ALPHA CYRUS

Chapter 17

CARMELA THOMPSON

"Who's going to watch over your company?" I suddenly asked out of nowhere. I'm feeling comfortable now that I have changed my shirt from white to a fresh navy blue one that he lent me.

Cyrus and I have been talking about a lot of things since we started eating and it's just now that I realized that he left his company to be here with me.

"There's nothing to worry about. Lopez can handle it without me." Then it hit me.

"Lopez..." I breathed while nodding. Cyrus stood up from his chair and started to pick up the empty boxes of the chinese takeout he bought on his way back here.

I watched him walk over to the sink and wash his hands. I still can't believe that Cyrene is his sister but, something's not right.

"So, if she is your sister, why is she not using Steele? Why Lopez?" I asked then I saw the way his body tensed.

For a good ten seconds, he didn't move nor said a word. He just stayed still, feet planted on the ground and I wanted to smack my head for bringing up something that made him uncomfortable. Although I didn't know that this would happen, I should have just kept that question to myself.

Faking a cough, I said, "It's fine if you don't want to answer. I'm sorry, I... I didn't mean to make you feel uncomfortable." Then I sighed.

From my peripheral vision, I saw that he dropped the empty boxes in the trash bin then turned to look at me. I just stayed looking down while he made his way back, and now, he's in front of me, towering my awkward self.

He sighed then taking my hands from my lap, he said, "I wish I could tell you why but it's not my story to tell." His voice sounded calm and apologetic.

I just nodded my head and tried to look away more. Making my hair cover my face and with one hand, he tuck the loose strands of hair behind my ear, then his hand went to cup my left cheek, tilting it a little bit so that I am now facing him.

I still looked away, feeling guilty, ashamed for being nosy but he brushed his thumb across my cheek making me look directly in his eyes.

"Don't think about it." And I nodded. He smiled at me reassuringly and just like that, the thick air that surrounded the two of us vanished.

Squeezing my other hand that he's been holding, he pulled me slowly, I jumped off of my chair while he just dragged me with him.

"Where are you taking me?" I asked, laughing a little bit.

"Somewhere you will surely love." He said and just like that, I found myself at the back of his cabin.

We walked towards a path inside the woods and I shivered as a cold gush of air blew over me. I hugged myself with my other arm while the other is being pulled by Cyrus. He's walking ahead of me and it's kind of cute that he's holding my hand tightly. Like those videos or photos from different social media accounts where your partner is ahead of you, walking backwards while smiling at the camera. The only thing about our situation is that he's so focused with where we are going and he probably isn't aware about how sweet shit we look right now.

I've never held hands with anyone except Ashton but he's an exception because he is my best friend and there's no romantic strings attached between us. So, Cyrus is the first guy I have held hands with. He's my first real kiss and not that Dylan because there was no feelings to it at all, and he's the first man I've been intimate with in my twenty four years of existence. Gosh, I am blushing! 

Smiling to myself, I just savoured the moment. With him being around me, it's enough reason for my smile to linger on my face the whole day. I also savoured the beauty of this forest. Huge trees are surrounding the land. Nothing or no one is here with us. The only noise you would hear is the scrunching of the dried leaves as we step on it, nothing more.