Chapter 18.

**Narrator’s POV.**

Stumbling and tripping, Alex dragged his drunken self through the house, attempting to reach his bedroom without falling on his face and making a fool of himself. Ever since he and Tessa had broken up, he had taken up a new hobby; drinking to get himself drunk, after all, getting drunk was the reason he and Tessa had broken up in the first place.

He put on a triumph grin when he saw his bedroom door come into his blurred up vision. All he wanted to do was lay down on his king sized bed and let sleep wash over him- that was his plan, but his older brother had another plan that did not fit into the equation.

Alex opened his door and locked it shut, letting out a sigh of relief because he had not come across his step-brother. He had been extremely weary after he remembered that Gabriel had threatened him about breaking Tessa’s heart. “Safety first, huh?”, Alex nearly pissed his pants in surprise,

“Fucking bastard!”, he yelled, “Are you trying to give me a fucking heart attack?”, he placed his hand on his chest, trying to slow his rapidly beating heart. “What the hell are you doing here?”, he knew exactly what his step-brother was after but he hoped to delay it.

Gabriel, sitting on a couch in the dark stood up and walked menacingly towards his brother, “You know exactly what I am doing here, Alex”, without a hint or warning, he grabbed Alex’s hair with his hand, “I told you Alexander, you hurt her, I hurt you”, he put his other hand into a fist and hit Alex square on the nose, breaking it in the process,

“Fuck”, the victim yelped out and tried to escape from his brother’s tight hold, “Get the fuck off me, you sick bastard”, he yelled, twisting and turning as Gabriel tightened his hold on his hair,

“The more you struggle, the angrier I get”, I took another swing, hitting him in the jaw this time. He let out a loud yell of pain as his bones cracked.

“What the fuck is your deal, man? Why go through this much shit for a girl you insult and don’t even like? Well, I know she doesn’t like you”, he spat out, his statement poured fuel to the flame burning within Gabriel and Alex was suddenly thrown to the other side of the room, his back landing on the edge of a shelf with a sickening crack, “Fuck!”,

“I do not fancy insults, Alex. I will make Tessa mine, whether she likes it or not and I do not need fake charms like you”, Gabriel sent a kick to Alex’s stomach, enjoying as the man squirmed in pain and clutched his body. After getting a few more kicks in, Gabriel crouched down in front of his step-brother, “You are a weakling, look at you, you cannot even fight for yourself. I wonder what Tessa saw in you”, he spat before standing to his full height and walking back to the door. He placed his hand on the door handle before looking back at the man on the floor, “You tell Tessa about this and all that I have done today would seem like child play”, he said and left the room, satisfied that after three weeks, he had finally gotten his brother alone and beaten the shit out of him.


Tessa stared at Kevin intently, even though she had promised herself that she would talk to Alex, she had chickened out at the dying minute. She thought it would be extremely awkward and all that had become a fun tour with a good friend would turn too serious for her liking. Her ex’s step-brother who was in fact her celebrity crush had kissed her- on the lips!

That was two days ago, but the kiss still sizzled on her lips, lighting up her insides every now and then. She knew that she was not meant to think of Kevin in such a sinful manner but she could not help herself, his kiss was so good, so satisfying and filling. Was it so bad that she wanted more even though she knew that it contradicted her beliefs?

“You are staring at me”, the man said from the other couch in the bus,

Tessa let out a loud scoff, “I wasn’t staring at you, I was…”, she thought of an excuse, “I was just enjoying the view”, not realizing how what she said was very suggestive.

Kevin crocked a perfectly shaped eyebrow up at her, “You were enjoying the view?”, it was only then that she figured out what she had said and how wrong it sounded, considering he had chosen to ditch his shirt and walk around bare chested. Of course, she found it very distracting at first but she just knew that she had to live with it.

What really baffled her other than his godly sculpture was the fact that he did not even seem cold under the air conditioning that made it feel like south pole. She concluded that, maybe, he just had a lot of body muscle warming him up.

“I am not talking about that view”, she said with an eyeroll,

He let out a sigh and placed his phone on the arm of the couch, “What is really wrong Tessa?”,

“Nothing”,

“I know when people are lying Tessa, believe it or not, I am taking online Human Psychology classes”, he said, “Your body is tense and face is not put together like it usually is”, he then pointed out.

With a loud groan, she knew it was time to tell him what had been bugging her for the last two days, “I do not understand why you kissed me”, she huffed out, “Why did you do it?”,

“Was it bad?”, he asked, sitting up from his chair,

“No, it wasn’t and your answer did not reply my question Kev, why did you kiss me?”, her tone turned stern, letting him know that she was not joking around and that was exactly what she had feared; the whole tour had been full of jokes and laughter, she knew this conversation would turn it all upside down

“I was testing something”, he shrugged,

“Oh, so I am your test monkey now? I mean nothing more than that to you?”, she said incredulously, “I now know what you think of me”,

He stood up from his seat, “What do I think of you Tessa? Let me know because I am confused as hell”, he fired back.

“You think I am a whore because of what happened with Alex”, she yelled at him, making a loud, sarcastic laugh erupt from his mouth, “What is so funny?”,

“Can you fucking hear yourself right now?”, she looked away from him and crossed her arms over her chest like a child, “I do not fucking think so”, he sat back on his chair and picked up his phone once again.

“You know what? I am happy that the tour is over, now, I have a choice to be away from you”, she finally let out,

“I am not fighting with you Tessa. What happened was not a big deal, it was a spur of the moment sort of thing”, he pointed out, “I am sorry it happened”. He wanted to shoot himself for saying everything he had just said but he knew going after his step-brother’s ex-girlfriend a month after they had broken up was not the right thing to do. He wanted to give her some time and space before coming after her, it was the proper thing to do but, he could not just help the kiss and no, it was just a ‘spur of the moment’ type of thing like he had said to her, he had planned the whole thing and was grateful that it had worked out until, he had realized what he did was in fact wrong.

She wanted to yell profanities at him but she held back her tongue. She was exhausted and was eager to sleep in an actual bed for the first time in weeks. There were only two reasons why she dreaded going back to her usual life; her mother who hadn’t even bothered to call her once and Alex who she was still trying her best to get over.