Maid for you

chapter eleven

Alexander busted through the front door. Scared to death that he would walk in on her dead body. But she was standing at the countertop, stretching out pizza dough.

"Hennessy! Are you okay?"

"Yeah. I'm fine what are you talking about?" She turned around and looked at him, smiling, trying to conceal the feelings she was holding.

"That phone call? Who was that man and why was he talking to you like that? If you are in trouble please talk to me." Alexander was desperate to find out what was going on, what happened on the other side of the phone.

"What? You must've been hearing things. Nothing happened." She laughed lightly, trying to hold back tears. But Alexander wasn't buying it. He knew what he heard. Slowly walking over to her, he saw that she was scrunching her eyes shut.

"Are you sure? Please Hennessy, you can tell me anything. I'm here."

"No. I'm fine Xander. You can go change, I'm making pizza."  She was damn convincing too, he almost believed she was okay.

"Alright. I will see you in a little bit. Please remember. You can come talk to me."

"Okay." She said softly, and he walked out of the room. Going into his office, and sitting behind his desk.

Hennessy's shaky hands put the sauce on the pizza. She made a decision, she wanted to tell Alexander what happened. She quickly finished up the pizza, annoyed at herself that she didn't get the pepperoni at the store. Popping it in the oven and going up the stairs. Second guessing herself, she paused. Sitting down on the staircase.

"Hennessy. Are you okay?" Alexander said, coming down the stairs behind her.

"What? Yeah I'm fine." Hennessy said, and he called bullshit. He knew she wasn't fine. Alexander sat down next to her, and glanced over. She had her hands squeezed together tightly, and she was staring down at her lap.

"Please Hennessy, tell me what's wrong." As soon as he said that, Hennessy broke down crying. Alexander wrapped his arms around her, and her head was tucked into his chest as she cried.

"Fuck Xander. I'm so fucked." She mumbled into his suit jacket.

"No you're not. We can fix it." He said softly, while rocking her back and forth.

"He's back. He's fucking back. I never want to see him again." She said between sobs.

"Who." Alexander said, whilst running his fingers through her hair.

"Thomas!!" She practically yelled, and this gave him no context. He stood up and she looked up at him.

"Come on." He held out his hand and she grabbed it, standing up as they walked to his bedroom. He opened up the door and she walked over, sitting on the leather couch. Alexander closed the door behind them and sat on the other end of the couch.

"Who is Thomas." He said softly, and Hennessy stared at the powered down TV. He crossed one of his legs over the other, studying Hennessy's body language.

"Thomas. God. Thomas." She mumbled.

"I'm here for you Hennessy."

"It's a long fucking story."

"I have more than enough time." He said, and Hennessy sighed.

"I am sorry but I, don't feel comfortable telling you right now. I already told you about the strip club, and my family. But this. This is one thing I would like to keep with me." Hennessy said while staring out the window.

"You can tell me. I will not judge." Alexander said softly, grabbing her hand and tracing lines along her palm.

"I can't. Please don't make me." She whispered, wiping tears off her cheek with her other hand.

"I won't, instead I will tell you something about me." Alexander said, trying to take her mind off whatever got her so distraught.

"Really?" She was hopeful, that she wouldn't have to talk about it.

"Yeah. So when I was in elementary school, I had this stuffed dog. I loved it to death. I brought it to school with me. But as I got older, 2nd, 3rd grade. My brother,started making fun of me. Saying I was 'soft' for still wanting to bring it everywhere with me." Alexander chuckled softly, leaning back and putting his ankle over his thigh. And Hennessy saw his biceps flexing slightly.

"What? That's so mean." She said, the distraction from her mind working.

"Yeah. Well siblings can be real bitches. So one day I threw it in the trash bin. In the back of the school. My mom picked me up that day, she said 'where's jeff?'. That was his name. I told her all about what they are doing to me and she was furious. William was already in Middle School. My mom talked to him and made him apologize. But he said that the reason he did it, was because he knew people would've bullied me in Middle School for it. The next day he rescued Jeff from the trash and gave it back to me. But I never brought it to school again." Alexander's soothing voice said, and Hennessy was completely immersed in the story.

"That's sad." She said, a frown on her face.

"No. He was looking out for me. I know that if someone else hurt me William would be the first one to defend me. But he's also the first one to tell me my hair looks like shit, or I need to change my suit, but if someone else said that about me? They'd get a right hook to the jaw." Alexander smiled, thinking of all the times his older brother has backed him up.

"That's so sweet. Kind of." Hennessy mumbled, as she absentmindedly snuggled her head into his chest. Alexander wrapped his arms around her, inhaling her sweet perfume.

"It is. That was the first time that I felt like I wanted to both smack my brother and hug him at the same time." He whispered, running his fingers down her arm.

"Thank you for telling me. That's a sweet story. I want to meet him someday." Hennessy mumbled back.

"Absolutely. And you can tell me your story whenever you need. I'm always here for you. Okay?" Alexander whispered.

"Okay. Can we watch TV?" She whispered, closing her eyes. Alexander's scent was intoxicating to her senses, and she wanted to stay in his arms forever.

"Of course." He reached for the remote while trying not to disturb Hennessy, she seemed more comfortable that she had been in a while, and he felt honored to be apart of that.

He flicked through the channels, stopping on Forensic Files. Hennessy opened her eyes back up and watched the TV intently, divulging to Alexander her theories on who she thought the killer was.

But Alexander was just looking at her.