Alexander (CENTURIES series: Book #1)

14

Alexander's P.O.V:

"Stoooop!"

The scream was enough to make me jump out of my bed and pad down the hall towards the sound, still clutching my teddybear in my arm. I came to the foot of the stairs and looked down at the cause of the noise, and then dropped Mr Teddy Roosevelt.

"You shut your fucking mouth! You think you can just take my kid away from me? He's mine!"

"No! He's my son!" Mommy cried, lying on the floor, clutching herself. Her face was puffy and her eyes looked swollen. She had bruises up and down her legs and arms, as well on her stomach and back, even though you couldn't see them from her pretty flowery nightgown. "I'm taking him with me! I'm done trying to make it work! You're a monster!"

"A monster?" Daddy snarled. "I'll fucking give you monster, you bitch!" He kicked her in the stomach repeatedly, making her scream out louder and curl into a ball on the ground. "Theodore is coming with me! Just try and stop me!"

Shaking, I ran into mommy and daddy's bedroom, to their nightstand where I remembered daddy kept the real version of the toy gun I had. I took it and ran back to the staircase, stopping at the first step where I could see mommy was still lying on the ground.

"Stop hurting mommy!" I screamed and pointed the gun at daddy. "Stop hurting her!"

Daddy looked up at me and looked shocked to see that I was awake at such late hours. I shouldn't be, mommy tucked me in hours ago, but the loud voices woke me up. Like they always did.

His eyes fell to the gun in my hand, and carefully, he took a step back from mommy. "Theodore. What did I tell you about going into daddy's drawers? Put the gun down, son, that's not for you."

"You have to stop hurting mommy!" I cried again, pouting angrily. "And me! I don't like it when you hurt me either!"

"Theodore. Put. The gun. Down." Daddy growled and held his hand out. "Give it to daddy."

"Theo, don't," Mommy whispered, shaking her head frantically. "Don't give it to him!"

"Shut up!" Daddy kicked mom again so she screamed, and it made me pull the little trigger. The gun went off with a blast and the bullet shot straight past daddy's ear.

"Shit!" He screamed and quickly turned to me and shot me a murderous glare. "Theodore! Put the gun down, NOW!"

"No!" I screamed. "Go away!" I warned him when he took a step up the stairs. "I'll shoot again! I'll shot again and this time I won't miss!"

"Theodore," Daddy said, stopping up. He glared dangerously at me. "If you don't hand daddy the gun right now, you're going to be in a looot of trouble... hand the gun over."

"No," I firmly said, stopping my voice from shaking. "You're not my daddy anymore! I don't want to be your son! Leave me and mom alone! Forever!"

"Don't be ridiculous now, Theodo—"

I pulled the trigger again, and this time, the bullet grazed daddy's shoulder.

"THEODORE!" He roared, grasping on to his shoulder. "Stop!"

"Leave us!" I screamed off the top of my lungs. "Go away! Go! Get out of our house! Don't ever come back! Leave!"

"...Fuck off, don't touch her! FUCK OFF!"

"Alex! ALEX!"

My eyes flew open and I jolted upright, looking around at where I was. I found myself in my own bed, covered in sweat, with Sophie by my side. I cupped my face and shuddered. "Oh, God..."

"Shhh, it's okay, it was just a nightmare," She whispered, rubbing my arm. "He's not here, Alex, he's not in your life anymore. I am. I'm right here."

I lifted my head from my hands and looked at her for a long second. She was here. Not him. Her.

I wrapped my arms tightly around her in a flash, shaking uncontrollably. She knew. She always just knew what it was about. She embraced me back as I buried my head in the crook of her neck, feeling the wetness around my eyes. My grip was probably hurting her, but she didn't say a thing. She only hugged me back. "My Sophie..."

"That's right," She whispered, softly stroking my back. "I'm yours and I'm here. Nobody else is. It's just us."

Sophie was my angel. She could always take the hurt from my body with one single look and steal my breath with just one touch. I was lucky. So damn lucky to have her in my life. Whenever I was near her, I always just felt better – peaceful. There was just something completely unique about her. I always had a response ready with everyone else, but with her, my mind just blanked. She was everything to me. Everything.

"I love you, Sophie. So much. Fuck, I love you."

I felt her freeze for a moment before she gripped on to my hair and drew back to look into my eyes. Even though my room was bathed in darkness, I could still see her eyes sparkle back at me. "I love you too, Alexander."

I just looked into her eyes, taking this moment in; This was the first time we had confessed our love to each other. Really confessed it, not just used it as a follow-up sentence when one of us did something we loved, like bringing each other food or fetching something for one another.

She was so beautiful, not just on the inside, but amazingly also on the outside. Her sun-kissed skin, her beautiful golden hair. Her plump, pink lips, her cute little nose... her hazel eyes that turned green in sunlight but looked like amber indoors. Right now they were glimmering with tears, a single one escaping her tear duct and rolling down her cheek.

I instinctively caught it with my thumb and brushed it away as I cupped her face. I leaned in to her lips, never breaking eye contact with her. She looked right back, her breath coming out in small, shaky puffs.

"I love you, Sophie," I whispered again and then pressed my lips to hers. The moment our lips touched, she visibly relaxed and drew me even closer as she released the smallest of sighs. Happiness.

We slowly laid back down again, our lips still locked together. I carefully climbed in over her, supporting my weight on my forearms. She looped her arms around me and moaned softly as I kissed her even deeper, letting my tongue sweep across her lower lip, before diving into her mouth. She moaned, softly. I then felt her fingers trace across my back, following the contours of my bones. Exploring. Goosebumps scattered across my skin and I heard a groan grate at the back of my throat.

Making her feel good was the best cure in the world when my demons surfaced. Seeing that look on her face, the one I was watching right now, it mended my heart. It fixed me. She fixed me.

In that moment as our eyes met mid-kiss, I could see it within her. Especially when she softly squeezed around my arms with her hands and swallowed once. Then exhaled.

An unspoken moment passed between us and that's when I knew that the moment was right. It had finally come.

Our moment.

• • •

Hang on tight, I'm bringing out the big guns for the next one.