Chapter 21- Life can’t get any better

I sighed tiredly as I was looking for my South London house’s keys. I couldn’t find them and I was getting incredibly irritated. My hands were full with my Tesco’s bags.

And then my phone started ringing. I groaned in frustration.

“Shit.” I mumbled when my precious phone was almost falling on the ground.

I put all the bags down and searched for those damn keys.

“Thank Lord I found them!” I fumbled with the key lock and there was I, with access to my house.

Once I stepped inside with all my bags, closed the door behind me and went to the kitchen just next to the living room.

I turned on the lights and saw a purse on one of the counters.

“What the…” I whispered.

It couldn’t be. She wasn’t due here for another two weeks.

It had been six months since I’d moved to London and I last saw my friends 3 months before, when I went to see my godson, Christopher Bedford.

Yes, they named him after me. I was honored and I kept in contact with the new parents as much as I could.

The last time I’d seen my girlfriend was a month previously. She came to visit for a week and we had a lovely time. She met my British friends and I had the pleasure to meet hers.

I decided to leave the bags downstairs and go to my room, on the second storey of the house.

I ran up every step. And the anticipation was almost unbearable when I opened the door. There was her signature suitcase. The shower was running in the en-suite bathroom, the door was left ajar. I took my clothes off, suddenly wanting to take a shower with her.

I entered the bathroom silently and there she was enjoying her shower. Her eyes were closed and she looked amazing.

She was real.

She opened her eyes and saw me. Shock registered on her face and then a grin broke out.

She let me in the shower and kissed me with all she had in her.

“Hello, Stranger.” I told her smiling as the water dumped us both.

“Ciao, Amore.” She answered back.

“Are you fucking kidding me?” Allegra shouted angrily.

“Are you serious, Allegra? Are you really doing this?”

I was driving us back home and I was pissed off.

“Of course I’m serious, you…urgh!” she clearly was frustrated.

“There is nothing, nothing between us, Allegra. I love you, I fucking love you.”

“She was all over you!” she said between sobs.

“She wasn’t. She just hugged me and kissed my cheek.”

“She still wants you. I could see it. How she talked to you and casually touched your arm and all that shit. She wanted to fuck you and you didn’t do anything to stop her.”

“That’s so not true.” I commented, irritated.

“So are you saying that I’m a liar?” she inquired, a few tears on her cheeks.

I sighed in frustration “No. Listen, Allegra. I love you and you’re the only one I want. Caterina is my ex, but what I feel for you is ten times stronger. Everything we have is much better than what I had with her. Stop being jealous.”

“I’m not jealous.” She mumbled.

I laughed in disbelief. “You’re unbelievable.”

“Am not.  Caterina ti mangiava con gli occhi!” she switched to Italian. She always did that when she tried to prove her point.

“E anche se fosse? Io ho occhi solo per te, Allegra.”

She sighed. “How would you feel if you saw me with another guy, maybe someone I dated previously. Would you be happy if he hugged me and shit?”

“Of course I wouldn’t. I would be jealous. But you just claimed that you are not jealous, Allegra.” I tried to make her reason.

“What if I am?” she snapped.

“There is nothing wrong with you being jealous. I hope you trust me enough to know that I wouldn’t cheat on you. Never, ever. Ti amo troppo per perderti per una cazzata del genere.” I tried to reassure her as well as I could.

She wiped her tears. “Ti amo anch’io, Chris. Scusami. I just don’t want to lose you. I already came close to it once, and I don’t want it to happen.”  She explained. “I guess I’ll have to refrain from going crazy every time I see a woman looking at you appreciatively.” She shrugged.

“Weather forecast?” I asked.

“In 3 days time. You know me so well to know when I’m crazy hormonal.”

I smiled at her. “That means that we officially have 2 more days of uninterrupted sex before the abstinence period.” I said whilst parking my car in the driveway.

“Who gets to the bedroom last is a loser!” she exclaimed before quickly unbuckling the seat belt, bolting out of the car and racing to the front door.

I rolled my eyes. She was such a kid sometimes. But I loved every aspect of her.

I was late. At least half an hour late.

“Shit.” I mumbled as I checked my watch for the tenth time. Traffic in central London was a nightmare as usual.

I was supposed to meet Allegra for lunch at a restaurant but I got held up at a meeting with an auditor we wanted to hire at Francesco’s company.

Finally finding a spot, I parked the car and ran as fast as I could after closing the car door.

Once I got in the restaurant, I asked a waitress to lead me to the table we had reserved.

And then I saw something I wouldn’t have imagined in a million years.

Jake the rat, and my girlfriend talking to each other as close friends or even more. He touched her hand but I could see she was trying to evade his touch.

He leaned in but she looked like she didn’t really want to be kissed.

Still, what the fuck was he doing there?

“I see you still insist on stealing other people’s girlfriends as a job.” I said sternly.

He looked like he had been caught doing something bad. “Chris, I had no idea that you and…”

“As if that would have stopped you. Please!” I told him.

“I told you that I was involved with someone, Jake.” Allegra told him clearly annoyed.

“Well, sorry for not understanding the message.” He whispered. “I will leave you two lover birds on your own.” He stood up from the seat that was supposed to be mine. “I hope she doesn’t regret being with you. After all it happened once with Caterina. It could easily happen again once you show your true workaholic nature and neglect your woman.” He smirked.

Allegra gasped.

I strode up to him and stared him down. “You and me. Outside. Now!” I exclaimed. I could feel the eyes of the people in the restaurant on our back.

He chuckled. “What are you gonna do?” he said as soon as we were outside the restaurant. Allegra followed, clearly worried.

I punched him square in the face.

“What the fuck!” he yelled, his nose bleeding. “You punched me.”

“If you want to know the truth you had that long coming, asshole.” I hissed.

I turned around and saw the look of horror on Allegra’s face.

And then I felt him pushing me.

“You didn’t!” I exclaimed as I turned around and pushed him back.

People were staring.

He pushed me again and I didn’t resist. I punched him again.

A full fight erupted. Allegra tried helplessly to stop us from fighting.

“Stay out of it!” I warned her, afraid that we would unintentionally hurt her.

But she didn’t listen. She got in between us just as Jake prepared himself to punch me. He got her instead.

Allegra groaned in pain and started falling. Thank Lord I was behind her so I could break her fall.

“Shit” Jake and I both murmured at the same time.

“I didn’t mean to—“ Jake started.

“Shut the fuck up. Pray to God that she’ll be fine otherwise I’ll find you and kill you.” I menaced him.

I looked at Allegra in my arms. We were both on the concrete pavement.

“Are you okay?” I asked concerned.

“It hurts like hell. Now I know how it feels when you get into a fight” she laughed brokenly.

“I want us to go to the hospital and get you checked out.”

“I’ll be fine.” She said dismissively.

“No. I want to make sure that you are really fine.”

I heard the police car siren.

“Perfect.” I said sarcastically.

“I’m not pressing charges.” Jake said. “I kind of deserved it.” He told me.

“Please, disappear Jake. You caused enough damage.” I said, my voice full of the frustration.

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t you dare---“

“I’m sorry for everything I’ve done. I’m sorry for provoking you, for trying to hit on Allegra and for betraying your trust by sleeping with Caterina. I’m sorry I’m such a crap friend.”

“I don’t care. You can shove your apologies…”

“Stop it, Chris. He apologized.” Allegra said-

“That makes it so much better, right? Apologies don’t always make things better.”

“Come on, stop sulking.” Allegra sighed.

We were home, after the doctor at the hospital said that she was perfectly fine.

“I’m fine, aren’t I?” she nudged me in the ribs and I winced. “Sorry.”

“Don’t worry.” I reassured her.

“Chris, I was afraid that he was going to hurt you. Of course I had to make you stop. And it worked.”

“You say that because you are not badly damaged. What if your ribs went through one of your lungs for example? You could have been badly hurt by all this. You could..I don’t even want to think about that.” I was upset.

“I love you.”

“I love you too. But that doesn’t mean that I’m not upset. It’s all my fault.”

“Well, you are definitely a better fighter than Jake. He sucked.”

“I know, right?” I gave her a small smile.

“I found a new job. It’s for a think tank.”

“Oh. Why didn’t I hear about this before?”

“Because they offered me a position and it’s convenient. But I wanted to discuss this with you face to face.”

“Is it in New York?”

“No.”

“Los Angeles, Milan, Paris, Chicago…?”

“London.” She said stoically.

“What?” I asked in disbelief.

“In London. That would mean seeing each other whenever we want.”

“You’re not taking the job up only because I live here, right?” I inquired. I didn’t want her to give up working for the UN.

“No. I need a change in scenery and the new job is much better than the one I’m doing at the UN. It’s a senior position. I can also do some part time hours at the US Embassy if I want to.”

“So you’re moving to London?” I asked incredulously.

“Yes, I am.” She grinned and kissed me softly to avoid hurting my split lip.

“Bella!” I exclaimed and hugged her softly.

“Can I move in?” she asked tentatively.

I frowned. “Do you even have to ask?”

She visibly relaxed. “Great.” She kissed my cheek.

“I love you.” I stated.

“I know. I love you too.” She said cockily.

“That is what I wanted to hear.” I grinned broadly.

Life couldn’t honestly get any better than this. I had the woman of my dreams and although the path for happiness had been rough and I had found myself in some awful situations, I wouldn’t change it for the world. I was an adult, I learnt to deal with the past and I finally had faith in myself. I was happy, content. I’d reached my eudaimonia.