Chapter 10: Before The Storm

Alex strode out of Starbucks purposefully, an iced mocha in one hand and the other in her loose jeans' pocket.

Her oversized aviators with turquoise frames shielded her unsightly dark-ringed eyes from the sun. She slept a grand total of three fucking hours in the last two nights and she woke up that morning looking like a panda from China.

It was not funny at all.

And she could not believe what had happened.

Uncle Liam was the creative director of Van der Kaap, and his company was going to sue Archer.

"I'm sorry, Alex," he had said gravely. "I know he's your friend but I have to do this."

Archer was fucked. Big time.

And the worst thing? He didn't seem to care. They had gone to a conference room at the hotel after the rather dramatic standoff in the lobby, and Archer just kept staring at Maddy Bowen as if his eyes were super-glued to her fucking face the whole way through.

She wouldn't have been surprised if he jumped out of his chair and started having wild animal sex with Maddy right on the table.

Well, at least she could be grateful that he still had a shred of self-control in him.

Stopping at a light, she angrily pulled out a cigarette and fished around for her pocket for a lighter, but her fingers met nothing but cloth. Fuck, she must have left it at home.

The familiar clink drew her eyes to her right. It was a guy, more or less her age, grinning at her.

"May I offer you a light?" he asked.

Alex nodded and took it, taking a deep drag from her cigarette. "Cheers, mate."

"No problem," he answered. "Troubled?"

"I'm pretty pissed off right now," she said bluntly. "So fuck off, okay?"

His grin widened, and he ran a hand through his short spiky hair. "Can I have your number?"

"No."

"Can I give you mine?"

Alex glared at him. "Do I look as if I'm interested?"

He chuckled, and pulled out a card from his leather jacket. "In case you are later."

She took the card and smoothly chucked it over her shoulder. "Oops. Looks like I won't be."

The lights turned green and she stalked off.

"The name's Seth!" he called after her.

She rolled her eyes.

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Archer looked up when he heard the door slam.

"Hey," he offered, looking down again to butter his toast.

"Hey," replied Alex. He heard her kicking off her flip-flops before she flopped down on the couch.

He sniffed, the familiar stench of cigarettes hitting his nose. He arched an eyebrow and asked, "Started smoking again, huh?"

"I'm stressed," she snapped. "No thanks to you."

Archer sighed and turned around to put the butter away, biting into his toast. "I'm sorry I blew it, okay?"

She returned flatly, "I'm sorry I dragged you along to the ball."

He shoved his empty hand into a pocket and said ruefully, "I'm sorry I ruined your night."

"Oh shut up," she snorted, crossing her arms moodily. "'I'm sorry' doesn't really help anymore, does it?"

"No," he conceded, leaning on the counter, chewing thoughtfully. "All we can do now is wait for the axe to fall."

"You're scarily calm about the whole thing," she commented lightly.

He looked up at her and shrugged noncommittally. She thought he was calm about the whole thing? Maybe she wasn't as smart as he gave her credit for.

"I've always walked the line," he said vaguely.

"Hmm, someone's poetic today," smirked Alex.

Archer grinned. "Can I fix you a sandwich?"

"What time is it?"

"Quarter to six."

"I'd rather not then," Alex decided. "I'm going out tonight to a fancy French restaurant."

The corner of his mouth lifted itself. "Got a date?"

Alex flipped her hair in her in an amusingly snobbish way. "Why do you care?"

"What makes you think I care, huh?" he shot back.

"You asked," she pointed out.

Archer finished off the last of his toast and brushed off the crumbs, and suddenly recalled a certain comment made by her high school friend. "Was Emma lying about the graduation ball?"

Alex groaned, drawing her legs up and held her knees to her chest. "Let's just say I'm a late bloomer, okay?"

He chuckled and moved to sit on the unoccupied end of the couch. "That's hard to believe."

"I'm pretty sure I've destroyed all photographic evidence of me as a teenager," she said, half jokingly.

"It was that bad?" teased Archer.

"Imagine me with thick round glasses, braces, greasy hair, horrid skin and twenty pounds fatter, all at the same time," she said, counting off her fingers.

He winced. "Ouch."

Alex chucked a cushion at him, which he caught nimbly with a grin. "Shut the fuck up. I bet you went through the ugly phase."

He waved that comment away like it was an annoying fly. "For your information, I've always looked this good."

Alex snorted. "Yeah right. Sorry to burst your bubble, but you aren't even that good-looking."

Archer grinned. "Oh yeah? Then why were you all over me the first time we met, huh?"

"I slipped!" she exclaimed, throwing her hands up in emphasis. "What, you think I crashed into you on purpose?"

"Wouldn't be the first time a lady pulled that little trick," he joked with a wink.

Alex rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, did I look that desperate?"

"Actually, you did," he answered solemnly. He watched her trying to figure out if he was joking or not.

"Ri-ight," she dragged the word out, veiling her uncertainty with her natural sarcasm. Archer was getting used to it. "I know how the male mind works. When you don't get laid for a while, you start thinking anything with two legs who vaguely looks your way is interested, right?"

Archer blinked. "Well, you fell on me, so that's a rather different case, huh?"

"To tell the truth, it would seem that Bowen was way more desperate than me," she said flatly.

He stilled.

They hadn't really discussed Maddy's presence - Alex didn't seem too enthusiastic about the matter at all. Maddy was staying at a hotel in Russell Square, and she was not leaving for a while- for his sake or her own, she did not say nor could he tell.

Realising that he had not replied, he quickly said, "Each to their own, huh?"

Alex bit her lips, staring into space rather distractedly.

"Funny she happened to be here as well. Amazing timing," she said conversationally.

"I know, it's unbelievable, isn't it?" he nodded.

"Did she mention anything about the diamond at all?"

"Solomon sold it, and left the country. She's trying to track him down to get my money back."

Alex moved her head so that she was resting her cheek on her knees to look at him. "How much did he sell it for?"

"If Van der Kaap kept their promise, two million pounds."

There was dead silence.

"Fucking hell," said Alex eventually.

He laughed lightly. "That's why I was ready to die for that stone."

"You'll be rich when you get that money then."

"I'll pay you back, I swear," he said earnestly.

Alex actually looked puzzled. "Pay me back? For what?"

"Well, everything," he answered, flexing his wrist.

She made a sound. "Don't worry about it."

"I have to," he insisted.

"Come on, Archer. I helped you because I wanted to. I told you I don't want anything from you," she said, her tone more grown-up than it usually was. "I don't want to go over that again, so shut up."

He shook his head, stretching his legs to rest them on the coffee table, staring straight into her brown eyes. "I don't get you, I just don't."

She gave him a crooked smile. "You're not supposed to."

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Alex was giving her eyelashes a final swipe of mascara when Archer knocked on her door.

"What?" she yelled, attempting to curl the edge of her lashes a bit more, but gave up when they made it perfectly clear that they would not yield.

She saw him stick his head in and did a double take.

"I thought you were going to a fancy restaurant?" he asked.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she demanded, swiveling around in her chair while capping her mascara tube.

Archer took a long look at her choice of attire. "Uh, nothing."

Alex smirked. She stood, reaching for her beloved distressed leather jacket and shrugged it on, then grabbed her wayfarers and clipped them onto the front of her dress.

"Relax," she said. "I'm going clubbing, okay?"

"You lied to me!" he quipped, faking an indignant face.

"Change of plans," she tossed back, shaking her hair out to detangle her waves. She snatched her well-worn clutch and stuffed it with a girl's basic necessities.

"You and your partying ways," sighed Archer with the air of a helpless mother.

"Hey, I'm still young, unlike you," she teased, snapping her clutch shut with a flourish. "I'm off. Don't stay up, I have keys."

Archer opened the door for her, and said sternly as she walked pass. "No kissing on a first date, huh?"

She stopped in her tracks and feigned a pretty pout, whining, "But why? I like to get kissed before I get fucked."

He threw back his head and laughed, drawing a smile from her.

"I'm guessing Maddy told you that, huh?" he grinned.

Alex shrugged. "I guess you and I have more in common than it seems."

Then, completely out of the blue, Archer leaned in and kissed her just a bit below the corner of her left eye, throwing her off guard.

"Have fun," he smiled and walked off to his own room.

Alex stood there for a moment or two, blinking.

Then she snapped out of it and dashed out of the apartment with a silly grin on her face.

"- essentially, it is the composition of the portrait that makes this piece of art-"

Alex practically jumped out of her chair when her cell phone blared out Guns N Roses, and the professor immediately whipped around to glare at her.

"Sorry," she mouthed, digging into her jeans' pockets and pulled her cell out. She looked at the screen and grimaced. Fuck.

Running out of the lecture hall, she took a deep breath and pressed the green button.

"Hello?"

"What is this I am reading about an alleged diamond smuggler who has illegally entered England and is staying with my daughter in my flat in Sloane Square?"

"Hi dad," she deadpanned.

"Alexis Catherine Devereaux-McLean, just what the hell do you think you are doing?" asked Vince McLean, his voice deep and steady as always. But she could tell he was beyond pissed- he only called her by her full name when he was really angry.

"It's a long story," she answered calmly.

"And when were you planning to tell me about this? I hadn't an inkling of what was going on until Liam called me this morning. I had no idea you were in London. Not even your mother knew."

"Well, yeah, I have art school," she said briefly, knowing he would not be interested. And duh, of course her mother had no idea. She was in some remote little French village, training horses with her fourth husband and counting.

"What about this friend of yours? A thirty-one year old Zimbabwean white man? What are you doing, Alexis?"

"Look, dad, I know what I'm doing."

"You know what you're doing? That man is a criminal!"

"You don't know him!" she fiercely argued, overwhelmed by a rather strange sense of protectiveness.

Vince went quiet for a moment or two, then asked coolly, "Do you?"

"It's none of your fucking business," she snapped.

"Watch your language, young lady."

"Bite me," she retorted.

She could literally hear him counting to ten in his head. "And what do you intend to do? Liam made it quite clear that Van der Kaap won't rest till he's behind bars."

"Oh, I think Van der Kaap have their own ass to look out for," she tossed back haughtily.

Vince sighed heavily. Alex loved how helpless she made her father felt sometimes.

"Make sure you don't do anything stupid," he said at last, and hung up.

Alex slipped the phone back into her jeans, and said smugly to herself, "I won't."

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"What?"

"Yeah."

"You didn't even tell me you took him to London with you!"

"Well, I've been up to my eyeballs with work. Excuse me for not giving you a long-distance call just to let you know I am cohabiting with the once half-dead diamond smuggler we picked up in Sierra Leone."

"Alex, will you get angry if I ask you something?"

"Depends," she sniffed testily.

"Why are you doing this for him?"

Alex sighed. "I fucking saved his ass, just thought I'd go all the way."

"I thought you were in love with him?"

"I wasn't. And I'm not."

Geez, she was a fantastic liar.

"Oh."

"Oh," she echoed mockingly.

"Sometimes I forget how much of a bitch you are."

That made her grin. "Love you too, Dom."

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Alex was mixing a curious colour of sick bluish-green when Archer came back. She looked up and blinked at his sweaty mop of sandy hair and the white vest which clung to his tanned body, nearly translucent in perspiration, with which he wore black running shorts.

She took a deep breath.

"Hey," he said simply, his breathing still a bit quick. "Had a good day?"

"Yeah," she said lightly, dabbing a bit more blue with the brush and mixed it in. "Dad called and dissed me for letting you staying here."

Archer had found a bottle of orange juice from the fridge, which was now fixed to his lips as he drank thirstily. He arched an eyebrow at her comment.

"And apparently, Uncle Liam is almost ready to sue you."

He sighed and put the bottle down on the counter without putting the cap back on. "Fuck."

"Don't worry, I'll find you a good lawyer," she replied, dragging the brush across the canvas.

"Alex, you don't have to do this," he said, an apologetic edge to his voice.

She turned away from her painting to look his straight in the eye. "What did I say about not wanting to go over this again?"

Archer shrugged. "It just feels strange, you know."

Alex cocked her head to one side. "Strange that I should be taking care of you?"

A small smile curled his lips. "Taking care of me, huh? Hmm, yes, that sounds right."

She mirrored his smile, putting her brush down on the little art trolley beside the stand, and walked towards him.

She nearly seized up when she got within two feet of him. Was it just her or did his eyes got bluer today?

"Look," she said seriously, fighting to meet his eyes. "Let's just talk about this once and for all, yeah?"

"Serious talk," he said teasingly, but nodded.

"You're a good guy," she said slowly, ignoring his incredulous snort. "No, seriously, I think you're a good guy. I mean, what you did for Solomon and his son was really- good, selfless, something to that effect. I don't think I could've done that. I would've jumped on that plane myself with the diamond. But you didn't. You see what I mean?"

She had dropped her gaze somewhere along her little speech, and her eyes found her painted black toe nails, and she glued them there. She felt her cheeks flush and felt stupid.

"I like you," she blurted out, then in a panic, she quickly amended herself. "Not in that way, of course." Lie. "I just think you're a good person and I admire that. That's all." Lie. "Honestly." Lie.

She just stood there, hanging her head, feeling like a blooming idiot as she waited for his response.

"Hey."

She looked up and saw him grin.

"Thanks Alex, that meant a lot. I mean, thank you. Really. Thank you. For everything."

And it would've been a beautiful moment right there and then, the two of them smiling at each other in the kitchen, brown eyes on blue. But of course, Alex wasn't one for beautiful moments. And neither was Archer.

He broke the silence first, his tone grave. "I have something to confess which might make you think otherwise of me."

Alex gave him a suspicious eye. "What? Are you telling me you're a pimp too?"

Archer chuckled. "It's a bit more legal than that."

"Well?" she probed.

"Some guy called you earlier this afternoon," he said, the beginnings of a grin tugging at his lips.

"Who?"

He was grinning widely now. "Benjamin Cooper."

Alex frowned. "What did that bastard want?"

"He nearly got a heart attack when he heard my voice."

She snorted. "I'm not surprised. That wanker is a downright mouse. Did he say why he called?"

"He wanted to 'talk', apparently."

"What did you say?"

"I told him to fuck off," said Archer proudly.

Alex grinned. "I would've done the same."

He winked. "I know."

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I hope this was worth the wait. A sort of interlude as the story reaches its 10th chapter. I don't really have any ideas yet for the next few chapters, but since now my only job is to read, write and try not to die of boredom, I should have enough time to come up with something… fingers crossed! Thanks for the wonderful reviews for the last chapter, this is for you!