Alana
Luciaand I were sitting at the breakfast bar in the kitchen. She was eating a bowl of ice-cream and I was flicking through a magazine. We both looked up when Alejandro walked into the room. He threw his car keys onto the counter and stood leaning against it, glaring at me.
‘I’m going to take this to my room and have a look at my history homework,’ Lucia said as she slipped off the stool and gave me a sideways eye roll.
‘Goodnight, Lucia,’ Alejandro said, his voice low and smooth.
‘Night guys,’ she replied and then she left the kitchen, closing the door behind her.
‘Do you have something to tell me, princess?’ he growled.
‘Well, by the look on your face, I assume Hugo has already told you that Bobby Conroy paid a visit to the shelter today.’
‘Yes, he did,’ he said as he crossed the kitchen in two large strides until he was standing directly in front of me. ‘What he couldn’t tell me, is what went on between you and Bobby when you asked him to leave the room.’
‘We talked,’ I started to say before he interrupted me.
‘If all you did was talk, why the fuck did you send Hugo out of the room?’
‘Because I wanted a private conversation, Alejandro. You know what one of those is, don’t you? You get to have them all of the time.’
He leaned his face close to mine. ‘Don’t push me, Alana. This is not about me.’
I slipped off my stool. ‘No? What is it about then? Because it feels very much about you.’
‘What did the two of you talk about then?’ he growled. ‘What was so private that you couldn’t have Hugo in the room?’
I couldn’t help it. I rolled my eyes. Shit!
He wrapped his hand around my throat before I could even blink. ‘Did you just roll your eyes at me?’
‘Yes,’ I said. I felt the slight pressure on my windpipe and the flash of heat between my thighs. What the hell was wrong with me?
He pushed me backwards until I was pressed against the breakfast bar as he ran his thumb along my jawline. ‘Answer the fucking question, Alana.’
Crap! This was not going to go well. ‘He has offered to donate money to the shelter. His corporation is going to fund my post for the next five years.’
He dropped his hand to his side and frowned at me. ‘You’re a volunteer. Your post isn’t funded.’
‘I know. But it should be. And having a properly funded post gives Kristen some protection in case I stop working there for some reason.’
‘Good, because you won’t be working there any longer,’ he snapped.
‘The hell I won’t,’ I scowled at him. ‘I love that job.’
‘This is not up for negotiation, Alana,’ he snarled.
‘I know it’s not. Because I am not giving up my job.’
He pressed his face closer to mine and I felt the breath catch in my throat. ‘You are my wife and I will not have your ex-boyfriend paying your salary.’
‘But, Alejandro –’
He slammed his fist onto the breakfast bar. ‘Alana! Can you ever just do as you’re told! You are not to have anything more to do with that prick, and if I find out he has come anywhere near you ever again, I will break every bone in his body.’
I tilted my head up to look directly into his eyes. I felt the anger coursing through my body. It didn’t matter that I didn’t actually want anything to do with Bobby myself anyway, it was the principle of the matter. ‘I get that you’re a possessive asshole. In fact, most of the time, I think it’s really hot. But this is a step too far. I have never given you any reason to doubt me. How dare you try and tell me who I can and can’t work with.IfBobby donates money to the shelter to fund my post, then that is all it will be. There is nothing between me and him and there never will be.’
‘So why couldn’t you talk to him in front of Hugo then?’ he shouted.