Hey guys! Above is how I picture Marcus. If you envision something different that's totally cool, but yeah there ya go lol
Nearly an hour later Alexander was ready. I'd never seen a man spend so much time on his hair before! He kept ruffling it up and then combing it back, then combing it to the side and then to the back again. It was maddening I had to be the one to take the comb away from him.
We were now in the banquet room with nearly two hundred other people. I was amazed at how many people this room held.
Alex swiftly grabbed two champagne flutes as the waiter whisped by. "Thank you," I said as I took the glass from him.
"Alexander," We both turned around to see an older looking couple standing there. I looked a little longer at the woman since she looked familiar. I've see her face somewhere.
"Calvin, how are you?" Alex asked with a grin, sticking his hand out.
Calvin nodded and shook his head. "Very well," he looked over to the woman beside him. "You remember my wife, Laura, right?"
Alexander had that look for a split second that he in fact did not remember her. But he nodded anyway. "Of course, so glad you could come." Alex wrapped his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to his side. "This is, Anastasia, my fiancé." It's still so weird hearing him call me that.
"You got your hands full with this one." Calvin joked with a chuckle.
You have no idea.
They walked away a few minutes later and I was still standing there trying to figure out how I knew her. "What is their last name?" I asked Alex.
"Spencer," He answered. "Why?"
"She looks so familiar,"
He nodded. "She's a guest judge on Dancing With the Stars occasionally." Of course she is.
"That must be it," I said, but it wasn't. It had to be from somewhere else.
I let the thought disappear as Alexander lead me to different people. We continued having the same conversation with pretty much everyone.
Alex was about to start walking over to another couple, but Marcus approached us before we were able to.
Alex's face fell as he narrowed his eyes at his brother. "Move, Marcus."
"I think your fiancé is dying from boredom." Marcus stated, looking between me and him.
Was it that obvious?
"Go away," Alex grunted.
I bit my lip to stop myself from smiling. Watching the two of them together was pure entertainment. "Alex, how about I go grab us a couple drinks? I'll be right back." I offered, very desperately trying to avoid another conversation about stocks and bonds.
"I'll come with," Marcus rushed to say.
Alex let out a small grunt before nodding. "Fine,"
I smile sweetly before reaching to peck his cheek.
"Gross," Marcus muttered. I rolled my eyes before walking away.
Marcus quickly caught up to me and walked alongside as we approached the bar.
"Amarillo Sour And scotch on the rocks." I told the bartender. He nodded and began making the drinks. "Did you want something?" I turned to ask Marcus.
He shook his head. "I'm gave up alcohol,"
I arched a brow. "Really?" I was surprised only because I heard he had such a reputation for partying.
He nodded. "I love liquor, but that's part of my problem." He said with a chuckle, trying to ease the seriousness.
"Well good for you in recognizing that it was a problem." I praised, truly impressed. I had an uncle who was an alcoholic. So much so that he drank himself to death when I was ten.
"Here you are, ma'am." The bartender scooted two glasses across the wooden bar. I thanked him and turned back to Marcus.
"So how did someone as beautiful as you end up with my brother?" Marcus asked with a smirk. The same smirk I'd seen a hundred times on Alex.
That's one thing they have in common.
I rolled my eyes, unphased by his compliment. "It's a long story, but we met through my mother and the rest was history." I waved my hand dismissively as I explained. Okay so what I wasn't saying wasn't technically lying.
He nodded, looking convinced enough. "You still want to marry him even though his face looks like... Well his face."
I laughed and nodded. "We're kind of like Beauty and the Beast." I joked, knowing full well that Alex was far from looking like the beast. He looked more like how the beast was when the curse was broken.
Marcus smiled. "Well just so you know, you're already a thousand times more tolerable than the girl he was with before."
"Good to know," I said sarcastically. I didn't like hearing about any of the woman Alex had been with. I wouldn't admit it, but it made me jealous. Thinking of anyone else being with Alex just down right hurt.
I reached for the two drinks on the bar. "I've got to go find, Alexander."
He nodded. "Okay, I'll see you back at the table." He winked before walking away.
I resisted an eye roll and walked around to find Alex. It was basically a sea of people and I was Dory at this point asking if anyone had seen my fiancé.
A shoulder roughly brushed against mine, the liquid in the glasses teetering slightly from the rough movement. I turned to apologize, but stopped once I saw it was Dimitri. He was glaring down at me as if it were my fault that he bumped into me. "Excuse you," I mumbled under my breath. I tried to sidestep to get around him, but he continued blocking my way. "Can I help you?" I snapped.
"When will you be returning home?" He asked, a glint of satisfaction behind his eyes.
I smiled sweetly, knowing it'd get under my skin. "After the party," I said.
He was now smirking. "Alexander was pathetic to think I would wait three months for you two to get married. It's time for you to go back to wherever the hell you're from anyway. You don't belong here." His words were mean to get to me, but they didn't. I didn't take anything this man said to heart.
I continued smiling. "Arizona? Oh I'm not going back there. Alex and I have wonderful news to share with you a little later."
His smile fell and eyes darkened. "Don't test me, little girl."
"I don't think I know what you're talking about." I said innocently.
Dimitri narrowed his eyes at me, glaring daggers. He was about to say something, but Alexander's voice stopped him. We both turned to see him standing on the platform, waiting for everyone's attention. "I want to thank you all for coming tonight." He began.
I looked over to Dimitri, but he was gone. I searched around the room slightly to see where he'd gone. I only saw Diana sitting at the table with Collin, my little brother that I'd yet to see during my time here.
Alex finished talking and walked off the stage. I quickly moved my way through people to get to him before he walked away. He noticed me almost instantly as he reached the last step off the platform. "There you are," He almost sounded relieved. His arm wrapped around my waist, bringing me closer. "I hope Marcus wasn't too annoying."
I had a small smile on my face as I shook my head. "He wasn't, but I talked to Dimitri." I said.
Alex's face fell and turned serious. "What did he say?"
I pursued my lips slightly. "Well let's just say he kind of knows we're getting married."
He nodded and without a word lead us back to our table. Luckily we were seated with his family. His mother and father stood to give me a hug.
"So nice to see you again, Anastasia." His mother said in her French accent. Amelia looked beautiful. Her hair was in an updo and makeup was flawless. For her age she didn't have nearly as many wrinkles as the average, but she didn't look like she had Botox. Her sapphire blue dress complimented her skin tone and hair. One could only wish to look as good as she does when you've had two kids who are both full grown.
"You too, and also you," I smiled, hugging Phillip, his father.
"Long time no see," Marcus joked as Alex and I took our seats. I sat in between the two brothers and knew that this seating arrangement would cause some bickering between them.
"Why are you here exactly?" Alex asked, looking at his brother with a tilt to his head.
Marcus shrugged. "Visiting,"
"Leave your brother alone." Amelia scolded Alex. "Those two are always arguing about something." She said to me with a frown.
I gave a small smile in response. She obviously didn't like them fighting. That was clear as day.
"I was not arguing, mom." Marcus said like a child that was in trouble. "He starts it."
She rolled her eyes and said something in French I couldn't understand. But it was enough for Alexander and Marcus to both look at her apologetically.
"I'm sorry, no more arguments." Alex promised as he looked over to her.
She smiled and nodded. "Good,"
"Kiss ass," Marcus mumbled under his breath.
Alex turned to glare at him, but didn't say anything.
"Enough," I hissed at the both of them. This was going to be a long night...
~>~
After eating, Alex pulled me away from the table and out of the banquet room. His hand was holding mine as he lead us out to the pool area that had a a secluded patio. It was decorated with strings of lights hung around the tall plants that surrounded us. The furniture looked more expensive than anything I owned back at him. Even the ground was beautiful. It was
I arched an eyebrow at him. "Is everything alright?" I asked him as he let go off my hand. He didn't answer with words. Instead he held my face in his hands and brought his lips to mine. When he pulled away he just looked at me for a moment. "Is that a yes?" I asked.
He chuckled and nodded. "I just needed a moment away from all of them."
I nodded, understanding his need to get away. "If you need your space I can goâ"
"I want you here with me, Ana." He cut me off, reassuring me. "I don't think I'll ever not want you around me. I'm not sure how you do it, but you calm me down and make it seem like everything is going to be alright." He admitted.
I felt like my heart was swelling from his worlds. I met his gaze, not knowing exactly how to respond. "Everything is going to be alright." I assured. I knew there was the chance of Dimitri getting what he wanted, but I'd do everything in my power for that not to happen.
Alex reached my for my hand and pulled me into him, wrapping his arms around me. "I love having you close to me." He said softly, the top of his head reacting on top of mine.
I hummed my response, also loving the feel of being in his arms. "We should go back." I said a few minutes later, knowing people would start to notice if he was gone too long.
He sighed, but nodded. "Alright," I held my hand out for him and he firmly took it, lifting it to leave a kiss on top.
We walked out of the pool area and down the hall. When we approached the doors to the banquet room we both stopped. Dimitri was standing outside, looking down at his phone with a deep frown.
Alexander glanced down at me before picking his pace back up. I thought he'd go straight into the room, but he instead walked up to the devil himself. Dimitri looked up from his phone and his cold eyes narrowed at the both of us.
"Dimitriâ"
"Save your breath, Alexander. You're going to need it when I'm done with you." Dimitri growled out. "You may have managed to convince her to marry you, but your company is still mine."
"He didn't convince me to do anything, Dimitri." I snapped, causing his glare to move away from Alex. "What you're doing is wrong." I stated, knowing my words meant nothing to him.
Dimitri scoffed, proving me right. "You're a fool, marrying him. You'll go down with the rest of them." He said with a sinister smirk.
Alex took a threatening step forward, but my hand went to his chest to stop him from moving anymore. He looked like he wanted to kill Dimitri. I'd never seen him so angry. "He's not worth it." I whispered to him.
Alex glanced down at me with and then back at Dimitri. "Get out," He nearly growled.
Dimitri kept his smirk as he looked between us. "You deserve each other. Two idiots, it's comical really." He chuckled and turned on his heel to go back in the room, completely ignoring Alexander's command.
"I can't wait til that son of a bitch is six foot under." Alex said, raking a hand through his hair.
I didn't have any positive words to give him. All I could do was stand by his side and hope we could really get out of this mess.