The Stepfather (MxM) ✓

Chapter 27

"Not exactly the greeting most people want to hear," Alex said, one single brow raised, as he continued to step into the elevator - pressing the button for the fourth floor. The very floor I was staying on.

What were the odds of that?

"Not a lot of people would be in this position," came my pointed response. Silence followed. "Your speech was good," I said then, because if I was going to be forced through another awkward encounter today I was going to make it as painless as possible.

"Kind of a last minute thing. Kelly threw it at me this morning," Alex chuckled because, yeah, that sounded like Kelly. Waiting until the last possible minute to tell someone something important.

Silence again.

"Alice said she's living with you now. How'd that happen?"

I was never one to beat around the bush if I wanted to know something, hopefully Alex hadn't forgotten that. And considering his lack of a reaction to the question, I could only assume that he did.

But he was quiet for a moment.

"After.. that night, I told Violet about us," that made sense, at least, "and then she told me about the university professor she'd been seeing for the best part of a year."

I couldn't control the bark of laughter that bubbled its way to the surface.

"You're fucking with me?"

Alex looked taken aback for a second before he let out a laugh of his own. "I wish I was. A messed up situation got even more messed up."

I chuckled again, because that was definitely one way to put it.

"So, what, Violet ran off with her new toy and left you in the dusk with Alice?"

"Alice put up a bit of a fight at the thought of moving anywhere," the elevator dinged, the doors opening on to the fourth floor. "So I said she could stay with us as long as she wanted. Hasn't changed her mind yet."

We both stepped out into the hallway, walking in the same direction. We got to my room first, presumably - unless Alex was being weird and following me.

I stood at the door for a few moments, biting down on my lip before taking a breath and asking, "do you want to come in and raid the mini bar?"

"Yeah," his answer was almost instant. "I'd like that a lot."

So I pushed open the door and stood aside to let Alex in.

"I would say 'nice room' but I'm pretty sure they're all identical," he commented, hands in pockets as he looked around the room - probably just to do something.

It was nice to know that Alex felt just as awkward as I did in that moment.

"I don't know, I have a piece of lint in the corner that I'm pretty sure is unique to this room," I quipped back, bending down to the mini bar to see how stocked it was. I pulled out two small bottles and a can of soda. Lana could reimburse me for the bill, she was the one to get me in this mess.

"We should probably..talk," Alex murmured as he perched at the edge of the bed - elbows resting on knees. The image was so damn familiar that it made my chest ache.

"Thought that's what we're doing?"

"You know what I mean."

Unfortunately, I did. I started to pour out two glasses (or, well, mugs considering I couldn't find any glasses) of vodka and coke.

"What we did was..." I didn't turn around, almost afraid of what he was going to say. "Ridiculous. It shouldn't have happened."

"But it did," I bit back, trying not to sound too offended. But I'm pretty sure I failed miserably.