Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
ALEXANDER
Iwas beginning to fall for her.
Ugh, who was I kidding, I had fallen for her.
In the very short time I had known her, I had fallen for her hard.
I didn’t understand how it was possible, but it was.
For the second time we had fallen asleep together, and I was getting used to sleeping with her.
The way she felt in my arms was a perfect fit. In her sleep, she let her guard down.
I couldn’t stop replaying our kiss in my head though. I didn’t expect her to lean in for a kiss, but a kiss in the rain was the perfect first kiss.
I brushed her hair out of her face and studied every bit of her face. I didn’t want to forget this moment. I needed to enjoy it, but I didn’t know when and where it would turn to shit.
The press had gotten too close for my liking. I didn’t think they would recognise that car, and I hadn’t used it enough for it to be recognised as mine, but alas they had.
“Stop staring at me you creeper,” she mumbled. “Oh wait, you aren’t my creeper, you’re my stalker aren’t you?”
I let out a little chuckle. “A lot of sass for this early.”
She groaned. “I don’t want to go back to real life. I need to get mum from the hospital. Plus, I need to see if I still have a job, and I have to catch up with some university work.”
“Ella, stop,” I said.
She rolled her eyes. “What did I say about calling me Ella?”
“Nothing. You were bitching at me,” I said with a small smile.
“Your point?” She raised an eyebrow.
I smiled again. “I’m not going to stop calling you Ella. People call you Mel, El, Melinda, so I need to give you a nickname. I’ve decided that I’m going with that. You can’t change my mind either, so don’t even try.”
“Most people would go with baby, honey, or sweetheart,” she said, rolling her eyes.
I laughed, “I’m not stupid Ella. If I called you one of those names, you would slap me.” I leaned forward and pressed a kiss onto her forehead.
“So, do you want to come out for Halloween?” She asked. “You have plenty of time to get a costume.”
I tapped the side of my head like I was thinking. “Maybe I should be a Prince.”
I was playing with fire but she still had no idea I was a prince. It was too good of an opportunity to not. At least if we were out and people referred to me as Prince, I could pretend it was part of the costume. I was too close, playing with fire.
“Like from Cinderella,” she said. “That could work. You could pass for a prince I guess.”
“Maybe you should be Cinderella,” I suggested.
She laughed. “No, Megan and I usually do a joint costume. This year we are Thing 1 and Thing 2. We were the two guys from the advert last year. You know, the ‘I can walk one hundred miles’ song, I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) by the Proclaimers”
I smiled a little.
A phone started to ring, and we both let out a sigh.
“Do people not know how to leave us alone? It’s Thursday.”
“Alex, it’s a weekday. We should be at university, and I should eventually be at work,” she said. “The past few weeks have gone by way too fast. I can’t keep up with everything.”
“So, I can’t tempt you with breakfast?” I asked.
“Not here, but you can tempt me with breakfast back at Daisy’s on campus,” she said with a smile.
I could accept that.
I let her climb off the sofa and go get her clothes out the dryer.
I quickly went into my room changing into some clean clothes. I was glad I had spread my outfits between here and home. I walked back downstairs hearing her on the phone.
“Mum, I’ll pick you up tonight,” she said.
“I have my lecture first. Mum, I can’t keep missing things just because it makes your life easier.
” She paused. “You know what, if that’s the way you’re going to speak to me about it, then get him to get you!
” She ended the call throwing it on the sofa and she let out a frustrated groan.
I walked over, pulling her into my arms and giving her a hug. “Are you okay?”
She sighed. “My mum wants me to drop everything to go and get her now. She’s sick of being in hospital. She wasn’t meant to be released until tonight, and I was planning to get her after my lecture and my shift at Daisy’s. I mean, presuming I still have a job.”
I held onto her a little bit tighter. I didn’t know what to say to make it better.
Her struggles were different to mine, and I didn’t even know how to begin to help her with her struggles.
“After your lecture, I will take you to the hospital and we will pick her up together. Then, I will take you both home. I won’t hear you tell me no either. ”
“Wow, it’s a serious step meeting the parents,” she teased.
I smiled a little.
I loved the fact that I had managed to cheer her up a bit. I wanted to tell her I was in it for the long run but something tells me that might scare her away. I didn’t want that yet, the longer I could keep from scaring her the better, even more so keeping the fact I was a Prince from her.
“If you’d like, I will even cook dinner for you.”
She gasped. “You don’t need to threaten me. I will accept the lift.”
I narrowed my eyes slightly. “My cooking isn’t that bad, Ella.”
“Alex, you didn’t even know how to stab a potato. I don’t think I want to let you loose inside of a kitchen,” she shook her head.
“I should spank you for that,” I teased.
She flashed me a grin as she took the clothes from the sofa and headed up the stairs to change into them.
Damn, the girl had a great ass.
I should really look away, but my eyes were glued on her.
She disappeared from my sight, and I walked out towards the stables, finding Jack feeding the horses. “Hey, man,” I said. “Thank you for making yourself and Marie disappear from the house last night.”
“You’re welcome, Sir. Marie enjoyed her night at the spa.
” Jack chuckled. “So, who is she? It’s got to be pretty serious for you to bring her into your space, but I’m wondering how serious this is considering you made a point to text all staff to not refer to you as Prince if you are around a guest.”
This is why I liked Jack. He was a straight talker and didn’t hold back from questioning me about things like this.
“No, she has no clue that I am a prince, and I’d prefer to keep it that way for as long as possible.”
“Alexander, that is going to bite you in the ass when she does eventually find out,” Jack said.
I rolled my eyes. “Right. Anyway, give my love to Marie. I’ll see you both soon.” I walked back inside trying to get Jack’s comment out of my head.
He was right, but I would deal with that when it bit me on the butt.
“I was wondering where you got to.”
I looked up to see Melinda sitting on the sofa.
“Just went to go check in with Jack and the horses,” I told her.
I reached for the car keys from the side table and made sure I had my phone in my pocket. “Are you ready?”
“Yeah.” She looked around the room. “This is a beautiful place. Thanks for sharing it with me.”
I pulled her towards me and pressing my lips to her softly. “We can always come here and escape whatever bullshit is bothering us with life.”
She smiled at me.
I led her towards the car, opening the door for her.
She climbed into the car and shut the door behind her.
I got into the car and began the drive to Daisy’s.
I noticed security following behind us in the other car.
I hoped that Ella wouldn’t realise it was following us because I didn’t know how I would explain that.
An hour later, I parked into the spot at Daisy’s.
We headed straight inside and searched for a booth. I couldn’t help but smile as I realised it was the same booth in which I did some of my not so covert research from or as Melinda called it stalking. Such an ugly term.
I sat down watching as she looked around the diner.
“Do you know what you’re ordering?” She asked, using her server voice.
I raised an eyebrow. “Melinda, you do realise you aren’t at work right now. You’re a customer.”
She grinned sheepishly. “Sorry, bad habit. It’s like I just slip into the role.”
“Melinda, you’re fired!”
Both of our heads whipped around, looking for the voice.
A woman stormed over putting her hands on her hips as she glared at Melinda. She turned her gaze from Mel to me and I saw her eyes widen before she flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder and her demeanour changed from angry to flirty. She knew who I was.
“Well, hello.”
Mel coughed and shifted in her seat, clearly uncomfortable, “don’t mind me,” she muttered. “Carry on flirting.”
I ignored her, only paying attention to Mel. I didn’t want to give this woman anymore ammunition to flirt with me. I only wanted to flirt with the girl sitting in front of me.
“Ah yes, you’re fired.” She snapped her attention back to Ella.
“Cindy, please. There was a family emergency,” Ella said with a frown.
Cindy the name suited her. What a bitch. Her eyes looked me up and down with a smirk. “Is that what you would call fucking someone well above—”
“Hey,” I snapped, cutting her off. “There is no need to be such a bitch.”
“Alex, it’s fine,” Ella waved me off. “This is normal for the devil. Jealousy gets you nowhere, Cindy.”
“Jealous? Of you? Puh-lease, you’re nothing, you’re just a fat ugly-”
“Ugly?” Ella laughed. “The only thing ugly here is your personality. At least I could change my weight and looks.”
“There isn’t enough surgery in the world to make you look better.” Cindy laughed.
It was taking everything in my power to not get involved and defend Ella.
“Either way, you’re fired. Get the fuck out—”
“Enough!”
Ella’s head spun around to follow the voice, and she broke out into a grin. “Daisy!”
“Melinda, you aren’t fired,” Daisy said as she approached our table. “Cindy you on the other hand are. Get your things, and please leave the premises. I will send your final pay check in a few days.”
Cindy opened her mouth, but Daisy held her hand up. “I don’t want to hear it. This is the final straw, Leah, Dave, Lucy, and Sadie all refuse to work with you. I know everything I need to.”
Cindy walked away.
“Thank you,” Ella said with a small smile.
“You’re welcome. Enjoy your meal. Let me know when things have settled down for you, and we will have a meeting,” Daisy said.
A small smile appeared on my face.
This was the first I’d seen of Ella’s boss, but she seemed lovely. I had a feeling if she had been here when I yelled at Ella, she would have shouted at me and possibly banned me for life.
“This turned into an amazing few days.” She grinned. “I think that may be the best thing that’s happened.”
Of course she would think Cindy getting fired was better than our date. I didn’t blame her though. From what I had witnessed, Cindy was not a nice person.
A few hours later, I stood outside of the hospital as Ella had gone in to get her mum.
I was more than happy to stay by the car because it meant less risk of the public spotting me. I saw Ella coming out of the hospital, making her way over to the cars and heading straight to open the door for them both.
“Mum, I’d like you to meet Alex,” she said with a smile. “Alex, this is my mum, Elena. Alex was kind enough to offer us a ride home.”
“Nice to meet you, ma’am,” I nodded, helping her into the car.
We got into the car setting straight off for Ella’s home, I had never had a more awkward car ride.
That said a lot because I had ended up in a lot of cars with my parents and their disapproving scowls.
Ella helped her mum into the house and I followed as she helped her onto the sofa.
“Mel, can you go and get my blanket please>”
Ella walked upstairs.
Elena’s eyes never left mine. “What are you playing at with my daughter?”
“I like her, ma’am,” I said.
“She doesn’t need some rich stuck-up Prince sniffing around her,” Elena snapped.
So, I guess that cat was out of the bag. The question would be would she tell Ella?
“Ma’am with all due respect, you don’t know me. You know what the media portrays me to be,” I said. “I’m falling for her. You know your daughter. Trust her judgement. If I was a bad guy, she wouldn’t want to be around me.”
“You haven’t told her you’re a Prince, why?”
“She treats me like I’m a normal person. I love that about her. Telling her my title will change everything, and I’m not ready for that.”
Elena raised an eyebrow. “I don’t know if I can trust you. When you break my little girl’s heart, I will break the most precious part of you.”
Her eyes drifted down, and I couldn’t help but wince as I finally understood what she meant.
My eyes widened slightly.
Shit, she was scary.
“Understood. For what it’s worth, I have no intention of hurting her.”
“I hope not, otherwise my daughter may be visiting me from prison.”