Niko’s Eye

Chapter 20.

"Almost Gone."

Isis.

Isis wanted to take advantage of the fact that Alejandro was outside, so she could get a few of her things, from his car. She gathered herself and casually walked out into the semi-frosted air.

As she had stepped outside, she discovered Alejandro seated on the grass, with his head bowed in between his knees, breathing rather heavily. The rapid rise and fall of his stature had suggested that he could’ve been crying.

As she walked closer to him, she heard him sniffling.

So he is crying? Nigga, are you crying? What could’ve possibly made such a macho man cry? Onions?

She slowly crept up on him and put her arms around his neck, holding him still.

I hope he’s not choking.

She felt like he didn’t need anyone speaking from a palate of special words just to make him feel better. She knew a bunch of people who would ramble on just for the sake of it.

He probably just needed a hug.

Either way, she whispered a few sweet nothings into his ear and that seemed to do the trick. He instantly straightened up and rubbed his eyes with the corners of his palms.

Well, maybe he did need a palate of special words.

He stopped crying, and kissed her arm, as he eased himself more into her embrace.

"I came out here to get a couple of my stuff from your boot but I found you being a little b***h so I thought I should give you some rub-a-dubba-duck loving," she said, as she laughed.

Alejandro abruptly stood up and pulled Isis’ weight over his shoulder, carrying her to his car.

Nigga, what the hell?

"I’m a little b***h huh? Let me show you something," he said, as he chuckled, almost menacingly.

Isis screamed for Alejandro to put her down, as he tickled her side with one hand, holding her still with the other. Her hair swung from side to side as her eyes made contact with the ground.

He had swiftly taken out his car keys from his pockets, unlocked his car, opened the door of the passenger’s side and had thrown Isis in.

"What are you..."

Before she could finish her sentence, Alejandro had already reclined her chair backwards and had climbed on top of her.

Alejandro moved his head closer to Isis. His eyes are so different in moments like these, more soft than she knew eyes could be. The professional and cold man was gone and instead it was the eyes of one who feels and has a heart. If it were anyone else, Isis would’ve dropped her gaze, but with him, she was drawn in closer, always wanting more.

She leaned in and rested her forehead against his.

And looking straight into his eyes, she said "thank you," in barely more than a whisper.

"For what?" He replied, his voice low and husky, like he had been smoking Cuban cigars for a living.

"For being there for me, every time that I needed you. In your eyes is your humanity, the person you really are. There are times it gets lost, when you wear that suit, when you become the man the world demands of you. But I saw it in your eyes that day in the sunshine, waiting for the crossing to turn green. I saw the love that burns there too, the sort that goes for an eternity. There is something in your spirit that dances when you look at me , like a fire giving just the right amount of warmth. I have seen it die too, the flames almost extinguished, when you are under the gun of guilt, and fear. I know that isn’t you, not the real version, the person I’m perceiving with everything that is myself. That’s why I had to see your eyes, to see the real you when we were in the water that night at the beach. You had to see me too, the girl who messes up, but would do anything in her power to keep her loved ones safe, to keep everyone emotionally healthy. So when I look at you, I see a cheeky monkey and you see the vulnerable version of me, the one beneath the soldier. I need that - to be known - for who I really am too." Her voice wavered, exhilarated from the tension between them.

Isis had gently leaned in, and kissed Alejandro’s cool lips.

They pulled apart and took shaky, shallow breaths.

Unable to contain themselves anymore, Alejandro held Isis’ head in his hands and pulled her into a fiery and passionate kiss. Her body squirms just a little as her muscles relax. There is something about his gaze that she’ll never find in another man, as if in that moment their souls have made a bridge.

Isis’ hands worked their way around his body, feeling each crevasse, each line along his perfect physique.

His kiss was not at all the same as those movie stars, but one, steeped in a passion that ignited emotions within her that she never knew had existed.

It was the promise of realness, of the primal desire that lived in the both of them. And with it, he let Isis know that he was awake, connected within, and filled with desire for her.

He was not a copy of those romantic idols from the movies. Not Pegasus, not Bradley Cooper, not Jason Mamoa, or Tyler Lautner. He was different.

And Isis couldn’t help it, as she melted under his caresses.

Alejandro.

They say that passion is part of our immunisation against depression because it gives us the will to go onwards in any weather.

He kissed her and the world fell away.

In that kiss was the sweetness of passion, a million loving thoughts condensed into a moment.

It was slow and soft, comforting in ways that words would never be. It didn’t feel like the embraces he shared with many of his previous "acquaintances". This was cocoa butter kisses, drenched in molten lava and honey. Her lips brought a brightness every day, both in their perky hue and the sun-golden words she shone. Alejandro never quite figured out if the beauty of her lips was more of their softness or of their association with the words she spoke. There was always an honest smile within those lips.

He was glad that she didn’t say too much while she was comforting. But when she soul-gazed and spoke to his heart, it moved him. In her words and the renewed silence of the night, her eyes glow. They weren’t yellow like a comic book cat, but the softest of brown - like they soaked in the autumn leaves only hours ago and are now letting it radiate out gently into the twilight.

But again, Isis saw me cry? Goddamn.

He shifted uncomfortably within himself as he cringed at his own thoughts.

His hand rested below the back of her ear, his thumb caressing her cheek as their breaths mingled.

Isis had ran her fingers down his spine, pulling him closer until there was no space left between them. Nothing between them except hot sweat and his conscience.

Alejandro could feel the beating of his heart against her chest.

Dear God.

He couldn’t fight against the thoughts that were dominating his actions.

I know this is wrong. But maybe this is what I need to finally get out of her life and continue living mine the way I know how to.

Her very smell had flooded his senses now.

She tasted like November, like hot chocolate on stormy evenings and crisp autumn air.

Its getting dangerous now. I’m playing with fire. But, if I take her now, I can hit and run.

Then I don’t have to face my emotions.

But I’m probably lying to myself right? Yup. Great.

As his thoughts took over him, he slowly let his hands fiddle with the zipper of her jeans.

Drunk on endorphins and the waft of desire in the air, his only intuitive was to touch her, to move his hands under her smooth summer layers and feel her perfect softness.

He savored the moment.

A kiss like this was a beginning, a promise of much more to come.

Just as he had felt a rush of euphoric bliss begin to envelop him, making his heart skip a beat, Isis had placed her hand over his, and drew away.

"This is not how I had imagined my first time to be like. Besides, we need to iron out what’s really going on between us. I don’t just ’go with the flow’." she said, as she looked at him, eyes full of fireworks.

Oh for crying in a bucket, girl!

But yeah, maybe she had a point. I let myself get carried away. A brother does not even have condoms. I’ve never been so close to being a father. Damn.

He nodded, and kissed her forehead, slowly getting off of her.

"I guess you’ve got a point. I’m sorry. I just... Well, yeah. I’m not a little b***h, that’s all."

They stared at each other for a long while, before bursting out in laughter.

This girl... Is special.