Chapter 7

Terminal City

Alec took off his leather jacket and tossed it roughly onto the couch. The apartment was far smaller than the one he kept out of Terminal City. He refused to get rid of his spacious home. He didn't mind being locked in close quarters with everyone, after all he'd grown up in that kind of environment. However, he knew how Ordinaries were, he obviously knew how transgenics were, and those two wouldn't mesh well. So when he had female company, he took them to his apartment out of TC.

Angry over Max's latest tirade against him, he opened his liquor cabinet and took out a bottle of whiskey. Instead of reaching for a glass, he twisted the top off and drank straight from the bottle. He barely swallowed the first gulp of warm liquid when his door burst open.

"Max—I don't remember inviting you in." Alec joked sarcastically. He brushed passed her and sat on the couch. Ignoring her, he turned on the TV; he gave Max the impression of not paying attention to her, but in actuality, he knew her every move. It was difficult with his DNA to not watch someone that was in his territory.

Max glanced from side to side, clearly nervous to be alone with him. A petty part of him wanted to call her on it, but that'd cause more issues than he preferred to deal with right then.

"Look, downstairs…" She coughed uncomfortably but quickly regained her composure and rushed through what she felt she had to say. "I'm sorry for jumping down your throat." The words were pushed out so fast Alec had a bit of a hard time understanding her, but he did.

"Max, I couldn't quite comprehend what you said." He played with his ear and stared at her.

"You heard me. Don't act like you didn't." She glared.

Hey, he might have understood her, but that didn't mean she's let off the hook. "Who's acting?" Alec shrugged his shoulders and took another swig of whiskey.

"I'm trying to apologize, and you're making it into a big production and joking about it."

Alec slammed the glass bottle on the table. "Just because I'm not bending to your will like everyone else around here doesn't mean you can wave off an apology for treating me like shit."

Max wouldn't back away from him, but he scared her from the look in her eyes. "That's not what I was doing."

"Now who's acting?" He whispered. "Anytime you hear about something gone wrong even a little bit, I'm the one that gets shit on. Doesn't matter if I'm there or not somehow it's my fault." He poked at his chest.

"Alec, you're…"

"You know, you've been on my case for a month. Ever since we almost slept together." Alec realized. "Max, is this because I stopped us? Is that what this whole 'blame Alec for everything' is about? Because you should be thanking your lucky stars that I'm an alpha and put a stop to it before we both did something we'd regret."

"It has nothing to do with that." She denied.

Alec nodded, but clearly didn't believe her. "Sure." He put the lid back on the bottle and left the alcohol on the end table. It'd probably be gone by the time he got back though; Mole would sometimes come into his room and raid his liquor cabinet. "You can leave now."

"Alec, I really am sorry." Max argued.

"Don't care. Go." Alec pointed to the door and waited as she shrugged and left the room.

For a few minutes after she left, he paced in his room like a caged animal. He could tell in Max's voice that she was sorry for how she had been treating him, but he wasn't in the mood to accept her apology. He was in the mood to act like an asshole. And after a month of constant verbal hits from Max, he felt it was owed to him.

He didn't blame Max for their almost sexual encounter; if anything he felt sympathy for her. She had gone into heat, and Logan was out of town. Currently in Terminal City he was the top dog, the alpha male; it was only natural that Max sought him out instead of someone else of a lower rank.

Tired of looking at the same four walls, he grabbed the jacket he threw on the couch and shrugged it on. He left the small apartment he kept and hurried down the stairs toward the common room. Max tried to stop him to once more apologize, but he didn't even slow his steps.

As he neared the entrance, the three transgenics that watched the door opened it for him. Armed with firearms, they nodded to him before continuing their surveillance. Alec realized that it might not be a good idea to go out without his helmet and bike, but he decided to risk it. He put his hands in his pockets and walked down the street.

Ros&DA&Ros&DA&Ros&DA

Liz stood at the front door for a moment cringing at Jamie's cries. She hated leaving him when he was clearly upset, but he had to learn that he couldn't get everything he wanted. She closed her eyes and put a hand against the door. She wanted nothing more than to push the barrier between them and gather Jeremy up into her arms and stop his pain.

Sighing, she reluctantly pushed away from the door and bounced down the stairs. Liz assessed the sky and decided to walk to the clothing store. While grey, it had stopped raining, and it hadn't rained for a couple hours. But she did duck into her car and grabbed an umbrella that she saw on the floor of the car.

Locking the car back up, she made her way down the driveway; she turned the corner sharply and bashed into someone so hard that she fell on her butt in the mud. She groaned at the muck seeping through her clothes. Dammit, this was the last thing she needed.

"Oh damn. Sorry, are you ok?" A deep remorseful voice questioned.

Liz, now that the shock had worn off, got a good look at the guy she ran into. Just her luck, he was gorgeous. Dark blonde hair, mischievous green eyes, broad shoulders, slim waist and he clearly had some muscle definition under that shirt and coat.

"I'm fine." She grimaced at the slimy mud moving through her fingers. "It's my fault anyway. Wasn't looking where I was going." She tried to get up without his help, but it proved to be a difficult task. After the second time of trying to get out of the mud and not succeeding, she took his offered hand so he could pull her up.

"Man, you're a real mess. Can I get you a towel or something?" He asked.

"Umm, no, my house is right here; I'll just go change." She waved off his offer.

"Well, here." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a wad of cash. "Let me at least pay for you to get those cleaned."

Liz glanced at her watch. "No, it's really ok. Thanks for your help, though." She ran up her driveway and left the guy staring after her in confusion.

TBC