chapter 11

Louise's point of view*

Staring into the eyes of a pissed off Alex was not something I had wanted to be doing so soon.

I mean sure, I didn't really mince my words around him but that was before I knew he was going to be the one signing my paycheck.

I didn't even know what I had done to piss him off, had Cory told him that I wasn't going to work for him? had he been told that I couldn't break my lease?

I was about to ask him that very question when he took two long strides and bent down beside me, his hand grabbing my chin and lifting my head up so that he could clearly see my entire face.

'Why were you crying, I thought you didn't have a boyfriend?' he asked, his voice hard and almost threatening. I wanted to run and hid behind someone big. I frowned at him as the question registered in my mind.

'What are you on about, I don't have a boyfriend,' i sniffed confused at his line of questions.

'Then who was the man who opened the door,' he asked, skeptically, obviously not fully believing me, 'he said it was his apartment building.'

'That's because it is his apartment, 'i answered truthfully but upon seeing his eyes darken in anger quickly rushed to explain. 'he s my landlord.'

'What so he can just walk in and out, and feel comfortable enough to open the door for strangers huh, ' he hissed, I could see him getting more worked up the more e thought about it although I wasn't entirely sure why.

'No but we had a slight...disagreement,' i said quietly as I remembered the reason I was crying in the first place.

It seemed his eyes didn't know where to look as he scanned me over several times. his grip on my chin tightening.

I searched his face, seeing his eyes do the same to me, he no longer looked as pissed, just merely worried. I could feel my stomach drop to the bottom of my feet, something bad must have happened.

'what is it?' i asked softly,shaking my face free of his grip, replacing it with my chin.

'Why were you crying?' he asked me instead trying to clench his fists but my hands stopped him from doing so. glancing down at our hands briefly startled before looking back at me intently, a scowl beginning to form on his face, 'Who made you cry?'

I was flustered at his questions, I didn't know how to answer the questions without painting myself as incompetent, irresponsible and a hormonal female like he already perceives the majority of women to be.

contemplating feeding him a fib, I glanced at his face and saw him boring down at me and knew he would see straight through me and I would probably feel some form of punishment later on. Maybe if I explained my predicament to him, he could help find a solution or extend the time for me to get everything sorted, I knew a day would be too short a notice but I didn't know it would be made to be this much of a deal or expensive.

'Well you see, my landlord and flatmates won't let me break my lease due to short notice unless I cough up near seven thousand pounds and I just haven't got that kind of money,' i explained as I brushed my eyes with the inside of my wrists, ' I mean, I get it because I'm the person who covers everyone's missed rent so the landlord can't kick us out, but this is my future we are talking about! if this is what being nice and generous gets you, you can take it back because I don't want it.'

I hated to be the whining kind of woman because they irritated to no end, but I felt justified to whine to my heart's content in this case!

'Is that what you are worrying and crying over?' he asked me, looking directly at me to try and see if I was lying, 'cause it's no big deal, I'll pay for it. Seven thousand pounds is nothing to me and it won't be much to you either soon.'

I stared at him shocked for a few minutes. Wait, did I just hear that right, would he really go to all that trouble for me?

'Are you sure? I asked trying to hold my grin in, giving him one more chance to back out.

'Yep, so you better start packing your things as I see you have not even started, and don't forget to sign the new contract I brought over, he said as he dug into his case and pulled out a small stack of papers before turning around and walking towards the door, 'I'm going to go have a talk with your landlords, be ready in an hour.'

before I could object, he was already out the door. An HOUR? was the man crazy, did he expect me to have packed all my belongings by then? I knew I shouldn't complain, though, he was doing me a huge favour by covering my lease and dealing with my landlord, so the least I could do was try and follow one of his orders correct. I ended up just packing everything that I thought was necessary, flinging everything that was associated with my waitressing job and not suitable for my new career into a black bag. it was not even an hour before I was completely finished. I only had two suitcases which only one was filled with clothes, the other held the objects I had brought here with me. most of my belongings stayed at my parent's house when I moved to university and I never really had time to go back and collect them or see my family, not that I had wanted to. I didn't want to go back and have to tell them I had wasted three years of my life and put myself in twenty-seven thousand pound debt with nothing to show for.

'Hey, are you done yet?' Alex asked, popping his head into the room.

'Yeah, I'm binning most of my stuff anyway so I only have like two bags, ' i told him as I pointed at my suitcase. quickly entering the room, Alex grabbed both my suitcases before towing them behind him as he exited the room.

'Wait! what? where are we going?' I asked confused as I grabbed the contract and the trash bag as I chased after him, not so gently dumping the bag in the bin room before chasing him outside. he had already given his driver one of my suitcases and was currently putting the other in the boot.

'Oh, did I not tell you pumpkin? were going to my place for the night, it'll be a lot easier tomorrow on the plane and stuff.' he answered smirking at my shocked expression before getting into the car. I was still standing with my mouth hanging open a few minutes later when he popped is head out, 'Are you coming or just gonna stand there with your mouth open like an idiot. you don't know what can get in there,' he said smirking at his little joke. scowling I followed him into the car. I guessed he stayed at some fancy hotel near the airport, so I will probably just rent out the cheapest room possible for the night. I wasn't stupid enough to assume that he would invite me to his house for a sleepover so I kept my mouth shut as the car started to pull away leaving behind the old Louise that I had tried so desperately to change and now I had.

Smiling I looked out the window before the smile was wiped off my face and I snapped my head to the direction of Alex, my eyes wide open in shock.

Wait.

Pumpkin?