Red Roses
1167 Words
My heart skips a beat and I feel my knees grow weak, almost unable to hold me anymore. My mouth opens, and I want to greet him, but no sound comes out of my mouth. I am certain I look like a fish gasping for air...
I remain pinned in the doorway, standing between a half opened door and the wooden frame, staring at the man in front of me. He carries a bunch of flowers. Plain red roses. If my favorite flowers had not have been peonies (thing I kept repeating for years) I might have been impressed with the size of the bouquet. But it did not touch me anymore.. I knew it was just some cheap trick to get to me... One he had used one too many times up until now....
A trick I had fallen for each time.
We spend a long moment just staring at each other. I remain silent, mostly dumbstruck by what was going on, unable to actually move a muscle to say or do anything.
"It's good to see you-" Max speaks, breaking the silence.
His voice is soft, almost sugar coated, and I feel nausea swelling in my stomach.
I press my lips in a thin line and open them again, without any luck in mustering the courage to say something.
"You look good." he continues and I still don't know what to say.
...
"I brought you your favorite flowers-" he offers me the roses, but I don't reach out to take them from him.
...
"Can I come inside? Put these in a vase?" he insists and I feel beads of cold sweat run down my spine.
"I don''t- think that's a good idea..." I find myself muttering, slowly closing the door. "I think it's best you-" I continue as I try to make the opening of the door smaller. But the door comes to a sudden stop.
Max sets his foot in front of door, holding it from being closed on him. His eyes narrow lightly and I can see the way the muscle in his jaw starts to hammer as he holds back from making a scene.
"Come on, pumpkin..." he pleads, a fake smile curling on his lips. "Just for a quick coffee, and a little talk. How does that sound. Don't you think I deserve that at least? Don't you think our relationship deserves that?" he continues and something within me recoils with disgust as his words, while part of me feels like he's right... Maybe I should-
"Selena?" A distant voice from inside the house snaps some sense back into me.
My body tenses as I notice Max's attention shifts to something behind me. His eyes darken and his fake smile drops.
"Who's there?" He rasps, his voice low, a mere whisper.
"No one!" I rush to speak, trying to push him out of the doorframe with the door.
"Is everything alright?" I hear Alexander call out from within the house.
"Who's there?" Max insists and my stomach knots in a thousand knots of anxiety and fear. "Is that why you don't want me to come inside? You already f*****g someone else?" he growls, forcing the door to open, and pushing me aside, while storming in.
I stumble backwards and swallow back a short yelp as Max freezes in his spot, when he spots none other but Alexander standing at a fair distance from us.
The bouquet of roses drops to the ground and I wished the earth would split in half and swallow me whole right now.
"Hello, Maxwell." Alexander speaks, his voice calm, his tune steady, his hands digging into his pockets with nonchalance as he approaches the other man.
Max's gaze shifts towards me and I know those eyes. He was jealous. And it was beyond my real comprehension. Max had always been a possessive man, but I can only imagine what kind of anger this whole thing sparked. His own brother... in his house, with his fiance... ex-fiance actually.
"My brother?" he asks, his voice low, a mere hiss filled with poison.
I want to say something, but I am not given the chance. Alexander speaks for me without any shame.
"Brother?" The older man hums and I have a feeling this was not going to go well. "Last time I saw you, I handed you the disowning papers. Legally, we are not related anymore, Maxwell. Therefore, I am not your brother." he corrects Max, and despite the leisurely way he speaks, I am more than certain his heart was heavy.
I knew these two had a tight bond in the past. Before Talia died and Alexander distanced himself from everyone...
"You're f*****g him -" he murmurs, his attention still pinned on me. "I can't believe it!" his voice grows louder, a maniacal laugh escaping him. Both his hands push his hair backwards as he rolls his eyes, in a theatrical gesture of controlling his anger. "I can't believe I never saw this coming-" he throws his hands in the air, before he locks eyes with me again.
I feel my whole body tense once more, when I notice the way his eyes narrow on my figure. This exact gaze only meant one thing.
"You f*****g b***h-" he spits the words in my direction, and without any sort of heads up, he closes the distance between me, his fist raised, blinded by his anger.
I muffle my own scream as I cover my head with my hands, but the blow never comes.
Alexander rushes in, but he doesn't shelter me. He grabs Max's arm right before his fist would have collided with me, and drags him a few steps backwards, forcing him to add distance between us.
"You have no right to be here." Alexander speaks.
The words are clear. The message is not something hard to decipher. And the way he speaks it, makes me feel small and insignificant. I was facing a king and could feel it in every cell of my body. Alexander had this kingly aura around him that exuded power and confidence. And I was nothing ...
"What the hell do you mean I have no right to be here?!" Max barks and turns to face Alexander, who doesn't seem impressed by the theatrics and antics his brother is putting up. "This is my house!" he stomps his foot and his head turns towards me.
"This house belongs to the Callahan family, and you are no longer one." Alexander explains simply, but Max doesn't seem to register it.
He swallows the lump in his neck, anger bubbling underneath his skin, seeping through his eyes, shooting poisoned darts towards me.
"It's because of her, isn't it? This is revenge that I got my hands on her before you, isn't it? On this filthy good for nothing b***h?!" he spits out, his voice loud, making me feel as if the whole house was shaking with his words, his eyes trailing back to Alexander.
- Writer
