Chapter Eight

Alex

It drives me insane all day.

Something has shifted between us, and it almost feels as if I made two steps forward and fifty steps back and I have no fucking clue why.

Am I moving too fast? Is all of this too soon for us?

I have no fucking idea and Mina barely pays attention to me unless we are shooting where she transforms into this other person. The chemistry is there when we shoot the bar scene, and she gets praise for her impeccable acting. Heck, the director can't stop gushing over how amazing of an actress she is, and he understands now that she was just nervous during the rehearsals.

Mina smiles and chats with the staff and does her very best to not be alone with me and it grates at my nerves.

I cannot fix what I don't understand and it's driving me to the brink of insanity.

After the shoot, I follow her out despite her best efforts to escape me. She doesn't notice me when I follow her taxi back to her house and it's not until we arrive at her apartment building that everything begins to make sense.

My blood freezes over when Mina climbs out of the taxi and rushes into the arms of a man standing on the sidewalk. I clench my fists on the steering wheel when the man wraps his arms around Mina – my Mina – and spins her around before letting her feet touch the ground once more.

Not once in my life have I ever contemplated murder, but this has me thinking about it. Consequences be damned.

I want to kill the man touching Mina. He now has his arm around her shoulder and is ruffling her hair, their familiarity sending jealousy clogging my throat.

Fuck!

Is this why she runs away after we make love? Is it guilt from having another lover?

I push open my car door and climb out, not bothering to grab my disguise as I slam the door closed. I don't give a fuck who sees me anymore! Everyone will know it was me anyway when I get arrested for killing the man holding Mina.

Mina is mine, Goddamnit!

I stalk towards the pair, my fists clenched to my side, ready to plant on the stranger's face. I must make some kind of noise because the two turn to look at me with surprised expressions and… I stop.

Standing a few feet from me is the last man I ever thought I would see in this part of town. I haven't seen him in a little over seven years and it feels like a lifetime and fuck, when I finally meet him, he has his arms wrapped around my girl. "Jared?"

"Oh my God, Adams!"

My high school best friend is the only person that calls me Adams and it feels like ages since I last saw him. We were close before I got wrapped up in my band and he got busy with law school and now, here he is!

Jared drops his arm from Mina and steps forward to hug me, punching my arm like we're in high school and not grown men in their thirties. It almost feels like no time has passed at all.

"How long has it been? Seven, or eight years? Jesus Christ man, I don't even remember."

"About that long, yes," I tell him. It was right around the time the Cosmic Rebels started to gain popularity and he went off to law school.

"I can't believe it's been so long, man!" he whistles but his sound is cut by a dry chuckle from his side. We both turn to look at Mina whose eyes are downcast and she kicks a rock, barely registering the attention on her.

"Him you remember but not me," she mutters, her voice filled with so much bitterness it feels like a slap.

"Oh right," Jared speaks out, misunderstanding her words. "Alex, I don't know if you remember Mina. My little sister. Excuse her attitude. She likes to whine about how I don't visit her often and accuses me of not remembering her!"

No, that's not what she meant .

And now, I want to turn the fists to myself. If there is anyone here who deserves to be punched into oblivion, it's me.

Jared Hendricks was my best friend and the shy teen with pigtails and braces who showed up at all of our concerts… Mina Hendricks.

Fuck!

How the fuck did I not immediately make the connection? Well, because I was thinking with my dick, is why. The clues were all there and I didn't see it. See her.

I know we just met but there was – is – a connection between us. You feel it too, right?

"Mina…" I start but she is already walking away. I go to grab her wrist but Jared steps in front of me, his brows knitted in confusion.

"What the hell is happening, Alex?" he asks clearly sensing some tension between his sister and me. "Wait, what are you even doing here, at Mina's building?"

"Look, I will explain everything later!" I say, looking over his shoulder to see Mina disappear into her building.

"Wait, are you and my sister–"

"Shit, I had no fucking idea she was your sister!" I hiss, running my hands through my hair in frustration. I can't get the look of hurt and betrayal I caught in her eyes out of my mind and it's driving me insane. "Short story is, I've been seeing Mina, but Jesus Christ, Jared. The last time I saw her she was a freaking child!"

Jared glares at me. "You and Mina are…" he shoves me a little and I can see he is trying to make sense of my words. "Wait, how could you not recognize her? She went to all your fucking shows even when our band broke up. You are an asshole dude!"

"I know," I grit. "Fuck, I need to make this right!"

I need to fix things between Mina and me, but I know her brother will not let me through, and much as I hate the thought of brawling with my best friend after not seeing each other in so long, I will do it if he gets in my way of getting to Mina.

"You and I need to talk about this!"

"Later!"

"I will kill you if you hurt her," he grinds, his voice dangerously low and those eyes – not unlike his sisters – turning cold, and for the first time, I see a side of Jared I have never seen before. "If you break my sister's heart, I will hurt you in the most painful way you can imagine, Adams. I will kill you and follow you to the depths of hell to finish you off!"

"And I will let you," I assure him. "Now let me fix this!"

His eyes narrow on mine for a long time, but he must read the desperation in my eyes because he steps aside for me, and I run into the building and straight for the stairs. I know the elevator to this building is broken so I don't even bother going to check. I run up the stairs and to the third floor where I catch Mina rushing down the corridor to her apartment.

Panic swells my throat as I run towards her, well aware that once she shuts that door, she will not open it for me again. I understand the heartbreak I read on her face – that has been on her face from the moment we met in that office.

It all makes sense now and as much as I deserve her hate, I cannot afford to lose her.

I make it to her door just as it swings closed and place my foot on the door before it shuts behind her. I am barely winded from the run and my heart is thumping for an entirely different reason. I sigh at the close call, walking into her apartment just as she whips around to glare at me. Her eyes are wet with tears, and it crushes my soul to see her like this.

"Get out!"

Her words are venomous, meant to hurt, and they do, but I don't let that stop me from approaching her. "Angel–"

"Don't call me that!" she hisses, hugging her arms and turning away from me. "It didn't even take you a second to recognize him!"

She takes a step back when I try to reach for her. "I'm sorry, Mina."

"I don't need your apology. I want you to go. Leave my apartment and life. I bet you will forget all about me in a week or two!"

I close the distance between us and wrap my arms around her. She puts up a little fight before she goes slack against me. "I'm sorry, Angel, for being so ignorant. I know I left and never kept in touch, but I never forgot you. How could I? You were my first fan."

"You didn't even recognize me when you saw me! How can you say you never forgot me!"

"Because in my mind, you were still as young as you were when I left. Every time I thought about my first fan, it was the little girl that I saw, and it never occurred to me that she would grow up," I confess. "It sounds stupid, I know, but that is how I saw you in my head. But I was wrong. You've grown, and matured into this beautiful woman that I have fallen deeply in love with."

"You are lying, again," she accuses. "Up until yesterday, you had no idea who I was!"

Fuck, maybe it's time I came clean. "Not quite," I say in response.

"W-what do you mean?"

"We didn't meet yesterday for the first time after all these years. I've seen you before… spent time around you."

She stills against me, sucking in a sharp breath when the truth clicks into place. "Y-you're him? The guy that's been watching me at the bar!"

I lean down and nuzzle the back of her neck. "I couldn't stay away," I breath against her skin, her soft scent causing my cock to harden in my pants "Once I saw your audition tape, I felt a connection to you, and I needed to see you. I couldn't stay away, Angel," I repeat.

Please understand!

"Y-you're the stalker?"

"A man obsessed with you, but I would never hurt you. You've fast become the most important thing in my life. More important than the career I've worked on for years. You are everything to me, Mina!"

"I shouldn't forgive you," she sniffs. "You haven't done anything to earn it."

"Then let me earn it, Angel!" I spin her around so she's facing me, those beautiful eyes I adore wet with tears, so I kiss them. "Let me earn your forgiveness and love."

I lean down and slide my lips over her soft ones. They puff open for me, resistant at first before she starts kissing me back and opening up for more. Our tongues drag together, slowly at first before the kiss turns hungry and downright obscene. The friction is hot against each other and suddenly I can't get enough and by the looks of it, neither can Mina. She grabs the collar of my jacket and tugs me closer, needily leaning into my body.

"I should kick you out!" she whimpers into the kiss when my hands travel up her body, fondling her tits over her dress and teasing her swollen nipples with my thumbs.

"I will keep coming back until you can't live without me either," I growl, pushing her back and trapping her between me and the wall, my hands dropping to her thighs and pushing them open. "I am not letting you go now that I've found you and I will hurt anyone that dares to get in the way."

"Alex," she moans when I slide my finger into her panties and run it through her slick folds. Her breath catches in her throat when I rub my thick digit over her clit before sliding it into her wet heat. "Oh, Daddy–"

"That's right, ride daddy's finger," I rasp, brushing my mouth over hers as I drive my thick digit into her, adding another into her drenched sex and using my thumb to tease her clit as I do so. "I love you, Mina." She clings hard onto my jacket, her breath sawing in and out of her in heavy pants as I finger her tight little hole until she's crying and jolting hard against me, her pussy clenching hard around my fingers.

I pull out my hand and grab her panties, yanking them off before reaching down to unzip my jeans and shoving them down, along with my briefs. My cock is aching hard as I stoop down and grab the back of Mina's knees, lifting her off the floor and pinning her to the wall. She wraps her legs around me, our breaths mingling as one when I grab my cock and guide it to her drenched entrance.

"I want to hate you," she whimpers when I slide the thick tip of my shaft into her wet heat. "I don't know how to live without you – without this. How can I go back–"

Her back arches and lips part with a gasp when I slam forward, impaling her with all the inches of my cock. She's so fucking tight and wet, her sex pulsing wildly around my cock. I slide out before slamming back into her snug sex, her eyes go blind when I do so. Her head falls back against the wall, and she buries her fingers into my shoulder when I start pounding into her. "You don't have to worry about living without me. You never will!"

And I make a point to show her just how much I mean those words. I grip her sweet ass in my hands and start hammering into her, the sounds coming out of my throat are barely human from the force of it. She sobs, pushing up against me as I rail her like a beast in heat, a predator in the wild that's been starved, and she, my reprieve.

Mine!

Her tits bounce with every impact and those pretty hazel eyes graze over when I change the angle to the base of my cock to rub over her clit with every thrust. Her thighs start shaking and her pussy pulses wildly before clenching around my cock. Her breath catches in her throat seconds before a harsh tremble wracks her body as she orgasms. Her lips part in a sob and I drink up her flushed expression, pounding into her until I feel my own climax build at the base of my spine.

I come with a roar, raw and feral. My fingers bite into her soft ass as I pound into her through the orgasm. Our eyes lock as I pump my cock into her, relief burning through my muscles as I release my seed into her womb, claiming her for myself.

Mine!

My body loses tension and I lean in to kiss her temples before helping her back to the floor. Her breathing is as labored as mine and we stand there, in peaceful silence lost in each other's embrace.

"I was going to wait until the shoot was over to pursue you," I rasp, my breath heavy. "Then I walked into that room and saw you and realized I couldn't wait. You are the most beautiful thing that has ever happened to me. Back when I was no one, your cheers fueled me, and now, let me take care of you, Angel. Let me love you."

Mina leans forward and buries her face in my throat. "I was really hurt when you didn't recognize me."

"I know, Angel, and I'm sorry," I brush my lips over her temple. "I will spend the rest of my life making it up to you. My number one fan."

She smacks my shoulder lightly and I feel the shift between us as she loses tension in her shoulders. "I don't even listen to rock music anymore."

"I'll make you fall in love with it again. With me." I brush my lips over hers, the need to have her again slips in as if it never left and maybe it didn't. I don't see a time when I will not want, will not need this girl in my life.

Mine!