13. Unspoken Intention
13
Unspoken Intention
“ A cappuccino, please.”
Alexa looked up, and her heart jumped as she met with a smiling pair of electric-blue eyes. A grin broke into her face, and it was maddening how elated she felt at the sight of him, contrast to how she had been feeling a mere moment ago—mulling over her conversation with Cassie and dreading seeing him again.
“Tristan, what a surprise?”
Tristan raised an eyebrow. “I promised to come for your famous cappuccino, remember?”
Right, he did. She had forgotten that part, remembering only that he’d pick her up after her shift, which wouldn’t end for another thirty minutes.
She smiled. “To stay or to-go?”
“To stay, of course,” he answered, slightly amused .
She arched a cynical eyebrow at him. “Come to watch me work?”
“And for the cappuccino.”
“Stop flirting with customers and give him what he ordered, Alexa,” her coworker Perry said teasingly next to her. “We have a line behind him.”
Alexa rolled her eyes and got to work. “I’m not flirting. He’s my friend.”
“ And your favorite customer,” Tristan added, resting an arm on the counter.
“Now, he’s flirting.” Perry widened her eyes as she spared a glance at him midst her work.
Alexa snorted a laugh. “He doesn’t know how to flirt; his words, not mine.”
“I guess he’s modest, then.”
Tristan chuckled. “You two realize I’m standing right here, right?”
“Your presence is hard to ignore, honestly,” Perry said, sending Tristan a flirty smile. “And your face is one hard to forget. I didn’t know Alexa had such a hot friend.” She emphasized the word and turned to Alexa, leaning over to whisper, “Does your boyfriend know?”
Alexa pursed her lips. Perry was so nosy, she always had been. It was a blessing they didn’t go to the same school or else this would’ve been tomorrow’s gossip item. “We broke up.”
Perry’s face fell apologetically. “Oh. I’m so sorry, Lex.”
“Oh, no need for that. I’m good.” She forced a smile for Perry and handed Tristan his cappuccino, stealing a glance at his face.
He was watching her intently .
Her heart accelerated. Their fingers brushed as he accepted the cup from her, his touch electric unlike the last time they made skin contact. Was it lightning outside? Was that why his touch felt electric?
Alexa glanced at his face again; he was in no pain. If it were lightning, he’d surely be in agony. He didn’t look like he was concealing it either.
Alexa didn’t want to give another thought about what she felt.
When Tristan moved to one of the tables and the next customer placed their order, Perry leaned in to whisper again. “What was that?”
“What was what? ” Alexa threw her a dubious look.
Perry returned it with a seriously look. “The tension between you two.”
“What?” Alexa hissed incredulously.
“Don’t play dumb, Lex. I saw it, dang, I even felt it.”
Alexa swallowed the hardness from her throat. The unnatural heat taking over her body nearly suffocated her. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Either you’re playing dumb or you don’t realize what is between the two of you.” Perry was too stubborn to drop it.
“There’s nothing between us for goodness’ sake.” Alexa widened her eyes to state her innocence. “We’re just friends.” And she was a little attracted to him. That’s all; just a silly attraction.
Perry shook her head. “There’s no point in talking to you.”
“Likewise,” Alexa countered, slightly annoyed that the sudden tension between her and Tristan was obvious even to another person. She groaned inwardly. Her coworker didn’t have to rub it on her face. But this was Perry, after all.
Perry threw her an infuriating smirk and returned to her work.
Alexa groaned inwardly again and let her eyes wander to where Tristan was. He was smiling into his drink. Her eyes widened in realization.
Big ears.
The knot in her stomach, one she had forgotten the moment she saw him, returned. Despite him defending her countless times and saving her life, he had yet to prove himself trustworthy. If he didn’t, as much as it ached her heart, this would be the end of their friendship—to save her heart from a real ache, worse, breaking.
Yet, her eyes kept darting over to him. She couldn’t help it; he was the handsomest male in the café and the most remarkable sight her eyes beheld. The admission flared in her heart and she pulled her defenses up stronger than before. A few times, their eyes met, and she realized he had been stealing glances at her all the same.
Tristan managed to last in the café until her shift was over, ordering himself a sandwich after he finished his cappuccino. Perry jumped in to take his order before Alexa could, and watching her chat with Tristan stirred a strange feeling inside Alexa’s safe walls. When Perry batted her eyelashes at him before he turned to leave, the feeling intensified.
She winked at Alexa with a knowing smirk as Tristan turned his back to her.
Little twit. She was trying to make Alexa jealous. And irritatingly, she succeeded .
So what if she was a little jealous? She was merely feeling protective toward her friend!
When her time was up, Alexa was both relieved and anxious. She might be free of Perry’s torture now, but what waited her next, confronting Tristan, she realized was the hardest part.
Alexa met Tristan’s eyes across the room. She stole a glance at Perry; seeing her occupied, she gestured to him that she was going to the backroom. Tristan gestured back, that he’d be waiting outside.
She expected to find him waiting for her by the sidewalk when she stepped through the back exit, but seeing him leaning against the wall with a paper bag and a to-go coffee tray in hand, surprised her a little.
Tristan’s face lit up with a smile and he approached her. “Hey.”
Alexa arched an eyebrow at him. “ Hey? Like we didn’t see each other there just a moment ago.”
“Wrong greeting, I guess.” He gave her a cocky grin and held out the paper bag and the coffee tray with two cappuccinos. “For you and Cassie.”
Alexa accepted it from him warily, as he took the bag from her shoulder, and peered into the paper bag. Hotdogs. Her favorite. How did he know she loved hotdogs?
Oh, but of course he would know everything she liked or loved. He was her stalker.
“You don’t like them?”
She looked up to see his eyebrows furrowed, and righted her facial expression immediately. Goodness, had she been scowling at the food in the bag? “Of course, not. They’re my favorites. I just… I was just thinking that you didn’t have to buy them for us…”
“Nonsense. I don’t—”
“ You don’t, but I do when you spend your money on me,” she interjected. “It’s very thoughtful of you and I appreciate it, really. But…” She trailed off and sighed, not knowing what to say—or rather, how to say it. “Let’s just be… normal friends, at least for now, we’re new.”
Her nervous blabbering made a sweat break out.
“Is everything alright, Alexa?” Concern lined Tristan’s eyes as he searched hers for the answer.
Alexa sighed. There was no point in lying or hiding. Somehow, he realized there was something wrong between them—with her side. “Let’s go to my house. We need to talk.”
Tristan stared at her for a moment, as if trying to unravel her, before he looked away and cast a glance around them.
“There’s a camera here,” Alexa said, and realized they had spoken together.
Their eyes locked, and they both failed to suppress a small smile. “Come on, then.” Tristan gestured her to follow him, not reaching for her free hand like yesterday, which she was grateful for. Yet, she felt illogically disappointed.
He was a gentleman. There was no doubt about it. She merely wanted to learn his intentions about her, that’s all.
When they reached the alleyway Tristan found yesterday, he offered her his hand. Alexa accepted it and stepped close to his side tentatively, and he teleported them to the side of her house like yesterday.
They walked to the front porch and Alexa unlocked the door. She gestured him in and walked to the living room. The tension was thick in the air. Alexa placed the paper bag and the tray on the coffee table and turned to face him, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear nervously.
She hesitated to meet his eyes, feeling the heat of his gaze on her as he dropped her bag on the couch. She looked at anywhere but him, until he spoke, breaking the tense silence.
“So, what do you wanna talk about?” he asked gently, cautiously.
This was it. Alexa feigned boldness and met his gaze. “Were you stalking me?”
Tristan blinked, clearly taken aback by the unexpected question, and opened his mouth—only to shut it. Alexa had a feeling that he was going to ask what , but instead he said, “No.”
Alexa lifted her chin defiantly—or pretended to be so—and crossed her arms. “I’m not talking about recently. Have you been stalking me before we crossed paths?”
Tristan’s face fell, just before it turned unreadable. “Stalking is not the word I’d use.”
“But it was still stalking , wasn’t it? Following a person around without the said person being aware of it? There’s no other word in my dictionary that lines up to the description.”
Tristan studied her for a moment before he sighed. “It’s still not the word I prefer to use, but yes, I have been stalking you before we first ran into each other.”
“You mean you made us run into each other.” Alexa raised an eyebrow in challenge, daring him to deny it.
Tristan’s eyebrows furrowed. “Alexa, what happened?”
“What happened?” she parroted. “ You tell me! Why were you stalking me? What did you want with me? What are your intentions? I want answers, Tristan!” Her voice rose with each question.
His eyes only softened. “You wouldn’t want to know that.”
She narrowed her eyes. “Of course I do.”
“You want us to be just friends, Alexa.”
“And friends are not supposed to be mysterious!”
“You don’t understand. If I tell you, this friendship we’re building… it’s over.”
“And it’s all the same if you don’t tell me,” she said forebodingly. “I swear, Tristan, if you’re not going to be completely honest with me, this is the end of our friendship. We’ll never see each other again.”
Her outburst shocked him. He stared at her unblinkingly, bewildered and astounded.
“Oh, right, I forgot.” Alexa corrected herself at his prolonged silence, her voice still cold as she recalled her sister’s words. “How foolish of me to threaten you saying we’ll not see each other again when you can always follow me around as my invisible shadow, intruding on my privacy and invading my personal space?”
Horror replaced the astonishment on Tristan’s face, etching across his handsome features, just before his eyes narrowed on her. “Is that what you think of me?” he asked in undisguised disbelief. He shook his head, and for a moment, Alexa thought she glimpsed a shred of hurt, but he masked it with indifference.
“That’s the thing, Tristan. I don’t know what to think of you, at least not anymore. So, enlighten me!” She didn’t intend to sound a tad pleading, but that’s how her words came out. “All I know is that you’re a supernatural human, that you first saw me at my dad’s funeral; that you defended me many times and saved me from ending my life. What else do I know about you?”
“You could’ve just asked.”
“I am asking!” She spread her arms to prove her point.
“Nicely,” he added, emphasizing the word.
Alexa spluttered a laugh before she could stop it. She feigned seriousness and met his gaze. “Tristan, I’m beyond grateful that you saved my life, truly. But I have been blinded by who you are—your supernaturalism and all—to make sense of or to question why you have been stalking me in the first place. You were with me in school when Melissa bullied me. Then in my kitchen when Brandon…” She skipped filling the sentence. “And then in my bedroom—don’t get me wrong, I am grateful you have been there for me because I don’t know what I would’ve done otherwise. But… why? Why were you following me around? What was and is your intention?”
“You wanna know?” A strange fire burned in his eyes. “Fine, I’ll tell you. But before I do, I want to enlighten you that I have never once intruded on your privacy or your personal space. I cannot give you evidence, I cannot make you believe me either. All I can give you is my word, that I have been nothing but a gentleman. With my abilities to teleport and turn invisible, I know you doubt me; but that’s alright, I don’t blame you. However, it is my responsibility to assure you that I have never misused my powers, not on you or anyone. I can hear a mile-long if I listen— if I listen—but I’ve never eavesdropped on a conversation not meant for my ears. I have never intruded on your privacy or invaded your personal space, Alexa— unless it was absolutely necessary of course, like when Brandon broke into your house that day. I want you to know that.”
Alexa held her breath, listening. Before she could pull herself together to form a response, he continued, taking a small step toward her.
“And you want to know why I stalked you? What was and is my intention? Fine, I’ll tell you that too. But don’t regret it once I’m done; you asked for this.” The fire in his eyes intensified, and he pointed a finger to his chest. “I stalked you because you became my obsession. Watching you and listening to you from the shadows became my entertainment. From the day I first saw you, at your dad’s funeral, you became my favorite sight in the whole world and I couldn’t get enough of looking at you. I’ve had a handful of lightning strikes over the years, but you were the lightning that struck my heart, and I wanted to know you, because the moment you struck me, my heart flared to life. I felt alive for the first time in my twenty-one years!
“So I began to watch over you. Slowly, it became my passion. You would laugh with someone—though, not really laugh, you’d still force it for the people you cared for. And when I heard the sound of it, I used to smile from the shadows… until now. Because, standing here with you, in front of you, looking into your eyes and you looking into mine, Alexa, is a dream come true!”
Alexa could barely breathe. With each confession, he closed the distance between them, now standing right in front of her and looking into her soul with the fire in his eyes ready to consume her. It wasn’t fury, no, this was something else entirely.
“Yes, I was obsessed with you,” he continued, his voice rising with passion and other emotions she couldn’t recognize. “But that day I saw you leaping from the bridge, I realized you were more than just an obsession to me. I realized I would give up my life in a heartbeat to keep you alive, because you’ve become the keeper of my heart, my life, my responsibility, and the reason I want to live day after day in this rotten world. So yes, Alexandra Ford, I had an intention in stalking you then and more now, to keep you in my life. Because I love you!”
Alexa went rigid.
That was the last thing she expected. Those three particular words were the last thing in the entire English vocabulary that she expected to fall from his mouth. They had always terrified her when thinking of hearing from someone who wasn’t Cassie or Daphne.
This wasn’t right. This couldn’t be happening. He couldn’t be saying this to her!
Nevertheless, his words reached the darkest corners of her heart and aroused feelings in her that she feared. Alexa didn’t want to feel them, but she failed to block the impact of his words. They had already settled in her heart.
Tristan’s chest heaved from the force of his breath as he stared at her, his eyes now soft, and he whispered, “Yes, Alexandra, I love you.”
Alexa couldn’t take it anymore. The wild, frightening sensations inside her intensified and she turned away from him, wrapping her arms around herself as though it would shield her from whatever he was making her feel.
“I-I want to be alone.”
Out of the corner of her eyes, she saw him disappear.
Alexa didn’t expect him to leave that quick.
Then, a thought clicked her. What if he had simply turned invisible?
She made a grab for the air where he stood, hoping to catch him off guard. But when her hand brushed the air instead of his solid body, a pang of guilt formed in her chest. Ignoring it, she slumped into the couch behind her, not moving from there until she heard the front door shut an hour later.
Alexa jumped to her feet and ran to the foyer. Her sister smiled at her in greeting but frowned almost soon as her eyes roamed over Alexa’s face. She dropped her things on the table nearby before striding over to her.
“Lex, everything alright?”
Alexa hadn’t been crying, she hadn’t shed a single tear, but the shock of Tristan’s confession that paralyzed her had to be visible on her face. Even if it didn’t show, she wouldn’t be surprised; her sister could read her like an open book.
“I confronted Tristan,” she admitted.
Cassie’s face crumbled in concern. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not what you think it is.”
“Then what is it?” Cassie wrapped an arm around her and led her back into the living room. They sat down on a couch, facing each other, and Cassie gathered her hands in hers. “Tell me.”
Alexa took a deep breath. She didn’t know how to tell her sister what had transpired in her confrontation. Cassie was likely going to freak out and keep Tristan far away from her if possible.
“He came to the café to pick me as promised and I told him we needed to talk; funny that he already figured out something was wrong.” She swallowed, looking down at her hands in Cassie’s. “He brought us home and asked me what I wanted to talk about. I asked him if he had been stalking me before we crossed paths. He didn’t say yes or no, just that stalking is not the word he prefers to use. I couldn’t keep my cool, so I argued with him until he agreed to confess his intentions.
“He said he has never intruded on my privacy, that he has never misused his powers on me or anyone. Then he began a flurry of confessions that I-I couldn’t wrap around my head. He said—he said—” Alexa inhaled and exhaled before meeting Cassie’s patient, loving green eyes. “He said he loved me.”
“What?” her sister whispered, blinking in disbelief.
Alexa nodded, squeezing her eyes close. “He said he has been obsessed with me after he saw me at Dad’s funeral, that he has been watching over me since then and it became his passion, and that when I leapt from the bridge two days ago, he realized I was more than just an obsession to him…”
“He realized he loved you,” Cassie marveled.
Alexa’s eyes fluttered open to meet her sister’s wide and astonished ones. “Don’t tell me you believe that. This is reality, not fiction. What he said sounds like what I read in my books.”
Cassie smiled softly. “In that case, he is a living fictional character himself.”
“But this is different,” Alexa insisted. “Believing his supernaturalism is much easier than his—his confession. ”
“Why?”
“Why?” Alexa parroted incredulously. “Because we barely know each other! If Jude came up to me and told me he loved me, even that would feel unrealistic to me, so how unrealistic do you think Tristan’s confession feel in comparison?”
“Sweetheart, I understand you. I get it. But, if Tristan has been taken with you since the funeral, he’d had plenty of time getting to know you in every way. I don’t think it’s unrealistic if you try thinking it from his perspective.”
“Are you saying—”
“I’m a romance author,” Cassie cut her off. “I might have had a failed relationship, but that doesn’t mean I don’t understand the perspectives of love from both the girl’s and the boy’s sides. Tristan’s is valuable, in that case.”
Alexa looked away and shook her head, refusing to believe it. “He couldn’t possibly—he can’t say that to me!”
“Alexa,” Cassie called her on a sigh. “I know you don’t believe in real life romance.”
“I do believe in it; just that it’s not in my future. That’s why I’m an utter hopeless romantic bookworm.” She rolled her eyes dramatically at herself. “Our parents set a big, fat example for us.” And now Cassie’s failed relationship was one, too; but Alexa didn’t say it out loud.
She had always thought Brandon loved Cassie genuinely; everything he had done made her believe that. Their failure had been Alexa’s final straw, learning that everything Brandon had done was for to manipulate them. If men were like that, how was she going to know which one was genuine and which one wasn’t? How could she know what Tristan now felt toward her wasn’t merely an infatuation, the same one that her parents mistook for love and destroyed their marriage?
Alexa didn’t want to make her parents’ mistake or be betrayed like her sister. The best she could do for herself was to lock her heart away and play safe. Just she and her book boyfriends, and their thousands of adventures.
If only life was as good as those romance books. Or, better yet, if life was fiction itself. Because there was always a happy ending to every tragic story, happily ever after with their prince charming, and every wrong was made right.
Alexa sighed longingly.
Cassie stared at her wide-eyed. “Are you… Are you letting that hold you back from your future? Our parents’ mistake?”
“Yeah, I mean, what if I make the same one?” She released her hands from Cassie’s and leaned back on the couch. “I couldn’t afford to live my life arguing with my husband and run off with another man and leave my kids behind.” She gave her sister a deadpan look.
Cassie pursed her lips and shook her head. “How come I didn’t know this? I have been thinking, this whole time, that the reason you never took Jude seriously was because he wasn’t the match of your heart.”
“I was simply attracted to his playboy charms,” Alexa said with a shrug. “Just like I’m now attracted to Tristan, to the allure of his mystery and his gorgeousness.”
Cassie folded her arms across her chest. “I don’t believe you.”
“Are you telling me you still believe in true love?”
“What do you mean by still? ” Cassie tilted her head and narrowed her eyes slightly. “Because Brandon and I fell apart rather horrendously? Yes, I still believe in true love. Just because I have been with the wrong guy all these years and thought he was the one for me until yesterday, doesn’t mean the right guy is not out there for me.”
Alexa withheld herself from blinking, slightly impressed at how defensive her sister sounded about true love. It wasn’t that Alexa didn’t want what all those protagonists had in her books. She wanted all of that, but her parents—and now Brandon—had tarnished her hope of ever finding it with an oh-so-special one true love .
She looked away. “That’s what he said too.”
“Tristan?”
Alexa nodded. “Yesterday on the porch, after the Brandon disaster.”
“Goodness, Alexa, that boy is really in love with you.”
“Stop saying that.” Alexa narrowed her eyes at her and rose to her feet. “I crave distraction. I’m gonna make dinner.”
Cassie shrugged and stood as well. “Sure, I’ll join you after a quick shower.”
Alexa turned to walk to the kitchen when Cassie called out, “Hey, you bought this?”
She turned and saw Cassie taking the paper bag from the coffee table and peeking inside. Her stomach dropped for no reason and she marched back to her sister.
“No, Tristan bought it. I forgot to throw it away.”
Cassie yanked the bag behind her and stared at Alexa as though she had lost her mind. “Excuse me?”
“Give it to me, Cass.” Alexa tried to reach behind her.
“No.” Cassie stepped back, squinting her eyes. “Is there more to the story than you’re letting on? ”
Alexa waved her hand dismissively in the air, impatiently. “He simply came to the café and ordered a cappuccino and a sandwich, and waited for me, and bought these for you and me when my shift was over. Now, give me that.”
“Alexa! What have you done to my sister?”
“A so-called friend told her that he loved her, so don’t you think she’s at least allowed to trash something he bought for her?” If only that was the truth. How could she eat what he bought for her after having argued with him and told him to leave her alone? That was the case.
“We don’t waste food in this household, and he bought this for me too, so I’m eating whether you like it or not.” Cassie turned her back to Alexa and fished out a hotdog. Pivoting back to her, she peeled off its wrapping and took a big bite, moaning loud on purpose.
“You’re so unfair!” Alexa crossed her arms and glared, her defenses wavering. Junk foods were one of her weaknesses and Cassie knew it better than anyone did.
“And you’re so childish,” Cassie managed to choke out between her chews. “Goodness, Alexa, you even look like a little kid—about to throw a big tantrum. Do you want the other one or should I have it too? I’m hungry enough.”
Alexa glared at the wrapped hotdog Cassie was holding out. She could seize the chance to trash her precious cappuccinos that still sat on the table and let Cassie have the hotdogs. Her clever sister was challenging her.
But her temptation won in the end as Cassie peeled off its wrapping and pretended to take a bite. Alexa snatched the hotdog from her. Cassie chuckled, and Alexa’s scowl broke. She bit into the hotdog, flashing her sister a wicked grin.
Tristan’s treat or not, food was food.