The Alpha King Call Boy
Chapter 134

C

Fiona

"Aw, you found her."

Alexander held our bedroom door open for Nina, then followed her inside.

I'd just finished texting to let him know I was done showering and getting ready. Then a couple seconds later the two of them were at the door.

"I sure did." A little twitch of Alexander's eyebrow hinted that he'd caught her in the middle of some sort of mischief.

"Fiona!" Nina was on me right away with a big hug. Her hair, always changing, was extra striking today-pure white, worn down and straight, and, my god, so silky and shiny. "Nina. Thank you so much for coming over today."

"Dang, girl." She kept her arms around my neck while looking around the bedroom. "It does look different than the last time I was here. Love that desk! You can actually tell that a woman lives here now."

I guess that was a good summary of the redecorating that Alexander and I had done when we'd set up my home office. Made it look like "our" room, instead of just a room where I happened to sleep.

Alexander loitered near the door patiently, his usual cool smirk on his lips as he watched me with my friend. I got the feeling he was enjoying the sight of the genuine, relaxed smile on my face that no doubt appeared the second I saw her.

Nina gave my shoulders a tight squeeze, then swept her hands down the length of my arms. She gave me an appraising look, glancing up and down, and said, "You look great, Fi. Glowing."

"And you look incredible. I love your hair like that."

She flipped it back over one shoulder, a move that looked graceful and practiced. "Thanks. You ready here, babe? I'm trying to get that royal breakfast feast I've been promised and looking forward to for days now."

Nina was not disappointed with the offerings that awaited us in the dining room.

She had an impressive appetite for her size. I'd always known Nina to be a good eater, but since she started dancing for a living, she'd also taken up an athlete's kind of calorie-packing lifestyle in her downtime.

Alexander watched her with curiosity. "You know," he said, glancing back and forth between me and my friend. "With your hair light like that, Nina, I'm noticing for the first time that you girls bear some real resemblance to each other. You could be sisters." Nina and I turned to look at each other with matching expressions of bewilderment. Then we said "no way" in perfect unison, and then fell into laughter.

Alexander was amused. "Wow. Forget sisters. You could be twins."

He was just making an idle comment, but unfortunately, it happened to take the mood in the room and turn it upside down.

I knew Nina had to be thinking, now, about the same thing that I was.

The fact was that Nina actually did have a twin. The three of us had grown up together. But she never talked about her brother Michael anymore, and, like the rest of her family, she had not seen him in many years.

As far as I knew, Nina and Michael never had a big fight or other fallout between the two of them directly. But she'd had to distance herself from their parents a long time ago, and Michael had stayed behind with them. "Did I say something wrong?" Alexander whispered.

Nina had excused herself to use the restroom a few minutes after the awkward turn our jovial conversation had taken when he brought up the topic of siblings.

"No, not at all." I weighed how much I could say to him that would be honest and also honor my best friend's privacy. "Nina's just a little sensitive on the topic of family. That's all."

Alexander gave a single nod, clenching his strong, sharp jaw.

"You couldn't have known." I shrugged. "Don't worry about it."

"Maybe I should give you girls a little time to chat," he said. "I want to go check in on the pack, anyway. I'll come back shortly. That okay?"

"Yeah, of course. That works just fine. Will you walk with us to the room, though? Maybe you can brew us a pot of that delicious coffee of yours. Nina would love it. And I'm addicted, now. I need my daily fix."

"Thought I got you your fix already this morning," he said smugly. "Twice."

I shook my head at him with narrowed eyes. "I told you there was more than one thing I needed you for."

"Well that was a pretty picture," Nina said after Alexander departed on his errand.

She and I were alone in the bedroom now, and she made herself right at home, hopping up into our big bed and lounging there on her stomach. I noted, gratefully, that the bed linens had been changed out by the maid staff while the three of us were at breakfast. "What? Me and Alexander?"

She chuckled. "First of all. Why do you call still him that?"

"Alexander? That is his name, isn't it?"

"Yes... but I guess I got used to hanging out with Kayden, and he always calls him 'Alex. You say Alexander all the time, and it sounds so formal."

"It's not formal, it's just his name." I scanned my memory. It occurred to me that maybe I did call him Alex sometimes. But only in bed, when I was breathless and struggling for syllables.

"Based on what I've seen today, you and Alexander are well past formalities." Nina licked her teeth thoughtfully.

"And what is it that you have seen today?" I asked, not sure I wanted to hear the answer.

"You two are so cute together, Fi, it's almost gross."

"We are not." I felt my cheeks growing warm and made an effort to hide my face by taking a long sip of coffee.

"Girl. You can't take your hands off each other for a second. And that thing at the door that I just witnessed... I thought you guys weren't kissing on the lips, hm?"

"We don't... that was not really..." I closed my eyes, not sure how to explain this. Alexander had given me another almost-kiss on the cheek when he said goodbye on his way out just now. I guess Nina had caught that.

"Look, you don't have to explain anything to me." She rolled over onto her back, stretching. "I'm just saying what I observed. Stating the facts the way I see 'em."

"Thank you for that," I quipped sarcastically. "I'll make sure your observations are noted on the official record."

She giggled. "Oh, Fiona. Fiona, Fiona, Fiona..."

"Will you stop already?"

"Alright, I'm done. Swear." She did a kind of somersault, inverting her body and winding up seated cross-legged. "For what it's worth, babe? I love seeing you so happy."

I sighed, minimizing my smile. There was no making it go away entirely.

"Let's go shopping," she said, putting me out of my misery.

"Ugh, yes please! I need some new bras. And work clothes."

Nina smiled with a sparkle in her eye, looking like she'd just had a stroke of genius.

"Think your boo would let us take one of his credit cards out for a joyride?" she asked, looking way too excited about this idea. "I'll drive."