129. This time I mean it

Warning: language and a half naked Krisis

Hotel Rosa,
Present day...

Krisis had just brought Leigh to an earth shattering climax when someone knocked on their door. He looked at her questioningly, wondering if she was expecting company.

Leigh shook her head. No one knew she was staying at the hotel.

She nestled deeper in his warm embrace, thrilled to have him back in her bed. At some point, between their drive from the healthcare center to the hotel, she’d made up her mind, she was going to return home with him. Whatever problems they had, they’d work them out together, in the comfort of their home.

Krisis fidgeted on the bed, annoyed at the persistent knocking.

“Ignore them,” she suggested as she moved over him. She lowered her mouth to his, her long auburn hair caressed his face.

He did as she asked, and he immersed himself in her warmth. But a minute later, or maybe less, they heard the knock again. Obviously whoever was on the other side of the door wasn’t planning on leaving.

“Perfect timing!” Krisis growled as he sat up.  They gently pulled apart and he ran to the bathroom to wrap a towel around his waist.

“Hurry back,” Leigh smiled when he blew her a kiss as he passed the bed to go answer the door.

He was only gone for a few minutes, but he was a completely different man when he came back with a bouquet of roses.

“These are for you,” he mumbled, awkwardly dropping the flowers on the bed.

Leigh was confused; she had no idea who the flowers were from.

“Who are they from?” His voice was calm, but Leigh sensed his irritation simmering just below the surface, threatening to boil over.

 “I don’t know,” she told him, playing with the card in her hand. She thought it was sweet of him to act jealous, but he had no reason to be. The flowers could just be from hotel management to thank her for being such a good guest.

Or maybe not. She quickly changed her tune as she read the note while Krisis kept glaring at the flowers from the arm chair.

Leigh slipped the note back inside the envelope and placed the vase on the nightstand, silently wondering how she was going to tell him his father wanted to have dinner with her.

She took a huge breath, bracing herself for his Spanish inquisition and maybe World War Three. There was no easy way to say it.

“They’re from your father. He'd like to have dinner with me,” she blurted out quickly.

“He is NOT my father!” It was all he’d say on the matter.

Leigh got up from the bed, threw on the closest thing she could find and walked over to him.

He was on the balcony now, staring at the semi-nude sunbathers down in the swimming pool.

“Krisis, maybe we should go and hear what he has to say,” she murmured as she put her arms around him and rested her chin on his shoulder. 

Krisis turned away from the railing for just a fraction to stare at her, “You want flowers? I’ll buy you a billion fucking roses, and I’ll take you to dinner. But let me be clear, you will not be meeting him for anything. No negotiations! And throw away the damn flowers and his fucking note, Leigh!”

Leigh’s shocked breath stayed lodged in her throat, she’d never heard such anger in his voice and she had no idea who he was mad at the most, his father for sending her the flowers, or her for being an innocent recipient in the saga?

Back inside, she watched him get dressed and forcefully tie the laces on his training shoes, every movement he made was punctuated by angry snarls and irritated sighs.

She wanted to stop him, calm him down and explain her side, and maybe they could go back to making love and reconciling. But his icy glare as he crashed heavily in the arm chair put a stop to all thoughts of reconciliation; that ship had long sailed.

“I really think we should go,” Leigh suggested again after a short burst of angry silence on his part.

She was intrigued and surprised by Thornton’s invitation. She’d thought after the way she spoke to him earlier he’d be glad if he never saw her face again.

“You were in contact with him?” Krisis rounded on her. He’d read her thoughts.

 “It wasn’t planned, I ran into him this morning and I told him exactly what I thought of him. I’m just as surprised by the flowers as you are,” Leigh explained, but Krisis was already out of the door, heading for the elevators.

“Krisis, come back here, let’s talk about this,” Leigh waddled after him, almost tripping over her long dress. She hated it; it felt too tight around her bump.

“There’s nothing to talk about Leigh. Go pack your bags. When I come back we’re going home,” he growled, pressing the elevator button hard, as if his angry fingers would make it come up quickly.

Leigh smiled sadly, hanging on to his arm, feeling a little foolish and naive for thinking they could go back home and work things out.

The lift sprung open; Krisis stepped inside, Leigh followed him. She knew where he was headed and she couldn’t let him make a scene, couldn’t watch him fight with his father over her.

“Please, let’s go back to my room, I’ll pack and we’ll go home. Forget Thornton, please,” she tried bargaining with him, but he stared straight ahead, stubbornly refusing to meet her pleading looks.

“Where’s William Thornton,” Krisis demanded at the front desk. 

The receptionist was taken aback; she murmured a series of incoherent thoughts about hotel policy and guests’ privacy, all the bullshit he wasn’t in the mood for. 

Krisis walked away for a second and paced.

I should have just compelled her.  He thought. But he knew how Leigh felt about compulsion, especially after what she’d gone through with Jacqueline.

He took long deep breaths, trying to keep his red hot rage in check. When he was sure he had a handle on his emotions he flashed his famous smile at the receptionist and promised to invite her to the After Dark album release party.

As soon as she heard the words After Dark and “release party” Amanda forgot all about hotel policy and quickly sang a different tune.

Leigh was grateful the lobby was empty save for the three of them, she was anxious for Amanda; if someone caught her giving out such sensitive information she would get fired, no questions asked and no discussions.

But the receptionist didn’t seem too concerned about her job. She looked around her, checking if the coast was clear before returning to her computer.

She punched in a few keys on the keyboard and turned the screen around, towards Krisis, tapping on the hotel’s floor plan.

Krisis looked at it for just a fraction of a second. Satisfied with what he saw, he thanked her for her time.

“See you at the party.”  He called over his shoulder as he walked away.

He pushed through the crowd of tourists who’d just  come in, irritated at their chatter and the different accents, irritated by the sudden heat and Leigh’s stubbornness and her naïve belief that he and Thornton could work things out. He was generally irritated. Period.

“Can you stop and think for a minute please,” Leigh asked outside the hotel’s conference room.

Krisis ignored her restraining hand, and knocked once on the door.

Without waiting for a response from the other side, he bustled in, stopping his father’s presentation.

"You bastard! What kind of sick game are you playing? Which part of leave Leigh the fuck alone did you not understand?” He snarled, getting up in Thornton’s face.

Out of the corner of his eye he saw the members of the Vampire Council and their PAs leave the room, Leigh hovered on one end of the long conference table.

“Ah, so you got the flowers,” Thornton flashed his fangs at Leigh, completely ignoring Krisis.

That small, but blatant act of disrespect sent Krisis flying in a rage.

Without thinking twice he jumped at Thornton and it wasn’t long before the two of them were thrashing wildly all over the conference table and on the floor.

“You are both idiots!” Leigh, tired of watching them try their hardest to destroy each other, told them calmly.

Krisis stopped mid-punch, Thornton lowered his own fists.

Leigh walked over to Krisis’ father and touched his arm gently, “Mr. Thornton, dinner with you would be an interesting experience, but I won’t accept your invitation until you and your kids sort out whatever it is that’s making you hate each other so much. And I’ll appreciate it if you didn’t send me flowers in future. Now you can both return to your battle field since you are so hell bent to kill each other!”

She didn’t wait around to hear their response; she swiftly walked out of the room, with her head held high and tears of frustration and sadness shining in her eyes.

“Leigh, I’m sorry,” Krisis mumbled as he closed the door behind them. They were back in her room; the tangled sheets on the bed reminded them of what they almost had. The fatal break in their bruised relationship couldn’t have come at a worse time.

“No Krisis, you are not sorry.” Leigh shook her head. She was so close to bursting into tears.

Krisis sensed her distress and he reached for her. She didn’t resist. She let him hold her while she sobbed tearfully on his chest. 

Feeling drained and exhausted suddenly, wordlessly, Krisis led her to the couch and sat down with her, pulling her up in his lap.

“You have a lot of anger you need to work through, a lot of issues you and your sister need to confront. I won’t come home till you do. I can’t be with you and be forced to walk on eggshells around you. I never know when you’ll lose it. Your hatred for a man you barely know is all that consumes you now. Let it go Krisis, or let us go.  Your choice,” she told him finally, her heart shattering to a million pieces with every word she said. She didn’t want him to leave, didn’t want to be away from him and Lily, but for both their sanity and to heal their relationship, she thought some time apart would be good for them.

“I don’t want to lose you,” he cried in her hair.

“You will, if you don’t let this go. Today was uncalled for. I pleaded with you so many times to let this thing with Thornton go, you just wouldn’t. It’s sad you’d deny our kids a chance to have a grandparent because you hate the man so much.”

“But-” Krisis tried to fight for their relationship, but it was obvious Leigh had done all the fighting she was going to do that day. She sent him off with promises to call on Lily the following day. She missed her and wanted to take her to the park.

“I’ll come with you to the park tomorrow,” he offered at the door as he kissed her goodbye.

“No. Some time apart will be good for us. Go to your sister. Talk to her. Decide what you want to do about your father, but don’t let this silence about him eat you up!” With that she ushered him out and closed the door firmly behind her.

As she walked back to the bedroom Leigh felt her babies’ firm kicks, they came at her from every direction. She smiled sadly, convinced they were all ganging up on her for sending their father away.

“He needs to get his act together before your arrival,” she told them, gently rubbing her tummy…