Chapter 10

P.O.V. Narrator

It's been a full week since Alice and Ivarsen talked to each other, but why? What happened? Why was she so pissed? Well, let's go back to where everything began

Flashback on

It was their two weeks anniversary and two days before the conclave and Alice was at the Torrance's house at dinner time, helping them make dinner. It was a comfort moment, she was laughing, feeling part of the family, and that she wasn't feeling alone anymore.

She was in the kitchen with Octavia and Winter, and they were making pasta. Everything was white because of the flour, including the girls and it was at that moment that they were laughing that the boys went in.

"What happened?" Damon said going directly in the direction of his wife, kissing her, and licking her face and she slapped him

"Eww, gross" she said but didn't let go of him "We're making pasta"

"There is any flour left for the actual recipe?" Gunnar asked laughing and Octavia answered him

"Of course, there is, dumb ass! It's already in the pan"

Ivar went to Alice's side and hugged her, kissing her neck, making her smiled and tickle him a bit, making him laugh

"I need to clean before I eat" she whispered to him

"Don't worry about that now, baby girl" he said cleaning her cheek with his thumb

"But I made the mess" Alice said looking down, one thing is her doing that in her kitchen but in someone else's house, she doesn't like it, he sensed that she was self-sabotaging and said aloud

"Hey boys, go set the table, Tavi go clean yourself" he said to his brothers, and they followed his request, Octavia following them

"Is there anything left to do, Ali?" his mother asked her

"The pasta is almost ready, and the sauce is ready, so I just need to drain the water and mix everything together, and clean everything" Alice said, looking to the boiling water and turning it off

"Okay, we made the mess, we help with the mess, Damon and Ivarsen will help as well" they nodded and started cleaning, Winter went to get the big bowl for the pasta, Damon stopped what he was doing, grabbing her from behind and said in her ear

"You're even more delicious with flour all over you" Alice's eyes widen, and Winter's face turns red, and she leans closer to her husband, making him smile and he kisses her neck, going back to cleaning. Alice was draining the water from the pasta and mixing the noodles with the Bolognese sauce when Ivarsen came behind her as well with a mischievous smile and spoke softly in her ear, but loud enough for his parents to hear

"I could eat you as my dessert, what do you think?"

And Alice freezes, a small laugh can be heard from the other side of the kitchen, Ivarsen doesn't realize that Alice didn't like it and kisses her cheek, getting the bowl with his mother, to transfer the pasta to it.

Later after they ate, Alice was oddly quiet and Ivarsen didn't know what was wrong, but he couldn't go to sleep and let the problems wait, so he took Alice to walk at the maze with him, after some minutes walking in an awkward silence Ivarsen took her hand

"Please, talk to me" Alice wasn't looking at him

"Don't do this, ever again"

"What, baby girl?"

"There, in the kitchen, what you said, in front of your parents, please don't do this ever again" Alice said, now looking in his eyes, Ivarsen stepped back, seeing her anxiety and insecurities that he knew were screaming in her head, showing in her eyes

"I'm yours, since the moment I first saw you, I knew that I would love to be part of your family, of your life! But don't treat me like that in front of your parents or anyone, don't treat me like a piece of meat" Alice said letting go of his hand walking back and forward in the space that they were "When is just the two of us , okay , perfect, treat me like the submissive whore that I know that I am but don't make me more uncomfortable that I already am in front of people that I still don't fully trust!"

They stay silent for some while, Alice taking deep breaths and Ivarsen digesting what she let it out, he took Alice's hands, his eyes finding hers

"I'm sorry that I made you uncomfortable, I promise you that I won't do something like that again"

"If you do it again, I won't talk to you for some time, do you still promise?" Alice asked, her voice low and a little bit sad

"I promise" Ivarsen said again, Alice nodded and pulled Ivarsen to a hug

"Are you okay? Do you need some time to forgive me?" Ivarsen asked to her

"I am, just not that comfortable right now" Alice said, hiding her face in his neck "And I forgive you, my prince" Ivarsen separated from the hug so he could see her face

"Can I kiss you?" Ivarsen asked

"Yes" Alice said smiling and they ended the space between them

Flashback off

And that's why they're not talking, he broke his promise, something that is so valuable to him and to their relationship , that's also the reason of their reactions , Alice is pissed but also sad that he done it again and Ivarsen cried in his car when he got home, cause he felt that he betrayed her and himself, willing to do whatever it takes to win her trust back .

This past week without seeing and talking to each other was a rollercoaster of emotions. Alice was putting all her feelings on her work, spending most of her time at the restaurant, creating exclusive menus and working more shifts than she normally does.

But while she was functioning in her working place, at home wasn't that good. She wasn't sleeping, barely eating, drinking more Monster Energy than ever, spending most of her nights worrying about how her relationship would go from now on, if he would come back to her after this time apart, even though she knows he loves her.

And the nights that she could sleep, nightmares of being alone again haunted her, making her wake up in the middle of the night screaming and crying, needing Ivarsen by her side. So, every day was a fight, and if Ivarsen didn't come to talk with her, she would.

P.O.V Ivarsen

After crying for hours in my car, then crying on my mom's lap I decided, I would win her back. In this past week, I gave time to myself to understand how I fucked up, I wanted to go back and talk to her in the moment I got home, but I knew that she needed time to calm down.

It might be creepy, but while I was trying to concentrate on my company, I always knew were Alice was, cause I had my brothers following her, which it was easy because when she wasn't at home, she was at her restaurant and that was bad, cause that meant that her emotional was taking the best of her , and I don't know how well she was taking care of herself .

It's Friday night, almost 1 AM and I'm at her door, ringing the bell like crazy. I had the keys, but didn't want to get in without her letting me in. I was almost kicking off the door when I hear her voice behind me

"I think she's not at home"

I turned around to see her, she looked exhausted, I hugged her tight, hiding my face in the alcove of her neck, she hugged me back releasing the breath that she was holding, relaxing in my arms.

We stay like that for a while, I would like to take her into her room and hold her, never letting her go but it's her house, her decision, so I wait holding her as long as she wants me to.

"We should go in" Alice tells me, I let go of her and nod, holding her hand in mine and she gives me a small smile, taking her keys and unlocking the door, going in and pulling me with her and closing the door and locking it after.

She pulled me to sit on the couch beside her, without letting go of my hand, and that calmed me down.

"Baby girl, I'm so sorry, I know what I promised you long ago and no I didn't forget my promise I was just so excited to get home after the great afternoon that you and I had that I didn't realize what I was saying, please forgive me , I'll win you back if that is what you want" I said to her and she looked at me with that gorgeous brown eyes, she let it go of my hand and jumped in my lap , I held her tight in my arms

"I forgive you, and you don't have to win me back, I'm yours, I've always been and always will be yours" she said, I could feel that she was crying, and we stayed like that for some time till she calmed down.

I let go of her to make her look at me and I kissed her, a soft and passionate kiss, a way to show her that everything is fine, that we're fine and I'll never leave her. We parted and my hand reached her cheek

"Have you been eating? Or even sleeping?" I asked her and she shakes her head

"I-I couldn't sleep, I kept having nightmares and I didn't had time to eat" she answers me with honesty

"Then how are you even standing?"

"Your stock of monster" she says looking down

"How many did you drink?" I have a monster theme mini fridge full of monster energy, I restocked in the day before our fight, so it had like fifty cans in there

"Two..." she starts saying

"Oh, not bad" I tell her

"Two every day, maybe three" she says and my eyes pop, I do the math in my head, and I realize

"HAVE YOU LOST YOUR MIND?" I say out loud and she flinch "I'm sorry, didn't mean to scare you, but Alice, you can't replace meals with energetic drinks" I tell her

"I'm sorry babe" she was a bit sad, I kiss her forehead, then her cheek, then her mouth and she smile at me

"Come on, let's go to the kitchen, I'll make some food for you" I say to her and with her still in my lap, we went to her kitchen

(...)

After eating and taking a shower together ,we're in her bed, she's reading by my side, and I turn to look at her, finding her sleeping, I chuckle and take her book of her hands, putting the page marker and closing it after, I pull her to my chest and kiss the top of her head

"I love you, baby girl. Goodnight" 

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It's finally here , the middle of the story !

There will be only 10 more chapters, so the story will have some jumps on the timeline , but don't worry , happy and in love is the goal

If you're still here, hope that you're enjoying the story

xoxo, the author