Alex's POV...
"She's over there," I say as I gaze at Sebastian.
"Ok. Thanks," Sebastian says before he walks away from us, and making his way to Rachel.
I watch Sebastian approaching Rachel. He starts talking with her, and even though I couldn't hear what they're talking about, it already bothers me to know that this guy keeps trying to get into Rachel's life in every aspect. As they continue to talk, Alfredo walks in while also holding a bouquet of white roses.
"Who are they?" Nate ask as he starts to stare at Sebastian who is talking with Rachel.
"The new students at college who smells like trouble," I say.
"Where are they from?" Nate ask.
"Las Vegas," I say.
Liam starts glancing at Sebastian and Alfredo as we watch them talk with Rachel and Mark. "How long have they known each other?"
"A few days. But damn, they've been trying to get into her life too fast," I say with an annoyed tone.
"So Rachel literally has only known them for a few days?" Jack ask.
"Yeah," I say.
Liam starts to look at them with a suspicious look. "Keep your eyes open. They could be associated with the stalkers."
"That's exactly what I thought," I say.
"We need to do some research," says Jack. "What are their names?"
"Sebastian Sanchez and Alfredo Sanchez. They are brothers," I say.
A few hours later...
"Thank you for coming today," Rachel says to Sebastian and Alfredo.
"No worries," Sebastian says. "It's the least we could do to support a friend."
Meanwhile, Alex kept staring at Sebastian and Alfredo from a distance with a suspicious look. Deep down he still thinks that they have something to do about Rachel's mom's death and the stalker.
"How has she been lately?" Jack ask as he walks over to Alex.
Alex takes a deep breath. "Wasn't too fine," says Alex. "A lot has been going on in her life."
Jack looks down after hearing Alex's answer. Not only did he feel sad about Rachel losing her mom, but he also feel bad about their misunderstanding a few days ago. Since that, Rachel had been ignoring him, even till today when he decides to come to her mother's funeral along with the rest of the guys.
The funeral ceremony eventually comes to an end. All the guest starts to depart and go home.
7 PM...
After they all arrived home and finished shower, Rachel walks over to her room and lies down on the bed. She covers her face with a pillow as tears slowly starts to fall from her eyes again. She didn't feel like joining Daniel for dinner together downstairs. She lost her appetite due to the amount of stress she's been dealing with.
What am I gonna do now? Rachel thought.
Mom, what should I do now that you're gone? Everything just feels worse. Rachel thought.
In the middle of her crying session, it suddenly hit her that now she'll only be staying with Daniel, in which made her awkward. Even though as the years goes by, she didn't seem to have any problems with Daniel, yet knowing that her mom is now gone, she didn't want to trouble Daniel with her presence. She needed a new place to stay, she thought.
I have to get out. Rachel thought.
At the boys' house....
9 PM...
Alex is on his laptop doing some investigation on Sebastian and Alfredo. The boys and him are now suspicious that they could be associated with the stalkers, and could be involved in the death of Rachel's mom. He is sure that those two guys are trouble, and is willing to prove that to Rachel. However, after about 2 hours of trying to get any infomation, he wasn't able to find anything besides the fact that those two are from Las Vegas.
Damn it...This isn't enough. Alex thought.
Alex stares at the laptop with a stressful look. As he continues to scroll the internet, he stumbles upon an eye catching article.
Juan Sanchez? He just opened another club in Las Vegas. Alex thought.
As Alex continues to read the article as he wonders whether Sebastian and Alfredo could be linked with Juan Sanchez.
"The king of covering up his bad reputation," Alex says to himself. "Yet I don't remember him having sons. Or so I thought..."
Alex lets out a sigh before he turns to face the ceiling as he puts his hands on his head with a stressful thought. He starts to wonder whether the Sanchez brothers are associated with Juan Sanchez, and though he still hasn't found much information about them, all he knows is that what's most important now is to protect Rachel.
Meanwhile, at Sebastian and Alfredo's apartment...
Sebastian is on the phone with his mom as they talk about what happened today.
"I'll give you one week to bring her to me profesionally," Miranda says through the phone.
"Won't that be too fast, Mom?" Sebastian ask.
"That's enough time for you to make her fall into your hands. I want to finish her in Las Vegas, and I don't want you to waste much time in approaching her," Miranda says. "Get the girl fast."
Sebastian lets out a sigh. "Ok, Mom. I'll get her to trust me as soon as I can," Sebastian says, though his heart feels uncomfortable somehow.
"That's good, my son. Now you better get some rest. Goodnight," Miranda says.
"Goodnight, Mom," Sebastian says before he ends the call.
Sebastian lets out another sigh before walking to his bed and lies down. He starts to remember what happened two days ago, when he puts his plan in action with some help from his men. At first he only thought about doing what he was told to do, yet somehow his heart feels odly heavy tonight. The image of Rachel's expression from today starts surfacing in his head as he tries to not remember it. He couldn't lie to himself that he felt sort of guilty deep inside.
The next day...
8 AM....
Alex and Rachel walks inside the college building. Alex notice that Rachel's eyes looked puffy and that she has dark circles under her eyes. It's obvious that she didn't get much sleep due to crying.
Without her concern, Alex gently grabs Rachel's hand as the they walk through the hallway. He knew how broken she's feeling right now and wanted to comfort her, but other than that, he didn't want anybody to get near her, especially Sebastian.
"The boys and I did some investigation about the Sanchez brothers last night," Alex says.
"And? What about them?" Rachel ask.
"Whoever they are, they're pretty good in covering up their identities. The only information I found about them was that they were born in Las Vegas. Yet there's a possible chance that they could be linked with Juan Sanchez," Alex says.
"Who's Juan Sanchez?" Rachel ask with a curious tone.
"A gang leader from Las Vegas. Yet it was known that he didn't have sons, but who knows? That guy is famous for covering up everything about his life," Alex says in a quiet tone as he didn't want anyone to hear what he was saying.
Rachel nods after hearing Alex's statement. She starts to think if Sebastian and Alfredo are really associated with Juan Sanchez.
"So far, the boys and I haven't found anymore informations," Alex says. "But my guts keep telling me something's not right about them."
"At this point, I'm just exhausted, Alex. There's too much going on that it makes my heart sick," Rachel says.
Alex lets out a sigh. "As far as this might sound hard, we have to keep an eye on those brothers. I have a feeling they could be involved with your mom's death."
"What? How? How are they involved?" Rachel ask with curiousity.
"For now, we don't have much prove yet, but isn't it weird that your mom got murdered a few days after he drive you home? Not that I'm acussing him, but it happened too fast. They could even be too good in covering up their secrets, just like Juan Sanchez," Alex says.
Rachel starts to think about Alex's statement, which kind of make sense. Yet, she still didn't want to jump to conclusion before she has all the proves that Sebastian and Alfredo are really involved with her mom's death, and the stalkers. "I don't really know for now, Alex. I just want to get through this already. All these dramas with the stalkers are making me stress," Rachel says.
Alex turns his head to look at Rachel. "Don't worry. We'll get through this and find out who's behind all of this," Alex says, making Rachel nod.
"Thanks," Rachel says. "By the way, there's something I would like to talk about."
"Sure. What is it?" Alex ask.
"Now that my mom is gone, it feels awkward for me to stay with my step-dad," Rachel says. "Can I stay with you guys instead?"
Alex stops in his steps for a moment, making Rachel stop as well. He looks into her puffy, hazel eyes. His eyes are filled with concern as he stares down at the sad girl.
"Of course, Rachel," Alex says. "You didn't have to ask for it, since we already wanted you to stay with us."
Rachel turns her head down as tears starts to fill her eyes. With all the emotional mess that's been going on, she didn't want Alex to see her cry too often since she didn't want to worry him.
"Thanks, Alex," Rachel says.
At the boys' house...
8:30 AM...
Nate and Jack are practicing shooting in their garden while Liam is busy sorting out some files in his office room.
"Damn it! Missed," Jack says as he puts his gun down with a disappointed look.
"You need to focus on the target," Nate says as he aims for the dummy right in the center target. He pulls out the trigger sending the bullet to hit right in the spot.
Jack watches Nate in surprised at his perfect aim. He thought about how he had been losing his skills in shooting recently due to lack of focus. turns his head to Jack to see him with a surprised look. "Focus is the key," Nate says.
Jack lets out a deep breath before he picks up his gun again. He tries his best to focus again on the target, but as he pulls the trigger he realized that the bullet had slip the target.
"Shoot!" Jack says to himself. "What's wrong with me?"
"Are you ok, Jack?" Nate ask as he noticed that Jack failed again to hit the target.
"No," Jack says. "I need to focus on my aim."
"Looks like it," Nate says. "Got something taking your focus away?"
"Yeah," Jack says.
"Is it Rachel Spencer?" Nate ask with a curious tone.
"How did you know?" Jack ask with a surprised tone as he gives Nate a curious look.
"What else could be taking away the focus of Jack Pierce?" Nate ask with a sassy tone. "A.K.A the sharp-shooter wannabe!"
"I'm really worried about her, Nate," Jack says as he takes a deep breath and walks back inside the house with Nate following him from behind. "What if she's next?"
The thought of Rachel still being the target of the stalkers had been running around Jack's mind, especially after what they did to her mom. At this point, the boys knew that the stalkers are more dangerous than they thought. However, since the incident that happened between him and Kristen at Chad and Crystal's wedding, Rachel had been ignoring (and also avoiding) Jack as she can and is now spending more time with Alex, which irritated Jack.
What am I gonna do? Jack thought.
9:45 PM...
At Uptown Bar & Club...
A tall guy with toned abs and a masculine look is standing near the bar counter while taking a sip of his martini. Though the club isn't too crowded tonight, yet that doesn't mean he didn't get approached by the ladies. Tonight, there were already a few women trying to get his attention, from trying to seduce him to asking for his number, in which he declined politely.
"All alone?"
The tall guy, Sebastian, turns his head to see his brother, Alfredo walking from the dance floor and heading to his direction.
"I see you prefer to be lonely tonight," Alfredo says.
Sebastian takes another sip of his red wine. "As much as I admire the beauty of a woman, that doesn't mean I will get a random woman to acompany me through the night," says Sebastian as he watches some people dancing on the dance floor.
"I could see that clearly," Alfredo says with a small chuckle before he grabs his glass of wine from the bar counter.
"So you're not getting laid tonight?" Alfredo ask with a cheeky smile.
Sebastian turns his head to face his brother with a small smile. "If I'm not getting the vibe, I can't grow the passion," Sebastian says before he takes another sip of his martini.
Alfredo lets out a small chuckle. "Well, looks like the fire is here to heat you up."
"What?" Sebastian ask in confusion.
"Our sweetheart target," says Alfredo as he turns his vision to look at Alex and Rachel entering the bar together.
Sebastian turns his head to see Rachel from a distance walking together with Alex as the two hold hands. They start walking to the bar counter to order some drinks, in which the bartender hands them the menu.
"What would you like to drink?" the bartender ask.
"I'll have a glass of red wine," Alex says.
"One glass of red wine. And how about the lady?" the bartender ask.
"I'll also have a glass of red wine," Rachel ask.
Hearing that, the bartender writes down their orders before going back to prepare their drinks.
Meanwhile, Sebastian and Alfredo had been staring at both Alex and Rachel from a distance. Hendery had been encouraging Sebastian to approach Rachel, but Sebastian insisted that he wanted to wait for the right moment.
"Oh come on. Are you afraid of that so-called boyfriend of hers?" Alfredo ask as he stares at Sebastian who was staring at Alex and Rachel.
"I'm only afraid of scaring her by approaching her at the wrong time," Sebastian says as he stares at the two friends with an annoyed look. "She's a hard target. She needs process, and she needs patience."
"Looks like she's already "in process" with Alex," Alfredo says.
"That's why, I'll be her progress," Sebastian says as he walks away from Alfredo and heading to Alex and Rachel.
"What the heck?" Alfredo says to himself as he stares at his brother trying to approach the happy "couple".
Sebastian walks over to Rachel as she was in the middle of talking with Alex. Rachel looks at him with a small smile, while Alex just glance at him without smiling.
What the hell is he doing here?
Alex thought.
"Hey! Fancy seeing you guys here," Sebastian says as he smiles at Rachel, irritating Alex even more.
"Yeah," Alex says as he tries to sound casual, though Sebastian could sense that he wasn't happy with his presence.
"You alone?" Rachel ask.
"Nah. I'm with Alfredo, but he's probably lost on the dance floor or something," says Sebastian as he tries to make it sound like a joke.
Rachel lets out a giggle. "I see."
Alex's POV...
I glance at the sight of Rachel and Sebastian smiling at each other. It irritated me every time Sebastian tries to approach Rachel. The guy just can't seem to leave the girl alone, even when she's with me. The more he tries to approach, the more I think he's trouble, and I'm not gonna let him get near Rachel.
"So you guys came here together?" Sebastian ask.
I put my arm around Rachel's shoulder as I form a fake smile at Sebastian. "Yeah. We go everywhere together, as always," I say, making Rachel blush at my sentence.
Sebastian glance at Rachel for a moment before glancing back at me. I could tell he wasn't happy with my statement, yet he tries to play it cool with a small chuckle.
"Well, well, if it isn't the dynamic duo," Alfredo says as he walks up to us. He looks at me with a smile before throwing a sassy wink at Rachel. What the hell?
"Hi Alfredo!" Rachel says. "Did you get lost on the dance floor?"
"Almost, but I found my way through the flashing lights to you guys," Alfredo says with a rather flirty tone, which literally annoyed me. What do these brothers want anyway? First was Sebastian, now Alfredo. These guys really don't give up do they?
"In fact, I was wondering if I could have a dance with you while I'm still sober," Alfredo says as he glance at me. "That is if your friend here doesn't mind?"
The fury in me starts boiling up after hearing Alfredo's statement. Yet I knew I have to keep calm, since putting a fight with them at a club would not be a professional thing, especially since they're not doing much other than just testing my patience.
Rachel glance at me with a confuse look, as if she is looking for a proper answer. Without thinking, I grab her hand tightly, making her a bit surprised. "Well, too bad because she promised me a dance first. Maybe you could try again next time," I say as I stare at Alfredo with a sharp look. I noticed Sebastian staring at the two of us speechless. "Let's go, Baby." I
pull Rachel away from Sebastian and Alfredo as we head to the dance floor.
On the dance floor....
"What was that about, Alex?" Rachel ask as she stares at me with a curious look.
"Would it be wrong if I drag you all the way here for a dance?" I ask with a smirk on my face, making her roll her eyes. I have to admit, I like it when she does her signature eye roll. It looks so cute.
"I can't dance in front of a crowd, Alex," Rachel says. "Why did you drag me all the way here when we could have a nice drink there?"
"We wouldn't be having a quality time with those two guys interupting us," I say.
To my surprise, Rachel lets out a giggle at my sentence. "Oh come on, they weren't causing trouble or anything."
I let out a sigh. This girl is too innocent for this cruel world. After all that happend, she still has a positive perspective towards those damn brothers.
"Alex, look at me," Rachel says as she grabs both of my hands, making my heart skip a beat at her touch. It's almost like her hands are magical. I stare into her eyes as she stares back with a cheeky smile. Ok, what's going on in her mind?
"Are you jealous?" Rachel ask as she holds her hand.
I let out a sigh after hearing what she just said. Is it really important whether I am jealous or not? I'm trying to protect her from some possible gangsters and she's asking me whether I feel uncomfortable if they're approaching her.
But again, every time she ask me that, I couldn't help to find her so innocent that it draws me to her cuteness even more. I wasn't planning to feel like this when I decided to be her guardian angel. "Would it be important to you if I was jealous? We haven't even started dating," I say with a little seductive tone.
"I just wanted to know," Rachel says as she glance down. "If you happen to be jealous."
I start to notice how her expression looks upset. I guess she didn't like my reaction or answer. I wanted to say she was sensitive but again I realize that my words could be a real pain at times. Damn, you messed up, Alexander.
Without hesitation, I pull her closer to me as the two of us embrace, surrounded by a crowd of people dancing their hearts out. I hug her tightly as she bury her face in my chest, which got my heart beating faster at her touch.
"Rachel, of course it irritates me when I see you interacting with those guys, knowing that they could be the possible enemies. I care for you and I don't want you to get near the wrong guys. You're a great woman. You deserve to be with a great man," I say as I stroke her back gently. I could feel her heart beating faster to mine at every stroke. But other than that, I could also feel her tears on my chest as it stains my shirt. Damn, I just made her cry.
"So...just answer me, are you jealous?" Rachel ask while still having her face bury in my chest.
I let out a sigh. "I am jealous. Isn't it obvious?" I ask, making her pull away slowly. I could see her eyes that are still filled with tears, which broke my heart.
"Really?" Rachel ask.
"Yes," I say as I look down as the tension between us gets awkward.
Rachel takes a deep breath. "I'm sorry for being dramatic just now. Clearly I was the one who wanted to take things slow but here I am being a drama queen."
"No, don't be," I say. "I was the one who needed a filter. I should have known how to deal with a woman better."
Rachel glance at me with a smirk. "You've handled too many women," says Rachel as she cross her arms. "I assume you to be an expert at it."
Her smirk actually turns me on just at the sight of it. Something tells me I won't need alcohol to get lost tonight, since looking into her eyes already got me lost in a dream. I smile shyly at this feisty girl in front of me. "Dealing with a lot of women doesn't make one an expert. But having the ability to handle one amazing lady is a gift to himself," I say.
Rachel's cheeks starts to turn red as our eye contact gets deeper with the loud music playing in the background. I start to study her cute face under the shinning lights. Her sparkling hazel eyes flutters beautifully, as my vision soon moves to her cute lips. I could feel the heat rising in between us as my heart starts beating faster. I remember just how soft her lips felt when we first kissed that night. For everytime I touch her I felt a deep passion from within, and for everytime she touch me I felt like sparks bursting out of my heart. It was a night that made me feel just how beautiful love is after a while. It was the night where I knew that I had found the feeling of love again, just by looking at Rachel and holding her through the night.
I stare deeply into Rachel's eyes as I slowly steps closer to her. I get a good hold of her shoulders as she still looks lost in the moment. "Look, how about if I make it up to you by teaching you how to dance?" I ask her with a small smile.
Rachel soons forms a small yet awkward and shy smile as she stares at me.
"Ok," Rachel says.
Hearing that, I pull her closer to me as we start to dance slowly through the blasting music. Rachel would glance at her surroundings every now and then to see if anyone is staring at us.
"Let them watch," I say as we continue to dance with my hands around her waist.
"How are you able to feel comfortable with people watching you dance?" Rachel ask.
"Because I learned to not care about what other people's gonna say," I say. "You told me that, remember?"
Rachel's facial expression soon turns from shy to slightly comfortable, forming a small smile on her lips. "I'm surprised you remember what I told you."
"How can I forget? I'm your guardian angel," I say with a rather flirty tone, making her smile wider which sends a warm feeling in me. I love seeing her smile.
Meanwhile...
Sebastian's POV....
"Here's your vodka," says the bartender as he puts the vodka on the table.
"Thank you," I say casually before taking a sip of the liquid.
"You weren't wrong," says Alfredo before he takes a sip of his red wine. "She's a tough target. Especially with that Alex guy always with her."
"Told you so," I say to my younger cheeky brother who is standing beside me. "That's why I have to make her consider me. I have to show her what she's missing out."
"We have to get rid of that Alex guy though. He's the main obstacle in our mission," Alfredo says.
"That's why, we have to figure out a way to get rid of him," I say.
After a moment of thinking as I watch the two youngsters dancing the night away from a distance, I pull out my phone without any hesitation from my pocket. I start to type a message to someone I know, making Alfredo turns his head to see me.
"Man, what are you doing here?" Alfredo ask me with curiousity.
"Business matters," I say casually. After I'm done texting, I put my phone back in my pocket before grabbing my glass of vodka for another sip.
To be continue...