When the Bus Stopped

Chapter 11

Alessandro hadn't calmed down quite as quickly as Lucy had after their misunderstanding. Instead, he had opened a bottle of whisky and strode out onto his verandah. The white snow around the building was almost neon under the moonlight - as though the Manor was rested on a fluro bulb.

But Alessandro wasn't in the mood for viewing the scenery.

"Damn woman!"

Pouring a glass of whisky he downed it. His jaw twitched unmercifully. It was that bloody beeswax on her lips, he decided. As soon as she'd told him that her gorgeous mouth was smothered with the stuff he'd become focused on it. Would she taste of honey? From the short moment he'd had (before becoming air borne) he'd deduced that yes... she did. Somewhat. But it was quickly drowned out by the pain of having his scrotum pushed up into his throat.

After the entire #metoo movement he hoped she wouldn't realize who he was. The headlines... all of the headlines... followed by concerts being canceled because the story of uncouth advances on a woman triggered rape victims everywhere.

Jesus Christ!!! He thumped the table. To be lumped in with actual rapists after seeing the way she'd flushed at his touch... the way her eyes had glittered when she'd caught him looking at her. He had really thought she was as interested as him as he was with her.

He'd been a complete idiot.

As he poured the second helping of whisky he glanced at her verandah which was diagonally down from his. Alessandro could hear her muffled voice, picked up by the alpine breeze and hurtled his way. She was chatting away casually like assaulting potential bed mates was an everyday occurrence for her.

He wanted to feel angry with her, but he was far too angry with himself. He didn't know what had come over him, maybe he'd had too much to drink, or maybe she really was some kind of Medusa - like those idiotic lyrics which kept interupting him since he'd met her. Gazing upon her was turning him to stone... his brain first, obviously.

Bohemian Medusa turned me to stone... her gaze lied to me, said I'd never be alone

They were the corniest lyrics he'd ever come up with. He shut his eyes as the fiery whisky burnt its way down his gullet. Said I'd never be alone... God. He snarled inwardly, they were pathetic.

He had to be honest to himself, they weren't the best... but he'd heard worse at music awards. Regardless of his contempt, they kept niggling - repeating - and in the darkness, he imagined he could see Lucy's catlike green eyes watching him, a partly derisive smile playing across her lips as if she knew what absurdity she was causing. She was doing his head in and he'd known her less than a day. Imagine the kind of chaos she could cause after a month.

Alessandro Magno had dated some of the most attractive women in the industry. Some overly complimentary magazines were even quoted as saying that he dated "the world's most beautiful women." But Alessandro had always been slightly derisive of that title... To really find the most beautiful woman in the world the judges would have to scour through every hospital, office block and school in the entire globe. And perhaps - angry at himself for even thinking it - they would need to search every house bus too.

Lucy's eyes were watching him still. Guarded yet playful. He wasn't sure how she managed to combine those two emotions so cleverly.

He stood silently near the railings and listened to her voice. He couldn't hear the words but the tone was identical to the expression playing on her face all night. Guarded but playful. He wondered who the poor fool was that she was talking to. Perhaps an artist or a writer... just the thought of that made him increasingly mad. Why hadn't he asked her if she was single? He'd been so busy thinking that she'd be lucky to be invited to share a bed with him that he hadn't realized that maybe she was taken.

"To hell with this!" He marched to his luxurious penthouse suite, slamming the door behind him solidly. He knew he was acting like a crazy hormonal teenage boy all over again and he wasn't proud of it. He'd come a long way from acne covered and emotionally tormented years.

Imagine what Daniello Bellucci would think if he knew that he was going to grow up to be one of the world's most eligible bachelors. Alessandro was successful beyond his wildest dreams. He had enough houses to keep all of his cars covered and he'd not had to worry about struggling to pay for a power bill for years, and yet could be turned down so easily by a nobody.

Alessandro stripped off and lowered himself into the bath, hoping it would wash away the anger and resentment that he felt. But instead, it niggled away at him. Not allowing him any kind of reprieve.

"Why her?" He whispered at the bathroom in general. He wasn't short for female company. He had dated Belinda Sparkles for god's sake. The woman was an absolute goddess. And she hadn't felt that Alessandro was so repulsive that she needed to knee his gonads up into his throat. From what he could remember she had been the one to initiate everything with him.

Ms. Sparkles wasn't the sharpest tool in the shed. She was a fluttery self-obsessed creature whose favorite hobby was to collect magazines with her picture on the front. And if the world wasn't interested in her she would have her personal assistant ringing a nearby Police Station to ask if they could drop her off at some celebrity studded event to draw the attention of the paparazzi. Making his life miserable for the ensuing weeks. Just leaving home for a pizza became a free for all after she'd pulled a publicity stunt. Despite her lack of intelligence, Belinda was a total sweetie. Or at least she had been until she'd realized he was human and sometimes forgot to put the toilet seat down behind him. Or left his clothes in a pile beside the washing machine instead of the his and hers baskets that she'd carefully selected.

After they'd parted ways he'd moved into the willing arms of Christie Mole, a very slim model who'd wooed men across the globe with her photoshopped bikini shoot in a men's magazine. Alessandro had previously believed that photoshop was only for taking the pounds off people ... not putting them on. But her cavorted buttocks were not quite as ample in real life. She'd broken it off with him after he'd failed to contact her for two weeks. He hadn't meant to forget her... Most red blooded males would have been horrified to think anyone could forget Christie.

And then he'd found himself single for the longest time. It wasn't that he was short on the attention of good looking women... it was that he was fussy. Finding a woman who sent his blood pumping in those cramped little VIP rooms - it was a little harder than he'd first imagined. If Lucy Falkwell had come strolling through the doors of one of those glitzy nightclubs... well... it would have been a different story.

Alessandro held his breath and dropped down under the bath water. He guessed that was where the attraction lay with Lucy. She might be a little simple when it came to technology but he could see in her eyes that she was a woman with determination and grit. Which was all the more reason that he should stay away from her.

If she knew who he was, his molesting her in the hallway of the Moonshine Manor would be in all the headlines for the following two months, sending him and all of his PR into damage control. Fans of world famous tenors weren't very forgiving.