Aghn! I managed another update in my super crazy schedule. Thanks for being super patient guys and I'm sorry this chapter isn't so long but I needed it that way to fit exactly with the plans I have for the next part. Enjoy and sorry for any mistakes (I wrote this under duress)!
“Remind me why what evil powers you used to lure me here again?” I asked Martin as we both sat down Buddha style in the middle of his and Spencer’s huge room closet. Since my final exams were done and I had no classes, I had a lot more free time on my hands.
We had gone to watch a movie, had lunch and he gave me a tour of their impressive four bedroom townhouse. And somehow we ended up sorting clothes in his closet.
He rolled his eyes arranging a pair of shoes “Just shut up and pass me those hangers.”
I groaned passing his the two hangers beside me. Honestly when he wasn’t so focused on his art or gushing over anything related to Spencer, he was sort of a diva. But he was Martin so it was still cute on him.
“Why do you have such a huge ass closet anyway?” I asked sitting up straight. Martin looked focused on folding a multi-coloured scarf “Because Spencer has so many suits and he likes them spaced and organized.”
“Really?”
He nodded “I could care about having so much space less really, but sometimes I wonder if he’s got OCD. He’s too coordinated and organized sometimes and it annoys the hell out of me. Can’t deal with a single hair out of place.” Despite his irritated tone you couldn’t really miss the fondness in his voice.
I sighed “Well at least the only thing Axel bitches to me about is picking up my shoes.”
Martin turned to look at me with a bright smile “I'm so happy for you guys. All loved up and ready to move in together.” I told him all about our love confessions, even though I left out the part about Lauren and the fake pregnancy. It just didn’t feel right to expose her like that even if she somehow seemed to deserve it.
“I'm not sure about the moving in part yet. Still thinking about it.” I admitted.
He frowned a little “Oh, what’s the wait?”
I sighed “Well I don’t really know. I love Axel and I really do want to spend every single day with him but something within me is just holding me back.”
“Sweetheart that’s just your subconscious being pessimistic.” Martin concluded now folding a bunch of ties into a drawer. “Moving in together is probably the biggest stage in a relationship and I understand how that might frighten you a bit.”
I shook my head “It’s just….I’ve never felt the way I feel for him for anyone else before. It just feels as though if I try to grasp it everything’s going to evaporate so quickly. It’s like once we move in together everything’s been glued shut for good and that somehow scares me.”
Martin gave me a sympathetic look “That’s the thing about being in a serious relationship. I understand exactly how you feel.” He dropped the last folded tie in the drawer.
“When Spencer and I got together, I moved in with him early on in our relationship. It was mostly because I wanted to get away from my parents but later I started feeling paranoid. For a moment I almost backed out because I thought we did everything too fast and we weren’t going to last.” He sighed running his hands through his hair with a small smile.
“But it turned out that I was scared for nothing. My advice would be for you to think about it properly, but at the same time don’t back out of anything because you're afraid of jinxing it. Chances are that it will be the best decision you’ve ever made.”
The honest truth was that I really did love Axel. Maybe Martin was right and my nerves were just getting the best of me. But it probably wouldn’t hurt to still think over it a little bit more right?
“Thanks for the advice.” I said with a half-smile. He shook his head “My pleasure. At least you came to me before Shorty. That girl thinks she’ll steal my match-making crown.”
“What a crown it is indeed.” I commented while muffling a laugh which in turn caused him to flip me off.
Martin scoffed chucking a blue dress shirt on the floor “Really? He still kept this shirt after I told him it looked terrible? That man and his questionable fashion sense.”
I rolled my eyes smiling. He was really one to talk.
******
“Hey love.” Axel’s voice always made me tingle in all the right places. That deep smooth tremor of his voice managed to make my heart skip no matter what I was doing. It never got old.
I pressed the phone closer to my ear shuffling down the cereal aisle at Asda “Hey babe. Aren’t you supposed to be in a meeting or something now?”
“I just got out of one. Why, are you getting tired of me already? Got another man on the side?” He teased lightly.
“Wow you’ve discovered my secret. I'm fucking Martin on the side but don’t tell Spencer please.” I said dryly.
There was some shuffling at the background “I hope he bottoms. No one touches that butt of yours but me.”
Typical.
I grabbed the box of Frosted Flakes and stuffed into my half full trolley. “You know it babe.”
“But seriously where are you now? Are you still with Martin?” He asked.
“Just getting some groceries. Before I left this morning I looked into the pantry and the sight was not pretty.” I explained pushing my trolley.
“Did Martin drive you there?” He asked.
“No Spencer came over and he got occupied.” The thought gave me shivers and I definitely did not need the image of them going at it in that very same forsaken closet.
“You should have told me. I’d call Timothy to drive you.” Axel now sounded slightly displeased. Oh my protective bear of a boyfriend.
“I'm fine. It’s not so far away from the apartment anyway.” I supressed the urge to roll my eyes. I understand his point of view but I was nineteen years old for goodness. It only seemed logical that I was more than capable of going grocery shopping without Timothy acting as my glorified babysitter.
“Still, I'm not comfortable with you out like that.”
“Axel it’s alright. I'm at the supermarket not Afghanistan.” I argued.
He sighed “I honestly hate you being alone by yourself. Every time I can't help but remember when you got hurt-“
“Axel it’s ok.” I said firmly making sure he didn’t finish that sentence. “Nothing major happened to me anyway. Just stop torturing yourself by thinking about that.”
It annoyed my how much he let that loom over like a dark cloud over his conscience. I just needed him to understand that my getting hurt was not his fault in anyway and he didn’t foresee it when I got out of the car that night.
“Right sorry. It’s just a second nature of mine to always worry about you.”
God, I loved him so much. My wonderful, handsome but sometimes annoyingly martyr of a boyfriend.
“And I want to kiss you so much for that.” I said greeting an old lady with a smile on my way to the checkout counter. “But I swear that I'm fine.”
“Ok. But the moment you aren’t you’ll let me know right?”
It’s so funny how once upon a time this man scared that crap out of me. How he just seems like an eager little puppy most of the time. The transition is hilarious.
“Yes Axel I promise.” I stretched out “Now I have to pay so I'll see you when I get home Batman.”
“Batman?” I could hear the amusement in his voice “I might be Batman but you're the one I’d rather see in tights love.”
The line went disconnected and my cheeks were blazing. Damn him.
“Cash or card?” The checkout girl asked me brightly. I quickly whipped out my Master card and handed over to her. After a while she gave me a small frown “I'm sorry sir but your card has been declined.”
“What?” I asked confused.
She gave me an apologetic look “I'm sorry but that’s what it says right here.” There must have been some sort of mistake. My mom sent me some money only last month.
“Can I try it again?” I asked her and she nodded. However after two more tries the result was still the same.
“I'm sorry sir but I have other customers.” She said sympathetically. I brought out my wallet “It’s fine I'll just pay with cash.”
“That’ll be £90 please.” She stated. That was a pretty chunky amount but it was a good thing that I went to the ATM earlier. I paid her and packed my stuff still flabbergasted about why my card wasn’t working. I'll probably make a call to the bank and ask them what was going on. Maybe it was a network problem or something.
I got on the bus hauling my grocery bags inside. Suddenly it didn’t seem like such a bad idea to get picked up, I thought as I squished myself between two girls. One of the girls was wearing heavy eyeliner and listening to music so loud that I could hear it right beside her even though she had her earphones on.
I wanted to tell her to tone it down but her blank stoic expression told me that she might not appreciate it at all. I sighed in relief when we reached the stop and I got off still clutching my grocery bags tightly. I walked a few blocks until I reached the front of the familiar apartment building.
“Evening Kendall.” Hans the doorman greeted.
“Good evening Hans.” I greeted back not looking at my front and bumping into someone as a result.
“Shit, I'm the so sorry.” The person apologised as I bent over to pick up my stuff from the floor. Thankfully nothing spilled or broke. I smiled without looking up at who it was “It’s fine really.”
I looked up finally to get a complete shock “James?” I was not expecting to see my university friend here of all places.
“Kendall.” He also sounded equally surprised. “Fancy bumping into you here.”
“Yeah.” I said looking around nervously. “What are you doing here? Or do you live here?”
“Gosh no. I came to see my uncle about some family stuff.” He explained eyeing my curiously “What are you doing here?”
I shuffled my feet “Oh uh my boyfriend lives here. And I'm here for the time.”
“Oh.” I couldn’t help but noticed how deeply disappointed he sounded with my answer. Strange.
“That’s nice. I sort of got the impression that you were single again.” He said slowly. I scrunched up my eyebrows in confusion “Where did you get that impression from?”
He scratched the back of his head “Uh Pierce told me last week that you guys were taking a break or something." Suddenly it seemed like a good idea to Taser Pierce in the butt until he promised to never spill out the details of my personal life to other people.
I let out an annoyed noise “We were but now we’re back and I assure you very much together.”
He mumbled something under his breath “I can see why.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked offended. What the hell was he implying?
James shook his head as if annoyed about something “It’s just that a little while ago you acted like you couldn’t stand him and suddenly you're dating and all over him. I mean that Pierce told me he’s some hotshot millionaire or something-“
“Excuse me?” I screeched not sure whether I was more annoyed by what he said or the fact that Pierce really did seem to have no filter. “What are you trying to say? That I'm only with him for his money or what?”
James was normally a nice guy but right those were not the thoughts what passed through me at all. I knew that most people would think that but I never expected someone like him to throw in my face that I'm only with Axel for his money.
He was supposed to be my friend.
“No not like that Kendall.” He stated quickly “I know that you aren’t like that but somehow with the way you’ve gotten with him so quickly it just kinda…..looks that way.”
“It just looks like I suck his dick for money.” I said flatly not even believing the words coming out of his mouth.
James hesitated “That’s not what I mean Kendall. I just don’t get why you're with him.”
If I was surprised before, I was completely and utterly flabbergasted now.
“I'm sorry I didn’t get your holy seal of approval first James. Really I don’t know why you even care, it’s not like we were real friends. Half the time you don’t acknowledge my presence unless Pierce forces me to hang out with you guys. It’s not even worth it to try and justify my relationship with Axel to you because if you could say something like that, then you're not worth the time I'm using to talk.”
Honestly it seemed like a one in a million chance for me to talk to James like this especially since I harboured a crush on him all that time, but anyone who dared question my love for Axel deserved to hear me lash out like a dragon.
I could tell that James was really surprised by my reaction.
“Hey that’s not what I meant.” He said a bit softer now grabbing my hand. “It’s just long and complicated to begin with-“
“I thought you were home earlier.” Axel’s deep smooth voice made my heart do a double take in my chest.
I quickly pulled away from James’ touch “Hey babe. I did but got held up after bumping into an old friend.”
Axel slowly strode to my side eyeing James “Right. I think I’ve seen you before.” His hands slithered around my waist in what I assumed were both want and possessiveness.
“Yeah I was just in the area but I'm on my way now anyway. I'll see you around Kendall.” He said with a shaky smile before darting past us.
I brushed the feeling I got to the side “I should probably carry these up before the milk turns into cottage cheese.”
“Do all your friends ogle you like that?”
One look from Axel and I knew that I had a lot to explain.
Fuck.
Who think's Axel is a cute little munchkin under that super hot, powerful aura of his? I know I do!
Vote and Comment my lovelies!