Chapter Three

Alex & Jane

{Alex's POV}

“Come to my office Alex,” my boss requests.

I leave what I am working on to see Kilkenny in his office. I wonder what surprises he has in store for me. Ever since I started working with my brother, life has never been the same.

I take my seat across his while he is busy sorting some papers before him.

“You called me,” I speak out.

“Ah yes, Alex. I called you,” he responds. “I wanted to see you and your brother but he's on an errand.”

“Why?” I ask.

“I want to break the news to you before it is officially announced.”

I'm not sure of what I am about to hear but it sure sounds interesting.

“Well, congratulations Alex because you've been promoted!”

I want to speak, I search for words but I am too dumbstruck. I cannot believe my ears. I've been promoted! What!!!

“Sir… you… you say what?!” I stammer.

“Yes Alex. You're now the new HMD,” he offers me an envelope.

I take the envelope with such care like it's worth a million dollars. This is so great!

“As you already know, your predecessor is currently under suspension and most likely, he's going to be sacked so I want you to take his position. You deserve it,” he adds.

My predecessor was a slacker. I bet he didn't see this coming and to top it all, I'm his worst coworker. I'm virtually everyone else's worst coworker. They all think I'm too young to have achievements. If that isn't worse enough, they envy me because I'm Kilkenny's favourite employee.

You see, the reason why I don't want Gregory to work with me is simple. I can't give my coworkers another reason to talk ill about me behind my back. Come to think of it, I'm a young graduate and if I become the Marketing Head, how will I work with my team? They all will surely take me for granted.

“Thank you sir,” I say as I get up to leave.

“By the way, Greg will take your former position and be part of your team,” he quickly adds. “He's quite a fast learner just like you.”

Hmm. I'm quite impressed.

“I'm sure it'll make things easy for both of you.”

This is double the responsibility. I hope I can handle this.

*

The announcement comes in later on and boy it feels so good. But just as I expect, people start talking behind my back - literally.

“I can't believe boss would give this newbie a huge responsibility as the Marketing Head,” one colleague comments.

“I can't believe it either. Did he cast a spell on him or what? We've been working for him since the foundation of this firm and we got nothing,” another adds.

“Why don't you mind your business and get back to work. He deserves it because he worked really hard for it,” a female voice reprimands them.

They continue with whatever it is they are doing, still throwing hisses at me.

“All you do all day is gossip.” She turns to me. “Congratulations Alex.”

“Thank you,” I reply. In the midst of these wolves ready to tear me down, I thank the heavens someone in this firm is truly happy for me.

“Don't mind them, they're just bitter.”

I fake a smile but it really hurts a lot inside.

{Jane's POV}

The police are here again at our house for more questioning. What do they want this time? Isn't Colin the culprit?

“How's Colin doing,” Ivy asks.

“He's still alive,” Officer Henry replies with what sounded like sarcasm to me. “We haven't gotten enough evidence to prove he's guilty.”

“Nonsense! He's guilty. He poisoned uncle and I'm sure of it.” Ivy confidently says.

Something smells fishy and I'm sure Ofiicer Henry can smell it too, especially with that eyebrow he raises to what Ivy said.

“Isn't he your boyfriend?” Officer Henry asks bluntly.

“He is. But if he has done something as evil as this, he should be punished, right?”

“Right,” Officer Henry answers.

I'm not sure but I think Ivy just made herself a suspect in Officer Henry's suspect list.

“Where were you at the time Colin prepared his coffee?” he asks.

“I. Was. At. Home. Up in my room,” she replies.

“I see. Can I speak with Jane?”

What! He wants to interrogate me! What do I have to do with this?

He approaches, “how are you Jane?”

“Fine.”

How can I be fine? I'm freaking out! I'm being questioned by a police officer for a murder case and he thinks I'd be fine! I just hope I don't say something that will implicate me.

“Can I ask you a question? How close were you to Benjamin?” he asks.

“We weren't too close. He just stays here for a while and travels out again.”

He bends a little with his hands on his knees like I'm a little girl he wants to give candy to. I'm not a kid Mister! I'm 18, I'm just short.

Damn! I hate my height.

“Can you tell me who usually argues with your uncle a lot?”

Truth is, we all do. Uncle Benjamin is a pain in the neck. He's nosy, bossy and annoying. He has a terrible habit of wanting to know everything going on in our lives. One time, he followed me to school to see the boy I was chatting with online the night before. I wanted to scream at him so bad but I'm his sweet innocent darling so I kept quiet. That doesn't mean we don't argue a lot too.

Ever since our parents passed away, he's been playing the fatherly role to both of us. I didn't want him to, Ivy certainly hated it but this is his murder being investigated here. Nothing in heaven or on earth can make me get involved in this, certainly not me. There's no way I'm telling him all of this, but I can't lie to him either.

Why does uncle Ben trouble us so much? Even after his death, we still can't have peace of mind.

“Umm… well Colin gets into fights with uncle Benjamin sometimes,” I lie.

“Are you sure?”

I hate this question when I lie but I've already started it, I might as well finish it.

“Yes.”

“Alright then,” he straightens up and walks towards the door. “I'll be back soon if there are any updates.”

With that said, he leaves.

Jesus Christ! My heart was in my mouth the whole time. I just lied to a police officer and he said he'll be back. Back to arrest me for lying to the police. I look over at Ivy, she doesn't seem affected by it. Even the fact that Colin is in prison doesn't bother her at all. Hmm, something really does smell fishy here.

“Oh crap! I left the fish on fire!” I sprint to the kitchen.

{Alex's POV}

⚠⚠⚠

(This POV is rated 18. Parental guidance is advised)

My beloved fiancée stands at the door when I open to see who's knocking. I left the kitchen preparing dinner.

“Hi.”

Before she utters the next word, I hug her tightly. “I missed you.”

“I missed you more,” she replies.

I let go of her after hugging her essence. Her body, softer than my pillow.

“How was your day as the new HMD?” She asks

“It was good.” I grin bashfully.

“Were you preparing dinner?”

“Yes. How did you know that?”

“You're wearing an apron.”

“Silly me, I totally forgot I have one on me. Come in.”

She walks in. “Gregory isn't around today, I presume.”

“He's with friends… I hope.” I know how careless my brother can be.

“Must be difficult staying at home now, alone.”

I laugh, “tell me about it. I hope you haven't eaten yet so you can join me.”

“Nah, it's okay,” she replies, already getting comfortable.

“So what brings you here at this late hour?”

“To see you. Duh!” She answers, intentionally making me look stupid. “And besides, we have a lot to talk about regarding our wedding. Plus, you guys just got promoted.”

This is strange, in a good way. Laurel never talks about weddings or anything of that sort with me. Or am I just imagining things? She slowly catwalks towards me, my senses rising, my body quivering inside. She's being seductive tonight, that I'm sure of.

“What's up with you?” I ask densely.

“I'm gonna be Mrs. Laurel Rae Kester soon, right? I think I should know what I'm in for before we seal the deal.”

Oh… I'm enjoying every minute of this. I try to be a gentleman, holding myself back from grabbing her to kiss her full lips till she drops.

“I can't wait for that to happen Mrs Laurel Rae Kester,” I smile.

She smiles too. She knows she already has me under her control and I can't wait for her to walk up to me. I daringly close the gap between us.

“I love you in every way possible Alex,” she says as my breath mixes with hers, pulling off the apron on me. “Even though you can be a grouch sometimes.”

I chuckle. “Very funny. Do you want me to show you how grouchy I can be?”

She raises her eyes. “Umm… if it will make me feel good, then yes please.”

I lean forward and lock my lips with hers, fighting every fibre of my being to not take it any further. We get deeper and deeper into each other.

“Do you really want to do this?” I ask her. I'm still skeptical about breaking the rules.

“Think of this as a congrats from me.”

My eyes smoulder with lust. This is it. This is where I lose my virginity. Things start to happen so fast and before we know it, we already help each other with our clothes. I carry her bridal style to my room and gently lay her on the bed. With just her black netted underwear before me covering what lies beyond, I kiss the collar of her shoulders softly while carefully unlocking the hooks of her bra. Our breath getting heavier by the second.

She touches my bare chest, sliding her fingers down my abs and stops right at the waist line of my boxer shorts before taking her hands behind to caress my lower back - that feels so erotic.

I lift her up to survey her beautiful body, to appreciate every single curve she has.

“I love that Alex,” she moans.

“I know you do, baby.”

Every minute, every second, it's more beautiful than the last. I've only seen it in movies but I never thought slow romance could be so addictive. I want to stop but I'm aching to take it to the next level.

She pushes me to the wall and takes me in. Oh God! It feels like I'm in cloud nine.

I pull her up, take her to the bed and do what we are supposed to do on our first night.

{Jane's POV}

“I hope you are happy now,” Colin mutters with eyes rolling non-stop.

Normally, I would be but seeing him in this condition is heartbreaking. I don't know why and I can't explain it but I just had to visit Colin in prison. I notice him sitting across the table. He looks so unkempt. His once fair and spotless face now filled with bruises and dark spots. He looks miserable.

“I don't understand this Colin, why don't you just admit it?” I ask.

“I won't be surprised if you think I killed uncle Ben,” he replies coldly.

“If it wasn't you, who did?”

“How am I supposed to know, weasel?”

Here I am trying to be supportive and he has the audacity to insult me. I won't take this lightly.

“You're the only one with the motive to kill someone,” I attack him and immediately regret it. I know that isn't fair of me.

He shoots his dull eyes at me. “Just get lost, you short bitch. You're not helping.”

Behind all that sarcasm, I still see fragments of fear and… pain? I'm already used to him calling me all sorts of names and I'm so tired of fighting back.

“I'm sorry.”

He turns to me extremely surprised. I know right, I'm surprised myself.

“What did you just say?”

“Even though I want to see you here, away from me and my sister… and my house, somewhere deep inside, I feel you're not the one who murdered him.”

I think now, he is more shocked than ever before. His mouth agape and his eyes stare at me.

“How did… what… how did you know that?” He stammers.

“Because I suspect someone else.”

I can see a ray of hope shining in his eyes but I don't want to get his hopes up because I may be wrong. I'm not sure what to believe at the moment but I think he needs a little tiny bit of faith.

“Look, I'll try my best to find out more about this suspicion but till then, I can't say anything else.”

I render him speechless. Since he's become speechless and I've nothing else to say to him, I believe now is my cue to leave.

As I am about to stand to walk out, he holds my hand. A rush of waves run through my body. His hands are still soft. I just notice for the first time. But beyond that, I can't explain what feelings spring up as I feel his grasp on my wrist.

“Thank you,” he says.

I turn to face him. For a minute or so, we look into each other's eyes and also for the first time, I see something different inside.

“You're not such a short bitch after all.”

He just had to spoil the moment. But I'm glad he did, I could fall for him if I continued staring. His eyes are so beautiful I must admit.

“Right. I'm off now. Just take care of yourself while you're having the best time of your life.”

“Let's rewind. You're still a short bitch.”

I look away and giggle to myself. Heavens! There's no way I'd let him see me blush over that stupid insult.

“Get out,” I say coyly and walk out.

{Alex's POV}

The next morning starts as the most beautiful morning ever. Thankfully, I can see the sunrise through the window, making the morning even more beautiful.

“Wake up sleepy head,” I say softly in her ear as she sleeps soundly beside me.

“Hmm,” she mutters sleepily.

“Breakfast in bed?”

She smiles. That smile just concluded my day.

I quickly get up from the bed to the kitchen, then I realize I didn't have my dinner. Fuck the dinner, I had the best night of my life! I put one and two together and it comes out as sandwiches and a cup of coffee. Laurel takes more coffee than I can ever imagine. I walk back to the room with a tray in my hand to serve Laurel breakfast in bed. She sits upright at my arrival and stares into space.

“What's wrong?” I ask.

As if I wake her up from a daydream, she realizes herself.

“Nothing. Emm…” I see her battling with herself.

“It's not nothing baby, what's wrong with you?”

She sighs. “How do I put this?”

Uh oh! Was I too hard last night? Did she get hurt, or wait… was she on her period?

So many dangling questions start coming up in my mind. It is my first time so I don't know and I'm not sure if I performed well to her satisfaction. The only experience I had is watching people do it on screens and doing it solo.

“Someone is being framed for murder and he's in jail for it,” she finally says.

I arch my eyebrow. That was weird. We are on totally different pages.

I scoot closer to her. “Why?”

“I still don't know but my conscience hasn't been at rest.”

“Does he have a lawyer to fight his case?”

“I don't think so.” She changes her countenance. “Just forget it, maybe I'm thinking too much.”

Yeah, exactly. You think too much about everything. This is too much to take in on a beautiful morning like this.

“Are you going anywhere today?” I ask her, wanting to lighten her mood.

“Yes. Mrs Meers wants to discuss something with me today.”

“Oh okay. I have to go to work too.”

“Oh, and yeah, congratulations on your promotion. Sorry, I won't have the time to properly congratulate you.”

“Isn't that why you came here last night?”

“Err…”

I narrow my eyes, feeling a bit puzzled because she starts to feel shy all of a sudden.

“Don't worry, I'm content with what you and I did. That's more than enough congratulatory from you.”

“Actually, I've been feeling a lot of stress these days.”

“I'm more than happy to be your stress reliever.”

She blushes. “Don't get so cheesy with me. You've had more than fun already.”

I laugh. “True. But you'll have to get used to the emotional yuck at one point or the other.”

“Don't!”

We share a laugh before I join her to eat the sandwiches on the tray - without the coffee of course.

“I have to get to work now.” She get up and enters the bathroom, leaving me with the last piece.

Remembering last night, my cheeks turn red. That memory is going to live with me for the rest of my life.

{Jane's POV}

“Why haven't you visited Colin ever since he got arrested?” I ask Ivy.

She taps buttons on her laptop and shows the least of concerns about what I ask.

This relationship of theirs just keeps getting weirder and weirder every passing day. Also I need to confirm my suspicions. I hope it isn't true, but Ivy isn't giving me any reason to believe so.

“Why do you ask?” She throws the back the question.

“He's your boyfriend, isn't he?”

She gives me a bit of attention. “Please Jane, don't get me started this morning.” Then goes back to her laptop.

“Do you love him?” I ask out of the blue.

I know she isn't expecting me of all people to question their relationship. I've always been quiet about it but she's seriously giving me heavy doubts.

She closes her laptop halfway. “Jane, Colin is just 22 years old. What makes you think he'd actually be my boyfriend?”

My mind starts racing. I knew something was up but I didn't expect it - okay, I expected it but at the same time, I didn't.

“So why were you dating him?”

“Is this what you've been thinking all these while?”

“Can you blame me?”

She shakes her head slightly. “Colin is just a kid. He's nice and quite cute but I can never date a guy like him.”

I wait for her to continue. She ought to see through me and know how adamant I am now.

She moves her laptop aside. “I only took him in out of pity.”

I raise an eyebrow.

“He was surrounded by vices, if you know what I mean. And I didn't want him to suffer like I… I mean like his irresponsible parents wanted him to.”

I guess it's starting to make sense. Colin came here with Ivy because she saved him and he fell in love with her along the line, but Ivy just took him in out of pity. Now I get why Colin respects and cares for Ivy so much. But shouldn't he know that Ivy only sees him as a kid? She's just pretending to date him to keep him satisfied.

I exhale. Thank goodness my sister isn't shameless, she's in fact a hero. But what I don't understand is why she doesn't bother about him now. The fact that her pretend boyfriend is in jail, shouldn't she at least save him again like she did before? Who knows? Maybe she might know that he's innocent, or is she intentionally putting the blame on him to save herself?

“So Jane, don't ask me anything about Colin, okay.”

“I just have one thing to ask.”

“What is it?”

“Do you really believe Colin killed uncle Ben?”

“What I believe or not doesn't matter. The law only believes in facts and evidence.”

Before I could ask another question, she walks away with her laptop in her hand. The rest of this mystery is up to me to find out.

# # # # #

Hey readers, this is my first time ever writing a sex scene… ever. Lemme know how I did, k

Q&A

The woman displayed on this book cover is mostly likely the person with deep secrets that drives this story, who do you think she is?