⁽ⁿ.⁾ ᵗʰᵉ ᶠᵉᵉˡⁱⁿᵍ ᵒᶠ ᵇᵘᵗᵗᵉʳᶠˡⁱᵉˢ ʸᵒᵘ ᵍᵉᵗ ʷʰᵉⁿ ʸᵒᵘ'ʳᵉ ᵗᵃˡᵏⁱⁿᵍ ᵗᵒ ˢᵒᵐᵉᵒⁿᵉ ʸᵒᵘ ᶠⁱⁿᵈ ᵃᵗᵗʳᵃᶜᵗⁱᵛᵉ

》》》

Ａｌｅｘ

"Let's. Go." I snapped whilst taking ahold of her hand and pulling her forward.

She pulled back, halting our movement. "What the hell was that for?"

She was pissed, clearly. And no, I probably shouldn't have ripped that guy off of her and no, I shouldn't be demanding that she come with me but all I could picture were his disgusting lips pressed against hers while his grimy hands roamed over her body. So, instead of trying to make this all better, I simply said, "I'm not in the mood for this. Let's go."

"Not in the mood for this?" She snapped. "What the hell are you not in the mood for? I don't even know what the fuck is going on. Why the hell are you even hear?"

At this point, she was practically shouting though you wouldn't be able to tell due to the deafening music. "Well talk about this when we get home."

"What? No. I came Piper, I'll leave with her."

"She's already left with Nico, so now you have no other option."

Huffing like a child, she ripped her hand from mine but gestured for me to lead the way out. Honestly, I was quite surprised she had agreed so easily. Though, it's not like she had much of a choice seeing as her ride was gone.

She stayed silent as we walked to the car and even as we began driving. To be quite fucking honest, the silence was killing me. "Are you just going to ignore me the whole time?" Still, she remained silent, not even sparing me a glance. "Mason, seriously?"

He head snapped towards me almost instantly, anger burning in her big doe eyes. "Are you serious right now? You're getting pissed at me? Are you actually fucking serious right now?"

She was pissed, I get it. It's not like I had any right to do what I did but still, when did she get such a potty mouth? I sighed, not wanting to argue. "Mason."

"No." She snapped loudly, cutting me off from saying anything further. "No, you don't get to fucking 'Mason' me." There she goes again with that potty mouth. "Who the actual fuck, do you think you are?" She had now shifted herself, so she was slightly facing me. "Well, excuse fucking me! But I'm trying to figure out why the hell you're here in the first place. Or why the hell you pulled that guy away from me. Or why you forced me to leave with you."

"Mason, please."

"Please what?!" I looked to her, feeling like complete and utter shit as soon as I noticed the tears welling in her eyes. However, before I could even manage to turn the car off; she was out and already walking up the pathway. I quickly climbed out, matching her pace within a few strides; though it was clear she tried to move faster to get away. Gently grabbing her wrist, I pulled her to a stop. Without turning around, she whispered, "Just leave me alone."

I felt like complete and utter shit. Then again, when in the last year have I not? I know I'm a piece of shit and I know I fucked up. I also know that Mason deserves far better than a guy like me. But I also know that I'm in love with her. And being the completely and utterly selfish person that I am, I can't just let her go. Not when she's right in front of me. I had tried to move on and try the whole 'dating' thing again with Layla but obviously, we all see how that worked out. I didn't even like the poor girl as more than anything other than a friend but I had hoped that maybe I could, maybe I could learn to love her that way but alas, Mason was here when I got home much to my utter surprise.

Seeing her made me completely forgot that Lacey even existed, let alone that I had been a dumb ass and brought her here. "Can you look at me?"

"Alex, please."

Grabbing her hip, I pulled her to face me. Knots formed in my stomach the second I saw tears falling down her cheeks. "Please, don't cry." Lifting my hand up, I was about to brush them away but she quickly jerked back.

Shaking her head, she stepped back making sure to create enough distance between us. "What do you want from me?" Her voice was thick with emotion and I wanted nothing more than to grab her and hold her until she stopped crying. Unfortunately for me, that wasn't an option seeing as she seemed to not want me to touch her and because I was the entire reason she's upset in the first place.

"I'm sorry. I just, I," I never normally stammered or had trouble with saying what I was feeling. Though that all flew out the window whenever Mason was around.

"You just what Alex? What could you possibly want from me? We haven't seen or talked to each other in a year. Then when they finally convince me to come back for Christmas, you show up too which of course is perfectly fine; they were your family before they were ever mine. But, I just, I don't understand. I don't understand why you wanted to talk to me that day. I mean, I suppose I'm partly to blame for that since I ran out after finding out you had a girlfriend. Which again, is completely fine and none of my business. I'm the one that left you, right? It's not like I expected you to stay single. It still doesn't make it any easier though. Seeing you with her and I know, I know it's messed up for me to say that because you're happy and I promise, I'm so glad that you are but it hurts. And so I've done my best to keep my distance, to stay away and yet here we are. Why aren't you with Lyla anyway? You should be with her, not dragging me away from some guy I'm kissing at a club."

I stepped forward making her instantly step back. "I don't want you kissing anyone." It sounded stupid and pathetic but honestly, I was at this point.

She laughed, though there wasn't an ounce of humor in it. "You don't get to decide that anymore, Alex. You have a girlfriend. She's probably waiting for you up in your room as we speak, wondering where the hell you went."

"I broke up with her."

She looked stunned for a second. "I'm sorry. What?"

"I broke up with her hours ago. Right after seeing you with Willy." I knew that wasn't his name but the thought of his kissing my girl made me want to kill him. So it was just better for all of us to pretend that his name was something else.

"Uh, his name is Wesley." I shrugged, not caring whatsoever. "I'm sorry you two broke up. She seemed really lovely."

I shook my head, swallowing the lump in my throat. "She wasn't you." I replied, simply. I know it sounded dumb and cliche but it was one hundred percent the truth. No one would ever be able to compare to her. Not even in the slightest.

"Alex."

"Please, just give us another chance."

"You know I can't say yes."

"Why not?" I pleaded, ready to get down on my hands and knees to grovel at her feet if that's what it took.

"For one, we barely know each other."

I scoffed, "That's bullshit and you know it."

She shook her head. "Is it though? What's my favorite color? What dressing do I always put on my salad? What's my favorite restaurant? I know these things may seem unimportant and trivial but they matter too Alex. And it's not just you, I couldn't give you the answer for any of those for you either. We have waited a while before getting together last time but we still didn't go about it the right way. We both had and still have issues."

Unwanted tears burned my eyes. "So that's it?" My voice broke making me sound so incredibly weak. Truth is, I am.

"I'm not saying no forever, Alex. I'm just saying that I think we need to be friends before we can become anything more."

"Friends." I nodded. "I can do that." And I could. Despite how much I wanted to call her mine, this is what she wanted, what she needed and I'll be damned if I fuck it up once again by only caring about myself.

She looked at me skeptically. "You sure?"

"If that means I'll end up with you in the end, I'll do anything." And I meant it, wholeheartedly. "Wait, what about your boyfriend?"

Rolling her eyes, she shook her head. "He's not my boyfriend."

"What?"

"He works with Grayson. He and Miles thought,"

I held my hand up, cutting her off. "No more explaining needed."

She smiled and walked the rest of the way into the house, glancing back at me, she said, "Just so you know, this doesn't mean I forgive you for implying that I was your sister."

"Technically, I didn't imply anything." And honestly, that was the truth, I didn't. "She asked me who you were and I explained to her that our parents were good friends and that you came to live with us when your father passed away."

"You still didn't stop her from spouting out that we were practically siblings. I don't know about you but as far as I know, siblings don't do certain things."

I couldn't help but smirk. "Certain things, like what?"

Her turned pink as she reached forward, shoving my arm. "Shut up."

"Well, well, well, look what we have here." Miles muttered arms crossed over his chest while he slowly walked down the stairs. "And what would your boyfriend think about you hanging out with your ex-boyfriend Mason?"

She rolled her eyes. "Miles, I already told him that you and Grayson made him pretend to be my boyfriend."

My idiotic brother's jaw dropped if fake disbelief. "Mason, why would you lie to Alex like that?"

"And he saw me kissing another guy at the club." Just hearing her say the words made my jaw clench.

"To be honest, I thought he was your so-called boyfriend." I mumbled.

"You were? Oo! Was he hot? What was his name? Did you get his number? Are you two going to have sex?" I swear, I could fucking strangle him and not give two fucks.

"Miles!"

"What? I'm a curious child."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes at his words. I swear, my parents dropped him on his head far too many times to be called an accident.

"You're not a child."

"Says who?"

"The law?"

"Law, shmaw. Who cares what the law says? I'm a bad mamma jamma and I don't give a fuck about what the law says."

"The fact that you just referred to yourself as a 'Bad Mamma Jamma', just proves how not bad you are." She snorted, shifting on her feet.

"I don't like mean Mason. Make her go away and bring back my friend." He pouted, crossing his arms over his chest.

She smiled, laughing. "Miles, I hate to break it to you but you look more constipated than sad."

I mean, she wasn't wrong.

"See, there you go again being a grumpy butt. You know what, I'm done with you being mean, good day."

She sighed. "Miles,"

"I said, good day!" The two of us stayed silent as we watched him stomp back up the stairs before stopping halfway and turning. "And Alex, just because you know the truth does not mean you get to try to move in on Mason. You have a girlfriend, remember?"

"I broke up with her earlier."

He threw his hands up in exasperation. "Is no one faithful anymore? I can't believe you two, breaking up with your significant others on the same day. How cruel can you two be?"

"Wesley and I weren't even actually together." She muttered.

"Real or fake, you two are just a bunch of heartbreakers. I can't handle this anymore. I'm going to bed and you two should do the same. And no, not in the same bed. Matter of fact, Mason, you come with me."

"What?"

"Nnn. nnn. Don't what me, young lady. I'll be escorting you to your room tonight." He grabbed my wrist and began tugging me up the stairs. "Say goodnight to Alex, you can see him in the morning."

And with that he dragged her up the stairs, leaving me alone in the foyer wondering why the hell my brother was so fucking weird. But also praying to God that I didn't fuck everything up all over again.

》》》

authors note,

hello!

Yay for another Alex's POV, even it is basically the same as one of the other chapters but I mean; it's good to see where he's coming from and his thoughts and feelings on the situation.

I hope you all enjoyed it and thank you all for reading, commenting and voting.

I love you all dearly,

Maisie