Escort

Chapter 67

I arrived back at Anders' home and walked through the door.

"Anders?!" I called him.
"I'm in here, angel!" he replied from his office.

I walked over to it.

He sat at his desk, typing away on his computer with his glasses over his eyes. He was in a wifebeater and sweatpants still which made me realize he hasn't left the house since we woke up this morning.

"Yes?" he asked.
"I would like to get to know you." I stated.
He scoffed. "What?" He continued typing but looked at me.
"I want to know you better. I want to ask you questions and you answer them so I understand you as a person." I explained.

His fingers left his keyboard and he faced me all the way.

"Okay? And where is this coming from?" he wondered.
"No where. I realized on the way here." I lied.
"Okay. Can it wait?"
I just stared at him.
He took a deep breath. "Alright, sit." he instructed and I took a seat in one of the chairs across from his desk.

"Go ahead." he permitted.
"Why were you arrested for battery?" I asked.
"Right out of the gate? No warning? Wow." he scoffed.
I just sat there and waited.
"I didn't like the person. They talk a lot of shit. Sometimes violence is my answer." he said nonchalantly.

I guess I respect his honesty.

"Now, have I gotten better? I'd like to think so. I was around 24 or 25 when it happened. Haven't had another issue since. Have I gotten better or have they learned I speak with my fists? We'll never know."

I scoffed at his answer.

"What else?" he asked.
"How many serious relationships have you been in?" I wondered.
"Four."
"Have you cheated in any of them?"
"Absolutely not."

I felt like my chest and nostrils opened up and I could breathe clearly. It felt like a cinder block was finally taken off of my chest.

"Why did they end?" I got back on track.
"Never seeing eye to eye. Wanting different things. She cheated, blamed it on my work. And more bad moments than good ones. Not in that order." he stated.

Hm.

"Next?"
"What's your favorite color?"
He snickered. "Blue."
"Hm. I expected it would be black seeing as how you decorated your home in it."
"I like darker colors when it comes to decor. I also prefer wearing black most of the time just as much as I love to paint it in a room. But blue is really a great color."
"I'd have to agree since it's my favorite too. What's your favorite hobby?" I wondered.
"Is sex a hobby?"
"No, Anders."
"Working out."

I could've guessed that.

I looked at his biceps and chest.
I sleep on that chest. It's better than any pillow I've ever had.

"What's your favorite thing about yourself?" I asked him.
His eyes looked away from me as he thought about it.
He shook his head. "I'm not sure." he replied and looked back at me.
"Do you like yourself?"
"I do."
"What's your least favorite thing about yourself?" I questioned.
"My anger. My distaste for being told what to and what not to do. I hate authority."
"Hm."
"Is that all?" he asked.
"Tell me about your childhood." I instructed.

He took a deep breath.

"Uhhh...Well you know about my mother. You know I was a really bad toddler. I was a bad middle schooler, too. A bad preteen. A bad teenager. A bad young adult."
"Were you in trouble a lot?" I wondered.
"I told you I hate authority. I was caught doing shit most menacing kids got caught doing. Stealing. Fighting. Fucking in the back of the school."
"You did that?" I asked in shock.
"I'm not proud of it. I am however, proud that they only caught me once out of five times."
"For which one?"
"I'm not answering that question."

Concerning.

"You know I've been arrested. But more times than other people know about. Also a few of them I was just in holding. Only once did I actually go to prison."
"The battery charge?"
"The battery charge."
"Who put you in there?"
"Not answering that either." he stated.

Hm.

"Do you believe in love at first sight?" I wondered.
He just stared at me.

I believe he's thinking.

"Hm. I didn't used to. I didn't believe in love at all actually."
"Why not?" I wondered.
"Learned about divorce percentages. The amount of cheaters in the world. All of the abusers. Relationships sounded like more of a hell than a heaven. I only saw the bad ones. Only heard of the bad ones. All the spouses who were murdered by their partners. There's no way you can say you love a person and then do those things. I dislike my father but I've never once thought about beating him to death. I hate my mother...but I wouldn't stab her. It takes a different kind of sick mind to do it to someone you claim to love. So I just assumed the idea of love wasn't real. Because if it was, they wouldn't do what they did."

I looked down in thought.

"But I believe in it now. I believe very fully. I believe in love at first sight." he stated.
I looked back up at him.
"I believe that those people were lying to themselves and just didn't actually love their partner like they said they did but love is real."

"I began to want to have one of those relationships people looked up to. The one that makes them start to believe in love too. It sounds corny but I wanted mine to be the hope for people who were afraid." He leaned further onto his desk with his arms crossed on top. "I like the idea of love. I think it's because I saw my parents have the opposite. I like the idea of not turning out the way that they did and instead being so disgustingly sick in love that my heart implodes." he smiled.
His smile made me smile.
"I want to be in love as if it's to prove its not hereditary. To prove its real. And anyone can have it. Because in truth, I'm probably one of the last people who deserves it. But I like to think that love has mercy. I can't think of a more beautiful idea than it. So it's what I crave the most."

"Am I ranting?" he asked.
"A little but I'd be happier if you kept going than if you stopped." I smiled.
He snickered.

I could listen to him speak about it for hours.

"I want to be so in love with a woman that I ache when she leaves the room." His gaze went down to his desk as he thought. "I want to be...so in love with a woman that the simple thought of her makes me smile to myself and look crazy in front of people who can't hear what I'm thinking. I want to be so in love..."
He picked his eyes up and looked at me.
"That every dream I have has her in it, by my side. And then I wake up, and she's there sleeping peacefully on my chest but I still don't think she's close enough." he scoffed. "How do you tell that to a woman and not scare her off?" he asked me.

"I couldn't imagine a speech like that pushing fear into anyone. I think she'd be crazy not to smile at you when you're done." I replied.
"Like you are?"
I noticed the muscles in my face and how I had been smiling in disarray and enchantment the entire time.