Total pages in book: 59
Estimated words: 58600 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 293(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58600 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 293(@200wpm)___ 234(@250wpm)___ 195(@300wpm)
“Alex, the door,” she whispers urgently.
I let her go with reluctance, then turn to close the door. But when I reach the threshold, she says, “Sorry. I think I just want to get some sleep. Is that okay?”
“You don’t have to ask,” I tell her, striding from the room and closing her door behind me.
I walk around the house, looking at the beach and the front of the property. So far, there’s nothing strange, but I know I won’t be getting much rest tonight. Some motherfucker attacked my home. Sure, it could be a coincidence, and some neighborhood kids are playing games like the cops suggested.
Or it could be Damien Kent and his father—criminals with a sick link to my woman and her family.
I sit on the front porch, scanning the road, getting ready for violence if it comes to that.
Tori: You didn’t have to storm out, meanie.
I smirk at her text. It’s always easier for us to communicate like this without the sexual simmering temptation of being face-to-face or body-to-body.
Alex: If I hadn’t left quickly, I wouldn’t have left at all. I would have turned into an animal, my virgin Valentine. Maybe you would’ve told me you don’t want it. You want to slow down. But when I started touching you, your moans would’ve told a different story.
After sending the text, I glance at the street again then type some more.
Alex: But now that I’ve left you, I can think just a tiny bit clearer. I don’t want you to feel your performance has been lost in tonight's mayhem. You were excellent, Tori. Powerful. Impactful.
I almost want Damien and his father or his goons to appear so I can end this now. I don’t want to live with their shadow hanging over us. I want us to be free to begin.
Begin what, exactly? I’m being upfront about looking for my one. She’s being upfront about not being interested in anything serious. I’m fighting for a life I probably won’t ever have.
Tori: Thank you. You don’t know how much that means to me. I’ve been worried about people I know seeing my performances for so long. Also, I kind of like that nickname. ‘Virgin Valentine.’ You need to be careful. What if I like it so much that I never want it to change?
Alex: I could be a gentleman and say I’d wait for you. But the truth is, I’d make you tingle and moan in other ways. I’d caress your flawless body, obsess over your curves, kiss your neediness, and massage your wetness until you were sizzling and couldn’t take it anymore. By then, my sweet virgin Valentine, you’d be begging to throw the nickname away.
Tori: You need to stop. I’m not saying I want you to, but getting any sleep at all is going to be impossible if you carry on.
Alex: Maybe you need to softly stroke your body for me to relieve some tension.
Tori: Or maybe I want to wait for the real thing.
My body thrums in response. Her words light me up. All these years I spent wondering if I’d ever meet a woman who would make me feel this alive, then fate threw us together.
Valentine’s. Fate. Coincidence.
Whatever it was, I know one thing. She belongs to me, even if she doesn’t want to accept it. Yet.
Tori: What I really want is to ask you something. But I don’t think you want to talk about it.
Alex: Try me.
She takes a while to respond. I pace the porch, feeling restless, opening and closing one hand into a fist. I want them to appear, the cowards. Bricks, knives, guns, whatever they want to bring. Do they seriously think I’ll ever let anybody hurt my boy, my woman, my family?
My head rushes. I’m getting ahead of myself. We’re a long way off being a family.
My phone buzzes.
Tori: I asked you earlier, but you seemed awkward about it. Please tell me to back off if I’m crossing the line, but why no photos of Elliot? On your phone, on your socials, on the walls?
I sigh, dropping back into the seat and tapping my foot.
Alex: I could say that I’ve been absentminded. I’ve been busy with work. I’m not somebody who takes a lot of photos anyway. That would all be true, but there’s something else, and I hate myself for it.
Tori: You can tell me.
I’m not sure I can. It’s not like I’ve been a bad guardian. It’s not as if, after his parents passed, I abandoned Elliot. But there’s still some complexity there.
Alex: Sometimes, when I look at that bright, intelligent, enthusiastic boy, I see my brother. I see my ex. I see what they did to me. And the fucked up thing about it is, beautiful; I didn’t care half as much about Lena after three years as I cared about you after three hours.