"Anh~! Alex, slow down!" Tory whined as she gasped a painful moan.
"How else do you want me to do this?" I retorted with a raised eyebrow, "It's your fault for not staying down even after I defeated you once."
I gently massaged her back as I applied the pain relieving balm on her shoulder, hips, and lower back.
"Stay quiet and let me do this, okay?" I said in a reprimanding tone.
"Ugh." Tory groaned by lowering her face into the pillow, while laying flat on the couch on her stomach.
"Just don't touch me at wierd places, okay?" Tory warned with a light blush.
"Don't worry, I am not interested in your weird places." I replied with a smile and slapped her ass.
"Alex..?" Tory turned her head towards with her eyes wide in disbelief.
"What?" I looked at her with an amused smirk and slapped her ass again.
"Alex, don't." Tory warned with her blush getting brighter and red, "You're gonna suffer once I get up."
"Is that so?" I chuckled and smacked her plump ass once again, "We'll see about that." I leaned forward on her body and tightly massaged her upper back, "Bare with this, okay?"
"You.." Tory groaned and closed her eyes as she released an embarrassed and sensual moan, "I'm going to kill you."
"I am used to your Hollow threats." I replied with a bored look, "Not to mention, I am helping you out here. You should recover by tomorrow with a proper massage."
"J-Just don't touch my ass again, okay?" Tory replied with a bashful stutter, "You're such a pervert."
"Trust me, I am enjoying this a lot." I remarked with an evil smirk, "After all, I don't get to massage girls this way."
Tory blushed in embarrassment and hid her face into the pillow, "Shut up." She whined adorably in a muffled voice.
After massaging her for a few more minutes, I got up and wiped my hands with a dry towel.
"I'm done. You can turn around now." I said by getting up from the couch, "Feeling better?" I asked as Tory turned around and glared at me.
"Better than before." Tory replied with a small nod.
"Good." I nodded back and pulled up a chair for myself.
"I need to go back home." Tory said as she tried to get up, but winced in pain and laid down again.
"Your nerves are sensitive after the massage and helping you recover." I stated with a calm expression, "If you're worried about Ethan and your Mom, I've already told them that you're staying over."
"And I have also ordered and paid a restaurant to deliver some food at your place." I continued, before Tory could complain about their dinner.
"Well, you did injure me in the first place." Tory muttered and shyly looked away from me, "Thanks."
I got up and ruffled her hairs with a cheerful smile, "Mention not."
"Did you just treat me like a little girl?" Tory looked at me with an baffled expression.
"I did not?" I answered vaguely with a sheepish smile, "I mean, you look cute." I stated with a shrug.
"Yeah, laugh at my expense." Tory snorted with a roll of her eyes, "Not everyone is independent and knows shortcuts to earn money like you."
"You think the way I earn money is a shortcut?" I questioned with an astonished laugh, because I wasn't even offended.
"You know what? I can show you how to invest in the Stock market." I stated with a moment of thought, "Maybe then you'll realise that investing in stocks without knowledge is nothing but a bad gamble."
"Then teach me." Tory stated with an excited and determined look, "If it can make my family financially stable, I am ready to learn it even if you're a major asshole."
"A asshole won't even let you be here." I stated with a dull stare.
"Okay, not an asshole." Tory replied by pursing her lips and avoided my eyes in embarrassment, "I am not good at expressing my emotions, okay?"
"I know." I replied with a sweet smile, "You also have a short fuse."
"Huh?!" Tory glared at me with an annoyed frown and realised she was just proving my point.
"What I do takes a lot of patience and time to show progress and results. A small mess up can drown your whole investment, but if you know your way around the stuff, you should be safe to browse through the market." I gave a small explanation.
Tory still looked a little confused, so I decided to give her a little demonstration. I got up and got my laptop off the charger and brought it to the table. I made her slide back on the couch and sat at the space before her slim waist.
"Watch this." I said as I opened one of the websites for trading stock, "There are several websites on the Internet that allow you to purchase, sell and trade your electronic version of stock."
"Then what are the physical stuff?" Tory asked with a frown.
"Shares and other stuff, but nowadays people don't value that." I replied, "These are my Shares and this is the amount I have earned recently, which is not transfered to my bank yet."
"T-Two million?" Tory looked at the amount and turned to me with a stupefied expression, "Marry me." She said in a serious tone.
And I laughed it off, "Then I wonder what you'll do after you see my Bank statements."
"No, seriously, Alex." Tory got up with the support of her arms and stared at me, "How the hell do you earn so much money? Are minors even allowed to do these stock stuff?"
"Yes, they are." I nodded in assurance, "And if everybody could earn money so easily, everyone in the world won't need to worry about being rich or poor."
"Trading in stocks might give a lot of benefits, but there's also the risk of losing it all as well." I stated in a serious tone, "Lucky for me, I do my research before investing even a cent on a company or startup brand."
"The more you explain, the more complex it gets." Tory said with a sigh, "I wonder why I even tried bothering."
"I did not know you were the type to give up, Tory." I remarked with a meaningful smirk, "Aren't you even going to try at least? You did say it could solve your family's financial problems."
"Will you teach me?" Tory asked nervously, "I am not good with these stuff. I also don't have a laptop."
"If you're willing to learn, you don't need to worry about those things." I reassured her with a smile, "You're my friend, Tory. Though, I don't know if you see me the same way."
"Why do you even think I tolerate you so much?" Tory snorted with a blush and looked away.
"Hey, I am the one who tolerates you, okay?" I corrected exasperatedly, "The gull you have of even saying that after what you did today!"
"Huh?" Tory turned to me with a fierce glare, "Are you the one on the couch? Ah, why don't you take off your shirt and let me touch you all over your body?" She suggested with a vicious grin.
"Never touched a boy before?" I counter argued with a sly smirk.
"You.." Tory glared at me with an infuriated expression, "If not for my back, you were dead. You hear me? Dead."
"Dead." I mocked in a dramatic mimicry and got up from the couch, "Stay on the couch. I'll get the dinner."
~
"Wait, Miguel said such things?" Tory said in shock as I told her about the Hospital incident I had with Sam, over our dinner.
"And why are you saying it after more than a week?" Tory questioned, "You did not even tell me that you went to visit Miguel, with that bitch of all people!"
"That bitch is also my friend, okay?" I warned as I took offense at the way Tory said it.
"So Sam is your friend." Tory frowned when she saw the serious look on my face, "Great. So what now? You want me to be friends with her as well?"
"I don't care whom you're friends with and not, unless those friends of yours are bad news to you." I replied, "All I am saying is, don't get worked up over Sam, okay? I don't know what kind rivalry there is between you two."
"Oh, rivalry sounds cute." Tory laughed and looked seriously at me, "We are enemies, you get it? And now so is Miguel, after he cheated on me with that bitch."
"I don't care even if you kill that scumbag." I snorted in response, "All I ask of you is to stay out of trouble when it comes to Sam."
"Then promise me." Tory said by grabbing my hands and stared into my eyes, "Promise me, that you won't choose Sam over me."
"You should know by now that even if I am an asshole at times, I stay fair to people, especially the ones I care about." I replied, "I'll make sure there won't be a situation where I have to choose between you two."
"And what if?" Tory asked with a raised eyebrow as she increased the grip on my hand.
"Then we hope that there's not a what if situation." I replied with a nonchalant smile, "Because then, I'll go neutral and pretend I don't know any of you."
Tory released my hand and went completely quiet, so we finished our dinner in silence.
"I can't sleep in these clothes." Tory said as she went towards my room, "I'll get changed into something."
"Fine." I said as I took the empty dishes to the sink in the kitchen.
Though, when Tory got out after getting changed, I was astounded to see that she wearing my boxers.
"Really, Tory?" I asked with a blank stare.
"What?" Tory gave me an innocent confused look, "You mean the boxers?" She said by noticing my gaze, "They are comfortable."
"You do realise that those are under-"
"Underwear, I know." Tory completed for me and shrugged, "So what? I can treat them as shorts, and they are clean."
"Ugh.." I groaned in disbelief and went to my room, "You can crash on the couch. Pillows and blankets are already there. And if you watch TV, make sure to keep the volume low."
"Yeah, mom." Tory rolled her eyes as she went to the couch.
Seeing that she was comfortable, I walked into my room and went to sleep after browsing through the Facebook for a while.
~
AN: Power Stones might help stay motivated to continue the story.