Three Hearts Left Intact

Chapter 26: Guilty Pleasure

"What else was going on?" Zander asked looking at Alex concerned.

"It's nothing," he argued feeling himself getting worked up over the topic. Not wanting to get emotional in front of Zander, Alex instead found himself growing angrier by the second. "Just get out!" He yelled louder than he would've liked.

The sudden burst of aggression sent Zander back slightly. He opened his mouth to protest leaving, but the second Alex saw this he beat Zander to say anything. "No get out!" He shouted louder standing up from the bed and pointed towards the door.

"Fine!" Zander yelled back irritated at his friend as he shot up from the bed. Stomping with every step he took, Zander left the room slamming the door to Alex's room loudly. The noise echoed through the halls of the cabin, waking up Mallix from his state of unconsciousness and sending Nina and James worriedly out of the kitchen.

"What happened?!" She asked seeing the distraught look on Zander's face.

"Alex he's such a...such a..." he grunted not able to comprehend his own thoughts as he started throwing his hands around in front of him in a punching motion.

His breathing was raspy his eyes were growing big. Nina approached Zander resting one hand on his shoulder looking him in the eyes to draw his attention away from his own thoughts. "Z, just breathe." She calmly but sternly instructed as she exaggerated her own breathing allowing Zander the chance to replicate.

Taking in slow breathes of air and letting it go smoothly, Zander's breathing came to a steady end. "Much better," Nina smiled again him, "now what happened with Alex?"

After a quick run through over his past few minutes, James and Nina's faces lit up in pure shock hearing about Alex's behavior. And for someone as hungover and with as bad as a migraine as Mallix had on the couch, he was still just as shocked when he gasped.

"Alex is never that angry or upset?! What did you do?" James questioned until he grunted when Nina slapped his arm.

"I'm sure Zander didn't do anything, it's not his fault Alex was put on edge in the first place." She said eyeing to her side where Mallix was sat bowing his head down in shame letting the events of earlier fill his head.

"Nothing! All I did was ask him what else was going on?! He seemed to be doing fine but then when I tried to ask further on he just snapped at me! And yelled at me to get out of his room!" He paused leaning back towards the hallway. "Which is apart of my home that he's being lent!" He yelled back louder making sure Alex could hear him.

"Hey, alright. Look, James and I just finished making some breakfast. Go with him and Mallix to eat some of it, and I'll go try to talk to Alex." Nina confidently said beginning to take strides towards Alex.

"N, you go with them to eat. I'll go talk to Alex." James said stepping in front of her.

"No I'm going." She persisted taking another step towards the hall causing James to back up.

"Just leave it, he needs his space." James tried again. But Nina was adamant with her decision. With the way today started she wanted to hurry and end the drama going on within the group so they could be able to move on with no dead weight amongst them.

"I'll only be a minute." She said making her way past James not even turning to look back at him as she walked down the hall.

Knowing her mind was set and there was nothing he could do to change it, he pushed on Zander's back softy directing him to the kitchen while he watched the back of his determined lover stop in front of Alex's door.

Standing there hesitantly, Nina made sure her breathing was soft as to not aggravate Alex even more. Knocking twice on his door, she was surprised to have no answer. Nobody yelled out to her, no footsteps could be heard inside, and there seemed to be an eerie silence within.

Attempting to twist the doorknob, it came as no surprise that the door was locked. "Alex?" She called out knocking with her ear against the door. She got no response. "Alex? It's me Nina, can I come in please? I just want to talk." She said again with her ear to the door waiting for some type of response.

After not hearing anything for another minute, Nina was about to give up. Just as she was turning herself around to join the rest of the group for breakfast Alex suddenly called for her to come in.

She heard the lock pop and the door open. Slowly Alex came into view looking even worst than when Zander left. She could clearly see how much pain was in his body. Walking in slowly she sat her crutches down on the floor as she sat down on the bed waiting for Alex to sit besides her.

Once he shut the door he sat down on the verge of a breakdown. "Alex what's been going on? You can talk to me," Nina reminded leaning in to hug him. The warm hug that Nina provided gave Alex a sense of security with her presence in the room.

"Zander told us you were having more than just arguments about your job. What else was going on?" She asked pulling out of the hug and instead taking his hand into her own.

"I...I've been having thoughts about something, b-but when I brought it up to her she didn't have a good response to it at all." He admitted despite the pain it shot through his heart.

"Come on, Alex. Tell me already. What were you trying to talk to your wife about?"

"I...I told her I was wanting to-that I wanted to get into..." he paused looking lost outside his window breaking down in his own head whether or not he should tell Nina. For a split second he was ready to pull away, but the genuine care and concern she had on her face was enough to put Alex's worries to an end.

"I've been interested in having a little." He finally said letting the heavy weight be lifted off his shoulders.
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Let me know what you think. Thanks Lexx signing off