I got home and I never wanted to slam a door so hard in my life, yet I simply closed is gently because I don't pay no bills in here...
Also trying not to bring attention to the fact that only now did I get home. Not that anyone should patronize me about my curfew, my mom's a nurse and she comes home at the worst hours and Markus better not even breath near me.
I heard the sound of the TV in the living room and made my way quietly to the bathroom to wash any traces of remaining trauma on my face. Right as I was about to lift my eyes towards my reflection in the mirror I heard the door creek.
"where were you?" a gravelly male voice asked and I jumped.
I turned towards Markus who was leaning on the doorframe and my brows furrowed while grabbing the grey towel and wiping my face on it.
"I'm sorry, did you die and respawn as the dad I never wanted?" I spit and he came into the bathroom with me, which, in my book, and also in anyone else's book, is a big red no-no.
"yeah, come in I was done thanks for asking..." I said ironically while trying to brush past him as quickly as I could before he could do anything and he blocked my way with his body.
He smelled of beer, cigarettes and sweat. The trademark bozo perfume. Killer combo.
"Who were you with?" he repeated like he had some sort of right over my vagina.
"that's none of your business, MOVE." I almost yelled, feeling a bit of panic starting to creep it way into my spine.
Fuck, where the hell am I supposed to go, there's a bathtub on my right and a sink on my left and he's blocking my way out. He can't do this!
He raised his arm to grab my wrist and I braced myself for the upcoming theatrical drama but we heard the door of the house slam downstairs and a sight of relieve escaped my lips when I heard mom's voice, "honey, I'm back, sorry it took so long."
And with that, he was gone.
And with that, the tears started to dribble down my cheek like it was a race to my chin.
Give me a break, ok, they were already about to spill twenty minutes ago. This was just the last trigger.
He doesn't get to me usually. Maybe I'm hormonal today. I don't know. Maybe i'm in denial. Maybe I'm a wimp.
My expression was stern and no sound came out of my mouth, in fact, my face was frozen with numbness, my gaze on the mirror of the bathroom. Pensive. While the tears kept rolling down.
I'm just so tired...
The next morning couldn't come soon enough. Alexander was finally going to cooperate. I know he only said he'll take the stupid test but I'm hoping for a movie montage where he shapes the hell up to go down.
A little too hopeful I admit.
I woke up revived and ready to take on a new challenge.
It's fine. Who cares if I cried myself to sleep yesterday? It was the buildup of an intense week. Scratch that, the buildup to an intense 17 years of life.
I took a shower, dried my hair and put it in a tight topknot above my head. This was my go to hairdo. Each day, every day. I'm not spending any precious minutes fiddling with dead Keratin strands.
I had light brown hair that fell to my waist in lose curls. I was a little shorter than average but next to Alexander, I was a plain old midget.
The school had a dress code we had to obey. Girls wore a white button up shirt with either dark pants or a dark skirt, while the guys wore black pants and a white collar shirt with a tie. I wore the skirt a couple of times but decided I was more comfortable with the pants. This information might seem irrelevant now but it's not.
I threw on my coat and my backpack and made my sad, miserable way to the school.
Let the day begin.
"Emily, can I ask you something?" I started. Hesitant.
We were in math class. She was sitting next to me and the teacher was explaining power functions in a very loud manner.
The whole lesson's in the manual why does he feel the need to bang his ruler on the board every two seconds?
"Sure what is it?" she whispered.
"Do I smell bad?" I asked completely annoyed and she chuckled, "I'm serious" I insisted.
"why do you ask?" she whispered, amused.
"I don't know it just seems like I stink or something..." I answered.
You're going to think I'm insane but this has happened so many times. Way too many times. Every time I walk into a classroom, some students seem to sniffle in the air before looking at me. Like they're catching my smell. I started bathing twice a day and it still happens. I'm very insecure about it now.
"You don't stink, you smell like white honeysuckle.." she admitted and I frowned.
"That's oddly specific, yet I don't use any soap that smells of the sort" I whined, still paranoid. Is she saying this to make me feel better?
What if I smell like garbage? What if I smell like Markus?
"It's not soap smell, it's just your individual scent, it's hard to explain..." she frowned, "Don't read too much into it, just trust me. You don't smell bad at all" She reassured and I sighted.
Over the course of the three months that I was here, I noticed many more things.
The students all seem to know one another.
The students all seem to obey some sort of social hierarchy.
Alexander wears whatever the hell he pleases at this school. He has no regard for dress code and pops into class in denim jeans and a zip hoodie on and nobody bats an eyelid at him.
Speaking of...
''please Alexander, for the love of all that is holy, focus!'' I growled and he leaned against the sofa, bored, '' Photosynthesis can be summarized by which word equation?" I asked while showing him three choices and he shrugged.
I thought tutoring him would be a piece of cake, I was incorrect.
We were in one of the living rooms of his house. Apparently all alone. I was on the ground, sitting at the coffee table, holding on to my last three brain cells, while he was on the couch. It's been an hour and this is the third day and we've gotten nowhere. He doesn't want to cooperate whatsoever.
He somehow turned into a green house plant and I wasn't having it!
For three days. After school, I had to come to his house. These were his terms not mine, I'd rather be studying at the school library but he said his house or nothing so I obliged.
He might have ADHD because he just could't stay focused. Rather, he seems bored by what I was telling him, as if he already knows this stuff but when I grade his quizzes, he doesn't answer any of the questions. I thought a D- was bad, until I thought about the possibility of an F.
''This is boring..." he shrugged.
" I get it, I feel you! You're a wealthy entitled 18 year old male in 21st century corporate America, you're an adrenaline junky, you like fast cars and cheap hookups but this is the real world Alexander!"
" I'm 17.." he corrected and I steered back at the original point I was making.
"The real world!" I repeated while poking the science book, and he shrugged again.
''Alexa, I'm bored out of my mind," he leaned towards me, placing his elbows on the table and I noticed just how muscular his arms were. He could snap my ankles like twigs if he wanted to. His biceps were huge. His shoulders were large and his chest was broad.
I should probably stop calling him names..
Was he 17? He had the frame of a bodybuilder.
A few things I've come to notice about him during the last week. He's VERY easygoing. Almost too much. As if he was on top of everything. Were those delusions of grandeur based on concrete foundations or was he just insane?
One more thing ; remember when his dad told me the girls absolutely slobbered over him? That was true. I started paying more attention. It was so hard to wrap my head around the idea because I only ever known him to be an idiotic goon, but every girl that brushed past him at school looked like she'd be fighting the urge to rub herself against him.
The best part is how much he didn't care much about them. If the girl has a big rack, he'd smile back at her but other than that, he didn't bath in the attention.
One last observation, he was feared and respected. This, again, was insane to me.
One girl in our lab overheard me calling him an jerk and she turned towards me in an exaggerated gasp, stared me down and then sent a very angry "how dare you!" my way which I didn't know how to respond to. However, Alexander glanced over her and it seemed as if he mentally bitch slapped her because she lowered her head at him and left the area immediately, leaving me very confused.
What is going on? Was it because his dad was loaded? It seemed it had more to do with him than his family though.
"How about we play a game" he suggested and I rolled my eyes so far back my head I almost saw my frontal lobe.
"we have two weeks until your make up exam, you need to know this stuff by heart or so help me I will take you out of this world" I threatened.
"I can't learn anything if I'm not getting a reward in exchange" he argued and I scowled.
"are you a dog?" I asked and he smirked.
"No, love, I'm more dangerous.." he smiled and I nodded.
Agreed. There's nothing scarier than a failing student.
"fine, let's implement a reward system" I agreed, this was actually not a stupid idea " every time you answer a question right, we can play your stupid game or whatever.." I explained before looking through the papers for a specific lesson.
And that's where I missed it.
I missed the mischievous smile that appeared over his gorgeous face. The smile he gets every time he's up to something. I can counter attack when I see it coming but I was busy looking down at the books and papers spread out across the beautiful marble coffee table.
"Strip poker?" he suggested and I breathed in.
"I'm about to dig my nails into your face..." I threatened again and he tilted his head, his smile getting bigger then he grabbed my wrist so I lock eyes with him.
"that's another game we can play later, sweetheart." he teased and I yanked my arm away. A slight feeling of warmness still lingering where he touched me.
"how about it? Science strip quiz! Every time I answer a question right, you take an item of clothing, every time I answer wrong, I take an item of clothing"
"I'm not even going to dignify that idea by acknowledging it" I snort, still going though the book.
"It's been three days and I learned nothing" he observed and I tightened my grip on my pencil.
"Because you won't even look at what I'm showing you..." I snapped. Of course you learned nothing. You're not looking, listening or trying to comprehend.
"A tutor's competence lays in his ability to grab his student's attention" he criticized and I snapped.
"you just want an excuse to get naked and that's the last thing I want to see"
A little bit of a lie, I admit. You see. He's wearing a tight, long sleeved black shirt and every muscle in his chest is showing through, and every time I catch it, my cheeks go slightly red and he noticed. Hens why he got the idea.
"Trust me, I won't end up naked.." he stated and I raised an eyebrow at him.
Is he taunting me when he can't even answer one quiz question?
"you know what, fine!" I agreed, " You take the freaking quiz and for every question you get right, I promise I'll take an item of clothing off, you don't suffer if you miss though..." I retorted in return and a dangerous smile appeared on his lip, which I, again, missed since I was busy reading through some questions trying to decide which ones I'll humiliate him with.
You can't be cocky AND dumb. You have to back your cockiness with something.
"You're going to strip for me, that sounds fun!" he smiled and I scoffed.
"Trust me, the only thing that'll get stripped off is your dignity" I retorted and his smile got bigger.
I gave him eight questions which I knew he couldn't answer unless he got kissed by the ghost of William Crookes.
"Hit me" he said and I sat straight while grabbing the paper with the questions on it.
I'm going to crush his ego into tiny flakes of dust and feed it to him so we can finally study seriously afterwards.
"Pollination by birds is called...'' I started.
"Ornithophily.." he interrupted and my jaw dropped instantly.
I didn't even know that one yet.
"Starting off strong I see, heartless as always, Alexa" he smiled and I felt my heart start to race.
This was luck. There's no way.
I swallowed hard and then breathed in.
"is your shirt coming off or what?" he impatiently demanded and I frowned.
Wait...okay...I agreed to this hastily.
I ,never in a million years, could've thought he'd answer ANY question.
I gave him eight questions. I'm wearing...two..three..seven item of clothing...
Hold it, if he answers all of them, and I'm not saying he can, but if he does, I'd be naked and owing him an item.
And then it hit me. With my hair tie, my watch and the silver ring on my finger, that's ten items.
If he answers everything I'd be in my bra and panties. Which is still bad but..
"Alexa..your shirt comes off now or I'm ripping it off of you myself" he growled suddenly, and I shook my head.
Woah, his whole demeanor changed. I kind of got scared a little bit there.
"I decide which Item I take off..." I answer and with one swift movement, my hair scrunchie was on the table. My top not came undone and my hair fell in waves on the sides of my face. He looked pissed at the move I pulled but quickly looked at me before slightly biting his lower lip.
"that's one" I declared.
"That's a very seductive move..." he teased while getting up.
"moving on" I quickly shut him down before he could do anything but he came closer and sat next to me on the floor. I could smell his cologne while he put an arm behind me and another on the table and tilted his head while eying me.
"you look sexy with your hair down" he said in a whisper and I swallowed again. Feeling slightly out of breath for some reason.
Damn it, the idiot's getting to me.
"Surplus red blood cells, needed to meet an emergency, are mainly stored in what organ of the human body.."
"the spleen" he said while slowly trailing a hand on my back and I jumped.
"is your shirt coming off now?" he whispered again and I sighed while taking off my watch.
That pissed him off but an amused look crossed his face right after.
That's two answers! Jesus Christ! I'm starting to panic.
I took his hand and shoved it back into his own abdomen.
"don't touch me" I groaned , "Used primarily in fertilizers, which element is never found free in nature even though it makes up about 2.5% of the earth's cru..."
"Potassium" he interrupted again and with that my ring was off.
Fuck !! I'm bailing out, I'm not doing this. I don't want to do this but at the same time, just how smart is he?
Why did he ask me to tutor him, he was just messing with me, wasn't he?
For three days I came to his house while he just messed around and I was so frustrated.
By now his hand was in my hair, twirling and playing with strands. I stayed focused on my questions.
"The branch of medical science which is concerned with the study of disease as it affects a community of pe..."
"Epidemiology" he interrupted "your hair is really soft Alexa.." he said with his eyes closed while bringing the strand to his nose "..and it smells good.."
Left sock was gone.
Also, why is he so close?
I tilted my head so the strand would fall off his hand and glared at him. He just gazed at me unbothered and that hit me right in the chest. His eyes seemed a bit darker than usual.
He's not even thinking about the answer, he's just blurting them out like a machine.
Why was I doing the assignments by myself all this time while he was doodling next to me?
Jerkoff!
"In which cerebral lobes is the speech center l..''
"frontal" he interrupted while taking another strand of hair between his fingers.
Right sock off.
Now I was left with : button up shirt, tank top underneath, bra, panties, pants...
I'm not taking anymore I don't care if he comes up with the cure for cancer.
"Cariology is..."
"The study of Tooth Decay" he interrupted " I can't believe the questions you chose, Alexa, you were planning on crushing me.." he pushed the hair away from my shoulder so my neck was exposed and he leaned in to inhale my scent "honeysuckle..."
Okay, it stops here, I'm about to pass out.
My hands were starting to tighten, my head was starting to spin and my vision was getting fuzzy.
He was suddenly so overpowering. I couldn't even look at him without feeling hot in the face and a pang in my abdomen. It's like he was hovering above me.
He tugged down at the sleeve of my top and the fabric came down, exposing my shoulder. His eyes suddenly got darker and he leaned in closer so his lips were almost touching my shoulder. He breathed in my neck.
"take it off now.." he voice was demanding and husky.
Wait what?
Absolutely not, he's dreaming.
I know I needed to take an item off since he answered correctly, but not the shirt. Never the shirt.
I unbuttoned it halfway then took off my tank top underneath, making sure he can't see my bra while I'm doing it and then buttoned it back up.
The shirt's not coming off. Ever..
It was big enough to cover right under my thigh. Even if I took off my underwear. I'd still be covered.
"Stop..." he murmed, which at first I thought was directed at me for hustling my way out of playing the game right but it seemed he wasn't talking to me at all.
That scared me. I've never seen him take that serious tone before. Is he having an inner conversation with his split personality?
"Which of the following is not part of a neuron; Synapse, ax..."
"Synapse" he cut me again while grabbing my sleeve.
The shirt's NOT coming off, forget it.
Bra of pants..?
Fuck!
I took a deep breath and stood on my knees.
"Turn around" I ordered and he looked like I just asked him to dissect a puppy but he obeyed and I slid my pants off quickly.
Just one more question, come one.
I was now wearing my shirt as a dress that went up to my thighs. It's fine, i'm covered.
"you know you've been cheating your way out of the game this whole time..." he said, his broad back turned at me and I just wanted to wrap my hands under his arms and feel just how muscular his chest was.
Then I mentally slapped myself across the cheek.
What the fuck Alexa? Please chill!
I breathed in and then sat back down while searching my paper and he turned back at me, his eyes were back at their light icy blue color.
I need a hard question!
"Name three gaseous components produced when coal is combusted.."
He smiled and I knew that he knew.
"I'm taking the shirt off you myself.." he eagerly stated and I breathed in but for some reason, no air seemed to be getting into my lungs.
"answer ?" I asked anyway. Just in case he was bluffing.
"Co2, So2 and Nox" he said while reaching for my collar and tugging on the first button. I stopped his hand and glared at him but noticed his eyes were dark again.
I took off my bra without even having to unbutton my shirt this time.
A skill I'm sure no man could ever master.
"There you go, happy?" I sneered, bitter "I can't believe you had the capacity to nail the quiz all along but made me cry before agreeing to take it, then dragged me into your house for three days just to mess with me" I took the paper and shoved it inside my book and closed it in a giant thud. I felt a slight shiver from the cold as the air from the book closing hit me.
"Are you listening to me?" I asked, noticing the silence.
I then turned towards Alexander but only saw the base of his neck as he got closer to me without me noticing and was now looking down at me from how much taller he was. I raised my head at him and his eyes met mine, they were almost jet black I frowned. His breathing was heavy. His hand was clenched into a tight fist, as if he was holding himself back or somethiing. I realized he was scrutinizing me like someone had put raw meat in front of a starving wolf.
I mean, it's understandable.
I'm wearing a white button up shirt with no bra underneath and my hair is draping over my chest. I looked down at my own boobs and realized my nipples had gotten a little hard from the cold and were poking thought the shirt.
Oh my god ! AHHH ! URG !!
FUCK!
I almost screamed and I went to stand up so I could grab my shit and go die in a ditch, but he suddenly gripped my elbow strongly and pinned me against the carpet on the floor right underneath him.
He grabbed both of my wrists and immobilized them on both sides of my head and I couldn't believe how strong he suddenly got. It was like I was tied to the ground with steel chains on both sides. In the span of a second, his lips were on my collarbone and he trailed up to my neck while breathing in my scent. I couldn't even say or do anything I was frozen in place and part of me didn't hate it that much.
"Mine.." he breathed into my neck, then his eyes went back to normal the minute he said those words.
He leaned back and stared at me in shock. Like he couldn't believe his own words. I was red. Scared. Tears in my eyes. Hair over my face. Opened collar and nipples peaking thought my shirt. He looked like he just got teleported into the situation and had no idea why he did what he did.
He backed off from me and blinked then instantly, I saw rage take over his face.
"Fuck!" he yelled across the room while getting up.
This was the first time I heard Alexander swear or lose his composure, or react in any way that didn't include him smirking and saying something inappropriate with an amused look.
It was like entering a shop after days of only looking thought the window and finally getting to experience the items first hand.
He suddenly turned towards me a low growl escaped his lips.
"Get out!" he spat and it was like a punch to the stomach. I flinched and a hurt expression crossed my face that he noticed instantly and then extended his hand at me.
"I'm sorry I snapped, don't make that face..." he pleaded then as I was about to take his hand in mine to stand up, he realized what he was doing again and pulled off his hand at the last moment and I almost fell and broke my ass.
"Damn it! No ! Get out !!" he ordered again and I frowned.
Okay, what kind of monstrous inner demon is he having a fight with right now because I know many psychiatrists that would be delighted to study this particular type of bipolarity.