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Alette's POV

I sat, waiting patiently on my porch for Aresius.

I had only been waiting for a little while for him to come and pick me up.

Okay fine. I had been waiting for a long while.

But it was only because I was so excited to see him; I could barely sleep.

I sat humming and looking at the early morning sky. It was slightly chilly this morning so I had put on a navy blue crewneck over my long sleeved white shirt and loose denim pants.

Uncle Syl had come home from his trip late last night, and had gone immediately to sleep. Grams was also sleeping in, so the inside of the house was quieter than usual.

The sound of a car made me squeal, and I smoothed down my hair and shirt, and picked up my bag as his car came into view.

I bounced towards the car as he got out, looking absolutely delicious on this early morning might I add. He stared at me as I walked, his eyes light, and his hands in his pockets.

I waved at him shyly, still walking to him.

"Good morning Reecie," I said to him when I got within earshot. I walked right up to him and gave him a hug. Holding tight around the middle, I smushed my face into his, very hard, lower chest area. I didn't care that I didn't even ask for permission, or for the fact that he seemed very frozen, not hugging me back.

The second I began pulling away, his arms wrapped around me, holding me flush against him. His head leaned down and he rested it on top of mine.

Wow.

We hugged for a while and it made me feel all funny inside, in the best way possible.

We finally pulled back, at the same time, but he didn't take his arms off me. They were still wrapped around the entirety of my waist.

"Good morning Alette," he said quietly.

I pouted when he finally let go of me and helped me get into his car, to take me to work.

We sat down and he started driving before he put his foot on the brakes and turned and looked at expectantly.

"Wha-?" I looked around confused before, "Oh!" I realized.

I reached over and grabbed his hand, which was resting on the middle console of the car. I intertwined our fingers, the coldness of his rings sending a jolt through me.

He seemed satisfied and started driving again.

What a cutie.

We drove in a comfortable silence; I played with the rings on his fingers and traced over the ink that peeked out from beneath his shirt.

I really wanted to see the tattoo under his shirt.

I really wanted to see under his shirt.

No.

I blushed at my thoughts and tightened my hand around his, choosing to just stare at him now.

Goodness me he looked so handsome when he drove.

My staring was cut off when I gasped in remembrance. I pulled my bag into my lap and rifled through it, looking for what the breakfast sandwich and muffin I had packed for Aresius.

"I made this for you today! I don't um know if you've had breakfast or...even if you like to eat breakfast because some people don't like breakfast so you don't have to eat it if yo-"

"Alette," he cut me off, "Thank you."

I blushed and nodded, "You're welcome Reece."

The rest of ride went by way too quickly for my liking. He parked outside of the bakery, and opened my door for me.

A gentleman. I think I lik-

Don't go there.

We stood outside of the bakery, me not wanting to leave him just yet.

Was I being clingy? Yes. Very much.

Did I care? For some reason unbeknownst to me, no.

"You'll be done in the afternoon yes?" he asked.

I nodded at him.

"I'll be here to pick you up," he said, stating rather than asking.

My eyes widened, "Oh no no! I can't ask you to do that, you gave me a ride to work you don't need t-"

"I'll be here when you're done work Alette, I'm picking you up," he said, his tone final.

Then he raised his eyebrow, reaching forward to tuck a piece of hair that had escaped my ponytail, behind my ear, "Unless of course, you don't want to see me hm?"

My eyes widened even further, and I shook my head so fast I swear my neck got a concussion. Can necks get concussions?

"That is not true at all, I want to see you! I always wanna see yo-" I clamped my mouth shut turning red at my own words.

Gosh darn it; I really had just exposed myself.

His lips quirked into a tiny smirk and he nodded his head once.

"Then I'll see you later darling."

I almost peed my pants.

Darling?

I just about passed out on the sidewalk in front of him, but instead, the second I felt my face turn red, I spun around and quickly speed-walked into the bakery.

That man was going to drive me insane.

I hightailed into the bakery and threw myself into work, trying not to think of what he said to me.

My shift went by without too much excitement; just the regular unhappy customer that wanted me to remake a drink that was made properly but they didn't like it. I usually let Jojo deal with those customers.

When there was a lull between customers, I asked Jojo about potentially going to school in person, and she giddily asked me if I wanted a tour of the campus. I agreed and we set a time to go see it.

Baby steps.

Before I knew it, my shift had ended and it was time for me to see him again.

I swear, the way my heart had been beating since the day I had met him was definitely not very good. I should get that checked out.

I could get Reece to check my heart...under my shir-

I fanned my face quickly, trying to rid myself of my crazy thoughts.

Saying goodbye to everyone working, and giving Jojo a hug, I walked out the doors of the bakery, holding my bag, a little paper bag with two cherry turnovers for Aresius and my phone.

I unlocked my phone to see that I had a message from him:

My face fell. He wasn't coming? Was he okay? Did something happen to him? Was he hurt? Did he get bit by a shark-

My swirling thoughts were interrupted by the sounds of what sounded like a...screech?

"Hey! Hey over here! Faye! Over here Faye!" Jerryl stood in front of a bright blue car, waving both hands in the air at me as if he wasn't 10 feet away from me.

I walked over to him slowly.

"Hey girly, how was work?" Jerryl asked, grinning at me.

"Hi Jerryl, it was okay, how are you?"

"I'm doing swell, even better now that my friend is here!"

I brightened at him calling me his friend, but my smile fell when I remembered.

"Where's Aresius? Is he okay?"

Jerryl's face turned serious for a second before he switched back into his smiley self.

"He's all good, just some work stuff to deal with, don't stress about it," he said as I stressed about it.

"Oh...where is he?"

"He's at the shop," Jerryl said, raising his brow.

"Take me there," I said in my most demanding voice, then, "Please?"

"Uh...I don't think that's a good idea, he said specifically to take you straight to your hou-"

"Take me to him, please Jerryl," I begged him.

"No Ms. Faye, seriously I don't think it's a good idea."

I crossed my arms across my chest, "Then I'm not coming with you."

Jerryl's eyes widened, "Woah okay, slow down," he thought about it for a minute and cursed under his breath, "Fine okay, fine I'll take you! But if he gets mad, this is all on you."

I nodded my head happily, "Yes sure fine! Lets go!"

I got into the car quickly and buckled myself up. Jerryl got into the car still shaking his head.

I shook in anticipation, and almost jumped out of the car when he parked at the tattoo shop. I quickly grabbed my phone, bag, and the pastries and hopped out of the car. Backtracking, I quickly took a napkin and handed one of the cherry turnovers to Jerryl.

"Thank you for your service," I saluted him and walked towards the door.

There was a small voice, tucked away in the very back of my mind that was asking me to slow down.

To go home.

But he had said he wanted to see me.

And I wanted to see him.

Wanted to make sure he was okay.

I sucked in a breath and opened the door.

The shop was slightly less busy today, with only a few people inside. They all seemed to be either looking at papers or doing something on computers.

No tattooing in sight. No customers either. Odd.

Ignoring the looks from everyone in the room, I walked quickly to the back stairs before anyone could stop me.

Like a woman on a mission, which I was, I speedwalked to the room up the stairs, that Aresius had taken me before. His office.

I stood in front of the door and took a deep breath, knocking hesitantly once. Then again, a bit louder.

I heard a low "Enter," from the inside of the room and I finally pushed the door open to walk in.

He stood in a black t-shirt and black pants, leaning against his desk, facing the window. I could see that his left arm was covered in tattoos, not an inch on skin left without ink, whilst the other was completely bare. His back was to me, but I heard a sharp inhale of breath, notifying me that he had heard the door open.

"Who the fu-"

He spun around a stopped in his tracks.

"What are you doing here Alette?"

Don't cry don't cry don-

"I just wanted to see if you were okay Reece," I said honestly.

"You were supposed to go straight home, that's what I said to Jerr-"

"It's not his fault, I forced him," I said quickly, moving towards him.

He clenched his jaw, taking a step back away from me, which made my heart fall.

"You can't be here Alette," he gritted out, looking away, and clenching his fists.

I could feel tears threaten to build up and fall out of my eyes but I stood strong. For once, he looked dangerous; I suppose to others, he always looked that way, but never to me, until now. I still knew he wouldn't do anything to me, but he looked as though he was a million miles away from here.

He was still looking away, and it was then that I noticed a bloody bandage on his right bicep and what looked like white gauze hanging out from under his shirt.

"You're hurt," I said, my eyes wide.

"You have to leave, I do-" he took a sharp breath in, "I can't be around you like this."

"I'm not leaving you while you're hurt Aresius," I stated, my voice only wavering slightly "Let me help you."

His jaw ticked, "You can't help me."

"Oh of course I can, you're bleeding Reecie, I can clean it and put a bandage on it," I said simply in a soft voice, moving closer to him.

He let out a sigh of resignation, looking down at his feet, with his jaw and fists still clenched. I could see how tense his body was just looking at him.

"I...I don't want you to see me like this."

His words made my heart feel heavy.

"I don't deserve your help," he looked up at me, his eyes gloomy, dark and...sad, "I don't deserve y-"

I marched up to him, placing a finger on his soft lips.

"Hush mister. Everyone deserves help. You most definitely deserve help. I'm going to help you, I want to help you Aresius," I said, my voice confident, "Will you let me help you?"

I cupped his cheek with my hand, feeling the stubble on his smooth caramel skin.

After a moment of silence, he placed his hand over mine that was on his face; his stormy eyes peering into mine, searching.

Finally, with a nod of his head, he gave his consent.

I smiled softly and a knock on the door made us both look towards it.

"Come in," Aresius said, his hands moving down to grip my waist.

He's the one that's injured but I might pass out if he kept that up.

The door opened to reveal an older man, wearing a tan sweater and black dress pants. He was carrying a small case of something as he walked into room.

He nodded his head at us in greeting, setting down his case on the table.

"Hi, I don't believe we've met, I'm Dr. Hughes, you can call me Oscar. It's nice to finally put a face to a name, I've heard a lot about you."

His tone was sincere as he smiled at the two of us.

I tried manoeuvring out of Reece's arms, but he held on tightly, causing me to turn around to face Dr. Hughes. His hands still on my waist, with my back to him, I waved at Dr. Hughes shyly. He waved back, still smiling.

"I heard you were bleeding through your bandage, can I take a look at your wound?" he asked Aresius, his tone serious.

"No."

Dr. Hughes raised his brow, "You're bleeding man, let me look at it.

"No."

"You mean to tell me, I left my pregnant wife at home, just to come over here to help you, and you're being a brat?" Dr. Hughes said with a sigh.

"You can leave."

I turned my head to give Aresius a reprimanding look.

"What he meant is, no thank you, I was going to take a look at it, if you would just leave me the first-aid kit here," I said to him, as nicely as possible.

"Are you sure you can do it?" he asked, but I could tell he wasn't being mean, just acting as a concerned friend to Reece.

Aw.

I nodded my head, sure of myself, "I took a first-aid course before a-and um I've done this kind of s-stuff before so I should be okay."

"Well you sound qualified to me! This is great, I can go back to my beautiful wife-"

How cute.

"-and you can deal with this man child here."

Oh.

I giggled, nodding in acknowledgement.

Dr. Hughes left the first-aid kit on the table and waved at us, "I hope you feel slightly uncomfortable because of your injuries, not too much, just a little, because it's what you deserve for being rude to me. And you Faye, I hope I see you again soon," he gave a sly look to Reece, "I have a feeling that I will."

He left the room, softly closing the door behind him.

I turned around to Reece, relishing the feeling of his strong arms around me. I placed my hands on his chest lightly, not wanting to hurt him.

"Can I fix your bandage now?" I asked him softly, my palms flat against his sturdy chest. Goodness me he felt like a wall of pure muscle.

He silently brought his index finger up to my face and lightly dragged it, tracing the side of my face. He made his way from my temple, down to my chin and then stopped. Painstakingly slow, he brought his finger to my lips; before he could move it, I grabbed his hand with both of mine and held it to my mouth, giving his finger a little kiss. And then another one just for fun.

I giggled at his shocked expression, and he finally let me out his arms. I opened the first-aid kit to look for some cotton swabs, paper towels, and gauze. Pulling everything I needed out, I stood in front of him. Changing my mind, I grabbed his hand and pulled him with me to the sofa in his office.

I made him sit down and looked down at him shyly.

"I um d-don't think I can change it because your shirt is covering t-the wound," I mumbled my heart beating fast, "Could you um maybe take y-your shirt off?"

I left my face get hot the second the words left my mouth.

He stayed silent, until finally:

"At least take me out to dinner first darling," his voice was gravelly and there was amusement coating his words.

"I didn't mean it like that! I just meant that I needed to see under your shirt-not like that! I have to look at the bandag-"

My words stopped abruptly and I felt as though the wind had been knocked out of my stomach; as though somebody has sucker punched me. He had stood up and taken his shirt of with one hand, in a swift movement, almost as though it was a magic trick. And magic was the best word to use to describe what lay underneath his shirt.

His left arm, the left part of his chest and ribs were all covered in dark tattoos. They continued onto his hip and trailed off down below on his legs, which were covered by his pants. The right side of his body had no tattoos on it, which created a vivid contrast. There was a light smattering of dark hair on his chest. It led down to his abs, which he had eight of.

I'm pretty sure I was drooling.

He sat down on the sofa again, and looked at me. I took a breath and walked to him, praying that he couldn't see my whole body shaking.

I went and sat down beside him, even though his lap looked very inviting-keep your thoughts clean Faye, I reminded myself, focusing on the task at hand.

Up close, he looked even more stunning. His tattoos were intricate swirls of black and grey ink, and they created beautiful images. Up close, I could see that his skin was littered with scars, some smaller, and some larger. There was indication of places where it seemed he had had stitches, reminding me a lot of some parts of my own body.

I placed a finger on his bicep, the touch making a shock to pass through me where I touched him, and my whole body feeling as though it was on fire. I wanted to feel this burn though, I couldn't deny that.

I slowly undid the gauze on his arm, and cleaned the cut. I could see him from the corner of my eye, as he stared at me intently; as much as his gaze on me made me want to implode, I was too focused on the task of fixing his cut.

I wrapped the new gauze around the now cleaned cut, and moved towards the bandage that was on the right side of his lower belly. I began taking off the gauze, but my hands shook hard at how intimate this felt.

Instantly, he reached down and grabbed both my hands in his.

"You're fine?"

He peered into my eyes, his tone unsure.

I smiled shyly, "You're making me nervous."

He definitely wasn't expecting my answer because his mouth slightly opened in surprise. I smiled, and blushed looking down, my hands going back to get the bloody gauze off.

I meticulously cleaned the cut, and decided to ask him a question that had been on my mind for a bit now.

"Reecie?"

"Hm?"

"You don't really own a tattoo parlour do you?" I asked simply, finally looking into his eyes.

We made eye contact, him staring thoughtfully.

"I do own this tattoo shop, and I am a tattoo artist," he said finally, "But that's not all I do for work."

I bit my lip, nodding in confirmation of my thoughts.

"Can I ask you more about it or am I not allowed to?"

He brought his hand to cradle the side of my face again.

"I told you, you never have to ask me for permission darling."

I smiled, my heart feeling light.

"What is it that you do?" I knew he worked with Uncle Syl, and Uncle Syl's work was top secret. He worked with the government, not for them, because he owned his business, and the government worked with him on a contract.

I finished putting the gauze on and he leaned forwards to put his shirt back on.

There goes the most delicious view in the world.

I cleaned my hands with some hand sanitizer that was in the kit, and waited for him to explain.

He cleared his throat, resting back on the sofa, his legs splayed out in front of him. I moved closer to him, and grabbed one his hands and gave it a squeeze to let him know that he could take his time. Finally he spoke: