Chapter 21

When Sam woke up, she was alone, but she could hear talking in the living room so she didn’t think he had run out on her. And she was in his apartment, after all. So she grabbed Alyx’s button up from the night before and put it on with a pair of boxers from his drawer. Peeking out, she saw him talking to a redheaded man next to the couch, distracted for a moment by how good he looked in nothing but a loose pair of sweatpants, and stood in the doorway, unsure if she should stay hidden or not.

But Alyx saw her and his face broke with a smile as he motioned her over.

“Carlyle, this is Sam. Sam, this is Adam Carlyle, from Prime X Flight Co.”

Alyx’s first indication that something was wrong was when Carlyle didn’t greet Sam. Instead, he sneered and diverted his eyes. The next words sealed his fate. “Really, Alyx, must you slum it with this trash? PXF has enough recognition that you could easily get better.”

A familiar stillness settled over his skin, a feeling he hadn’t had since he left that unnamable desert years ago. A cold that had filled him last when he took his last life. He could feel the stiff discomfort of Sam, her body rigid under the arm he had slung around her shoulders, her sweet shy smile gone. “Sam’s my girlfriend.” Sure, they hadn’t talked about calling it that, but right now wasn’t the time when he would ask her if it was okay.

Now Carlyle rolled his eyes. “Alyx, I looked into her when you first started acting strange. Please tell me you haven’t done anything stupid like knock her up.” His distaste for the idea was clear in his tone and the way his lips formed around the words, as if something from a sewer had found its way into his mouth. “She is trash. Not the kind of girl you should be dating if you want to follow Decker’s plan and become head of the division.”

His body tightened, and the way Sam’s hand gripped at his lower back told him she could sense his aggression, so he tried to relax. For her. “Fine. I quit. Now get out.”

Sam’s head whipped up to look at him from where she had been staring at her bare toes, her mouth dropping open. Carlyle was gaping as well, before he started sputtering. “What? You can’t just quit! You have a contract!”

“Try me.” Alyx pulled his arm from around Sam and roughly grabbed the shoulder of Carlyle’s jacket, hauling him towards the door, feeling how his muscles bunched and readied for a fight, but the slimmer man just tripped and let himself be dragged. “Now get out.”

“I’ll tell Decker! He’ll cut off your finances and then you will be right back where we found you, drinking yourself to-”

The door slamming in his face cut off the tirade, and Alyx leaned his head against it for a moment before turning to look at Sam, who was understandably shocked. “Are you okay?”

She blinked up at him, her hands resting on his forearms as he wrapped his hands over her waist. “Am I okay? Are you okay?”

He shrugged, more concerned with how she was taking Carlyle’s words. “You know he’s wrong, right? You are so perfect and nothing he said was true. You are everything good.”

Her face twisted into a frown as her hand lifted to slap his chest. “Are you really going to be in trouble for being with me? You just signed the lease on this place!”

For the first time in years, Alyx thought things were going to be alright. He felt lighter, not as weighed down by the past. Scooping her up against him, he grinned. “Sam, I don’t need money from Decker, no matter what he thinks.” Striding towards the bedroom, he kissed her cheek. “Now you get back in bed so I can make breakfast. When I come back, I’m stripping this shirt off you. You look so sexy in my clothes.”

He flopped her onto the bed, ignoring the foot she tossed at him in a half-hearted kick. “Alyx!”

He winked as he walked out the door. “Call me Alexander. I want to be Alexander for you, Sam.”

As he predicted, she didn’t stay in bed, instead following him out. But instead of the host of questions he expected, unaware that Mick had told Sam some of his past and not remembering much of the night he had an episode, she wrapped her arms around him, her face pressed to his back. “Okay… But you have to let me help with breakfast.”

Alyx…. Alexander… Laughed for the first time, the first real time in years.

* * *

“So, you are telling me your parents own Stine Airways?” Sam stared at Alyx as he traced idle patterns on her belly, both of them naked and sprawled in his bed again. “The flight company Mick works for and that Paxton is dying to get a job at when he graduates?”

His dark head nodded, kissing at her ribcage, but not saying anything.

Threading a hand through his hair, she tugged at the silky strands until he looked up at her. “Why in the world did you work for Prime X, anyway?”

He heaved himself up next to her, stretching out on his back and Sam would never admit it, but the king sized bed had been the right choice based on their activities and how much room he took up right now. Staring at the ceiling, he spoke slowly, and it was Sam’s turn to roll to her side and stroke a hand over his skin as he spoke. “Me and my dad… Things have always been…” His face scrunched in that oddly cute, oddly wolfish way he had as he thought of the words he wanted. “We didn’t get along. Never have. Weird since we have so much in common, but my mom… She always said we were too alike, and that was why we fought.”

He shrugged and Sam didn’t say anything, not rushing him, just letting him talk as she nestled closer. “We haven’t talked in a few years, but they never cut off my trust fund.” When her eyes widened and her brows nearly hit her hair, he rolled his eyes. “Don’t ask.” Sam blinked at him, locking that away to ask another time, and shook her head in an effort to stay focused. “But…” His breath huffed as his chest expanded and dropped quickly. “I’m not the kind of guy who can just sit around and do nothing, living off money I didn’t earn.”

“And Prime X came along and offered to let you work?”

He sighed, “Yeah. I could do the things I liked about being in the military; the flying, the tech, the physical challenge of it…” It was unsaid, but he also got to avoid the bad things he didn’t want to do, and Sam didn’t ask, only crawling practically on top of him, her face pressed to his neck, until he chuckled.

Wrapping his arms around her, Alexander kissed her forehead. It was weird to think of him as Alexander when she had known him as Alyx for so many months, but at the same time, in this moment with him smiling and kissing her head, it was easy. “What are you going to do now?”

“Well… I could always go to RA. My parents want me to come home, but Decker never really wanted me to reconcile. It was easier to ignore them.” His hand drifted down to rub her bottom and Sam could feel him getting hard against her hip, for what was the third time today, and Sam giggled. “Or I could find another flight company. Shouldn’t be hard.” When he said hard, he squeezed and rolled over on her.

Sam squealed, playfully squirming and wrestling with him as he got the condom and nibbled at her neck, then sighed in pleasure as he pushed into her. “Alexander….”

“God yes, Angel, what do you need?” He huffed, thrusting slowly and gently.

“Harder!”