Heartbeat [Alec Volturi]

Candid

Alec placed a hand on the small of my back, guiding me back out into the oblivious crowd.

His touch sent a ripple effect through my brain, which immediately sped up my heart rate. I glanced over my shoulder to see a small smirk on his face. Prick.

He handed a ticket to the valet and I wondered if Heidi had planned for my departure to be with Alec all along. She'd flirted with the valet upon our arrival and I was sure I saw the kid quickly scrawl his number onto the back of the very card Alec passed over. I wasn't sure whether I should be impressed or embarrassed at the possibility.

We stood in silence in front of the club, on the verge of an awkward silence. Which was odd. I would've thought I'd be pulling my hair out if I'd ever had to experience what happened inside. But I wasn't and I didn't. We just stood there. Facing forward. Not saying anything.

What do you say in this moment anyways? A fist bump? An obnoxious 'we showed him!' Or exactly what we were doing now? Nothing. As if it hadn't happened, as if what we had done was insignificant. As it were nothing.

Alec shrugged off his jacket and placed it over my shoulders and I allowed him to help me put my arms through. All at once, I was hit with something calming and overwhelming, in a really pleasant way. Jesus Christ. It smelled like Alec. I flinched, trying to get the thought out of my system as the car pulled up with a swerve. The valet, clearly making the most of his quick thrill in the million dollar car.

"I'm not cold?" I asked Alec in confusion. He was well aware of my inability to feel the cold and despite the whipping of the wind around us, I was unbothered and unaware of the element's affect on my body. Still, he zipped it up halfway.

"That is not why —" I raised an eyebrow at him and he sighed. "It will help lessen your...scent inside the car."

I swallowed, nodding. He avoided eye contact with me. Yet, his hand returned to my back, — under the jacket, and I could feel the pressure on my bare skin; And I think I had a 2 second mini stroke as a result just as the valet opened the passenger door of the car.

I recovered quickly enough as the valet reached out to hand us the keys. Automatically, I responded and interrupted his hand off to Alec. I looked down at the keys and could feel a grin growing on my cheeks. I'd never really driven much before. Maybe...

Apparently, Alec noticed my reaction and before I could even open my mouth, he cut in, "absolutely not."

I stuck my tongue out at him, to which he rolled his eyes and the valet hid a laugh at our routine. Alec guided me in to the sleek black Bugatti, slipped the valet a well-hidden tip, and patiently closed my door. It had hardly shut before he was sitting in the driver's seat beside me.

"How will the others get back?"

I didn't get a response until he took off from zero to thirty and I was thrust forward. His arm reached out to stop me from hitting anything except his marble-like body. I'm not sure which would be worse, but I feel like the glovebox would've left less of a bruise. He pulled off to the side of the road and demanded, "seatbelt." I wordlessly mimicked him as I turned away to do as he asked.

"Saw that."

Most of the ride back had been silent as Alec refused to respond to anything I said with more than one word. Somebody got grumpy quickly. With one hand on the wheel, I couldn't help but imagine him in a perfume commercial. The windows were only slightly open, but the wind whipped through his hair, as black as the night sky outside. He ran his free hand through it and I had to look away as my heartbeat betrayed me again.

I rested my arm on the middle console and rested my chin in my palm, staring out at the road ahead. I bit back the urge to ask my travel partner the one question I actually wanted him to answer. He'd yet to give any details about where he'd been for the last several days. Not that I needed to know, but my curiosity was driven by a more base desire.