Sufferable Acceptance

Twenty-Three

Amelia

Shortly after arriving at the restaurant Alex showed up. He slid into the booth unbuttoning his suit jacket.

He leaned down close to me with a smile on his face giving me two kisses on the cheek.

"Long time no see" He said to me.

"Yeah, how long has it been?" I asked.

"Two years, remember? When you tried to kill me in Paris?" He said.

"Oh, yes, how could I forget?" I said with a chuckle.

"So, how have you been?" I asked.

"Let's cut to the chase Amelia. I know Alfie didn't call me out of the blue so we could reconnect. What do you want?"

"Why are you back in New York?" I asked.

"That's private. My boss wouldn't like it if I ran around town telling everyone who I was working for." He said.

"Is it the Petrovs?" I asked bluntly.

"Why do you want to know?" He questioned.

"Look, I've heard a few things, and I'm worried about you. I don't want you falling into the wrong crowd. You know working for them would be risky. Consider it looking out for an old friend." I tried to lie.

"Oh so we're friends now?" He asked, not believing me.

"Look Alfie and I just wanted to check in. There's no crime in catching up. You don't want to talk? That's fine. I don't care at all what you chose to do with your life, but Alfie asked me to come. Let's just have a few drinks and call it a night." I asked.

"How could I say no to an offer like that?" Alex smiled.

As if on cue Alex slid to my side of the booth and sat his hands on my thigh. I thought I was going to be sick, I despised this creep. Alex's hand on my thighs only reminded me of Theo. It made me wish Theo was in this booth with me, and not Alex.

*****

A few hours had gone by and Alex was trashed. He was quick to start drinking, and once he did he didn't take a break. The only consistency with Alex was how easy it was to get him drunk. His only flaw was his sweet spot for vodka.

I had done my best to not slit his throat in this booth. Unfortunately for me, the more drunk he got, the more repulsive he became. I wanted to cut his hands off, each time they grabbed at me.

"I'm so glad we could reconnect Alex. I feel like we really had something back in Paris." I said.

"Remember all those memories we made when we were younger? We could have that again. We would be quite the team." I lied. "I know you've got a good job right now Alex, and I want in. Tell me who you're working for, and we can be Alex and Amelia again."

"He wouldn't give you a chance in a million years. He wouldn't ever hire you. It's lucky I even got the job." Alex stuttered.

"Who?" I asked.

"Nikolas.. Petrov." He grinned, proud of himself.

"Wow, Alex." I said, snaking my arms around his neck. "That's impressive. What did you do to get that job?"

"Wouldn't you like to know." He smiled.

"Why does Nikolas need you working for him?" I asked.

"It's complicated. Way too complicated for a woman like you. This is men's work." He said.

I was so close to stabbing this man with a knife.

"Oh come on, please Alex.. it's me, you can trust me. It would be our little secret.." I whispered again.