Accidentally In Love - Chapter 9
Sonny hadn't been in the boxing ring for a very long time. Yet, something about seeing Alexis kissing Jason with her legs wrapped around him, made him want to hit something or someone. So, he called his old sparring partner, invited him to the gym, and went a few rounds with him in the ring. More than one time, the trainer had to pull him off of the poor guy. By the end of the session, Sonny felt a calm he hadn't felt in weeks.
He was thinking clearly now. All he needed to do was talk to Jason. As his former best friend, surely he could reason with him. He would explain what Alexis was to him and why Jason couldn't marry her. He was only beginning to understand how he felt about her himself. Yes, she had been with other men since they'd been together. She even married his brother. But he'd known none of those relationships would last. Those were relationships of convenience or need. Somehow, this was different. Alexis and Jason were so much alike: kind, loyal, caring and fiercely protective of the ones they loved. If they found each other, they might never let go.
He picked up his cell. "Jase, its Sonny. We need to talk."
Jason was at Greystone within the hour. "You wanted to see me?" Sonny recognized the younger man's voice without turning around.
"Yeah, I wanted to talk to you about Alexis." Sonny tossed him a bottle of water.
Jason sighed. "What's there to talk about?"
"Your instant relationship with Alexis." Sonny moved toward the sofa and gestured that Jason should join him. Once again, Sonny wondered what Alexis had seen in his friend. Was it the spiky, dirty blond hair or the sky blue eyes? What could they talk about? She was a rambler and his words were sparse. Maybe they didn't talk at all. That last thought was enough to make his stomach churn. No, they were together for some reason and he was determined to find out what it was. "You know she's been through a lot the past few years. I don't want to see her get hurt."
"I'm not going to hurt Alexis." Jason's stare was steady. "Why are you so interested now? You know me well enough to know I'm not a man like Jerry or Ric."
"I know, but your life is dangerous and Alexis and I are friends. I think we've always been, even when we hated each other. I know you weren't here but Alexis and I got close. I didn't even know how it happened, but she got under my skin."
Jason smiled. "Yeah, I think she might be good at that."
Sonny told himself to ignore the wistful look on his former friend's face. He continued on. "Look, I care about her, maybe more than I realized. It would hurt me if anything happened to her. And whether you know it or not, I still consider you a friend. So, if the two of you are in some sort of trouble, you don't have to go through it alone. Stop pretending you suddenly care about each other and let me help you."
"And I'm supposed to be the one with the brain damage." Jason smirked and shook his head.
"What are you talking about?"
"I don't know what was missing in you and Ric and Jerry that didn't allow you to see that Alexis is an amazing woman. Whatever it is I don't suffer from the same problem. I don't have to pretend to care about her when she makes it so easy."
When he didn't speak, Jason continued on.
"I appreciate that you care about us, but you know I can handle myself and I'd die before I let anything happen to Alexis or the girls. So, unless you have anything else, I have some place to be."
Jason gestured for him to speak but he didn't. Sonny nodded. It was all he could manage to do. Then Sonny watched him leave. Jason was falling for Alexis. And even though Sonny hadn't been with Alexis in seven years, it felt as though someone had knocked his world off its axis.
He had no choice but to move into his old Penthouse now. Jason could get reckless and he would not allow him to get Alexis or her girls hurt. With a phone call the process was set in motion. Two hours later, most of his boxes were there.
He hadn't anticipated how hard his return would be or how much being in his old Penthouse would remind him of Alexis. Sure he'd been with other women there, but the time when he lived across from the Alexis was the best time of his life. When his eyes closed, he remembered the dinners he'd made her and breakfast the morning after they made love. Their first kiss was in that living room. Maybe she had saved him from himself that night or maybe he should have still gotten rid of A.J. He looked to the stairs where she'd worn his shirt while her sister peeked around the door. For less than 12 hours, his life had been idyllic and he'd walked away because he was too blind to see it.
An hour later, Sonny was waiting on pins and needles. He'd been waiting to spring the news on Alexis and Jason. Waiting to let them know whatever their scheme, it was about to end. The only problem was he couldn't locate them. Jason left Greystone nearly six hours ago. Sonny had been at the Penthouse nearly two and half hours himself. No longer did he have the luxury of calling one of his men and locating anyone he chose. Now he had to wait just like everyone else. Although a beautiful woman once told him she'd teach him to wait, he still wasn't very good at it. He decided to get some fresh air and walked into the hallway.
Soon, the familiar sound of the elevator bell announced its arrival. His first instinct was to rush back into PH4 and nonchalantly stop by the place his friends called home a few minutes later. But he couldn't move. His eyes were transfixed on the image he saw before him: Jason and Alexis arrived with Max in tow. They were holding hands and laughing like a couple of teenagers. They'd each been his best friend once and he knew them well enough to know they weren't the handholding types. It was obvious they were happy about something. In fact, he thought he heard Max offer some sort of congratulations. Curiosity drew him nearer.
"What's going on here?"
"Sonny?" Alexis seemed genuinely startled. "What are you doing here?"
"I wanted to talk to both you."
"Why didn't you just call? We could have stopped by Greystone on our way back. We needed to talk to you as well." The softness with which she spoke was contrasted by Jason's glare.
Sonny suddenly felt smug. Now was his time to blow their game wide open. "That was what I wanted to talk to you about. I don't live in Greystone anymore. I moved back to my old place. We're neighbors now. I'm back across the hall."
"Why would you do that?" Jason's wrinkled his brow.
"Because sometimes you get reckless and my daughter lives with you. Jason, I know you keep insisting that what you and Alexis have is real but it's just too sudden. You two didn't even like each other a month ago. How am I supposed to believe you suddenly woke up and realized Alexis is the love of your life?" "How could she be?" he wondered to himself. She can't love you more than she loved me.
"Stop Sonny. Just stop." Alexis raised her voice. "There's something you should know."
"Are you going to finally tell me what's going on?"
"Yes. Jason and I got married an hour ago."
And with her words, the heart of the once-powerful Sonny Corinthos shattered into a million little pieces. He dropped his head and rubbed his chin. He looked at Jason, then Alexis. For a second, he thought he saw a tear in her eye; if not a tear, then perhaps an ounce of regret. "I guess there's nothing left to say right now, except that this marriage is as fake as the relationship you've been pretending to have. So, don't expect me to accept it."
Within in seconds he was back in the Penthouse. He walked to the newly stocked bar lined with expensive crystal decanters and glasses, took one look, and then turned the whole thing over.