The Pentagram Child(20)

“But that’s where you’re wrong, as she is my concern now and not yours any longer.” Alex said bravely and you could almost hear the entire room suck in a sharp breath of disbelief.

“Say that to me again.” Draven threatened transforming the air in the room to thicken making it harder to breathe.

“Brother.” Vincent was once again the voice of reason, placing his hand on Draven’s shoulder and trying to get him to remain calm and stop him from what he looked like he wanted to do and that was rip my Alex to bloody shreds and bathe in the pieces!

“Enough, Draven! He’s right, I’m not your concern anymore…”

“You will always be my…”

“And to answer your question Alex, I can call Frank or get a lift with Jack.” I said interrupting him before he finished that sentence, for both his sake and mine as I knew the argument would just escalate. I also ignored Draven’s growl of frustration.

“Very well, I will see you in a few days at the airport.”

“Airport…Keira are you going somewhere?” Sophia asked making me wince. She had told me they were coming back for a few weeks and we were going to spend some quality time together.

“Erm…well Alex kind of surprised me and…”

“Yes I did, as I thought she could do with a break and get away for a while.” Sophia nodded her head but I could tell she wasn’t happy with the way Alex put it or it could be that she wasn’t happy with the plans he had made for me.

“Where?!” Draven asked shrugging off his brother’s hand from his shoulder. Obviously he had calmed enough from his last outburst to ask but I was now fearful that the answer to this question would just bring on a new rage.

“Uh…well see we thought…”

“Italy.” Alex butted in and I frowned at how thoughtless it was regardless of Draven’s behaviour.

“Italy…really Keira?” He said looking even more hurt and I once again wanted to cry from the guilt I felt. It was like being torn in two. One side of my broken heart wanted to scream ‘YOU BASTARD, YOU LEFT ME!’ and the other wanted to quietly beg for forgiveness that I was now sat here with another man.

“I…”

“I planned our trip, as it was on a flight back from there last year when we first met. However, from what I heard, the trip didn’t exactly go to plan and left a sour taste in Catherine’s experience of the country. I thought this time I could show her the real beauty of Italy and that it has so much more to offer.” I closed my eyes when he finished and banged my head back on the chair before turning my face to his.

“Alex…don’t,” I whispered on a sigh but didn’t know why I even bothered as the damage had already been done.

“Right…right…” Draven for the first time looked dumbstruck as he tried to find his words and Sophia had her eyes closed as if feeling her brother’s pain. I thought back to how that sounded and wondered if Alex had said it that way on purpose. Christ, but it had made me look like the biggest, most heartless bitch in existence!

“Draven I…” I started but as before I wasn’t going to be able to get a word out.

“Well I’d better get going, Catherine.” He nodded for me to get up with him to say goodbye in private and I happily complied just so that I could have a minute of freedom from being crushed to death by my guilt. When we were out of earshot I frowned up at Alex and said,

“You didn’t have to say it like that!” He simply smiled down at me making me for once want to slap that handsome face.

“Catherine, I understand that I don’t know exactly know what happened between you two but I do remember the hurt I saw etched deep there when I first met you…don’t forget what he put you through, ma chérie.” He said running a perfectly manicured fingertip down my cheek.

“I haven’t forgotten Alex, I just choose not to be a bitch about it!” I snapped back turning my face from his caress. God, I was so frustrated and just wanted to stomp away from both of them and drink myself stupid till I forgot either of their names!

“Forgive me for being protective of my girlfriend’s pride but I guess with dating a man like that you were used to being walked over.” Now it was Alex’s turn to get snappy. I took a deep breath and tried to remember that there was little doubt that we were being overheard, even this far away from the top table.

“Let’s just forget about it. Text me later?” I asked not wanting to say goodbye on a disagreement. That was the other weird thing about me and Alex, we very rarely argued and I think the only major one was when I tried to press for information about what happened to his parents. He had walked out and not called me for three days making me wonder if it was over or not.