Leather & Satin (The Bad Boy and the Ballerina) *EDITING*

Chapter 22: Meeting Hazel

When then plane lands, Alexia's still sleeping. It was late, after all. Probably about midnight. She looked so peaceful when she slept, I didn't have the heart to wake her. That, and the fact she was wrapped around me in the cutest way possible, still swaddled in my coat. A limo driver was awaiting our arrival, holding a sign that said Vale patiently. He let me carry "lady Alexia" and he took care of the bags, as I climbed into the back. He'd informed me that they lived about an hour's drive from the LAX airport.

I just watched her sleep, enjoying the way she was wrapped around me, enjoying the peace of mind that came with having her close; that came with knowing she was safe.

When we pull up to the house, I thought at first that it must be the wrong address. I mean, I'd known Alexia had money—but this?

And to think she'd said it was nothing special.

It had to be bigger than the larger scale hotels we had back home in Canada; three or four times as large, maybe even more. There were three separate buildings located in medium proximity to the house. One, seemed to be a guest house. The other, a garage. And the third, well, who knows. Maybe it was a ballet studio, for all I know.

Swallowing, I step out of the limo, as the limo driver cheerily carries the bags inside after buzzing the freakin' receptionist to let him in. I follow carefully behind and am greeted by an enthusiastic looking woman.

A woman, who, looked scarily like the teenage girl I cradled. Only, she was much older. And bald.

Alexia's mother had the same blue eyes I loved so much, and the same pleasant expression. But Hazel Vale seems a lot more composed than I'd ever seen her daughter, and much more in control of her emotions. She had no hair, just a pink scarf knotted artfully around her head, and she was beautiful. I was glad to see she looked relatively healthy. This must be one of her good days.

"You must be Hayden." She says at a normal volume, aware of Alexia's deep sleeping habits. "I'm Hazel, Alexia's mother." She introduces herself. I'd already known her name from our phone conversations, but the introduction was still nice. "I'd shake your hand, but," she shrugs with a laugh. "They seem a little occupied."

I give her a lopsided grin, falling into a happy mood easily with this woman. "She fell asleep on the plane ride. Thank god. She seemed terrified, the poor thing." I shake my head.

Hazel nods, watching Alexia's dark head peek out from under my jacket. "She gets like that....never mind the fact we fly everywhere and often." She laughs lightly. I couldn't help but notice she seemed...glowing. Healthy. Alive. Not at all like someone fatally ill with cancer. It made me happy to know. I hoped she'd still look like that when Alexia woke up. I know that she'd be grateful. "I booked a later flight on purpose. Figured she'd be easier to handle like this." She gestures to the delicately snoring Alexia.

She had a point.

"I have to thank you for paying for my ticket—I really appreciate being able to come up here and spend this time with her." I grin again. "If I didn't come, I'd probably be going crazy. I worry about her a lot." I admit softly, my gaze dropping to Alexia.

Hazel gives me a warm laugh. "It seems to be something about her—it makes people want to worry about her, y'know?" her white teeth flash.

"I agree with that one hundred percent. I've worried about her since the day she showed up on my doorstep. And I don't worry about anyone." I say.

"Well, Lexi will do that to you." She nods. "Her room is the door on the left of the third floor. It has a big glittery star with her name on it—impossible to miss." She gestures towards the stairs. "You can lay her down in there. I had some of the staff put in another bed, so you could stay together. You can share a bed, too, I don't really care." She shrugs. "Just, no funny business, right?"

I'm sure I'm a thousand different shades of bright red, but I nod. "Uh...yes ma'am. Thanks."

With that, I take the elevator (yes, you read correctly, elevator) to the third floor (there are 5 in total) and continued down the long hallways. Oddly enough, there are only four doors in the entire stretch—two on one side, two on the other.

I enter the door with Lex's name sparkled on a star, and roll my eyes the minute I do.

The room was so, truly, Alexia.

Her bed was huge—bigger than the one back in Canada, draped with curtains and done up with a bunch of stuffed animals. Her walls held pictures of her at dance, her with her friends, and a reoccurring theme of a girl who looked strikingly similar....one I assumed to be Hayley, her sister, who'd been brutally killed.

There's two parts to the high ceilinged room—half of it is double-floored, with a spiral staircase leading up to a dance studio, with railing that overlooked the rest of the room. Double French doors opened up to a larch patio, with a stunning city-view.

It was all a lot to take in.

Carefully, I push aside some of the stuffed animals, to lay her down on the bed.

As assumed, it was much too big for her, swallowing up her tiny frame. Alongside the toys and dolls, she looked as though she might be able to be one, her small, porcelain face blending in, along with her mass of shiny hair, and the lashes that brushed her cheeks with her eyes screwed tightly shut.

And then it hits like a freight train, making me dizzy with realization.

Alexia Lynn Vale is the most beautiful girl I'd ever been lucky enough to know.

It's not even the way she smiles with cute little dimples I want to kiss. It's not even the way she looks seconds before she starts crying, all hurt and needing comfort. It's not the way she mumbles my name in her sleep or says my name in general...okay, maybe it is...but it's also so much more than that.

Alexia is good.

She changed me. And I know she doesn't think so, because she never knew how I was before I met her. I was an asshole. I was rude and ignorant and I had a new girl every week.

And then she came, and everything changed. The drinking and the fake ID's stopped. I stopped being someone who mothers warned their daughters about and started becoming someone I would be proud to befriend. Someone Alexia would be proud to know.

And I was glad.

_______________

Next chapter will be longer! 

Vote?

Comment?

Comment twice?

Three times?

Vote?

Tell me what you think of their relationship ! I wanna know. C: 

<33