Chapter 24 Rebel heart

The conversation had upset Stevie and when she got back at Drovers she just wanted to be alone. Lying on her bed she heard a knock on the door. 'Stevie, are you there?' 'No.' Regan softly opened the door. 'Pity I can see your red curls coming from under your pillow.' Stevie took the pillow of the back of her head and turned around. Regan could see the red eyes of her friend. She took a few steps to the bed and sat down near Stevie. 'You wanna talk about it?' Stevie gave her an unsure look. 'Alex?' While hearing his name, Stevie sat up a bit.

'I feel like a sixteen year old', she mumbled. 'Well, at least you're prepared for Rose's stay', Regan said and petted her friend on the knee. Stevie smiled softly and brushed away the tears with the sleeve of her shirt. She sighed and saw Regan's asking eyes. 'Why does it have to hurt so much?' She looked straight at her friend, who could sense her misery. 'I can't just tell him', Stevie continued. 'That you're in love with him?' Stevie nodded, feeling the tears welling up again.

'It's just all this talk about Fiona and ...', another sigh separated Stevie's sentences, '... I think Alex ...'. She couldn't really put it in words, so Regan started to talk. 'Why don't you just be honest with him? What are you afraid of?' 'Everything', Stevie softly said. 'That he won't like hearing the truth? That he won't feel the same?' Stevie nodded, though she knew the truth was the best solution, surely after Fiona's lies. Regan softly smiled. 'You know what I think?' The redhead glared at her friend. 'I think he will like it.' Stevie looked away, she didn't want to hope.

'I've seen you guys when you asked him about Rose ... I've noticed how he looks at you, how he loves you holding him. If you didn't let go off him I think you two would still be standing there.' Regan smirked at her friend. 'You really believe that, do you?' 'I would put big bugs on it for sure!' Stevie had to smile about Regan's comments. 'And besides that, you can't fool me by saying there never ever happened a thing between you two.'

Stevie kept quiet and just gave her a 'what makes you think that?' look. 'What happened before Tess and Nick's wedding?' Regan glared demanding to her. 'How do you know about that?', Stevie replied quickly. 'Ah see I was right'. Regan was pleased. 'So ...' 'What?' 'Geesh, Steves I want some gossip!'

'We kissed okay!' 'Ohhhh, you kissed. What was it like?' Stevie rolled her eyes, but couldn't really suppress the will to answer her question. 'Good, nice, great ... veeeerrrryyyy confusing!' Her smile got wider while saying it and remembering the moment. Regan poked her. 'Oh yeah you're definitely a sixteen year old!'

Jodi, Rob and Riley had left to the pub. The so-called pool night kind of fell in the water after Stevie had cancelled it. Jodi had mentioned the fact that it was probably the talk with Alex that had upset Stevie and it annoyed Riley. Why on earth couldn't that guy just leave her alone? It was always him that caused her pain.

Riley took another swung of his beer looking at the couple in front of him. Jodi and Rob couldn't take their eyes of each other. 'Maybe it's better to go home', Jodi said with a seductive smile, sliding her hand along Rob's waist. 'I kinda like that idea', Rob smirked at her. The blonde girl just nodded and gave him another kiss, which ended up in a strong embrace and a giggle. Riley rolled his eyes.

He was relieved that the two lovebirds had left and finished his bottle of beer. He walked to the bar and his eyes spotted a tall, dark man. 'Alex', he mumbled to himself. Alex was still ran over with thoughts and hoped his stay in the pub would give him some rest, so he had taken a seat at the bar and glared in front of him. Riley walked to him and ordered a beer. 'And give this man one too.' Alex looked up. 'No need to.' Riley looked annoyed. 'Hey, what's wrong with buying a mate a drink, hey?' Alex could see it wasn't the first beer Riley had ordered and figured it would be wise to just accept it.

'That's what mates do, do they? Just like you and Stevie.' Alex wondered what the guy was babbling about. 'Oh don't give me such a look. You know what? You're a lousy mate.' 'What's your problem?' Alex asked, getting irritated. 'You, man, you. Just back off will yah. You're only hurting her. I want you to stay away from her!' He said it with a touch of aggression coming through. Riley was serious about it. He was tired of Stevie being upset over this bloke. 'That's something she still decides.'

'Oh yeah, well I say you better back off or I'll make sure you will.' Alex by now had stand up and looked down. 'You think so ... don't fool yourself mate. She doesn't love you.' Riley grinned at the man who obviously wanted to impress him with his posture, but nothing could hold him back. 'Oh well, just keep upsetting her. It will only drift her into my arms. And that's were she will be, in my arms.' Alex had to smirk about it. For a moment the guy was pretty humorous.

'Yeah right, she's not into anything serious with you, mate.' Alex just hoped he was right about his own comment. This time it was Riley that had to laugh, shaking his head. 'I can tell you; when you were in a coma, it wasn't you she was thinking of. No, not at all. And she loved it, mate, every movement, every touch. She will come back for more.' It wasn't exactly the whole truth, but Riley wasn't in the state to really think clear. He could only feel the anger grew bigger with every word.

Alex had tried to keep in his rage, but the man in front of him was testing him. And he couldn't just let him talk like that. The thought of him with Stevie made him feel sick in his stomach. He pushed him, which seemed to be just the thing Riley had hoped for. 'Don't talk about her like that!' Alex breathed in deeply, seeing the man put on his annoying grin again. 'So we have a bad temper. What do you wanna do about it?' 'Don't force me', Alex said trying to sound calm, but it was far from.

Riley enjoyed seeing his words had the right effect. It wouldn't take much for Alex to explode. 'You know I'll be better for her, cause what do you know about women anyway? Hey, yeah well, what can I say ... or they go insane ... or they end up dead!'

It didn't even take a sec before Riley could feel Alex' fist hitting his jaw. The power of it made Riley fall on the floor. Alex' face was filled with anger, breathing deeply. 'Don't ever say that again!'