Tyson's POV

“Ty, how did your nose break?” Alex queried, snuggling closer to me on the couch.

“When? The first or the second time?” She looked up with a curious expression. “I was just a kid the first time and it was my father’s doing. He was drunk and angry at something. I don’t really remember at what. Anyway, he needed to punch something and the first thing that he saw was me.” Her grip on my body tightened. Maybe it was to comfort me or perhaps it was because she got angry.

“The second was in a fight with some random from the Ring.”

The girl waited for me to go on and when I didn’t, she asked:

“And?”

“And what? That’s it. We were fighting, I got my nose broken and Angel drove me to the ER. I won the fight though.”

She smirked.

“You don’t remember who broke your nose but you remember that you kicked their ass?”

“Yep, that I do.”

She laughed full-heartedly.

“What about you?”

“Well, I never got my nose broken.”

“No, I mean, wouldn’t you remember kicking someone’s ass if they’d broken you nose?”

“Yeah, I probably would’ve.” She rearranged herself and winced slightly.

“How are the ribs?”

“I’ll survive,” she shrugged then grinned hugely.

“What’s so funny?”

“I just remembered knocking Stefan unconscious. And then his face once he woke up.”

I laughed as well.

Oh, that was a good memory indeed!

Their fight was tough and it was even tougher for me to stay out of it. I’d been riding an emotional rollercoaster the whole time: I was worried and angry; I felt helpless at being just a spectator but I knew I shouldn’t intervene. “That’s between the two of them, just stay out of it,” I kept repeating over and over in my head. When Alex had the upper hand, I rejoiced; when Stefan was victorious, I wanted to fling myself at him for hurting her. At a certain point it seemed that the girl was winning. She’d managed to kick the boy down to the cement floor. I almost screamed for happiness but a moment later he was on top of her and managed to pin her down. She tried to swirl, but it was useless. She’d hit her head pretty hard and I was afraid she might’ve gotten a concussion. I ran to her, ready to break by promise and beat her attacker to a pulp even though I knew she’d be angry with me for that. I didn’t care; I just wanted her to be safe.

But then she did it.

She performed the move I’d taught her, the same one I used on her when we first met. Stefan’s back was to the ground again and two well-aimed punches later, he was knocked out.

The fight had lasted no more than ten minutes and then it was over.

Alex had won.

She’d gotten up and spared a glance at him… then she’d run to me.

“I did it! I did it!” She’d kept on shouting as she’d wrapped her hands around my neck both from joy and to steady herself as she seemed lightheaded. “I did it!”

After the initial hype of glee, we pondered on what to do with the still unconscious Stefan. Alex insisted on waking him up even if it was for the sole purpose of seeing his face once he realized he’d lost. That was reason enough for me and once he opened his eyes, one of them bruised, I didn’t regret my decision: the look on his face – a mixture of disbelief and rage, made my day. The fact that his nose was still bleeding made things even better for me.

And the best thing?

Alex took off that damn earring and flung it at him before the two of us walked out of that storage hand in hand.

She’d kept the locket though.

“Alex… What’s so special about this?” I inquired, taking the item in my hand and examining it closer.

“It’s a memento.” She straightened up and without removing it from me, she opened the locket.

Inside was an old black and white faded picture. The boy that smiled from it was about seven or eight years old and had dark eyes and hair. His features reminded me of another photograph I’d seen in this apartment – that of a little girl with big eyes, delicate round mouth and bangs. That of Alex as a child.

“So this is Boris?”

“Yeah.” She gave me a sad smile and retrieved the jewelry. “You are the first one I show it to here. Actually, only Kevin and Stefan know about it. And Devon and his sister Payton figured it out on their own, I’m pretty sure at that.”

Devon… That reminded me there was something I’d been intending to ask her.

“When Devon came, what did you mean by “just Tyson”?”

“Oh, that!” She giggled. “I might’ve mentioned you to him and Payton once or twice.”

“So?”

“So… I was signaling to him not to make a big deal out of it.”

“And when he flirted with me and… kissed me you weren’t… jealous?”

“No. I know that you aren’t interested in guys and we weren’t together back then.”

“And now? Are we together now?”

“What do you think?”

She leaned closer and cupping my face in her hands, she kissed me.

“I think you should stop,” I replied once her lips parted with mine.

She pulled back and glared.

“That again?”

“You are making me horny and you are injured, Alex. We should wait until you heal.”

She grinned wickedly at me.

“I’m making you horny, huh?”

“Yes.”

“In a way that you can’t control yourself?”

She drew near me again as she spoke and I tried to move back but was prevented by the couch armrest. She knew she had me cornered and when I replied with a “yeah, in a way I can’t control myself” her smile grew even bigger and she straddled me.

“Good! I want you that way,” she stated and attacked my lips once more.

This time I didn’t protest or push her away.

This time I responded.

I wrapped my arms around her waist and lifted her up, heading for her bedroom. I tripped on furniture on the way there but we didn’t stop kissing each other, not even when she bumped her knee on the doorframe. I placed her on the bed, all gentleness forgotten in my haste. As we were stripping one another and the blood was leaving my head to go south, my last rational thought was that this would be the best night in my life.

What could possibly go wrong?

*****

“I can’t believe you did this!” Alex shot daggers at me from the bed.

“I already apologized, didn’t I?”

“Of all the things…”

“It is night, it is dark and I couldn’t see where I was putting it.”

“And you just happened to put it there? By accident?” She didn’t give me time to respond. “I don’t think so! You wanted to put it there, Tyson.”

“Why would I want to do that?”

“Because I told you not to.”

I groaned.

After all we’d been through lately and the amazing sex we just had, she’d be angry about that?

What was the big deal?

I looked at her laptop. It still wasn’t working. Okay, maybe it was worth getting pissed off for.

“One thing; I asked you one thing, Tyson: put your glass of water on the left nightstand, away from my laptop or anything else valuable, but no! You had to put it on the right nightstand and spill that darn thing!”

I turned to her. She was still glaring at me but all of a sudden I didn’t care. She looked hot like that, lying naked in between the messy bed sheets, her eyes narrowed, her hair in disarray. I couldn’t help myself smirk and approach her.

“What’s with that face?” She queried, her anger subdued as I ran my hand lightly over her skin.

“You look really sexy right now,” I responded, licking my lips.

“Are you trying to distract me after ruining my laptop?” She questioned in an even tone but her eyes betrayed her apparent composure as they scanned my body hungrily, enjoying the lack of clothes.

“Is it working?”

“Yeah.”

We repeated our actions from less than half an hour ago, this time being gentler with one another instead of ripping each others clothes. Not that either of us had any.

*****

“Is there any particular reason for you to stare at my ass, Ty?” Alex asked without turning to me, busy with making the bed.

“Yeah, I like it,” I responded, putting on my boxers just as a knock sounded on the front door. “Are you expecting anyone?”

“I ordered pizza.” Swirling around and seeing me raise my eyebrows, she explained: “I made the call while you were in the bathroom. Now, can you get that for me? I’m not exactly dressed for company.”

“Why not?” I questioned, getting out of the bedroom and heading for my destination. “I’m sure the delivery boy would appreciate you greeting him in your birthday suit. I know I would,” I added through a mutter, my hand on the handle. I opened the door but there was no pizza and it definitely wasn’t the delivery boy.

The couple who stood before me seemed almost as stunned at my presence here as I was by their. The tall man cleared his throat awkwardly and the woman, who even with being a few inches shorter than him appeared much more authoritative at the moment, adopted a haughty expression which I supposed had to mask her disapproval of me. Her features were very familiar and I realized she looked like an older version of Alex, but when I looked at her eyes, instead of being greeted by melted chocolate, I saw a flash of emerald green, before she turned her head away. The woman studiously avoided even gazing in my direction and that was when I realized I was standing there in nothing but my boxers.

What a way to make a first impression!

“Mamo? Tatko?” I heard Alex’s voice from behind me and I didn’t need to speak Bulgarian to know those words meant “mom” and “dad”. After all, both adults had physical traits like hers. Apart from the facial features, the girl seemed to have inherited her mother’s hair while the brown eyes were obviously due to her father’s genes.

She stood next to me and both parents became even more flustered as they saw her wearing my shirt and no pants.

What nice timing they had!

*****

“I slept with Alex,” I announced, the moment Angel let me in his house. I noted his family was in the kitchen so I walked straight into the living room and he followed immediately.

“Well, that was to be expected,” he commented calmly.

Didn’t he see how stressed out I was?

“Actually there is more. I stayed there the night and in the morning she ordered pizza. The bell rang and thinking it was the delivery guy, she sent me to open the door. Turns out it wasn’t him.” I flung myself on the couch. “Apparently her parents decided today was a good day for a surprise visit. Oh, and did I mention I was dressed only in my boxers and she was wearing just panties and my t-shirt?”

“Could’ve been worse,” my best friend stated, taking a seat opposite me. “They could’ve interrupted you doing… you know what.”

“Guess so. But that’s not all that happened.”

“There’s more?” He asked, now nervously, after hearing part of what I’d been through.

“To make things less awkward, I introduced myself as Alex’s boyfriend.”

“So what? You two will pretend you’re dating while they are here?”

“Not exactly... When we went to get dressed in her bedroom… Awkward, I know. When we went to get dressed, she asked if that was just a show to put in front of her parents and… then I… I kind of asked her to start dating for real.”

“So what did she say?”

“Yes.”

“And you guys are dating for real?” He queried with excitement better suited for a giddy teenage girl.

“Yep.”

“Then why do you look so nervous? Wasn’t that what you wanted? I mean, even with your issues, you did want Alex, right?”

I let out a loud, frustrated groan. Good thing we closed the door on our way in so his mom and siblings might not hear it.

“I’m not sure I can make this work. I want to be with Alex but what if she changes her mind?”

“She already knows you, right? Why would she change her mind?”

“For starters, I get mood swings. Pretty drastic ones too.”

“Yeah, and she’s used to them.”

“I’m terrible when it comes to the mushy emotional stuff,” I kept on enlisting, hoping my friend would find a way to override my reasoning.

“She’s used to that as well and she’s not that good with it either,” he shot out without hesitation; so far he was doing pretty well.

“And then there are her parents,” I finished with the latest of my worries.

“Oh, that!”

“Yeah, that.”

“Maybe they just need some time to get used to you,” Angel suggested, this time less sure of himself and his logic.

I snorted.

“Yeah, right! Those two don’t like me. I mean, they really don’t like me. And not just because I opened the door half-naked.”

“What else is there?”

“Apparently they are big fans of Stefan. They don’t know anything about the drugs and fights and guns,” I added when he goggled at me. “They mentioned his name plenty of times, probably expecting to see him at the apartment instead of me.”

“Is that why they came to visit? To see if Alex and he got back together?”

“I don’t know, maybe.” I closed my eyes and covered my face with my hands. “Why the fuck did everyone Alex had ever known decided to visit her and cause havoc all of a sudden? First it was Devon, then Stefan and now… Oh, God, now it’s her parents!”

“Yeah, it’s been a tough few weeks.” I didn’t need to see my friend to know that he was nodding sympathetically at me.

“You can say that again!” I muttered and we went silent. The only noise that was breaking the quiet came from the kitchen and by the smell that I’d noticed on my way in, I was sure Angel’s family was making cookies. I tried to concentrate on that: the faint, barely audible sounds of them talking and laughing in the other room, enjoying their collective activity. It was strange how the notion that people I cared for were having fun made me relax a bit. But my best friend wasn’t done with his inquiries.

“So what now, Ty?”

“Now we are dating.”

“And you are going to try and make it work?”

“Yeah, I’m going to try and make it work. I’ll do my very best.” I removed my hands from my face so he could see my smile and the sincerity in my eyes. “Alex is worth it!”