Stella (Book One of Dark Souls Series)

Focaccia

*~*
bourbon- a straight whiskey distilled from corn, malt, and rye.
*~*

"Sembri una merda."

I flipped Stefano off and sat behind my desk. "I slept on the couch," I mumbled as I ran my hand down my face.

"She put you on couch arrest?" he asked with a laugh. I dropped my hands and looked at him with a serious face.

"It was voluntary," was all I said.

Stella drained all of my energy with two arguments in one day. Everything was intense after the last one. She cooked dinner, and Eva demanded that we watch a movie. Of course, I could not say no. Thankfully, she did not notice the tension in the room.

I noticed how she kept glancing at me the entire time the movie was playing. When Eva fell asleep on me, she looked like there was something she wanted to say. I couldn't lie and say I wasn't stealing looks at her as well.

When it was time for bed, no one had said a word to the other. She tucked Eva in and went to bed.

This morning, everything was worse. Stella looked like she was on the verge of tears from the moment I got up until the moment I left. I couldn't help but check her out when she was wearing a tank top and boxers. I knew that she'd done it on purpose. The only problem was that my pride was just as strong as hers.

Eva hugged me on my way to the elevator. When I kissed her on the forehead, she giggled, ran to her mother, and hugged her waist.

Estella only stood there and looked at me as the elevator doors closed.

I could tell that our pride would be the end of us.

"What happened?" Stefano's voice snapped me out of my thoughts.

I looked at him. "She loves me," I answered.

A dumbfounded look was on his face. "You don't love her?" he asked me.

"She stopped before she actually voiced the words."

He sat up in his seat. "Well, how do you know she does?"

"It is the way she looks at me. It's in her smile, her laugh, she..." I trailed off. It was in her actions. I knew she was attracted to me. I knew she liked me. I didn't know she loved me until she said so last night. I was sure she had no idea until last night. "I think because of all of the men she's been with, it scares her to feel something with me. With her, it's like I'm losing a game that hasn't started yet."

Stefano rested his head on his hands as he leaned forward, placing his elbows on my desk. "It seems to me like you know why she is the way she is, yet you aren't working with her."

"Stef, I have tried working with her," I answered immediately. "I have tried to be there for her. I have told her I wouldn't abandon her. She knows these things, and she still won't allow herself to just be."

"Brother, sometimes actions and words are stronger than either/or."

"What do you do when Heather acts an ass?" I asked.

He sighed and both of us laughed. "My advice won't work because neither of you will talk to the other."

I sat back in my seat. "Sporco figlio di puttana," I mumbled and shook my head in amusement.

He laughed. "She stormed into my office yesterday and walked out with a limp and no dignity," he said with a shrug.

"You're sick," I said while laughing.