Chapter 21

***Alicent***

“Ugh,” I cry out when I try to open my heavy eyes. The little light streaming in through the cracks in the window hurt my eyes, setting off the worst freaking headache of my life.
The night flashes in my mind, but it all feels like a jumbled mess.
My cheeks heat when I reach the memories of how I’d looped my arms around the back of Ethan’s neck as I desperately ground against him in his fancy bed.
My face heats even more when I remember him taunting me with his gaze, even from far away in the nightclub. Something in his gaze was so attractive and captivating... It looked like a predator seducing its prey. I sit on the thin, hard mattress of my bed, very different from the soft mattress I was on last night, and I drop my head into my hands.
God, how am I going to face him again?
Wait... I don’t need to. And he certainly did make himself clear that he doesn’t want to.
My sore pussy tingles as I clench my legs. I close my eyes, picturing the obscene image we must’ve made. Me on all fours, my head pulled back, and my back arched while Ethan pounded me mercilessly from behind. One hand on my hips, the other hand fisting my hair.
I open my eyes and turn a little to look at my ass. There’s still a faint mark where his palm slaps my ass… Heat moves down my spine.
Sex has never been like this for me before. For a moment, I feel ashamed of everything we’ve done, especially because I slept with him without even knowing him, even though we used a condom.
The dirty things he said to me while we were having sex—I swing my legs in the air with a little giggle in my chest and fall back onto the hard mattress again.
After a moment, I get out of the bed with hot cheeks and a ridiculous smile on my face and then I head to the kitchen. I need some water, my throat is dry, probably because I’m not used to margaritas.
As I walk, I melt once more at the sweet memory of how he’d said the word *Mine*. How he called *me* his. It was only supposed to be for the night. I shouldn’t get so hung up on what he said just in the heat of the moment, but, damn it if it wasn’t the sexiest thing I’ve ever heard in my—
“AHH!” I scream with a hand on my heart. “AZ! What are you...” I look confused at my son lying awake in his bed as I enter his room. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be at your dad’s house! Oh my God, what happened?”
Az sits up in bed just as I take a seat beside him. He rubs his eyes and clears his throat, just like he always does in the morning when he’s still sleepy, before saying anything. “Morning, Mom,” he says in a raspy voice, as if he’s been crying.
I notice a little red on the edges of his eyes. “What happened?” I begin speaking with a slight increase in volume out of desperation but quickly lower my voice when my head starts hurting. “What time did your dad get you home?”
“Since dawn,” he softly answers, laying back down on the bed.
“Logan!” I mutter my unfortunate ex-husband’s name through my teeth. “He’s supposed to be taking care of you! Have you been alone all this time?”
My heart aches with the lazy nod in Az’s head. “I’m sorry, Az. I should have been home when you got here. Why did you come earlier? What happened, buddy?”
“Uhm...” Az looks away in a way he does on the rare occasions he lies to me.
“Az...” My voice takes on a more serious demeanor.
“Don’t be mad at me, Mom, please,” Az says with tears in his eyes.
“Baby, what happened?” I say as a sense of foreboding consumes me. “You’re scaring me!”
Taking a seat again, he hugs me tightly. “Dad was weird last night...”
“What do you mean, buddy? Weird? How?”
“He... He drank a lot, and it got weird. He treated me in a way he had never treated me before. When I went to the kitchen to get water, he said I was just there to give him trouble. He took the glass from my hand and threw it against the wall. I got scared and ran away when he took off his belt and ran after me.”
“He, what?” My fists clench in anger. “Did he hurt you? Are you hurt? Let me see—”
When I try to lift his shirt, he stops me with his hand on mine. “He didn’t hurt me, Mom. I ran before he could,” Az responds.
“What do you mean? Az, Chelsea’s house is not close to here! You walked all the way by yourself? In the middle of the night?” My eyes widen in disbelief. I can’t believe all this happened to him while I was having the best night of my life.
“I ran to the door and I said to him I’d like to come home. But I lied about it. I wasn’t going to leave Chelsea’s house. But when he saw me running, he said he didn’t care what happened to me. He yelled at me to get out of his sight. He said that he can’t put up with me, Mom, if you’re not around.” Az’s tears start flowing, and I feel like crying together with my son.
“Oh, buddy,” I tighten our hug and rest my cheek on the top of his head. “I’m so sorry for what happened. I promise I’ll make sure this never happens again. You will never spend the night at Chelsea’s house again.”
“Mom, don’t you get it? He said he can’t stand me if I’m alone with him, so that means if you get together again, he’ll want me around like before!” He looks into my eyes. His eyes plead with me more than his naive words do.
“Az, that’s not how things work, son,” I say in a softer voice. “Are you sure you’re not hurt? How did you manage to come here alone?”
He’s quiet for a moment and lets go of the hug, wiping his eyes. “I’m fine, Mom! Don’t worry about me.”
I take a long, deep breath. “I’m going to call your dad,” I mentally start to prepare to fight with Logan, but Az places his hand on mine, and his fearful eyes stop me from getting up.
“Please, Mom. Don’t fight with Dad. He won’t want me to visit him anymore if you fight with him!”
I can’t believe Logan involved our son in this mess.
“Okay. Don’t worry, I’m not going to fight with him. Are you hungry, buddy?”
“I’m starving!” he gives me a toothy smile, seeming to forget the whole nightmare from the night before.
I help him up, “Then let’s eat up!”

🐺 🐺 🐺

The day has passed relatively quickly. As soon as Az started reading his book, I took the opportunity to go buy some bread at the small market near our building.
The whole way, my mind could only think about Ethan.
As soon as I woke up in Ethan’s bed and he was nowhere to be seen, I immediately started to freak out. He only gave me *a minute* to rest, and I ended up dozing off. That’s why I jumped up and got dressed before quickly running out of his apartment. I didn’t have the nerve to wait for him to come back.
Maybe his absence was his way of reminding me that our time together was over, and I was already overstaying my welcome. Yeah, I’m sure that was it because this perfectly fits the cold way he informed me he doesn’t sleep with any woman.
The only thought I had when I woke up was ‘what the hell am I still doing there?’ and then my mind reminded me that Az would be home early. What I didn’t expect was that my son would be home earlier than me!
By the time I made it home, I was so exhausted from our, ahem, activities that I didn’t spare a single glance at his room, I just went straight to my bed.
I make my way up the stairs with the bag of bread in my hand. My mind reminds me again of the way he’d pulled my hair, whispering to me about my wet pussy as his arm folded around me, pulling me onto his chest. I had never been held much before by Logan. Ethan’s body was just so warm and firm. It felt like it was built to accommodate my own shape in a way that I never ever felt about Logan’s body.
I bite my lower lip, holding in a grin.
Ugh! I shake my head to stop the memories. I need to stop thinking about him. It’s not like I’m going to see him again. This is a good thing because I completely humiliated myself, as I also could recall. I really don’t know how to flirt. And the things I said when at the bar... That sort of thing was pretty difficult to forget.
Last night was just a glitch in my life. Something to keep me warm for the rest of my life. One night with the hottest guy I’ve seen. I need to stop thinking about him for my own sake. For me, last night was the best night of my life, but for him, I was just a distraction.
He left and didn’t even say anything to me. That speaks volumes because a woman like me can never be more than a passing amusement moment to a man like him…
Tears threaten my eyes with this realization as I walk down the hallway of my apartment, but suddenly I see a person I never imagined I would see in this old building.
I stop near the door of my apartment. “Shawn?” I call out his name, and he approaches me. “What are you doing here?”
The charming bartender of the Moonlight nightclub smiles in my direction and tilts his head slightly to the side. “I live here.”
Duh! Why did I ask that? “Of course!” I say awkwardly, my cheeks flushing.
I fumble with the key, yanking it out of my pocket to unlock the door. All I want is to slip inside, eager to put as much distance between this awkward encounter as I can.
“Do you live in this apartment?” he asks seriously, his smile vanishing in an instant. The sudden shift in his expression makes the atmosphere feel tense, and the awkward moment is abruptly gone.
“Yes, why?” I stop with the key in mid-air, and my eyes meet his once more.
“I was outside not too long ago when these guys showed up. They asked the guy next door if there’s a woman living in your place. The neighbor said yes, and that he had seen you just leave.” A frown appears on Shawn’s face. “They didn’t seem very... *friendly*.”
Oh, God! No!