11. Alessia
CHAPTER ELEVEN
ALESSIA
“ W ear the jeans, they make your ass look like a peach; he’ll drop to his knees so goddamn quick he won’t know what hit him.” I roll my eyes at Caroline as she lounges on my bed while I get dressed for this stupid meeting. A meeting to talk about a wedding that is not fucking happening. “So, what are you going to do?”
That’s a loaded question. I push through my clothes, grabbing the jeans she told me to put on. I’m going to do whatever I can to stop this wedding from happening. And if that fails, I’m going to do whatever I can to make Astor tell me what the fuck happened when I was sixteen.
I tug the jeans up my legs and grab an off the shoulder sweater with a pair of heeled boots. I throw my hair into a messy bun on top of my head and put my glasses on. I’m not trying to impress this asshole, so why do I look at myself a little longer in the mirror? I shake my head and walk into the living room when I hear a knock at the door.
“You think it’s him?” she asks, laying back on the couch with a smirk on her face. I roll my eyes and storm for the door.
If he thinks he can just start showing up, he truly is a mad man. I don’t miss the way Caroline sits up so she can have a front row seat to this shit show.
“Astor, I don’t feel lik—” I’m looking at the one person I never thought I’d lay eyes on again. My mouth goes dry and I can’t force myself to swallow to moisten it again.
“Astor? He my competition, princess?” Princess . I haven’t been called that since he called me, saying he didn’t want to do long distance. Zander Castillo and his charming half smile stares at me as I hear Caroline gasp.
“What…what are you doing here?” He smiles brighter at me and raises his hand to my face to push a piece of my fly away back. I flinch at the touch. I always have. I don’t know why, but being touched makes me uncomfortable sometimes. Certain movements, certain grasps. I lean away from his hand and he frowns.
“Oh, he really is my competition.”
“There is no competition, because I’m not some prize to win. What do you want?”
We didn’t end on completely bad terms, but that was before I learned he cheated on me. He left me and Astor made sure of that. He didn’t fight for me, but claimed he loved me. It’s funny, because in the back of my mind, I always knew it was something more to it. I found it hard to believe that one moment you’re asking to take my virginity and the next you don’t want to do long distance. In my defense, I honestly thought it was because I wouldn’t sleep with him.
“Princess...” I raise my hand at him and step out into the hallway, closing the door behind me. Caroline widens her eyes and flips me the finger for shutting her out. Nosy bitch.
“Stop calling me that. I’m not your princess…why’d you break up with me two years ago?” He glances down at the floor and I can tell he’s battling with the truth or a lie, so I save him the effort. “Leave, Zan...”
“You don’t understand, I had no choice.”
“You did have a choice, you could have chosen me.” He backs me into the wall and steps into me. My breath quickens and I can feel my fight or flight instincts kicking in. There’s a twist in the pit of my stomach and I know that if he kisses me, I’ll probably vomit all over him.
“You’re right, I’m stupid. I should’ve never left you. I miss you. I want you. Let me fix it.” He cups my cheek and I flush. I place my hands on his chest and shake my head.
“Please don’t touch me. That relationship, that was a long time ago. I’m not the same person, and quite frankly, it wasn’t a healthy relationship.” He cuts me off and smashes his lips against mine. My eyes widened as he tries to plunge his tongue in my mouth. I push against his chest, but he doesn’t move.
This is the part of the relationship I remember being in: when I tell him no, he keeps going. Going and going until I think he really won’t stop. The part in our relationship where he’d make me feel guilty for not spending every moment with him. The part where he’d make me cancel dates with Caro because he didn’t trust her .
I throw my head back against the wall, hoping it’ll alert Caroline, and moments later the door is flying open. He turns his head and I ram my knee into his dick.
“I told you not to touch me.” He’s lying on the floor, groaning when the elevator dings and Astor steps off. I physically see what little color is left drain from Zander’s face when he sees him. I crouch down and tap his cheek. “I wonder if he’d kick your ass again if he knew you touched his fiancé . But don’t worry, I won’t tell him.”
“But I will,” Caroline says, tilting her head at Zander as he scrambles to stand up. He looks at me in disgust and then back to Astor as he approaches. I honestly didn’t want Astor to beat him into oblivion. I’m sure I could’ve made up some story as to why the bastard was on the floor, but he had to open his mouth. He had to do the stupidest thing he could possibly do in front of the one person you do not want to piss off.
“I always knew you had feelings for him. The way you looked at him and swore you hated him. The way you perked up whenever he walked into a room even though he wouldn’t give you the time of day, not even a fucking glance. He never saw you. Even as you practically threw yourself at him when you were a kid. He never fucking wanted you. I knew you were a fucking lying slu ?—"
Zander barely gets the last word out before Astor grabs him by his neck and cuts off his breath supply. Caro glances at me, but I can’t take my eyes off how angry Astor looks. And hot, definitely fucking hot .
“You know, I really didn’t plan on killing anyone today. But when life gives you lemons…” He tightens his grip around Zander’s neck. I put my hand on Astor’s arms when I notice the blue tint starting to surround Zander’s mouth. He’s dying.
“Please, don’t. He’s not worth it. I don’t want anyone else getting hurt because of me.” He doesn’t acknowledge me for a moment. I start to think that he’s really going to kill Zander in front of me, with no remorse and no shame. He loosens his grip, and the color starts returning to Zander’s face, but he doesn’t let go.
“Did you touch her?” Zander doesn’t respond, he looks at me and I shake my head, giving him what I hope is the clue to keeping him alive. “Don’t fucking look at her, look at me.”
He shakes his head and chokes out, “No, no I didn’t.” Caroline rolls her eyes and glares at me. I glance at her and silently plead with her to keep her mouth shut.
“You were wrong about one thing, Zander,” Astor says, getting close to his ear. “I’ve always seen her, and guess what? She’s mine. Take this as your warning. Touch her again, I’ll fucking kill you.”
He throws him down onto the ground and grabs my hand, yanking me towards the elevator. Caroline yells my name and I turn to see her running down the hall with my keys and phone in her hand.
“Astor, can you just wait a second!” I rip my hand out of his and put my hand on the elevator door to stop it from closing.
“Here. I’ll lock up for you.” I nod, taking my things from her as she narrows her eyes at me. “You, ok?” I give her a small smile and nod. She looks to Astor and squints her eyes at him. “Thanks for defending her. I mean, I could’ve done it myself, but the whole angry macho man thing helped, I guess.”
“Caroline, it’s not your job to defend her. It's mine. Please move. We have somewhere to be." I mouth, I’m sorry , to her as the elevator doors close.