Must Love Dogs- Chapter Twenty-Two
Stefan clenched his teeth together, sighing out a breath and leaning his head against the steering wheel. As much as he wanted to keep this all a secret, he was pretty sure that Elena would find out from someone sooner rather than later. The light tapping on the passenger side window shook Stefan out of his trance as he inhaled deeply, gathering his thoughts.
"Aren't you coming inside?" Elena asked him, a small smile forming across her lips.
"Yeah." Stefan told her, rolling down his window and turning the car off. Elena watched as he pulled the keys out of the ignition and placed them into his suit pockets, stepping out of the Maserati with ease.
"Duke chewed up another pair of your Italian loafers and he went to the bathroom in the house. I think he also broke into the bag of treats that were in the lower cabinet pantry, because I found the bag on the floor. Although, the pound of dog treats were all gone. Honestly, I have no idea how he even got into it. But, he seems to find his way into anything. Including a pair of your red boxers because he's running around the backyard with them right now, stuck on his head." Elena rambled on with a laugh as she turned her back away from Stefan for a minute to walk over to the sliding door and pull the dog inside, noticing that he had already chewed a pretty large sized hole in the front of Stefan's boxers.
"I guess Duke prefers boxers or briefs." She joked, pausing to look over at Stefan. " I found them all over the place. Apparently, you left your dresser drawer half open." She explained, closing the sliding door and leaning against it to look up at Stefan. That's when she realized that something wasn't adding up. He wasn't laughing at her jokes, he wasn't even looking at her in the eyes. Instead, he was avoiding her gaze, his shoulders were rolled back and he was tense, very tense with every movement he made.
"What's wrong?" Elena asked him, watching when he ran his hand through his spiky and gelled back hair.
"There's something I need to tell you." He replied with a shaky tone, rocking back on the soles of his shoes and finally meeting her gaze. Elena looked as if all the happiness had drained from her and before she could ask what was going on, the cell phone in her pocket went off with the sound of what she knew was a text message.
"Don't read that, Elena. Please, let me explain first." Stefan begged and pleaded with her. But, it was already too late. Her once vibrant and smiling brown eyes were abruptly filling with anger and hatred towards him as her words echoed throughout the living room where they stood. "He won, Elena. Stefan Salvatore has finally managed to ruin our lives. The plaza is gone and so is the shop. Sweetheart, I hope you're not with him right now because if you are. I want you to leave and I want you to go home. He's been lying to you all along. This was his plan the whole time."
"What does my aunt mean by this? What is she talking about?" Elena bombarded him with questions as he shook his head, sharply inhaling.
"Rebekah ordered a construction company to come in and demolish your aunt's salon and all of the other surrounding properties so that we could build our apartments. My name was on the order form. It still is." He quickly corrected, watching her face fall as she angrily clutched her cell phone in her right hand.
"What do you mean, it still is? Stefan, I thought that you said-." He raised his hand up, cutting her off before she could think of more to say.
"I mean that when Rebekah and I were married that we had planned on building those apartments together. Elena, I've had eyes on this location for a few years. But, with zoning laws and other restrictions. I wasn't able to do anything about it, until a few months ago." He tried to explain with an honest tone, watching as her darkened brown eyes filled with unshed tears and the tears she was trying to suppress were slowly spilling over Elena's red and heated cheeks.
"So, you used me! As a pawn in your sick and twisted game against Rebekah, is that it? I was never going to be more to you than just a notch on your belt buckle and a woman who was made a fool of!" Elena screamed at him, the look in her eyes was one of frustration and heartbreak. She hated that she had allowed herself and her heart to go this far with him. She hated that she had allowed herself fall in love.
"We had an agreement. We don't get attached. We don't get feelings involved. But, Elena I didn't use you. I wouldn't do that to you, I promise." He told her, his voice lowered and raw as she shook her head.
"Sure, you never would. You didn't lure me into bed, you didn't make me believe that you wouldn't ruin my aunt's salon. A place that she's given up her life to make successful! You didn't do those things. because that's not the type of person you are!" Elena exclaimed sarcastically, looking to the front door as she tried to figure out a way to leave the house, cursing herself silently for not driving Jenna's car to his place because now, she'd have to walk to the nearest gas station and call Jenna to come and get her.
"Elena, wait." Stefan said, latching his arm against hers as he tried to stop her in her tracks. But, her glazed over eyes filled with tears and that's when he let go of her. Hearing her get the last word in. "You pathetic coward, you son of a bitch! You can go to hell, Stefan! Because, I don't give a damn anymore. Do whatever you want, go back to Rebekah for all I care. Just leave me alone!" She spat out angrily, taking a step away from him and walking to the door without another word as she wiped away her tears.
"Elena, please. Don't leave." He shouted after her, pivoting on his heels and placing his hand firmly on to the front door as she leaned her head against it, tears falls into her mouth now.
"And, why shouldn't I? You don't care about me, you don't feel anything for me. I have no reason to be around you anymore. I gave you what you wanted, Stefan. And, now I'm of no use to you anymore. I was stupid to agree to this deal with you. Klaus was right you know, it's better to break this off before it even gets a chance to start." She told him harshly as her voice began to crack when she watched him give her a saddened look, lifting his hand up from the door.
"Elena, please don't go yet. Listen, I care about you. I know that I don't show it. But, I do. I care about you!" He said, inhaling deeply and watching as she slowly stopped, near the door. Her shoulders were slumped forward, her dark brown eyes were watery when she finally locked her glance on to him. " You have a horrible way of showing it. Because right now, I have two choices. And, I'm choosing to leave. It's better this way. Believe me, now you won't be tied down by anything or anyone. Including me." She told him, brushing past him and straight for the door as he watched her leave, regretting not saying anything.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Jenna watched in the car with tears streaming down her face. Her whole world had revolved around the salon. When her and Alaric had gotten married, they had planned on expanding their business to another location. But, now her dreams were being reduced to rubble, right along with the one place that she had given years of hard work for. She sat across the street as the construction crew brought in the wrecking balls and other machinery that they were going to use to demolish the small plaza. However, she couldn't watch it as they began the work.
The vibration of her cell phone in the cup holder beside her, caused Jenna to snap out of her fixated gaze on the building. "Hello?" She sniffled, wiping away tears from her eyes and inhaling sharply.
"It's me." Elena sobbed into the phone. She had walked to a local gas station because the last thing after her fight with Stefan that she wanted to do was have him drive her back to her aunt's house or elsewhere.
"Sweetie, where are you?" Jenna questioned.
"I'm at a gas station. I was with him, Jenna. But-" Elena stammered out her words, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart and her racing mind. Anger and disappointment had fueled her steps when she walked into the gas station and called her aunt. All of her feelings were a jumbled mess of emotions that hurt too much to even want to feel them.
"I'm sorry that I couldn't convince him to not tear down the shop." Elena softly said, wiping away her own tears as she leaned against the building that she stood in front of. "Jenna, please believe me when I tell you that I tired. I-." Jenna's raw and breaking voice quietly reassured her that it was okay, that they could eventually rebuild somewhere else and move on from everything they were about to lose.
"Honey, it's not your fault. Now, tell me where you are because I want to come and get you so that we can go home." She told her, hearing Elena through her sobs tell her aunt where she was and that she would be waiting outside for her to come and get her.
"Okay. I'll be there soon." Jenna replied, not daring to look across the street at the place that she had loved working at every day for the last few years and see it becoming nothing but a pile of steel and wooden beams.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
"She's demolishing the property!" Katherine nearly screamed through the cell phone in her hands as she spoke to her brother in law that had called her, frantically and in a panicked tone.
"The building is being torn down today. There isn't anything we can do, Katherine. She has a court order from the city council. Which also has a statement and my signature in there saying that I had approved the demolition a few months before!" Stefan explained, sighing out a breath as he broke into a $10,000 dollar bottle of whiskey that Klaus had bought when he was in Paris, last summer.
"Well, you could have appealed it or tried to get it revoked! Stefan, you signed that piece of paper months ago. God, you're an idiot sometimes!" She hissed out, causing what sounded like a crashing sound in what Stefan knew was Damon's office. "Son of a bitch!" Katherine yelled angrily, loud enough for Stefan to hear her.
"I was going to do that, eventually. But, I didn't think that Rebekah was going to pull this out of nowhere. Hell, I never thought she was going to even come back. But, here she is. Rebekah went in front of the council and pleaded her case. I guess since my lovely ex wife never told me about any of it and the fact that I was supposed to show up to this hearing if I wanted to revoke her intentions. And, since I never did. The council granted her permission to proceed with the project." He added further, pouring himself a drink as he frustratingly spoke with Katherine.
"So, what are you doing to do now? Get drunk, lay down and stop fighting her?" Katherine spat out at him, her tone still filled with pure annoyance because of the way he was acting.
"It's over, Katherine. She won and I can't do anything about it." He replied.
Katherine shook her head. She was never one to take no for an answer and the way that Stefan was acting was making it very hard for her not to want to kick his ass.
"Wake up, Stefan! She's destroying your life all over again and just like before, you're giving up and allowing her to do it! I don't know what has gotten into you. But, you really need to pull yourself together and realize that you need to stop treating Rebekah as if she has feelings. Because, she clearly doesn't." Katherine informed him.
Stefan laughed a little, taking a long drawn out sip of his drink. There was silence between them for a long time until Stefan finally spoke up. "You're right. She's playing dirty and I'm sitting here sulking. There isn't much logic in that, is there?"
A voice from behind him sent a shiver of fear down Stefan's spine. "Not really, mate." Klaus told him, grabbing Stefan's cell phone into his hands as he smiled before speaking into it.
"Katherine, love. Call a babysitter for your daughter and tell your husband to bring his ass to his brother's house. Stefan is a bit out of commission right now and we need a new plan to give my sister a taste of her own medicine." He explained, causing Katherine to scoff at his words.
"A plan? Klaus, we're done, we failed! Your sister beat us at our own game and you know, there isn't much that we can do about it now." She told him, rolling her eyes at his nonsense request.
"There is always something that we can do. Now, come over and bring your husband." He demanded before hanging up and tossing Caroline his best friend's cell phone.
"He's not going to need that." He told her, bringing Stefan to his feet as he watched what looked like hours of a pity party. "You really are a piece of work, Salvatore. But, I'm going to fix that." Klaus told him with a confident tone, smiling over at Caroline who was giving him a perplexed look.
"What are you doing?" Klaus heard Stefan groan as he sat on the ground, clutching the green and white colored bottle of booze in between his hands, the tip of the liquor was in his mouth as he drank more.
"I'm making you open your damn eyes!" Klaus exclaimed, kicking Stefan's shiny dark brown dress shoes. "Get up!" He shouted, pulling Stefan to his feet after a few failed attempts.
"There's nothing left, Klaus! She won, Rebekah won." Stefan sulked, frowning as he watched the bottle in his hands sway back and forth, spilling a little of it onto the cream colored tiles of his house.
"You're wrong! There is always something worth fighting for. And, you're giving up just like that! My sister took everything from you, she left you with barely anything. And, instead of fighting back to show her that she can't get to you anymore. You're acting like a child." Klaus scolded him, watching his hazy eyes slowly lift to meet his unpleased facial expression.
"What are you talking about?" Caroline asked in a confused tone, crossing her arms over each other and looking back at both Stefan and Klaus who seemed to be having a conversation in which strictly involved the two of them and not her.
"I'm talking about my best friend who is just allowing Rebekah win and take it all from him again. The plaza was one thing, and yes it isn't fair what she did to us and those people who worked there. But, she's going after your business next and you don't even seem to care!" Klaus shouted at him.
Stefan lifted up one of his fingers, swirling it around in the air as he hiccupped at Klaus and then laughed. "I care, I care more than anyone knows, more than anyone thinks that I do. And, every time it hurts like hell. Every time I care, I feel nothing but sure failure. That's why I like not caring about anything or anyone. It's easier that way, the pain is less and I can sleep at night without worrying about whose feeling's I hurt in the process of it all, in life." Stefan said with sarcasm as he pushed himself up off of the seat he was sitting in, walking towards Klaus and stealing the bottle of whiskey from his hand once more.
Klaus and Caroline both watched him with wide eyes as he began walking away, telling Duke to come along with him.
"Where are you going? You can't day drink right now, Stefan. You have things to do and so do we! I can't have my boss be drunk off his ass once shit hits the fan!" Klaus yelled across the room, seeing Stefan's body tense up as he turned to face them briefly before walking out. "It's too late for that Klaus, we already lost. Oh and tell your sister that she can go hell."
"Stefan! Come back and let's fix this." Caroline suggested, watching as he waved her off.
"Leave him alone, love. Let him sulk in his own misery for a while. Besides, you and I have work to do." Klaus told Caroline, placing his hand gently on to the middle of her back and smiling when she didn't pull away.
"There isn't anything that we can do anymore. You heard what he said." She pointed out, glancing up at Klaus as he inhaled through gritted teeth.
A knock at the door stopped Klaus from arguing with her as they both watched it fling open and Damon and Katherine stepped inside. "Where is he?" She bellowed, not even caring to say hello to either of them.
"He's drowning in his own misery and I don't know why. He said that he just doesn't care anymore, that Rebekah won and that she can have it all. He's giving up." Caroline explained, watching Damon's mouth drop open as he shook his head and tried to calm his crazed wife with a hand on her shoulder.
"He's quitting? Oh, I don't think so! We don't quit in this family. We fight back and we make sure that whoever wronged us, gets exactly what they deserve." Katherine stated with a purely sinister smirk as she thought about what she'd do to Rebekah the next time she saw her. "That little bitch better watch her back!" She uttered out under her breath, taking a step further into the living room and taking a seat as she glanced up at Damon.
"Klaus, Damon. Go check on Stefan and please make sure that he isn't drinking himself into oblivion. Because, the last thing we need is a very drunk and sulky owner of SD Realty on our hands." She stated, crossing her legs over each other and smiling up at her husband. Katherine watched them both walk towards one of Stefan's three bonus rooms and stand near the door.
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
They found him on the floor, laying flat on his back and staring up at the ceiling fan that was spinning in circles above his head. Duke was spread out and laying on one of his many suit jackets, his head resting on Stefan's stomach. Damon and Klaus stood near the door for a while, just observing the scene that they were looking at. "Should we go inside?" Damon whispered to Klaus, feeling him rest his hand onto Damon's shoulder for a moment.
"No, let's see how this plays out from here. He's drinking a very expensive bottle of whiskey, he's sulking and he's miserable. I can tell, just by the look in his eyes that this is not very typical of him." Klaus told him, crossing his arms over his chest as they heard Stefan talk to himself.
"When Rebekah left you behind, I thought that you were going to ruin my life. I thought that you'd destroy it and crush it and leave me regretting ever buying you for her. But, that's not the case. You're the only thing that I have left to care about now. Aside from work." Stefan softly spoke to the dog, not even realizing that Klaus and Damon were eavesdropping on him.
"Elena, you know. Duke, she doesn't think I care about anything, except the deal we made. That I don't care and that I don't feel anything for anyone. But, the other night. Being with her in the hotel room. I realized something, Elena's different. She's funny and beautiful. And, I need her, Duke. I need her in my life more than she knows that I do." His voice cracked as he closed his eyes and inhaled, petting the top of Duke's before he finally confessed. "I care about her and watching her walk away from me today, it hurt."
Damon pulled Klaus by the arm and into the hallway, whispering as he spoke. "What the hell is going here?" He demanded to know, locking his eyes on to his brother's best friend. Klaus shrugged, looking back at Stefan and Duke laying on the floor, the bottle of whiskey right beside them.
"Don't give me that bullshit excuse of 'you don't know'. Because you obviously do. Why is he talking about Elena like that. I thought that they were dating already. What deal is he talking about? What am I missing here?" Damon questioned with a stern look, pressing Klaus up against the wall and taking a step back when Klaus shoved him away.
"You're right. I do know and he's going to hate me for telling you. But, I guess you should know too. Stefan and Elena made a deal with each other. Not just where she trains his dog and he doesn't tear down her aunt's place of business. They added something extra on the side as friends." Klaus explained, watching Damon's blue eyes widen as tilted his head, trying to wrap his mind around Klaus's words.
"Because, don't tell me that they're friends with benefits and they've already started sleeping together!" He exclaimed, seeing Klaus's face turn red as he looked down at the floor, nodding.
"As far as I know, they were and it sounds like they already have." Klaus said, glancing back over to see Stefan, still laying on the floor and petting Duke's fur in a circular motion with his hand.
Damon looked back at his younger brother too, pointing to him and asking. "So, then what's wrong with him?"
Klaus closed his eyes and sighed out a breath before watching the bottle in Stefan's hands being brought up to his lips again with an unsteadiness as he replied. "I think that Stefan's finally experiencing what it really feels like to not want to lose someone you care about, even though I think he's already lost her."
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX