and we fell

Chapter 55

ALEC

Two months later

It doesn't take me much to reach the building. That's one of the reasons we chose it in the first place. It is close to the Dunn Leisures headquarters, where I would be working in.

Am working in.

After Foxy left, my life stopped having a meaning. My heart is cursed to continue beating, although it has nothing to beat for.

I first sank into a destructive phase. I started drinking again. And smoking. Everything to help me escape. Once, I used to find the world beautiful. Because Foxy was next to me. Now, this place feels like hell. And all I want is her.

One day, I realized how much Foxy would hate my lifestyle now. She would probably look at me with those eyes and tell me: We're going to be alright. We're going to be together. But you need to stop smoking, Alec. You need to be sober.

I stopped drinking. And I stopped smoking.

Yet Foxy is still gone.

I realized I needed something to do to fill up my time. So, I took over the family's company. Rachel couldn't even comment, since I fulfilled her condition about leaving Foxy.

Unwillingly.

Ever since I became CEO of Dunn Leisures, many things changed for the company. Rachel was officially dismissed. After making her an offer she couldn't refuse (add a few threats to that), she and her husband moved to an island in the middle of the ocean, to Fuck-Knows-Where. I wished them the best (and cursed them), and became the only owner and leader of Dunn Leisures. I forced them to hand over all shares to me, which means they don't have any influence on the company whatsoever. Which only made everything better. The company's value raised significantly over the last month and also seems to keep the course. My income now reaches numbers Rachel's could never have reached.

None of that matters. As long as Foxy is gone, none of that matters.

I open the door with the set of keys I got yesterday, when I signed the contract with the owner. The building is mine now. Hers. It was a dumb decision to buy this place. Foxy might never come back. Yet I've seen the way she looked at the building. As if these walls could make all her dreams come true. I just had to make sure no one would get to this place first, so that her dreams won't be ruined.

As I'm inside, I take a deep breath and begin my tour. The building used to be a museum, so it's a huge place with many rooms perfect for exhibitions. Foxy loved them all.

I enter the first room, a circular space with a glass dome as a ceiling.

"I already know what I want to do with this one", she tells me, her eyes sparkling.

"And what might that be, sweetheart?" I ask her back, kissing the spot I love on her neck. She giggles.

"This place will only hold one artwork. The painting that started everything. Le baiser. It's going to be placed in the middle. The walls will be white and they will be filled with kiss marks. It should be a symbol of love."

I smile at her, picturing her vision in my head. "I love it, I really do." I assure her and she rewards me one of her big smiles. Those smiles.

"But there is one thing wrong in what you said." I add a bit nervous.

Foxy looks at me intrigued. "And what might that be?"

"It wasn't the painting that started everything. I knew long before that one day I'll be able to call you mine."

She looks at me surprised from what I've just said. Then lifts herself up on her toes to meet my lips. She kisses me soft, only to tease me.

"And how right you were." She whispers, then gives me a long, hungry kiss.

I deepen the kiss and pull her closer.

As I open my eyes again, she's gone. And I realize I'm taken back to the nightmare I have to live in every day after I get up.

I curse.

And do the one thing that keeps me sane after I get the flashbacks from when my life was beautiful: I trace my newest scar, the one on my cheek, with my fingers. I got it from the accident. And the doctors told me it will never go away. In some way, it's a good thing. The scar serves as a reminder that I made the right decision.

They almost killed me. I don't even want to imagine what they could do to Foxy.

Then again, the voice inside my head that still believes in hope breaks me down again.

You're not depending on them anymore, Alec. You're the CEO one. You can offer her protection and take care of her. Loving her isn't seen dangerous anymore. You can hug her and kiss her and don't have to feel sorry for what you're doing.

You can be hers again.

I swallow hard and clench my fist. I can't. It's only hope. I know it is. Foxy doesn't seem to want me anymore. It's been two months. Two months, in which I got no sign from her. Ever since that letter, she hasn't called me, hasn't reached out for me... I also didn't do it in return. I thought she might need her space. That if she doesn't call that means she doesn't want me to call.

You're a fool. And a damn coward.

I know I am. But there's nothing about Foxy that doesn't make me go crazy for her. I would willingly burn down the world just after one of her tears. We're way past sanity.

You could still call her. 

I swallow again and stand walk to my car. From the trunk, I get the painting. That painting. Le baiser. She brought it over at my place a few months ago and it remained there. So did all her other paintings. Which only pierce my soul every morning as I walk past them and I remind myself she's not here.

I go inside with the painting and place it on the wall she would have wanted it on. Because this is where the painting belongs. Wherever her dreams are.