Page 5

Four

Irritating White

“ O h, Tristan…”

Those two words were all Tristan needed to hear.

Alexa threw her arms around his neck, and he hugged her back, running his fingers through her hair like he had that night. Touching her had felt taboo then, but now, she was his. He tightened his arms around her at that thought.

“I can’t believe you’re only telling me this now.”

He sighed. “I just didn’t want to scare you away on that day I confessed everything to you. But I did hint that I never intruded on your privacy or your personal space unless it was absolutely necessary. Remember?”

“Yeah…”

“I also didn’t want you to know that I had an entire collection of art that features you until I was sure you had made peace with the fact that I wasn’t a ‘creepy’ obsessed stalker. So, I thought this should come as a birthday surprise.”

“Still, you were nervous to show me,” she stated.

He chuckled softly. “Not because I thought you would go back to thinking I was a maniac. I knew you wouldn’t. It was just some nerves, wondering what you would say.”

“Oh, Tristan, how many times should I tell you that you’re my favorite artist ever?”

“I thought it’d be different when those pieces of art featured you .”

Alexa pulled back to look at him, a sly smile on her lips. “To be honest, I’ve been a little disappointed that the mural in your room is the only art that featured me.”

Tristan stifled a laugh. “Really?”

She nodded, her own smile widening.

“So you like the surprise?”

“Oh, Tristan, I loved every second of this day.” She cupped his face, a loving haze in her eyes. “Thank you for being there for me even when I didn’t know you existed. Those three months after losing Dad were the darkest hours of my life, so to know that you were there with me… You were really sent by Jesus.”

Tristan ignored the sudden irritation that gnawed at his chest at the mention of that name and smiled for her. “Lexa, nothing satisfied my parched soul more than being near you and looking after you. I’m glad I met you at your dad’s funeral, glad that I couldn’t resist you or stay away from you, glad that I was obsessed, glad that I was there in the shadows when you felt alone, glad that I was your silent, invisible companion, glad that after months of waiting, I finally get to call you mine .

“Every moment from then on has been a dream come true. I was a total mess before I met you—I am a mess even now. But being with you somehow makes me feel like even a mess can be beautiful.” He paused, brushing away the tear that escaped her eye. “With you, I’m a beautiful mess.”

“Beautiful mess,” she whispered, her face alight with a smile. “You make my broken pieces feel beautiful too.”

Tristan shook his head. “You’re not broken, angel.”

“Not as I used to be.” She shrugged. “I’m slowly being mended back to whole. With your love and Jesus’.”

Again, Tristan ignored the irritation inside his chest. He might not have a religion, but he respected hers, even though it was a little disappointing that they no longer shared the same view. Her opinions had changed after she left the hospital over a month ago.

But it didn’t matter. He loved her, and she loved him just as fiercely.

He kissed her forehead. “And your love is rearranging my messes.”

* * *

Later that evening, as everyone gathered around the cake to sing happy birthday to Alexa in the Fords’ living room, the doorbell rang.

Tristan glanced at Alexa, raising an eyebrow. “Are we expecting anyone else?”

Everyone he knew Cassie had invited was here: Daphne, John, Cassie’s best friend Gracie, and Alexa and Cassie’s cousins.

Alexa shrugged with a confused furrow of her eyebrows. She turned to her sister. “Did you invite anyone else?”

“Of course not,” Cassie replied.

“I’ll get it,” Tristan offered and walked to the entryway. He looked through the peephole, and nothing could have prepared him for the sight.

His jaw clenched involuntarily. What did the guy want now ? He forced himself to maintain a facade of composure and opened the door.

“White,” he greeted his second cousin stiffly.

“Knight,” Jude greeted back, equally stiff. In his hands was a neatly wrapped box. Just the sight of it made Tristan’s blood boil. “I… wanted to give this to Alexa.”

He held up the gift and peered over Tristan’s shoulder.

Just then, Alexa’s voice floated toward them from the living room. “Tristan, who is it?”

Tristan clenched his jaw and called back to her, “Would you come out here, Angel? Someone’s here to see you.”

Alexa came into the entryway in no time and skidded to a stop. Her facial expression shifted from curiosity to shock. “Jude?” She glanced at Tristan briefly and then back at Jude. “W-what are you doing here?”

“Uh… Happy birthday.” Jude smiled at her pathetically. “I wanted to give you this.”

Tristan’s fist itched to collide with his face. He didn’t like the way Jude was looking at her.

Alexa stared awkwardly at the gift he held out to her. “Jude, really—”

“I know,” he cut her off abruptly. “This is just a friendly gift.”

He gave her a puppy-dog look that made Tristan want to grab him by the collar and throw him out of the porch. But he held himself back for Alexa’s sake. This was Alexa’s fight. Unless she wanted him to step up for her, he would hold back.

Alexa hesitated, then she reached for the box, looking like she’d rather be doing anything else. “T-thanks.”

“It’s nothing.”

Tristan slipped a hand to Alexa’s waist and held her to his side. Jude’s eyes slipped there and his expression hardened. Good. He got the hint.

“Well, I just wanted to drop this off.” Jude stuffed his hands into the pockets of his loose jeans and stepped back. He half-turned and gestured to Alexa’s new car in the driveway “That’s one cool car.”

Tristan’s eyes turned to Alexa for her reaction. Her face lit up, and she smiled, doing his manly pride more good than she had any idea about.

“It was a gift from Tristan.” She turned her smiling face to Tristan.

Tristan squeezed her to his side, fighting the urge to kiss her like every other time when she looked at him like that.

“Oh,” Jude said, surprised. “I-I thought it was a guest’s or something.” He looked like he wanted to say something else but seemed to think twice. He nodded at her. “I should get going. Have a great time, Alexa.”

“Thanks,” Alexa said, sounding relieved.

Tristan shut the door as soon as Jude had turned his back on them. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he turned to Alexa.

“Are you okay?” he asked softly.

She looked like she couldn’t believe what just happened. “Yeah, just… unexpected. I wonder why he even bothered.”

Tristan snorted before he could stop it. “Isn’t it obvious? That guy’s pining over you. Took him time to realize your worth.”

“That’s ridiculous.” She seemed on the verge of laughing, but she didn’t. Then her eyes narrowed at him. “Are you okay?”

He was caught. Tristan sighed and pulled her into a hug, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “I don’t like him.”

“Me neither.” She hugged him back tightly. “And whatever is in this box goes to my cousins.”

He chuckled. “Angel, I’m not bothered by you accepting his gift, if that’s what you’re worried about. I have better things to do than being jealous of a guy whose present you least appreciate.”

“Spoken like my Tristan.” She squeezed him. “Though, I wonder how you’re going to manage being stuck with him in South Africa next month.”

“I have no idea myself.” He pulled away from the hug and walked them back to the living room.

“Just ignore him, that’s all. You’ll survive.” She patted him on the chest with her free hand, shooting him a teasing grin.

He chuckled. If only surviving without throwing at least one punch to Jude’s face would be as easy as she made it sound. A punch on Alexa’s defense that Jude more than deserved.

As they rejoined the party, he was able to forget that Jude had even shown up at all—until Alexa opened his present and found her favorite chocolates inside. The same ones Tristan had stocked up in his fridge for her. His blood boiled again. But as Alexa pursed her lips at the sight and passed it straight to her cousin, the beast inside him purred with pleasure.

After food and dessert, everyone sat down to watch a movie picked by the birthday girl. True to Tristan’s expectations, she chose one of the Harry Potter movies. He laughed out loud and tried to smother it down when Alexa turned to him with a playful glare.

“What?” she demanded.

“Nothing.” He shook his head but caught John’s eye across the room, who was also trying not to laugh.

Alexa played The Prisoner of Azkaban and settled next to him on the loveseat with a bowl of popcorn. Tristan moved her legs to his lap and caught her eye in the screen light. Her cheeks turned his second-favorite color.

Making her blush wasn’t a big deal, yet every time he did, he felt strangely triumphant. Every blush, every laugh, every smile, every love-gaze from her was a reward greater than the treasures of the earth.

Tristan wasn’t usually a fan of movies and TV shows, but in the past month, he had been watching her favorites with her. Most of the time, she would catch him watching her instead and would chide him playfully. He adored the way her eyes would widen, as though he had committed a crime, and she would ask, “Can you name one thing that happened on the screen?”

This time was no different.

When the movie was over and the credits rolled, Alexa turned to Tristan with a teasing smirk. “Can you name one thing that happened on the screen?”

He stifled a laugh. “I could say ‘Gryffindor winning the Quidditch Cup’ and you couldn’t deny it because that one should’ve been in the movies.” He stretched his arms above his head and let out a yawn. “I’ve always loved the books more.”

Instead of replying to him, she caught his wrist and glanced at his watch. “Goodness, it’s getting so late! You should head back home.”

“Home?”

Alexa’s gaze shot to his face.

Tristan could feel eyes watching them, but that didn’t stop him from correcting her. “Home, Lexa? The place I live is merely my house . This is home, angel. You and me together, that’s my home.”

A slow grin broke onto her face. “No one has ever told me anything like this.”

“No one else is supposed to be at home with you but me, darling.”

She stared back at him, words she didn’t speak reaching his soul before she buried her head in the crook of his neck and tightened her arms around him.

* * *

“When are you going to tell Jude about your decision?” Alexa asked him a day later as he drove her to the school. “Hold on, do you think he saw the bracelet on you when he dropped by on my birthday?”

“Nah, I don’t think so.” He shook his head, eyes on the road. “And I’m not planning to tell him until your exams are almost over.”

“Why wait? The sooner you leave after the exams, the sooner you can return, and we’ll get to spend plenty of time together.” There was a smile in her voice, and Tristan couldn’t resist stealing a glance at her. “Where do you want to go for your first summer after the curse-lifting?”

Tristan glanced back to the road. “Anywhere is heavenly with you.”

He got a light smack on his arm. “Stop flattering me!”

Tristan heaved a dramatic sigh. “Angel, if you call the truth flattery, would you call a lie a compliment too?”

“The last time you used honesty and dishonesty instead of truth and lie.”

“They mean the same to me.” He shrugged, earning him another smack.

Tristan laughed and pulled the car into the parking lot of Alexa’s school. The arrival of a new car drew attention, the people not hiding their surprise at seeing the two of them inside.

Since he had been dropping off and picking up Alexa for the last month, he had become a familiar face in the driveway. Now, seeing them murmur among themselves, he couldn’t help but eavesdrop and snicker.

“What?” Alexa turned to him curiously.

He killed the engine. “Your schoolmates think this is my new car. That I probably thought it was weird to keep your former car since I’m dating you and decided to get a new one.”

Alexa rolled her eyes. “I’m surprised they didn’t think you’re a rich boy with a dozen cars in your garage.”

“Oh, there are some whispers exactly like that,” he said sarcastically. “Though, I’d rather have a set of toy cars on my shelf than real cars in my garage.”

He opened the door and went around to get Alexa’s. Her laugh followed him. “What’s so funny, darling?” he asked as she stepped out.

“Oh, nothing.” She giggled, slinging her bag on one shoulder.

“Good, then. I’ll see you later.” He leaned down to kiss her, but she leaned away with a mischievous glint in her eyes and blew him an airy kiss instead. He pulled her back against him. “Oh no, you’re not doing that to me.”

Alexa lifted her chin and tilted her head challengingly. “Then take it.”

She wanted to play that game? He smirked slowly. “Nah, you kiss me.”

“No way. You wanted it. So, take it.”

Tristan smoldered his eyes and spoke in a deep and husky voice, knowing there was no better way to make her give in. “Kiss me, Alexandra. ”

Her gaze dipped to his lips. He could see her battling her temptation to give in. The effect was kicking in. But then, she snapped out of it and narrowed her eyes. “You’re annoying.”

He huffed out a laugh. “And you’re driving me insane.”

“So why wait? Kiss me, Tristan.” She used her best seductive tone, running a finger down his chest.

Tristan caught it without breaking eye contact. “You’re so naughty, Alexandra Ford, so, so naughty.”

There was a shimmer in her eyes. She knew she almost had him there, too. “And you’re greedy.”

“The jury is still out on that.” He lifted her finger to his lips and kissed it.

“The jury better be quick—or… it can wait until my classes are over.”

“Are you serious?”

“Yes?” She was smirking deviously now, and he was almost sure she was going to win this.

“You beautiful, stubborn, naughty girl.” He drew her closer, ignoring their onlookers. “What am I ever going to do with you?”

“You can still kiss me, you know?”

Tristan let out a long-suffering sigh.

She patted his chest with an impatient look. “Well, hurry up, you greedy man, or I’m going to my classes, and you can wait—”

Tristan crashed his lips to hers in surrender and silenced her in the process. Alexa gasped softly but met his kisses just as fervently. He groaned and nibbled her bottom lip, brushing the tip of his tongue against it. She let out another gasp and pulled away to catch her breath.

“Kiss me like that when I have nowhere else to be.”

“I could convince you to cut today’s class.”

“Tristan…” she said in a tone that implied he was tempting her to do exactly that.

He flashed a smirk and dropped his arms from her slowly. “Fine. I’ll see you in the afternoon, then.”

“And then—”

“And then I’ll kiss you to my heart’s content.”

Alexa bit down on her bottom lip as though trying to contain her smile and stepped away from him.

Did she have the faintest idea what such an action did to his heart? Nevertheless, he decided to rein in his desires and let her go. He waved as she turned to walk away and stayed unmoved from his spot until she threw him one last glance over her shoulder and disappeared inside the building.

Tristan pushed himself off the car and walked around to the driver’s door. Just as he was about to open it, a familiar voice called him from behind.

“Knight!”

Tristan clenched his jaw. Then he put on a neutral expression and turned to meet his cousin. Jude was jogging toward him from where his red Lamborghini was parked a few cars away.

Tristan cast a glance around and snorted inwardly.

Perfect. Their audience was tremendously curious about what Alexa’s boyfriend and her ex were going to talk about.

“White,” Tristan greeted with a curt nod.

Jude stopped in front of him and jerked his chin at Tristan’s left wrist. “I see you decided my mother is trustworthy.”

Tristan tried not to look surprised. “You noticed.”

Jude shrugged. “I noticed it when I dropped by at Alexa’s but decided it wasn’t the right place to talk then.”

Tristan leaned back against Alexa’s car and crossed his arms. “What do you wanna talk about?”

Jude’s eyebrows rose. “The flight. The curse-lifting. What else?”

Tristan nodded and looked aside. A trio of girls at the farthest end was watching him. This was a daily occurrence, but this time, he recognized one of them—the girl he had given a ‘ghost’ fright to after she bullied Alexa. What was her name again?

Said girl caught his eye and sent him a flirtatious grin.

He groaned inwardly, fought the urge to roll his eyes, and returned his attention to Jude. Did she really have to do that? Of course, she didn’t know he was the ‘Lightning Knight’ who haunted her that night, but he was Alexa’s boyfriend.

When would these girls take the hint that he was spoken for and stop trying to get his attention?

“Is your mother impatient now?”

Jude’s eyes narrowed. “My mother may have given you a deadline, but I have plans for my summer. If you could just tell me that you’re willing to go to her, I can book us a flight that leaves as soon as my vacation starts and get this over with.”

Tristan arched an eyebrow at him. “You do realize I don’t need an escort, right? I can very well go on my own if she doesn’t want me to bring anyone else. You don’t have to feel compelled to accompany me because you’re playing her messenger.”

Jude rolled his eyes. “My said plans are in South Africa, with my mother. I’m seeing her for the first time in years, and it’d be a lot better if we get this over with before she and I can have some proper catching up.”

“Oh, so I’m the problem here.”

Despite his sarcastic reply, Tristan pondered the thought. Alexa was right; the sooner he could get this over with, the more time they’d get to spend in places he had only dreamt of visiting. He met his cousin’s dark gaze.

“Lucky for you, I have plans too. And I want to get this done just as much as you want it. Sure. You can book our flight.”

Jude nodded, a look of satisfaction obscuring the displeasure on his face. He began to walk backward. “I’ll text you then.”

“I can pay for my flight,” Tristan interjected.

“Consider it another attempt by my mother to gain your trust. She’s paying.”

Up went Tristan’s eyebrows. Before he could respond, a blonde head appeared at his side. He almost thought it was the flirtatious girl when he saw Daphne. She looked between him and Jude with an incredulous expression.

“What’s up?”

“Hey,” Jude greeted her and turned back to walk away.

Daphne huffed out a laugh and turned to Tristan. “Wow, odd . You two looked like you were going to tear each other apart before I intervened.”

“And now I think you scared him away.”

“Oh, my promise to punch his face still hangs between us.”

Tristan nearly laughed, forgetting his ire for a moment as he remembered that day in the school hallway. He’d been there to make sure Alexa was alright when that girl had decided to bully her, followed by Jude trying to defend Alexa and ending up threatened by Daphne.

“Would never forget that,” he said fondly.

“What did he want?”

Tristan opened his mouth but stopped himself. If Daphne didn’t know why he was talking with Jude, then Alexa hadn’t told her yet.

His heart flipped. She was utterly loyal to him.

“Um, why don’t you ask Alexa?” he suggested, making her arch an eyebrow at him. He shrugged. “It’s not fair I tell you things she’s been planning on telling you herself.”

“That was just one time, dude.” She rolled her eyes heavenward. “Besides, if she hasn’t told me, it’s your secret, and I’m not supposed to know.”

“It’s not that big of a secret. She probably forgot to tell you.”

Tristan had never thought he’d let Alexa’s best friend into her secret, or John. But when the situation presented itself, he realized that he trusted the people Alexa trusted—because he trusted her.

And John and Daphne had sworn they would never betray his secrets.

“Maybe. See you around then.” Daphne gave him a fist bump and turned to walk into the school building.

Tristan fished out his phone, quickly texted Alexa, and got behind the wheel.