Avriel Kaplan: Well dressed, well groomed, beautifully handsome, quiet and brooding and exactly the kind of man Ariel Declan doesn't need to know. But, that is not for her to decide.
Alexander Kirk: wickedly handsome, well known and well liked, egot...
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Several more nights passed and still, Alex did not return to the club. Ariel didn't know whether to be concerned or to even care. She wanted to remain angry at him due to the stunts he pulled, but she was only human, she forgave him. She honestly hoped that wherever he was, he was safe. That was odd to her. It was very confusing for Avriel when she spoke to him about that night at what had become their home. She spent all her free time there. When she wasn't working or at school, she was with Avriel at his estate.
"Why?" He asked for the fourth time. She wasn't sure she wasn't just wasting her breath. She took his hand gently in hers and open her thoughts and emotions to him. He pulled them in but did not reciprocate. She did not need to see his last memory of Alex. He nodded in understanding. "You are so compassionate and caring. I will never know how you can carry so much love in your heart." He took her other hand and let the electricity between them flow. He leaned in close and gently kissed her cheek. She turned bright green eyes to him. He was always such a gentleman when it came down to certain things. It wasn't like she hadn't caught that look in his eyes more than once, yet he had only kissed her lips once and that was an accident.
Every night since the second nightmare he curled up in bed beside her and she drifted off to sleep listening to the sound of his heartbeat and still he never once put his hands in an inappropriate place on her body. It was sweet, but it was distractingly annoying, and it somehow made her feel inadequate or unacceptable. 'you are more than enough, you are accepted, and you are loved beyond humanly measurable. NEVER forget that. Just because I have not yet pursued that kind of intimacy with you, does not mean that you mean nothing to me. You are everything, my everything. I live and breathe because of you.'She had forgotten that she let him in and hadn't closed her mind off to him. Consequently, he caught her thoughts as she thought them. He held her eyes with his for an eternity before he leaned down and gently touched her lips with his. It wasn't a deeply passionate kiss, it was hardly a kiss at all, but it meant the world to her that he gave it to her. He pulled away and sought her eyes. He placed his hand on her lovely cheek and leaned in again and gently kissed her lips once more. Then he pulled her close to him and lay down to go to sleep. She was sleeping peacefully within moments. He closed his eyes and rested his chin on her head. He would never tire of being just like that.
The following evening, they took dinner with Darius and Sam at a nice restaurant in town. After, Austin drove Avriel and Ariel to the club. In the backseat of the car, she asked if she could put her head on his shoulder as she intertwined her fingers in his. He told her she could do it anytime so long as they weren't in public because public displays of affection weren't necessary. She quietly agreed and drifted off to sleep on his shoulder. He held her hand tight and slowly gave her some of his energy. She appeared to need it.
The club was very busy. The bars and the dance floors were packed with hot sweaty undulating human bodies. It made Avriel heady and filled Ariel's tip jar to overflowing. There were so many new faces. She didn't often notice when people entered the club even though her bar faced the door she never bothered with looking until a young and very handsome man walked in the door. She swore nearly every head turned at the sight of him. He was stylish, style incarnate, as he sashayed into the crowd. He didn't' blend in, there was no way that he could. That hair, cut and styled just right for his face and those deep rich chocolate brown eyes. His cheekbones could cut someone if they got too close. His movement was the very definition of grace. His dark eyes, perfect brows, and strong nose all cried Italian. His bearing and his approach all cried royalty.
She wasn't sure where he was headed. It was clear that he wasn't either. He moved aimlessly about for a bit before settling on a direction. He headed straight for her bar. She could only describe his dress as decadent. He looked delicious in his clothes. He wore a crushed velvet, velvet not velour, jacket that had an Edwardian cut to it. The sleeves were tight around his wrists but open and flaring in a blue velvet ruffle around his hand. The bottom of the jacket, which sat above his waist had the same ruffle to it. Under the jacket, he wore a white poet's shirt open at the collar. His pants were like heavy tights and black tucked into a nice pair of boots that Sam would die to have in her closet. He had a silver chain around his neck that played at the tiny spattering of chest hair that was exposed. His sexuality exuded sexuality. Every head turned, every except Avriel's. He was busy watching Ari. She moved to him and his empty glass without another thought about the handsome stranger that had just stepped up to her bar. Sam or Darius would serve him.
Avriel took her hand in his and held it for a long moment. Then let her go so that she could refill his glass for him. He smiled and said thank you. His smile died on his lips the moment his eyes fell on the handsome stranger. A low growl escaped him. The people around him started acting tense and uneasy, maybe even frightened a little. Avriel's surprise transitioned into anger as it washed over Ariel, she could feel his anger and his pain as the uncontrolled emotions washed over everyone around him. She turned to look at the man that had just come to her bar. He was staring at Avriel, looking much like he'd seen a ghost. She thought for sure he was going to bolt when Avriel stood up and squared his shoulders.
Upon the third floor, having sensed Avriel's emotional outburst, Scott raced to the balcony hoping tosee his Alexander standing there, doing his best to beg Avriel for forgivenessall the while Avriel glared at him. Who he saw instead froze his feet in theirtracks. His mouth hung open, he just couldn't help it. He couldn't believe hiseyes, he rubbed them just to be certain. Scott was filled with anger and frustration, elation and joy at the sight of an old and dear friend. He was still standing there facing off with Avriel Kaplan. Avriel clearly was not happy to see him at all. Avriel's eyes were cold and dark, his lips nothing more than a thin line between his soul patch and his mustache. The veins on Avriel's neck and forehead threatened to rupture. It reminded him so much of the last time he had seen them together. That was right before the fists started flying and the grappling match began. He took a much-needed deep breath and whispered the name of the only person that ever came between him and Avriel. Memoriesrich and accurate came flooding back to him as he whispered the handsome youngman's name. "Mitchel." To Scott, it was music to the soul. To Avriel it was agony and disappointment.
