Chapter 8 - You are my favorite
They had just finished the presentation about the new equipment gear for training, they came to Adelaide to hear about.
"See, presentations are fun in good company" Claire joked as they walked down the massive hallway in the hotel the presentation had taken place. "Yeah yeah" Alex said and shook his head with a smile - The company more than the presentation, he thought to himself. "Wanna grab something to eat?" He asked but he hadn't noticed Claire had stopped. He looked to his side, realising she wasn't next to him anymore. "Claire?" he said and turned around to find her a bit behind. "What are you doing?" he asked and walked back to her, but she didn't answer. She kept in the same frozen position, almost like she wasn't even there. He looked around the open floor to see if he could find what she was looking at, and suddenly he saw him. Only a few meters away at the front desk, talking with a couple of guys in suits, laughing - looking like he had a very good time. Peter.
Just as Claire was starting to feel better, she had to see him. And here, out of all the places. All the memories came rushing back to her, pulling her further down the hole she was so desperately trying to get out of. It was only a short moment she saw him and then he was gone, but it was enough to make her ground shake.
"What is he doing here?" she heard Alex ask as a distant voice. "What?" she asked, clearly in shock of what she just saw. Alex shook his head and looked the way Peter had disappeared. God he hated that man.
"Forget the food, let's find ourselves a drink" he said and placed his hand on the small of her back, guiding her out of the hotel, away from a possible break down.
"Another round" Alex said to the guy behind the bar and walked back to the table where Claire was waiting. "There's one more on the way" he said as Claire emptied the bottle for the last drop of beer. "Great! I'll be right back" Claire said and got up from the chair. She made her way to the restroom, under the influence of a bit too much alcohol.
As she washed her hands, her own reflection caught her eye and an overwhelming feeling of sadness started to spread inside of her. A couple of tears ran down her cheeks as the reflection and her kept staring at each other. Peter had been a reminder of what she had lost, of what she would never get back and that hurt, quite a lot still. She looked down at the sink, trying to find some strength inside of herself and then she looked back up. Dried away the tears and looked herself in the eyes as she promised not to get hurt like that, ever again.
She took a deep breathe and dried her hands with a towel and made her way back to the table. The new round of beer was already there, and she couldn't get more down fast enough. "Took you long enough" Alex said and handed her the beer. She took it with pleasure and emptied almost half of the beer in one go.
"What?" Claire asked as she noticed how Alex kept giving her that drunk smile. He started to snigger and then he looked away. "Nothing, nothing" he said and took the beer in his hands. "You alright though?" he asked and looked back at her.
"Alright and drunk … I can't even remember when I've had this much to drink last" she answered. She hardly ever got drunk but seeing Peter today made her want to forget about everything, at least for a little while.
"Count me in - Being drunk, that is" Alex said almost knocking down one of the empty bottles. Claire shook her head and laughed at him. "What is so funny?" he fumbled out and flung his arm. She moved closer to him and leaned towards him, close enough to smell the beer breath he had. "Being drunk with you. Why are we drunk?" she asked, suddenly surprised by how that could happen.
"Because of that piece of a shit knob, you almost married. That's why" Alex said and pointed at her to underline he talked about her. "Right." she said and the pained feeling started to come to the surface again. "I think I need something stronger" she said and looked at Alex with determination in her eyes. "This is why we are getting drunk together. You are my favorite, McLeod" he said and pulled her in and kissed her very gently on the cheek, making Claire laugh at his drunk'n smile.
"What do you want?" he asked and got up from the table again. "Name it, and I'll bring it" he continued and bowed in front of her, as he was her servant. "Something to get him out of my mind"
"I know just what you need!" Alex said and made his way to the bar. Claire shook her head with a smile as she studied how he went one step forward, and two steps back all the way up to the bar.
"I can't find the key anywhere" Claire said drunk and rummaged through all of her pockets. Alex was leaning himself against the wall with one hand, waiting for her to open up so he could say goodnight, as a real gentleman. But she was so beautiful that he had a hard time trying not kiss her. "Claire" he said and lost his footing for a brief moment. "Why are there 2 of you?" he asked and tried touching the air where the other one of her was supposed to be. "Because you .. are a bit drunk" she replied and boobed his nose. "Oh yeah" he said and smiled for himself.
"Alex .." she said and leaned herself against the door. Mmh he said and tried to look at her flirtatiously as he placed his arm above her head. "I can't find the key anywhere" Claire said and started to laugh. "I have a bed" he said and pointed down the hall.
"Alright, where's your room?" Claire asked, giving it no second thought to spend the night in the same bed as Alex. "I .." he said and looked around. "I forgot where my bed is. Has someone moved it?" he said and started to laugh, making Claire laugh as well. It was actually quite surprising no one came out of their rooms to hush on them.
"You lost your bed" Claire laughed and used him as a support not tip over. Alex snorted and looked around the long hall with all the doors looking like each other, only a small number made them stand out from each other. "It's down here" he said and pointed 4 doors down.
He ran the keycard through the reader at the handle, it took him a couple of tries as he kept turning it the wrong way but at last they got inside.
"One last drink before we go to sleep, okay?" Alex said and walked to the minibar. Claire kicked off her shoes and joined him, carefully watching how he mixed the drinks with more vodka than soda. "Here" he said and reached out the glass a bit too quick. He bumped the glass straight into her, spilling the entire drink on her shirt.
"Shit, sorry! Let me help" Alex said and desperately placed his own drink on the counter and reached for the first and best thing he could grab to dry her off. He turned to look at her again and then at her shirt. With a couple of rough movements he started to pat her on the chest with one of his shirts he had decided to use as a napkin. "I think I need a new shirt" Claire said and felt the cold fabric starting to stick to her skin.
"Yes, that will work!" Alex said and threw the shirt he was holding to the side. Without much thinking he started to unbutton her shirt, making Claire laugh. "I can do that myself" she said and felt one more button get undone. "No no. I caused it, so I fix it" Alex said and kept unbuttoning her shirt until there weren't any buttons left. He stopped and looked at the bare skin that was now exposed, still holding each end of her shirt in his hands. He looked up and down and couple of times before he moved his focus to her.
"You're … You're beautiful" he said with a dark drunken whisper - Almost as he hadn't expected that. Well, he didn't really know what to expect. Claire didn't say anything, she just gave him a quiet smile and kept looking at him, taking no notice of the fact he had a free sight to her breasts. She kinda enjoyed being in that moment with him, but a lot of things was enjoyable when drunk.
Suddenly she felt his hand run over the exposed bare skin and it did things to her, that she couldn't explain. It made her crave for more of his touches. He was sure it was the alcohol that made him lean in and kiss her, just a quick discreet kiss. A voice in the back of his head told him not to, so he prepared himself to pull away again right after, but as she kissed him back, the little voice disappeared and he intensified their kiss, making it stronger and deeper. With a swift move, he pulled down the shirt and pressed himself closer to her, forcing her to move backwards, closer to the bed.
With a gentle push, Claire fell on her back pulling him on top of her. She kept kissing him, harder and faster for each kiss, having no intention to stop what they were doing, even though she knew deep down that it would be for the best.
