My eyes flutter open and I immediately wince at the light pouring through the window. A killer headache kicks in and I groan, rolling over. What the fuck even happened last night? The last thing I remember was Alex playing some music on the TV and then everything after that was a blur. I glance over to the other side of the bed where I expected Alex to be, only to find it empty.
A weird feeling pools into my stomach. What was it? Guilt? Guilt that I had left James to go and get drunk with Alex? Regret for getting drunk with him in the first place? I wasn't quite sure but whatever it was, it was bothering me. I manage to untangle my legs out of the bed sheets and stumble out of the bedroom, rubbing my temples as my headache worsens. I haven't been hungover in ages. James didn't drink or smoke so after we got together, I quit all of that stuff.
I trip into the lounge and a frown forms on my face. Where the fuck is he? "Alex?" I ask slowly. There was no response but I hear a clang in the kitchen. I creep back into the bedroom and grab my bag, unzipping it and pulling a gun out of the side pocket. I tip toe back into the lounge and press myself up against the wall.
I take a deep breath and turn the corner, gun raised. I let go of the breath I was holding. Alex stood in the kitchen in his boxer, cooking something. His hair was in messy curls and hung just over his eyes. "Good morning to you too," he chuckles, raising his spatula in defense. I roll my eyes and lower the gun, placing it on the bench. "What are you making?" I ask slowly, peering over his shoulder at what looked like flat lumps of charcoal in the frying pan. "Pancakes..." He trails off, cringing down at the contents inside the pan.
"...Alright then," I nod unconvincingly and turn away. He slips his arm around my waist and pulls me back against. He drops the spatula into the pan and wraps the other arm around my waist, holding me tightly against his extremely shirtless body. I can literally feel his abs in my back right now.
"How was your sleep?" He whispers seductively in my ear. I roll my arm and drop my head. "It was alright." He lets go of me and walks to the lounge. He comes back with a small plastic bag, handing it to me. Inside was a box of asprin and a bottle of flavored water. I smile up at him and take out the items. "Thank you!" I all but shout as I down two tablets with the water.
I shuffle him out of the way and grab the spatula, taking the two burnt pancakes out of the pan and throwing them int he trash. I grab the small plastic bottle with add-water pancake mix inside and pour another two pancakes into the pan.
I manage to cook up the rest of the batch, serving them onto two plates and bringing them out to the small coffee table in front of the TV. "Fuck yes," Alex mutters to himself, digging in. I switch on the TV and begin to shuffle through the channels, settling for the weather reports.
We eat in silence, keeping out eyes glued to the TV. It only takes Alex two minutes to finish all his pancakes. He leans back and props his arm on the couch beside my head. "So," I begin, finishing up and placing my plate on the small table in front of us. "What now?" I mumble. We hadn't really discussed what it was exactly that we were going to do once we had the gun. I mean, I assume that Alex wasn't just going to hand it over to me, at least not without a fight.
He shrugs. "We send Ace a message." I furrow my eyebrows at him. Just like that? No special plan or thought-through ideas? I didn't like the sound of this. "What do you mean 'send Ace a message?'" I ask slowly. Kind of hoping he would begin to laugh and state that he actually had a brilliant plan.
He simply shrugs again. "Just let him know we have multiple things that he wants," Alex says, gesturing from himself, to me and then to the bedroom where the gun was. This man seriously has a death wish. "And what about when he sends his goons out to kidnap us?" I prod. It is at times like these were I just wish I could see what this motherfucker was thinking. Maybe he is still slightly drunk from last night...
"Well then we hold them hostage, torture them to tell us where Ace is hiding," he states. I cringe at the word 'torture'. I mean, sure, there is a possibility this could work... In some weird, crazy world where things actually go to plan and work out just as we imagined they would. To bad that world doesn't exist!
"And what if none of them break?" My mind drifts to when I was tortured to give up Alex's location and cringe. I mean if I didn't break, there is a slim chance that any of those guys will. They are trained for that kind of shit. A frown forms on his face and he kicks his feet across my lap. "Don't you worry your pretty head about it. Just leave it to me," he mutters slowly.
I shrug. I was most definitely not in the right mindset to put my trust in this man, especially after he quite literally left me to die. He did it once, who's to say he won't do it again?
I drop it. The rest of the morning moves slowly and we were packed and out of the motel by noon. He refused to tell me where we were going but promised it was important. We had been driving for a while and had just arrived in Marseille. Marseille was the second biggest city in France. I was hoping that our destination would give a few hints as to why we were there but we could literally be here for over a million reasons.
We halt in a traffic jam, waiting for the lights to change. The air was humid so Alex insisted we keep the windows rolled down for the whole drive, regardless of my complaints of messy hair. He had music blasting and I had put my chair back and had my feet up on his dash.
As we finally begin to move again, his hand slips onto my thigh. He has done this like seven times now and I honestly didn't have the energy to remove his hand again.
"Hm... How about a secret, underground lair?" I question slowly. I have been trying to guess where we are going for the past hour. He shakes his head.
"Abandoned theme park?" Okay, sure, some of them were becoming a little bit unrealistic. Then again, this is Alex we are talking about, he could have anything up his sleeve.
"You are missing the most obvious one! Just quit trying. We are nearly there, anyway," he remarks with a groan. Good, he deserves to be annoyed right now.
After another ten minutes of bickering, loud music and stupid comments from Alex, he finally pulls over in front of a huge apartment block. Alex turns off the car and turns to face me. "You are staying in the car," he states slowly with a smirk. I blink a few times in disbelief. "Funny joke," I remark, unbuckling my seat belt. He roughly grabs my wrist and fastens a handcuff on, then going to attach it to the steering wheel.
My jaw drops. Where the fuck did he get these from? "Alex," I begin, trying to stay as calm as possible. "Get these handcuffs off me right now," I grit through my teeth.
"Ivy, you are simply not compatible with the person I am going to see," he explains smugly. I pout and do the best puppy eyes that I have. "Pweese?" I flutter my eyelashes, hoping to charm him somehow. He chuckles and rolls his eyes. "Act like a baby, get treated like a baby," he states, stepping out of the car. I furrow my eyebrows and grimace slightly. "You aren't supposed to leave babies in the car!" I shout as he shuts the door, locking it behind him.
"Alex!" I shout to his back as he walks around the car and towards the building. "Alex you motherfucker!" I scream. Why on earth did he just chain me to his car? Who is he going to see? Why can't I meet them?
C'mon Ivy, use your initiative. With my free hand, I awkwardly stretch into the backseat and unzip my suitcase. I feel around for my toiletries and pull them onto my lap. I search through my toiletries until I finally find what I am looking for; my bobby pins.
I chuck the bag back into the backseat and bend the bobby pin a little. After two very stressful minutes, I manage to pick the look and the cuff falls loose around my wrist. I manually unlock my door and scurry towards the building.
Did he really think I wasn't going to try and escape the car? He probably assumed that I wouldn't be able to. The lack of faith Alex has in me...
I stride into the lobby and glance around. Alex was nowhere in sight. I sigh and make my way to the front desk. This is not going to go well.
"I need to see your elevator security cameras," I state slowly. The man at the desk glances up at me. "I am sorry Ma'am, I cannot provide that information for you," he replies in a monotone voice with a forced smile. I place my hands on the desk in front of me and lean in so that I could whisper.
"Listen here..." I glance down at his name tag. "Gerald. I just got handcuffed in a car and the fucker that did it is in here meeting someone and is probably going to get me killed in doing so. That being said, I am going to tell you again. I need to see your elevator security cameras." His eyes were wide by the time I had finished.
"Ah... Alright Ma'am, one moment please." He begins to type at his computer and then turns the screen ever so slightly so that I could see. "When did your friend enter the building?" He asks slowly as he continues to type. "About five minutes ago," I reply slowly, smiling as he brings up all the footage.
I watch for a few moments before Alex's figure makes its way into the elevator. "Hey can you zoom in on the buttons?" Gerald does as I say and zooms in, pausing the footage. He is going to the seventeenth floor.
"Right, thank you so much. You are doing a brilliant job!" I shout to Gerald over my shoulder a I speed walk to the elevator. I press the buttons and awkwardly wait as it moves up. I hum along to whatever song was playing in the elevator before the door finally dings. I stumble out of the door only to run straight into a wall.
I land flat on my ass on the floor in front of the elevator. The wall reaches down and grabs my arm in a tight grip. Wait... What? I glance up to see a scary-looking man in front of me. There was another guy a few feet behind him, confused expression on his face.
The man drags me to my feet and begins to pull me down the small hallway.
Well fuck.
. . .
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