Absolute Perfection

5-Sense of Relief

ALEX

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IF YOU WOULD PLEASE TAKE THE TIME TO LEAVE AN ASTERIX* ON ANY OF MY GRAMMAR/SPELLING MISTAKES

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I knew it was him without even having to turn around. He walked into the kitchen as I finished up the last of my chicken and ham frittata for everyone. Not bothering to look back at him I chose to ignore the fact he was just standing there, waiting for him to get on with whatever it was he wanted.

Clearing his throat, he finally spoke. "Tyson sent me to apologize." If the meaning of his words hadn't registered, I could have enjoyed the tingles I felt his voice enticed.

Forcing myself to keep a level voice I continued on finishing up my meal. "Glad to know he has a level head about the situation, but I don't want an apology for him." I was surprised at how calm I sounded when on the inside I was enraged. He couldn't even man up and tell me he was sorry without using the excuse Tyson made him! What kind of a man did that? A boy. That was not something a man would do. He was acting like a child.

His tone was clipped when he replied back. "I didn't mean it like that." I chose to ignore him, which only seemed to make the situation worse. He stepped up to me, grabbing my shoulder to turn me around and face him. I jerked away from his touch, leveling my angry gaze at the boy in front of me and any words I'd hoped to throw in his face vanished when I saw how bad he looked.

There were bags under his reddened eyes, his hair was disheveled, and not in the normal sexy carefree style he did on purpose, and he still wore the same clothes as yesterday. It seemed he was more human than I suspected if the situation affected him enough he couldn't sleep.

"I didn't mean it like that. You have to know I am sorry. I don't know what came over me, but when I realized who you were I was shocked to say the least. Tyson has told me so much about this girl he looked after, I never put two and two together. It hit me like a truck when I realized it was you he'd been talking about, and everything I felt for you suddenly felt dirty."

So that's what it was. All the sudden those thoughts he'd had about me felt tainted because his best friend saw me as his daughter. "Boo fucking hoo." I growled before turning back to the task at hand.

"Come on, Alexandra, that's not fair." He growled out behind me. All I could do was scoff at the audacity of this guy.

"And what you're doing to me is? I'm making this easy for you, Castello. You don't want to think of me like an equal partner because I'm younger than you, than fine. Go out tonight and get laid so you can start obsessing over someone else and leave me the fuck alone like you want." The room was silent for several heart beats until I heard him turn away and leave.

Gripping the stove top, I closed my eyes against the tears. That was what I wanted, so why did it hurt so much?

Making everyone's plates I entered the dining room to find Tyson and Jill alone. They didn't bother to ask about the unshed tears; I'm sure they heard the whole thing from where they were at anyway, but I was grateful they chose to ignore it and instead dive right into the meal.

As we ate we talked about what we had going on in our lives. I told them about my novel I finished making top twenty in New York Best Sellers, and Tyson went on to tell me about his new position as Head Manager at the glass shop. I was happy for him, and ecstatic that he could finally afford that boat he'd been talking about since I'd known him.