Chapter 4

"It's a Shame You Don't Know What You're Running From"

Sebastian knocked on the frame of Alek's bedroom door, and he was waved in. Alek had his back turned to the door, but when he turned around, he didn't really hide his displeasure. "You don't like me very much, do you?" He had been well-aware of this fact since he had started living in their loft for the past two weeks. He had no idea why he was hated by someone whom he barely even knew.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Alek hid his clear annoyance, and the French Mai sighed deeply. It wasn't going to be easy to get through to him. Then, he noticed a book on the nightstand. Serbian For Beginners. Ah, that was most definitely it. Alek saw him looking at the book, and he snatched it away. He shouldn't have left it lying out like that.

"You like Natalia." Sebastian's lips drew into a thin line, and a reserved look appeared on his face. He crossed his arms over his chest, looking at Alek with a raised eyebrow. "For some time now. Even before I came." He could read people as easily as someone could read a book. He wanted to be friends with Alek, but he wasn't willing to let go of Natalia for that to happen. Things were going great for them. They had already been out on a few dates, and she had agreed to be his girlfriend just three days ago. Alek had overheard it, and Sebastian guessed that as the reason for the sheet of blue plastic covering a hole in his wall.

"What does it matter?" He mumbled, angrily shoving the book back into his bookshelf. What made his situation worse was that he knew that he had no chance. Sebastian was perfect. It was like he didn't have a single flaw. Alek had a lot of flaws. Too many to count.

"Alek, I want to be friends with you. I really do." Sebastian made him face him so that they were looking at each other directly in the eyes. "But you're making this extremely difficult." See? No flaws. He knew that Alek hated him, but he still wanted to be friends. Who the hell did that anyway? Sebastian was so nice that it made Alek sick. How could anybody deal with that? He found it incredibly intolerable.

"Look, you don't need to be friends with me." Alek crossed his arms over his chest. Sebastian shrugged, walking out of the room. It was a lost cause. "Oh, but just so you know..."

"What is it?"

"I'm not giving up on her."

"Mom, I'm home!" Natalia called into her house when she got in. She heard laughing in the kitchen, and saw her mother standing by the counter with a mug in her hand. There was somebody sitting in one of the chairs around the island. They turned around, giving her a glittering grin. "Alek?" She had to prevent her jaw from dropping. How did he even know where she lived?

"Your mother is lovely." He winked at Nat, making her send him a death glare. "We were just talking about you." Oh, God. She wondered what he had said to her mother.

"Alek came by an hour ago, waiting for you to come home." Her mother gave her a look that said, "he better be my future son-in-law." She put her hand on his shoulder, and smiled. "You kids run along, then!" She laughed nervously, leaving the room.

Natalia walked up to him, trying to hold in the growing urge to hit him. "You came to my house?" She hissed, waving her hands out at him. He seemed totally unfazed by how upset she was.

"We have joint Uniter duty tonight. Remember?"

She didn't. In fact, she was positive that she didn't have Uniter duty until tomorrow. "Are you sure?"

"I'm sure." He didn't really like lying to her, but it was only a little white fib. It couldn't hurt. "Come on, we have to get going." He put his arm around her shoulders, and she quickly shrugged them off.

"Bye, Mom! I'm going out with Alek!" Crap. She hadn't meant for it to sound like that. She hadn't even told her mother about Sebastian yet. Alek snickered, opening the front door for her. She made a face at him, and they stepped out onto her porch. He walked her to his car. A white Camaro with black racing stripes along the hood. "Oh, it's very Alek." She rolled her eyes.

"Why, thank you." He opened the passenger-side door for her, and she knew that she couldn't hate him for being a gentleman. She mumbled a quick "thank you", and sat down. Even though she wasn't too interested in cars like this, Nat had to admit that it was really nice.

On the drive there, even Alek had no idea what to say. He didn't want to talk about her mother, and he definitely didn't want to talk about Sebastian. "How was work?"

"It was fine." She mumbled, looking out the window. He sighed, knowing that there was no point to this. She rolled her eyes at his effort to make conversation. If wasn't so much of an ass, he would have tried a little more. But unnoticed by her, Alek's ears picked up something that hers didn't.

"I'm going to wreck my tires." Alek mumbled, making a sharp turn onto a side street. The loud screech of the rubber against the pavement nearly gave the both of them a heart attack. He didn't know how to get to Chloe's house from where he was, but he didn't mind.

"What the hell was that for?" Natalia's hand was clutching the seat. He pointed his thumb backwards, and within seconds, a fire truck with blaring sirens passed them. There was a blazing fire a few miles away, and he took her pyrophobia into account. "Oh." She down at her hands. How did he manage to make her feel so bad about not liking him? "Thanks."

"No problem." He smiled at her.

"I'm not always a jerk, you know." Alek said suddenly, looking at Nat. He might as well have gotten it out. They were sitting on Chloe's roof, watching the sunset. He moved closer to her, and even though her first instinct was to move away, she didn't.

"Yeah, I know." Why was he looking at her like that? Even worse...why was she reciprocating the look? She was with Sebastian, and he was amazing. He was nothing like Alek.

"Then why are you making this so hard?" He said softly, leaning in. He put his fingers under her chin, tipping her mouth closer to his.

"Alek...don't..." She drew in her breath sharply, but it was too late. He was already kissing her.

And she was kissing him back.

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