Bloom for me

Chapter 22

Alette

"Alette!"

Oh god.

I know exactly who that is.

Maybe if I just act like I didn't hear him he'll go away.

"Alette?"

Or maybe not.

I whip around and put my best acting face on to seem like I'm searching, confused and trying to find whoever is calling my name, but I don't have to look very far.

"Dylan" I try to muster up my cheeriest voice as I stand in front of the blonde, floppy haired, touchy feely boy that is my ex-boyfriend, Dylan Archer.

"What on earth are you doing in a place like this? This isn't your kind of crowd" he punches my shoulder playfully like I'm a kid.

"I'm here with my work colleagues" I deliberately don't mention Silas because I know that the second I mention that I have a boyfriend Dylan will go all macho and want to have some testosterone filled stand off with him.

"I thought your boss was like ancient, this doesn't seem like the kind of place he would go to either" Dylan looks at me in confusion and honestly I'm shocked he even remembered anything about me or my job that wasn't surface level.

"Oh no that was my old boss, he died not too long ago so I had to find another job" I explain to him without going into much detail.

"Oh I'm sorry Ally, that must've been hard, I know you two were close" he sends me an overdramatic sympathetic look and puts his hands on my shoulder in what I'm assuming is an attempt to be comforting when really it's just making me very uncomfortable with how much he's squeezing my skin and rubbing his thumb against my bare shoulder.

I try to shrug his hand off and take a step back but his grip doesn't let up and in fact tightens even more.

I'm about to tell him to get off me but my words are caught in my throat when I see that he is focused on something behind me instead of actually on me.

It isn't until I feel the familiar warmth of his body behind me that I realise he was watching Silas stalk over to us, with I'm guessing a very angry look on his face.

I sigh in relief and lean back into him completely, laying my head back so that it is resting against his chest, my head fully under his as he towers over me, so much so that his chin is still a sizeable distance above the top of my head.

I don't even realise that Dylan's hand is off of my shoulder until I return my gaze to him seeing him standing there with his both slightly agape and his arms slack to his sides.

"Is there a reason you were touching my wife?" Silas' gruff voice barks out.

Wife?!

When the hell did we get married because I certainly didn't know I had a husband!

Dylan lets out an awkward laugh and holds his hands up, trying to muster up a friendly smile.

"Dylan was just trying to show his sympathy after hearing that my old boss passed away, we used to know each other" I decide to step in to try and help Dylan who still hasn't found his words yet.

"And he had to lay his hands on you for that?" Silas replies to me but keeps his eyes on Dylan.

"I-I" Dylan clears his throat before attempting to speak again "didn't mean any disrespect mate, I know I'm the ex-boyfriend but you don't have to worry about me. Dylan Archer, nice to meet ya" he holds a shaky hand out for Silas.

Why did he have to say that? Why did he have to tell him that he's my ex-boyfriend and make Silas dislike him even more? I was perfectly fine with filling Silas in myself once Dylan was gone but no.