Alex
I can’t stop thinking about what Adele told me. I am not the nicest guy in the world. I admit that I use women. There is nothing better than having a woman under my control and having her do whatever I tell them to do. I do it for our mutual pleasure, not to hurt her. I hate any man that would hit a woman. I don’t even consider him a real man if he does. The thought of her being abused by this man who would wear pink pisses me off. It makes me want to go out and find him and make sure he would never hit any woman, especially Adele, again. When we went back down to the club, I kept watching for him to come back. That type always comes back. He won’t give up until he has dragged her ass back home. When I wasn’t watching for him, my eyes focused on Adele. I had always noticed that she was beautiful, but now I see another side of her. I see a woman that has built up walls to protect herself. I see a survivor who went on the run from a man who abused her. I also can see a woman who is tired and who could use someone else being in control. She needs someone who will give her the rest she needs. I have been a bastard towards her because I didn’t trust her. This is a woman who had every reason not to trust me. I probably even reminded her of the bastard she was running from. I never hit her, but I can only assume that he verbally abused her too.
I try to shake off these thoughts as I meet with some of my business associates. They can tell I am not focused, but luckily, they enjoy hearing themselves talk. When it’s finally closing time and my meetings are done I head over to Adele. I ask her to come to the office before she leaves. She is going is going to fight me when I make my suggestion. To be totally honest, it’s not even a suggestion. I will demand it. I will not let her leave the club tonight alone with that guy looking for her. As far as we know, he’s hiding around the damn corner waiting for her to leave.
The first thing she asks me is if I am going to fire her. I tense up when she asks because I realize how much of a bastard I have been to her. I won’t admit it, but Adele is probably the best waitress I have. The customers have really taken to her and ask to sit in her section. I will never admit that to her, so to save face, I just let her know that she won’t be fired today. I need to be gentle with Adele, but still make sure she understands that she will have to listen to me. She needs to trust me. When Adele tells me that she won’t be going home, but to a hotel, I realize that I made the right decision. I just hope she realizes it. I advise that a hotel isn’t a good idea and I have a better option for her. Adele is coming home with me.
Adele’s brown eyes widen and she goes stiff. I almost wonder if she went into shock. The room is silent for almost five minutes before she snaps herself out of it.
“What did you just say?”
“You will be no safer staying at a hotel. You need to come home with me.” Adele backs away from me and her back hits the door. I almost start to wonder if I am going to have to chase her down. I tilt my head and move closer to her just in case I do.
“I... I am NOT coming home with you Alex,” she says quietly.
“Your ex-husband is looking for you. He might have been in Lola’s house. It’s not safe for you to be staying by yourself.”
“I can call Nick. Maybe he can stay with me at the hotel,” Adele argues. I get tense and become very agitated. I am not sure who this Nick is, but he isn’t staying with Adele. I don’t care if he was handpicked by Frank, Lola, and her fucking judge father.
“I don’t trust Nick. I promised Frank that when he returned you would still be here. I would also like you to be in one piece, Adele. If Nick was all that great he would have paid closer attention and maybe your husband wouldn’t have gotten into Lola’s house. Maybe if Nick had paid closer attention, he wouldn’t have strolled into the club. None of that would have happened on my watch, Adele.”
“You don’t even like me. How do I know I would be safe with you?” Adele questions and I can’t blame her.
“You have my word, Adele. I promise you,” I say. These are words that I hate to say to anyone. I hate making fucking promises. If she accepts, I would rather shoot myself than break the promise I just made to her. I close my eyes and back away from her.
“Okay. I’ll come home with you. I will trust you, Alex.”
I have Adele park her car in my parking spot and hold the door while she seats herself in my car. I didn’t think it was a good idea to have her follow me to my place. I didn’t trust her to show up and I didn’t know if her husband would follow her. If she was in my car, I would notice if I was being followed. The car is dead silent so I reach down to turn on the radio. Adele looks over at me as very loud rap music starts blaring on the radio. I can feel her eyes on me, but I focus on the road in front and behind us. I drive past the turn to my place and decide our first stop should be to the grocery store. I park in the parking garage at the Whole Foods and Adele glances over at me.
“Sorry, I didn’t expect to have a guest so we need to shop first,” I advise her as I turn off the car and we get out. I shake my head as she meets me near the trunk.
“Going forward, would you mind waiting in the car until I come open the door?” I ask as I grab her arm.
“Are you serious?” Adele replies.
“Yes. I am dead serious. I’d like to make sure it’s safe for you to get out.”
We walk into the Whole Foods and I grab a basket. I don’t plan on doing this every night, so I tell Adele to pick up whatever she needs. We seem to have similar taste in food and we start to discuss how we like it prepared. I hate to be an ass, but I sure hope Adele will offer to cook this shit for me. I prefer my women in the kitchen and the bedroom. I doubt that Adele will offer me anything in the bedroom so the kitchen is going to be my only option. I look over at Adele as she starts looking through the frozen section and my phone rings. I pull it out of my pocket and see that it’s Hailey. I close my eyes and open them to see Adele putting shit into our basket. I decide I will ignore the call and within a few minutes, it starts to ring again. Adele looks over at me and smiles looking down towards the ringing phone in my hand.
“Hello,” I answer knowing that Hailey won’t stop calling if she doesn’t hear from me.
“Hey, when are you coming home? I’m waiting for you.” She slurs and I close my eyes hoping that she isn’t at my house.
“Where are you?” I ask and pray that she gives me the right answer. “I am at your house silly,” she answers but it’s not the answer I wanted. I stop pushing the basket and motion for Adele to keep shopping.
“Hailey, I need you to listen to me. You need to get the fuck out of my house. You have no business being there. Leave the key on the kitchen table and get out.” I whisper so that Adele doesn’t overhear me. She continues shopping, but she is still close enough to hear this conversation.
“Why are you so mean to me, Alex?” Hailey whines and I can tell she is drunk or high. I don’t have time for this shit.
“Hailey, I’ll have Thomas pick you up.” I hang up and text Thomas asking him to have her out of my house in twenty minutes. He texts back quickly and tells me that it’ll be done. He questions why I wouldn’t want her there, but that is an issue we’ll have to discuss later. Thomas and I both wanted Adele gone, so he will not be happy to know she will be staying with me. He would probably even refuse to pick Hailey up if he found out I am grocery shopping with Adele for her stay.
Adele and I argued for five minutes while the cashier watched. She insisted that she pay and I assured her that I would be paying. As we argued the line grew and the cashier asked her to let me pay so that she could start moving the line. As we head back to my place, I glance over at her and she is staring straight ahead. I think we are both silently praying that her staying at my place isn’t a big mistake.