Sweet Hope

Reece sighed dramatically. “Y’all are getting real boring as you get old. I never get to see y’all and you’re already bailing on me.” He squeezed me tighter. “Just you and me then Al,” he joked and kissed my cheek again. “I’m sure we can figure out something entertaining to do.”

I went to open my mouth to cry off the entire night, dinner included, when I heard Austin call, “Axe? Where you going?”

When I looked round I saw Axel heading out of the door, his pack of smokes clutched tightly in his hand.

“What happened?” Lexi asked Austin.

He shook his head in confusion. “No damn idea.”

My heart pounded as the group all moved to sit around a table and the server brought us drinks. But I couldn’t take my mind of Elpi… Axel… whatever the fuck he wanted to call himself. I knew he’d left because of Reece.

The air in the suite became suffocating. Needing to take a break and deal with the revelations of tonight, I excused myself and fled in the direction of the bathroom. As I walked out of the suite and down the long empty hallway, I rounded the corner to the bathroom, where Axel was heading my way.

The two of us stopped dead.

Our gazes clashed.

He looked livid.

Our chests were panting hard, and as I forced myself to shift to the left, Axel gripped my arm and dragged me into the bathroom, locking the door behind us.

I backed away toward the farthest wall as his dark gaze turned on me; he looked liked the devil himself, his chest puffed up and lips pulled tight.

“Who’s that fucker that was all over you?” he demanded, inching forward. I backed up against the cold tiled wall. “Who was that little blond prick? You fucking him? Why the fuck were his lips on yours?”

“Who is he?” I whispered incredulously, anger lacing my voice at his attitude. “Who is he?” I shrilled louder. “He’s an old friend! Someone I haven’t seen in years!”

Axel’s lips ran over his teeth, visibly shaking. I stepped forward as he stared me down, his eyes blazing with anger. “Who the fuck are you, Elpidio?”

“Don’t,” he warned, icily.

“Don’t?” I snapped, “Don’t? You’re Axel Carillo! Axel fucking Carillo! Jesus!” I ran my hand over my forehead when Axel didn’t say a word. “You’re the reason my friend almost lost his scholarship with the Tide. You ran away and left him to deal with everything on his own. You left him to deal drugs just to make money for your family! You threatened to ‘shut up’ my best friend who was battling Anorexia! And you hate my cousin, like you’d kill each other if you got the chance, hate each other! And…”

I choked on the sob which was working its way up my throat.

“And what?” he asked through gritted teeth. “Don’t fucking stop now when you’re laying all this shit at my feet.”

I met his expressionless eyes and said, “And you’ve been in prison! Shit, Elpi! What we’ve shared these past weeks… what we shared last night… and you’re fucking Axel Carillo! You were meant to be Elpidio! You were the only guy that I’ve ever felt that fucking bolt of lightening in my heart with, and you turn out to be… him! You!”

Axel reared back as if I’d slapped him and my breathing stuttered at the amount of pain etched on his face. “And you’re Ally Prince,” he said tightly, but I could hear the hurt radiating in his voice. I’d hurt him. Really hurt him.

“I’ve heard of you, Ally. I know your fucking cousin, remember. I know what family you come from. Your rich-assed oil family.” I opened my mouth to speak, to tell him he knew shit about me, when he said, “You were meant to be Aliyana Lucia… the woman that I tried to push away, but you kept coming back anyway, fucking melting me. You were meant to be Aliyana, the only woman, no, the only person who knows what I’ve been doing with my life for the last few years while inside, trying to keep my head down and not fucking suffocate under my guilt. You were meant to be the woman who claimed to feel my work. And you were meant to be the woman that told me that I was worth my weight in gold even though I told you I had a fucked up past. I’d warned you! I’d told you I was less than scum.”

My heart sank as he spoke those words, because I did say that. I was that person. But all this time, we were both pretending to be someone else. I wasn’t sure at this point if any of what we shared was real. I was so damn hurt… so shocked… so confused that I’d lost my heart to a criminal. A man I’d been led to believe was a ruthless, soulless prick.