I slept in the guest bedroom, crying myself to sleep. I didn't even change out of my clothes. I was so upset.
What was Alexander's problem?
He had a problem with me hanging out with Chance, who I've known for three years. We talked about Crissy and Alexander. Why would he be mad about that?
He kept implying that Chance and I had sex, which definitely wasn't true. We just talked and ate; like we usually did with Crissy. The only difference was she wasn't here.
When we got to Alexanders apartment, his brother, who had been watching Maya, left. I didn't even get a chance to see him because my tears blurred my vision. I immediately push passed them, heading straight to the guest bedroom. I threw my bags onto the floor, throwing myself onto the bed. I clutched my phone to my chest as I cried. My phone went off, alerting me I had a new text. I clicked it on, reading it before crying myself to sleep.
Remember what I said. Give him a chance. He doesn't know how to express his feelings correctly. He wasn't going to hurt me and he definitely won't hurt you. He wants you to think he's dangerous but he's not. He's as dangerous as a goldfish in a bag. Only time something goes wrong is when you shake them. Love you. xx.
When I woke up, I had a new message. Basically Alexander telling me that he went to work and that I was home alone.
I didn't reply and stayed inside the guest bedroom all day. Crissy FaceTimed me but I didn't answer. I slept most of the day. The babies made sure of that.
When Alex came back, i heard Maya asking when she was going to see me again. Alexander didn't answer but I wanted to yell how her father blackmailed me into staying with him.
I planned on staying in my room until I could go home, but a soft knock at my door changed that. I could hear muffled talking on the other side.
The door pushed open and Maya stuck her head in. She looked around before her eyes landed on me, underneath the covers on the bed.
"Sophia? I didn't know you were here!" She said, nearly running to jump up onto the bed. I sniffed as she pulled the cover back, attempting to smuggle against me.
"Hey, Maya." I said weakly.
"Are you hungry? Daddy made broccoli and cheddar soup with bread!" She said, looking up at me. My eyes peered down into her vibrant green hopeful ones as she rubbed a hand over my stomach.
"No thank you." I declined. This alarmed her.
"But, if you don't eat then the babies won't be able to eat! They like broccoli and cheddar soup!" She said, as if they said it themselves. I tried to smile but couldn't. I was exhausted, still, and hungry.
"I'll bring you something." She said, scrambling out of the bed and out of the door. I stared at the slightly opened door while I heard Maya yelling.
"Dad! She's not hungry so I'm bringing her ginger ale and a mango!"
My stomach growled at the mention of a mango. The twins really liked mangoes and avocados. My hand subconsciously rubbed over them, the feeling of butterflies in my stomach returning. I needed to eat, Maya was right.
These babies depended on me and I need to be there for them. So, I peeled myself out of bed and went into the conjoining bathroom. I stripped myself of clothes and showered quickly. I lathered myself in the body wash that was in the shower already. I found a way to make my hair look like I hadn't been crying and matted it all together. I placed it into a bun before turning off the shower and stepping out.
Shit.
I forgot a towel.
Hopefully in the 15 minutes it took me to shower, Maya placed the ginger ale and mango down somewhere. I placed my ear against the door before calling for Maya's name. No response. I decided to quickly run out, straight for a towel. I knew there was a fresh stack right in front of the bed. As I picked up a crisp white towel, my door widened.
"Wait, Maya!"
The door continued to open as Alexander tall figure spoke to Maya as if she was down the hall.
"Go downstairs and eat, damn." He said, as I struggling to get the towel around me in time. Just as he turned to look at me, I had just barely got the towel secured.
"Sorry for not knocking."
"What do you want?" I rolled my eyes as he placed a plate onto the bed.
"Eat." He sounded as if he was my father. I wanted to roll my eyes at his tone.
"Get out, I'm trying to get dressed." I said, gripping the towel shut. He stared at my intensely before lazily dragging his eyes down my body. I shifted uncomfortably. Since the towel was made for an average person, my pregnancy bump caused it to be a little too small for me. You could see the entire side of my thigh. His eyes stayed there for a second until I turned my body. They snapped up towards mine before speaking.
"Eat." He said, more demanding this time.
"Alexander! Get out! I will eat when I dress." I cried, almost wanting to stomp on the floor.
"That's the thing, I don't trust that you will. Now you can hurry up and get dressed and eat or hurry up and eat so you can get dressed. Either way I'm not leaving until this bowl is empty. Chop chop, buttercup."
I sat on the bed, doing my best to make sure my body remained covered while I was sitting. I looked at Alex with expectant eyes before telling him to bring my food. He placed it in my hand, a small plate on the side dresser. He leaned against the wall while I hesitatingly tried to eat some of the food. I frowned. I could not hold my towel up and eat at the same time.
"Alex, can you leave just so I can get dressed?"
"Nothing I haven't seen before." He mumbled. Angrily, I took the spoon out my mouth and threw it at him. "Asshole." I said. He hadn't looked up in time so it hit his chest. He looked up at me, pissed off. I placed my food onto the side dresser while he stalked towards me.
"Do you want to repeat that, Princess?" He was mere inches away from my face, causing me to frown. He looked me in my eyes, livid.
"I said.. asshole."
"I can show you.. asshole. Get fucking dressed. We are going out in twenty minutes." He said to me, still in my face.
As I began to speak, someone else decided to.
"Sophia? Did you eat? Can I talk to the babies?"
"Maya get out." Alexander said, not bothering to look back at his daughter.
"Daddy."
"Amaya."
"Alexander!"
"Amaya Elizabeth."
"Alexander Parker!"
"Fuck! Get out and stop being annoying.!" He yelled back. Maya huffed and slammed the door behind her. She let out a ear piercing scream, making Alexander dart out the room after her.
Alex POV (earlier today)
My hand harshly hit the door. I arrived at Chances home fifteen minutes ago and I was debating on whether or not I should do this. Was yesterday enough of the message?
This is why I was debating. I knew my cousin and I knew how he thought. He definitely should have gotten the message but at the same damn time, I knew he liked to bother me. He liked to fuck with my head for the fun of it. But this.. this I was serious as hell about. I didn't know how to say it any clearer. I was serious. He should have known I was serious.
Why he decided to fuck with me, I don't know.
My cousin finally opened the door, stepping to the side and blindly letting me in. I glanced at him, seeing his face slightly bruised. You could barely see it since he was black, but his tone of brown was light, so you could see it if you weren't used to seeing his face.
I looked at his knuckles that clenched the door. They were busted.
He shut the door before looking back at me. We stared each other down before he spoke.
"Last night? What the hell was that?" His chest muscles flexed as he ran a hand over his hair.
"I'm not losing her! I told you how I felt about her. I haven't even secured a spot in her fucking life and it makes me insanely jealous that you have, okay? She barely even looks at me but she'll spend the whole day as you! You would have thought you guys were dating. She's so fucking comfortable with you but anytime I try to talk to her it ends in a argument." I admitted. It was true though. My relationship with her versus Chances relationship with her made me upset, which wasn't something I admitted a lot.
"Because you're intimidating! You know me, I'm calm and chill. You're so hard and cold, nobody can ever talk to you and everybody is scared of you except Maya. Only reason Maya isn't scared of you because you two are practically the same person. If you tried being a little.. softer.. around Sophia, I guarantee you two will be best friend in no time. You forcing her to move in with you really didn't help though." He said, almost angrily. His tone caused me to look up at him from where I was previously looking at the black couch. He was serious about this and I knew he cared deeply about her. So did I.
"Her not telling me she had to be rushed to the hospital didn't help! She promised me she would alert me if anything went wrong. That means in immediate action, not seven hours later. It's like she didn't even think to alarm me. I wouldn't have been as mad." I finally said, glad to have it off my chest. This was what drove me off the edge last night. She refused to move in with me and then refused to alert me of any updates about my children. That didn't sit well with me. So, yesterday, when I learned that Chance skipped work to hang out with Sophia... I went crazy. It drove me insane that she wouldn't speak to me but would spend a whole day with Chance. Then, when I got the call that she was rushed to the hospital, and the call didn't even come from her... I immediately drove over to her place.
Her being as close as friends with Chance as I wanted to be with her wounded me. Chance didn't even have to try, yet, I was fucking up every chance I got. I was trying my best to be the perfect man in her life, regardless of us being together, but I wanted to possess her in that way.
I wanted to be able to guess the words she mumbled. I don't know what possessed me to even want to call her mine but I did.
"Communication, cousin. Talk to her. Have a heart to heart. Talk to her like you talk to Aunt Sarah or Maddison." Chance suggested, mentioning my mother and my younger sister. He rubbed his eyes tiredly as I let out a sigh. This was like asking me to do the impossible but I had to at least try, right? She was worth that much.
"I didn't mean to hurt you last night but when she defended you... fuck! I'm sorry. I couldn't help it." I apologized. This was true. All I even meant to do was threaten him, harmlessly, to get Sophia to agree. But the second she went to defend him, the switch in my brain flipped and I was livid. As soon as she attempted to pull me away from Chance, I could literally feel the anger and adrenaline build up inside of me.
"I know, Alex, I know." He said, sadly. "It's just sad to know you're still fucked up of Leah." He added with a shake of his head. He let out a big sigh as my breathing hitched.
I was not still fucked up because of Leah, right? Leah was like the wicked witch of the west and she had completely fucked up a portion of my life that could have been deemed the best years of my life. The things she did were unspeakable. What I thought was a mutual share of love, was not. It was a completely one-sided relationship where I blindly stayed in every night, working my butt off so I could pay rent while she partied every night and made headlines with new guys. Leah is a story for a different time. The cheating was one thing but everything in the end left me utterly fucked up a good minute.
No doubt I had strong feelings for Sophia though and no doubt I hated them. I didn't want a repeat of Leah but since Sophia and I's relationship was different than Leah and I's maybe, just maybe, there was a chance that this could work. 'That's only if Sophia actually liked you' my subconscious blatantly reminds me.
"We were talking about you, you know. I was telling her to give you a chance. She thinks you hate her. She also doesn't want to catch feelings for you. She got three job offers in California, really good ones, and getting pregnant messed up her whole track of plan." He said, quietly and calmly. His hands went to his gym shirt pockets with a tired frown.
California?
"What?" I choked out.
"She was planning to move back but you just had to mess up her plans." He said, almost as if he wanted to get me riled up. If he did, it was definitely working.
What did he mean she was moving back? Did she still plan to move back? My heart began to quicken, thoughts of not being able to see her, or the twins, swirled in my mind.
"Alexander, calm down but you have to think about this. Do you really want to ruin this girls life because you liked her? Maybe her moving back to California isn't a bad thing. She has a great, really great, job deal looking for her. Sophia is a tough woman. She can handle herself." He said, as if it was supposed to comfort me. It didn't. It really fucking didn't.
"It's not Sophia I'm worried about. It's me." I whispered before attempting to steady my breathing.
I was acting like a bitch. I also had caught feelings extremely quick for me to have never spoken to her before. At my birthday party, seeing her made me want to leave as soon as she came. Then, when I was able to get her to come home with me, I could have done a backflip. I was so happy. That first night between Sophia and I was one of the best nights of my life. Not only was it mind blowing sex but I felt like a scrawny, prepubescent male getting the hottest chick in the school.
With Chance saying his previous statement, it only made me realize how much Sophia really didn't need me. I wanted her to need me. I would fucking beg for her to come to me whenever she needed to because I wanted to be the one to help her.
"You can't be worried about you. It's not just about you. There are three other people involved in this. Sophia and the twins. If you're not careful, Maya could be involved too and we all know how she reacts when someone mentions Leah, somebody she never even called her mother. Imagine how she acts when it's someone she wants to call her mother. You really have to play your cards safe with this one. Look on the bright side, now she's trapped. You'll always have a excuse to see her." He smiled, not happily but not as sad before. I guess he was attempting to make me smile. Always having a excuse to see her was the only good thing about this.
"But they are going to have to live between Sophia and I for the rest of their lives." I said, sadly. I was living between my parents for a portion of my live before they got back together.
"Not if y'all get together." He winked towards me.
He had a great point. There was some possibility of us getting together, even if it isn't forever, since she is having my child. But I had a feeling that would open a can of words about Leah and I didn't have the energy for that. Maybe I should just leave and never talk to her again, which would be pretty shitty and hard considering my status. What should I do? Keep the babies and my baby momma? Or let her take the job deals in California.
What was the job deal even for?
"What are the job offers?"
"Company lawyer? Don't quote me. She went to law school and came out top of the class. Passed the bar exam with flying colors." He quickly said, a proud expression crossing his face as he talked about her. I could feel my anger swell that I quicker pushed down.
He has no romantic feelings for her.
"Bro. You fell for her quick and hard. Kinda hard to see you like this but I'm glad you are like this; and with Sophia. She's a sweet girl but.. you have to be careful with her. She has a fucked up past. She never talked about it but I know there's some foul play somewhere." Chance said before walking pst me, leaving me in his living room to think.
Did she really have a dark past? Maybe pursuing her wouldn't be a good idea. If reporters dig something up and it was 'dark' enough, they could deeply affect me. Was that something I was willing to risk? This could simply be resolved but I wasn't sure. It really depend on what happened. Chance said she never talked about it so he doesn't know, but perhaps Crissy knows.
Attempting to get information out of Crissy was a piece of cake, she always cracked under pressure.
"Alex! Where's Maya?" Chance's voice called from the other room, causing me to stand sharply. I pulled my phone out of my pocket and glanced at the time: 6:30. Maya's pick up time from daycare was 6:15.
"Daycare. I need to go get her." I made my way to the kitchen so I could apologize once more to my cousin. He had a package of Oreos in his hand while a cup of milk sat on the counter next to him. I shook my head at his choice of snack before apologizing.
"We're fine. We're family. I'm used to it. You need to apologize to Sophia. She's the one pregnant and hurt. Not to mention you have a crush on her and she was forced to move in with you. Remember what I said; try to not be so intimidating and communication is key. Matter of fact, I'm going to text you some shit and I guarantee you guys will be on good terms by the next daybreak." He nodded towards me before instructing me to 'go get his niece'.
I nodded nervously. These emotions were attacking me all at once. I turned these emotions off the day I got that stupid letter from Leah and now they were crashing back onto me, ten times stronger: for Sophia. That's all my mind thought about.
Sophia, Sophia, Sophia, Sophia.
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Do you guys want a chapter from Sophia's POV from the first chapter? Let me know!