashing across Sen's face was clear and the man opened his mouth to apologize but was stripped the chance. Samantha startled when an arm cinched around hir waist, a solid body forming into his with seeping warmth. The scent of heavy rain flooded into her senses and Samantha looked up at Alexander whose dark eyes stared blankly at Sen. "Alex." the woman greeted softly, surprised she didn't hear the man approach them. The arm tightened around her waist."Here you are. I've been looking for you, babe."Samantha melted into Alexander and explained Sen was leaving so he was here to see him off. Obviously, she left out the other parts, what Alexander didn't know wouldn't hurt. Besides, they didn't need any more drama for tonight. Samantha felt spent enough already, but of course nothing ever works in her favor."Oh, well does he need any assistance getting to his car?" the suggestive undertone in Alexander's voice had Samantha smacking his arm lightly.But Sen brushed off the bor
When Samantha surfaced back into the talkative room, she immediately looked around the scene for Alexander, but her mocha eyes found the man was nowhere in sight. However, from her skimming, it was evident that everyone was getting along well together just fine, and it brought a smile out of her momentarily. And then she locked her gaze on Ashly who no longer lounged on the couch but was now sitting comfortably in one of the chairs with a drink in hand. Samantha made her way over, laughing softly when Ashly made wiggly finger motions at her, wanting her closer. The woman squeezed down next to the older who scooted over for her and smiled, allowing her head to plant on a sturdy shoulder."Where'd my man go?" she asked, voice muffled from her mouth pressing against Ashly's cologne scent shirt."Went off with Ken." Oh great, Samantha thought. "They should be back soon, though. How'd it goes with you and red wonder?" Ashly asked and let his fingers card through silky blond locks lazily.Sa
The stillness in the room was stifling. Lin felt like she was burning on the spot solely from the fiery gaze Samantha pinned on her and her words slashed like a deadly weapon. The woman opened the door, eyes locked on her expectantly and she got the message. Slowly, the red headed woman made her way over to the exit and pursed her glossy lips before blowing out a long quiet breath as she stopped and faced him. "I don't really appreciate the way you continue to approach me about this but-"Samantha's scoff cut her off clean. "And you think I appreciate the number of approaches you've made on Alexander? Sorry that I'm not roses and daisies about this situation you dug yourself in." Samantha countered stormily. The pent up anger and frustration she assumed she released out of her system that night she blew up was returning back to her in forceful waves. The audacity she had to be playing the victim card was through the roof- a fucking trip.Seeing the brewing storm raging, Lin quickly bac
The ladies soon returned and joined the men, and Samantha just watched them feeling pleased and happy. It was funny, she knew most of all of them already for long but that was a given since she and Alexander shared a lot of mutual friends. They all went their separate ways and seeing them come back together was a bit heartwarming.And then, above their voices, they all heard the front door slam open before a chorus of loud voices streamed down to them, but the loudest in volume of them all had Min and Win tensing. "You KNOW you're directionally challenged, and you still want to argue with me! Didn't I say turn left??"I thought you meant MY left!""OUR LEFTS ARE THE SAME YUGYEOM. THE. SAME.""You should've told me sooner.""I told you several blocks away, dipshit. You heard Cassandra, too, she told your ass 'in one thousand feet, turn left Avenue' but noooo.""I'm sorry, I'm just at how you named your Siri Cassandra."Alexander was the first to emerge and Samantha had to cover her mout