The Billion-Dollar Knight

Chapter 12 - It's Complicated

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Chapter 12 - It's Complicated

Ten Years Ago

Isobel's Condo

Cambridge, Massachusetts

"Okay, you can open your eyes now."

Isobel blinked as her vision adjusted after the blindfold was removed. Then, she gasped. They were in her room in the dormitory but it looked totally different from when she last saw it before she left for a fishing trip with her father three days ago.

The previously boring white-washed walls were now a light shade of pink. There were new lamps on her study table and one near the bed for when she wanted to chill and read a book before going to sleep. Her messy room was totally cleaned up and all her clothes were folded and stacked neatly on her closet.

Isobel whistled. "Nice job, Mr. Handyman," she told him.

Alex winked and carried her into the room. He set her down on the bed. "Men can paint a room and clean it up at the same time too, you know," he replied.

Isobel nodded her agreement.

"We're not really that complicated."

"I know and this is why I love you, Alex Smith," she confessed.

-❈-

January 26, 2014

Athens General Hospital

Athens, Greece

"Do you think Cass is going to be okay?" Isobel asked.

Alex sighed and leaned forward. He was thinking about the same thing for several minutes now. He tried to think about past injuries he'd seen. There were wounds he'd seen in battle that were worse than this but the person survived.

He glanced at Isobel and saw the worried look in her face.

"I think she's going to make it," he told her. It wasn't just reassurance. Alex really believed that Cassia was going to make it.

"Is this from previous experience?"

Her question threw Alex off guard. Before he could reply, she reached for his hand and turned it over. "I remember these hands being far softer than they are now," she whispered. Then, she ran her fingers along one of his scars.

"Knife wound from Serbia," he told her.

"Hmm. And this?" she asked as she turned over the other hand and traced the set of scars there.

"Tore my skin open when I fell down a cliff," he answered. She continued running her fingers along his arm. It seemed to soothe both of them so he let her. He missed her touch and for a fleeting moment, he recalled her running those same pair of hands down every inch of his body. Alex closed his eyes and savored the moment.

His eyes opened when she lifted his sleeve and traced his very first battle scar. It was also the one he hated the most. With that scar came tons of memories he wished he could bury someehwere and just forget about it.