AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I won’t be famous.” I murmured, unsure of his question. I struggled to find the connection, how it related to me, an idea I could never grasp.
“You will be, because you’re with me, and what will you do when it begins to take things away? Your choices, your freedom, your loved ones. It steals it all. It takes and takes until nothing is left. Until they’ve hollowed you out, spitting out a corpse of who you once were, leaving you to rot.” Alejandro looked back at the city, lifting his foot, placing it on the edge of the building. “Like I said, a price to be paid. What does it cost to chase a dream?”
“Alejandro?” I asked, swallowing the spit in my mouth. My feet stung like hot needles, burning from the sight of his on the edge.
“And what will you do when you realize that it’s all gone, maybe not so sudden, but slow like a disease, much like the ones we fear from our past? How will you cope?” He lifted his other foot, placing it at the edge, the wind blew along his leather jacket and hair.
“Alejandro!” I shouted, this time more assertive. His feet balanced on the rim of wobbly bricks. He stared back at me, his eyes completely fearless.
“It costs a life and not just your own sometimes.” He mused, his existence almost slipping with the dangle of his foot. “You want to know what it feels like, what it's like to be me? Well, let me show you.” He reached out his hand, his eyes dared me to take hold.
“Goddamn it!” I screamed. “Alejandro, please! Just come back down!” I begged. My heart felt wild in my chest, aching even the muscles along my neck.
“Take my hand, or you’ll never know.” He commanded with all the authority of a deity, and the confidence of one as well. This was him. This was his expression. Just as I’d thought, this was the explosion, the lack of words he couldn’t speak, manifested in a single way to show me who he was. This wasn’t me, but who I was lacked the courage to move froward—not only in business, not only with Claire, but with Parker. I was stuck, hopelessly dependent with no way out. What if the only way to be free was to take a chance, to see things from a new perspective, even if it was from the top of a building. My eyes stung as I reached out with a shaky hand. He held it, squeezing it tight as I placed one foot on the edge.
“I don't think I…” I whimpered, the blood rushed out of my head and through my legs. They felt heavy, like bags of sand.
“You can. I will never let anything happen to you. As long as I’m around, you and me together, we’ll keep each other afloat in this crazy world.” The impulse to pull twitched in his impatient hand, showing the strength he had to protect. “Trust me.” My foot left the floor, lifted from his strength as I stepped up, dangerously close to the edge. Alejandro held me so tight against him, stilling my position with the strength that wrapped around my waist. I screamed as the wind whirled around my hair, burning my eyes with tears that seeped from the corners. He said he’d never let anything happen to me, and I believed every word of it. Call it callous or reckless but trusting him felt natural.
“Open your eyes.” His words got lost in the buzz of my head, swirling in the cerebral cocktail of adrenaline and fear, but I did as I was told. My palms clammed up and my knees ached, seeing the possibility of how life could change in an instant. Honestly, the city felt miles away, complete with tiny pools of lights and ants, commuting like little dots. Alejandro tilted my chin up, holding my eyes as firmly as he did my body. I shook once more, as a piece of gravel slipped from the heel of my boots.
“Do you feel that?” He asked, his voice low and booming. My toes tingled, mirroring the dull ache of my clenched jaw. His hand reached up, his palm placed firmly on my chest as I stared into his eyes.
“Yes!” I shouted, trembling with the strangest thrill. I wanted to laugh, I wanted to cry. My heart hammered, stronger and stronger, intoxicating me with a dizzy feeling. I was in a dream.
“This is me.” He swore, his voice louder than ever, “This is fame. It’s heaven and hell. It’s fear and panic! Every moment more impossible to tell, did I choose to jump, or was I pushed all along?” Alejandro leaned in, his eyes and tone far more intimate than anything we shared in the closet, seeking something much deeper than my body alone. “It has given me so much, but it has taken everything as well. Family and all.” He caressed my face, holding it softly. “But you, Gemma…” he leaned closer placing his head onto mine, “for the first time in a long time, I don’t feel afraid. For the first time, I think there can be something else, there can be change, and maybe it’s not fair to put that on you, but fuck if I won’t try.” He didn’t just hug me, he held me as if I were the only thing stopping him from falling, and because of that, I held back just the same. “You, Gemma, you’re my only hope, and I will never lose that, I’ll never lose you. I need you; I knew it the moment I saw you, that you were my good girl.”
“Yes…” I exhaled breathlessly, captivated in the spell of who he was and the vision he saw. A man who knew what he needed, a man who took me in his arms to show me the best way he could.
“Just what I like,” he whispered, “and I’ll fucking show you that.” Alejandro pulled me in, his lips pressed into mine, dissolving my body into a thousand burning suns. The beat of his heart, pulsed from his kiss, his hands securely wrapped around my waist, peeking through my shirt and onto my flesh.
I was everywhere and nowhere at once.
My mind and body were lost in his final words, claimed to be his, destined for his touch and lips. It was like nothing I’d ever imagined, but for once, better than the fantasies I had.
Finally, an expression, one words could never resolve, but sealed with a kiss, a promise, more profound than what I was prepared for. His hands swirled in my hair, tugging a strand as he dug deeper, parting me with his tongue, which slipped inside my mouth. This was what I’d been missing, what I couldn’t have with Parker, the kiss on the roof I never had back in college. Alejandro was the true opposition, the one I’d melt for over and over again. I was a fool to deny how I felt, my body clearly craved his touch, every embrace, but stifled by fear.
Slowly, he pulled away, our lips parted with a gentle suck. I stared into him and felt everything I was ever missing. I wanted him, in every sense of the word.
“Alejandro…” A tear rolled down the corner of my eye. “I see it too.”
“Say it…” He gently commanded, brushing my cheek with the back of his hand. “Tell me you belong to me.”
“You and I, we…” I confessed, ready to admit more, but was startled by the sudden loud clank of the rooftop door.
I turned, completely terrified by the noise and shouts.
“Freeze!” Two bright lights beamed in our face, concealing the shadowed figures that approached, “Put the girl down, asshole!” One of the figures commanded, his voice hoarse from the shout. Alejandro glared, his eyes intrigued by the arguable men.
“Alejandro?” I questioned, his authoritative figure calmer than the screaming men.
“There’s nothing to worry about. They’re more scared of us, than we are of them, or at least they will be.” He spoke as if they were frightened animals, unsure of their inevitable fall. I took a step down, raising my hands in the air to the approaching figures. It was the cops, armored with heavy vests, but even heavier guns.
“It was my fault!” I admitted quickly, absolving Alejandro of guilt. “I broke us in.”
“Don’t listen to her,” Alejandro stepped forward. “I took her myself, I showed her the thrill.”
“Shut the fuck up.” A cop commanded, yanking Alejandro’s arms behind his back, cuffing his wrists.
