A Drunken Man's Words
by SexisFan

chapter 8

For a second Alexis wondered if the image was a trick her brain was playing on her. It would be understandable given the events and the emotion of the evening. But when the figment of her imagination stepped into the room and closed the door behind him, she realized that it was true. Sonny Corinthos was here.

The thought was still hard to register, though. How did he find her? How did he get here in the storm? What was he doing here? Why did he look like he was about to commit murder?

With her mind occupied by questions racing through it, Alexis didn't give a thought to her attire. It wasn't until Beau, with apparently gentlemanly intentions, lifted the blanket and drew it around her shoulders that she realized she was wearing nothing but her bra and panties. Her rain-soaked-clinging-to-her-skin bra and panties. Alexis grasped the edges of the blanket and pulled it closer around her, thankful that Beau had been thinking faster than she, thankful for the protection from Sonny's intense stare.

"Sonny," Alexis exclaimed again. "What are you doing here?"

For a long few seconds there was no answer. Only an uncomfortable silence charged through with unspoken emotion. Sonny's eyes shifted from Alexis, to Beau, and back to Alexis before he answered.

"I thought your disappearance might mean you were in trouble. I was worried. Obviously unnecessarily, since you appear to be in good. . .hands." Sonny's reply was icy and cutting, making little attempt to mask his anger.

Turning on his heel, Sonny started toward the door. When his hand fell on the knob, Alexis bounded from the couch.

"Sonny!" she yelled breathlessly, "You can't go out there. It isn't safe."

Sonny turned slowly toward her, but his eyes fell on Beau. "It isn't safe for me to stay," he replied menacingly.

Beau held Sonny's stare. Obviously this was the man to whom Alexis had given her heart, he thought. The man's proprietary attitude was unmistakable. He might as well lift his leg and leave his scent around her. Not that it was necessary. Beau had no claim on Alexis' heart, and he knew it. Apparently this Sonny wasn't so sure. And who could blame him. The scene he'd stumbled upon was a lot more innocent than it must have looked to an outsider. Beau could understand the man's jealousy. All the same, he wasn't about to be bullied. And he wasn't about to drop his eyes from Sonny's dark gaze.

Rising from the couch, Beau rested his hands gently on Alexis' shoulders. He didn't miss the immediate reaction in Sonny's eyes as the touch ignited a flame of jealousy within the other man.

"Alexis," Beau spoke calmly, "Why don't go take a shower and get dressed in something dry. You need to get warm."

Alexis turned to respond, but he cut her off.

"I'll take care of your friend and we'll both be here when you get back," he assured her. Alexis nodded. She was far too weary to fight, either with Beau or Sonny. And Sonny was spoiling for a fight. She appreciated any opportunity to regroup and prepare, and Beau had just given her a perfect one. Beau guided Alexis across the floor toward the master bedroom, stopping at the supply closet to dig out a flashlight for her. "Warm up, but don't take too long," Beau cautioned her. "With the power out the only hot water we have is what's in the tank. It will help to conserve as much as possible," he explained as Alexis nodded her understanding.

Sonny flinched at the blonde man's familiar use of the word 'we' with Alexis. And Beau didn't miss it. Turning to Sonny, he took in the stranger's appearance. "Looks like you can use some dry clothes, too," he noted evenly.

"I'm fine," Sonny snapped.

Beau shrugged. "It's up to you, but we're going to be here for a while. I'll go get some stuff in case you change your mind. Excuse me."

Sonny seethed as the taller man turned and headed straight for the same doorway through which Alexis had just disappeared. Pausing for a second, he tapped the door and called to Alexis. "It's just me, Alexis. I need to get your friend some dry clothes."

Sonny heard Alexis answer, though he couldn't make out the words. Obviously, she hadn't objected because the blonde opened the door and slipped right inside the bedroom. Sonny heard drawers sliding open, then shut. At the same time, he heard water start to run for Alexis' shower. A few minutes passed. Sonny could hear the man's voice in soft conversation, presumably with Alexis.

Sonny began to pace. This was so much worse than he'd imagined. He figured he'd have an angry Alexis to deal with. He figured he'd get read the riot act for having her followed and for searching her out. He figured he'd have to deal with her stated intention to move away from him. But he never figured on another man.

The bedroom door swung open and the interloper in question emerged carrying several articles of clothing in his hands. "I realize they won't be your size, but the sweats have a draw string waist and that should help," Beau apologized as he set the clothes on the dining table.

Sonny ignored the clothing and continued to glare at the man silently, noting with fury that this stranger had his clothes put away in what obviously was Alexis' bedroom.

Beau decided it best not to acknowledge the darker man's anger. Instead, he headed for the kitchen. "Can I get you something hot to drink, Mr. . ." Beau's voice trailed off, waiting for Sonny to fill in the blank.

"Corinthos," Sonny replied. "Sonny Corinthos."

The name didn't mean a thing to Beau, but the way that this Sonny Corinthos announced himself made it clear that he was accustomed to name recognition. So that was the reason for the aura of importance and power that surrounded him. Apparently, he was used to being 'somebody'. Well, too bad for you, Mr. Corinthos, Beau thought as he set about the task of heating water over sterno. Out here on Hatteras tonight you're just another storm-stranded soul, no different than the rest of us.

"Coffee okay, Mr. Corinthos?" Beau called from the kitchen, politely playing host.

Sonny ignored the question and wandered deeper into the cottage. Standing in the middle of the living room, he took in the simple surroundings. Obviously some of the charm was lost due to the boarded up windows. Still, even with an ocean view Sonny couldn't imagine what would keep Alexis happy in a place like this. Unless it was the half dressed man puttering around very familiarly in the darkened kitchen, Sonny thought angrily. Clearly, whoever this guy was he was no stranger to his house. The thought of Alexis hidden away in a little love nest for nearly a week with another man set Sonny's blood boiling. What a f*cking fool he was to come chasing down here after her. Alexis wasn't his, and never would be.

Sonny started as Beau's voice spoke behind him. "It's instant, but at least it's hot," he offered, setting a tray with three steaming cups on the coffee table. "Please, have a seat." Not waiting for Sonny to sit, Beau returned to the spot on the couch where he'd been when Sonny showed up at the door.

As soon as the man was seated, the little black puppy that Sonny had found out in the storm rose from where it had been sleeping and padded over to sit at his feet. The man reached down and lifted the small dog onto his lap, then went to work scratching behind its ears and down its back to the base of its tail.

"Your dog?" Sonny asked, nodding toward Quincy.

Beau shook his head. "Naw. He's Alexis'. He hasn't been in her life long, but she sure does love him a lot already."

Sonny glared at the man again, wondering if there was supposed a hidden meaning in those words. Was he describing his own relationship with Alexis, too? Telling Sonny that Alexis had fallen in love with a man she'd known less than a week? It seemed impossible. But Sonny couldn't erase from his brain the image of Alexis, nearly naked, plastered up against this man, his arms around her slender form.

Shaking his head to clear it of the offending image, Sonny tried to refocus.

"I believe that since you have my name and I still don't have yours, you have me at a disadvantage Mr. . ."

"Richards," Beau answered. "But you can call me Beau," he smiled.

I bet I can, Sonny thought snappishly, making a mental note to have Benny research the name.

"And how do you know Alexis?" Sonny asked, finally taking a seat so that he could watch Beau's reactions more closely.

"I guess you could say that I just picked her up her first day on the island," Beau laughed, remembering to himself how he'd literally picked Alexis up and carried her from the beach to his cottage after she'd had the misfortune to step on a jellyfish that had washed up onto the wet sand. She'd stopped to walk Quincy along the beach. Beau had been in the surf fishing when she and the pup strolled by. Alexis had nodded and smiled, but kept on walking. She didn't far, though, before Beau heard her scream. Turning toward the yowl, he found her flat on her butt in the wet sand, moaning and shaking her foot. Acting as her white knight, he'd scooped her up into his arms and carried up to the cottage for first aid. And in the course of conversation, learned that she'd been frustrated in her search for a place to stay. One thing led to another, and Beau became her landlord.

"And how do you know Alexis, Mr. Corinthos?" Beau asked in return.

"I'm his lawyer," Alexis answered from the doorway of the bedroom, now showered and dressed in soft silk pajamas topped with a matching robe. "And for all intents and purposes, we are also quite often friends." Alexis said the words with a smile, but they left no doubt in the mind of either man that this was a strained friendship at the moment.

Alexis crossed the living room and took up a seat on the opposite end of the couch from Beau.

"You look much warmer," he smiled at her.

"You don't," teased back, eyeing Beau's bared torso and still damp jeans.

Sonny noted the ease with which Beau smiled at Alexis, and with which she returned his smile. And while he knew he had no right to feel this way, jealousy tore at his gut.

"You're right," Beau proclaimed, slapping his legs. Giving Quincy a gentle shove from his lap, Beau stood. "Time for me get some dry clothes, too. I'll be right back."

"Don't hurry on our account," Sonny tossed out sarcastically as Beau disappeared once again into the same bedroom where Alexis had showered and changed.

As soon as the door shut behind the blonde man, Sonny turned toward Alexis.

"What in the hell are you doing, Alexis?"

"What do you think you're doing, Sonny?"

Their questions were posed simultaneously as each talked over the other in a harsh whisper.

"What am I doing?" Alexis almost shouted. "I'm taking a trip! A vacation! That means time away from one's regular life routines, in case you didn't know," she snapped. "And it is none of your business! Now why are here and how did you find me?" she demanded.

"I was worried about you, Alexis," Sonny shot back. "I know I did something to upset you the last time you were at my apartment. Granted, I was drunk and I don't remember what it was, but I know it must have been bad. I'm sorry, Alexis. I feel awful. And I feel responsible for. . ." he waved his hand indicating the cottage, ". . .this."

Alexis huffed out a frustrated sigh. "So you conducted your own little woman hunt and traveled halfway down the east coast, making your way onto an island in the middle of a hurricane because you feel guilty?" she exclaimed. "Why am I not surprised?"

"No, Alexis, it's not guilt! It's. . .I feel. . .I want. . ."

"Well, that didn't take too long, did it?" Beau remarked, returning to the room in dry jeans.

Sonny rubbed his jaw and sighed in exasperation. The man had lousy timing, Sonny thought to himself. But at least he also had a shirt on now, Sonny noted, eyeing the fresh T-shirt that covered (even if it didn't disguise) the man's well-defined chest.

Alexis breathed a sigh of relief at Beau's reappearance. She truly was not ready to fight with Sonny at the moment.

"You know what?" she exclaimed, jumping up from the couch. "I think I'm going to turn in. It's been a long day and a longer night, and I'm exhausted." Alexis bent down and scooped Quincy up from the couch cushions. "Good night." And with that, she was gone, disappearing behind her bedroom door with two men staring behind her in somewhat stunned silence.

"You sure know how to clear a room," Sonny shot out snidely at Beau.

The blonde laughed. "I hardly think that I was the cause of that," he shot back.

Returning to the couch, Beau took a seat. Leaning forward, his arms resting on his knees, he looked Sonny square in the eye. "Mr. Corinthos. . ."

"Sonny."

Beau nodded. "Sonny, you strike me as a man who likes to get right down to business."

Sonny nodded.

"Good. You need to know a few things. I own this house. Alexis has been renting it from me. I am not staying here with her. I am not sleeping with her. It has been clear from the day I met her that her heart belongs to someone else. Obviously, that someone else is you. I don't know what's going on between the two of you, and it's not my business to know. I'll just tell you one thing. If you let that woman get away from you, you are a f*cking fool." With that, Beau leaned back into the couch cushions, waiting for Sonny's reaction.

It was clear that his words had hit the mark, taking Sonny by surprise. Beau watched as shock was followed by relief, and then by a smile as the meaning of the words sunk into Sonny's brain.

Without a word, Sonny rose from his chair and turned toward Alexis' bedroom.

"Dry clothes are on the table," Beau reminded him.

Sonny looked back and smiled. "I'm hoping I won't need them," he replied.

********

Alexis crawled under the covers and pulled them up to her chin. Rolling onto her side, she turned her back toward the door. Outside the rain incessantly beat upon the boards covering the windows, and the wind continued to howl. The sound of the wind was a fearsome wail that left her with a sense of loneliness. Or maybe it wasn't the sounds of the storm that had her feeling so alone. Maybe it was having Sonny so close at hand, and yet so far away. Seeing him again had brought back to heart the ache of wanting someone she could not have.

Shivering under the sheets, Alexis started to cry softly. As her sobs began, Quincy shifted on the bed, moving closer to her body and stretching out against the length of her stomach. Alexis wrapped her arm around his comforting warmth and dropped a soft kiss on the furry top of his head. 'At there's nothing complicated about loving you,' she whispered softly to the pup.

Alexis' tears continued to fall gently into her pillow as the sounds of the raging storm filled the room.

Suddenly, she felt the mattress shift as a weight was lowered onto the bed behind her. The covers rustled as another body slid underneath them. Alexis' heart leapt to her throat. She knew she should look behind her, but fear and confusion froze her. Which face would she see, she wondered?

An arm slipped easily around her waist, drawing her back against a firm masculine body. Even without the telltale silk boxers, it was a body she would have known without a glance. It was the body that had held her close while dancing with her under a Puerto Rican moon. It was the body that had thrown her to the ground to save her life from a hailstorm of bullets. It was the body that had held her close and comforted her as memories of her mother's murder surfaced in her mind. It was the body of the man she wanted to make love to more than anything in the world.

Alexis rolled over in Sonny's embrace, facing him in the darkness. She stared wordlessly into his eyes, watching as he stared silently back into hers. Finally, she spoke.

"I'm a coward, Sonny," she confessed softly.

Coward. There was that word again. It had echoed in his brain ever since he'd wakened with his hangover. Somehow it was connected to that last night with Alexis, but he just couldn't pull the connections together in his brain.

Sonny reached up to Alexis' face and gently tucked an errant strand of hair behind her ear.

"Alexis, if I know anything about you," he answered softly, "I know that you of all people are not a coward."

Alexis closed her eyes and shook her head gently. "No, Sonny. I am." Then opening her eyes to his, "I am a coward," she insisted.

"But why?" he asked, "Because you're afraid of the storm?"

Alexis shook her head. "It isn't the storm that scares me, Sonny."

"Then what? Tell me Alexis. Why did you run away?"

Alexis paused, considering the import of the words she was about to say. She was frightened. But she was also strangely thrilled. It was a lot like standing on the beach, staring into the face of a hurricane.

Sonny watched as Alexis took a deep breath and licked her bottom lip before she spoke.

"I am a coward, Sonny, because I never had the nerve to kiss you while you were sober."

Her words hit him like a fist to the chest, taking the air from his lungs. Suddenly a flood of images was released in his brain. Alexis in a beautiful wine-red dress. Alexis, smiling up at him in the firelight. Sonny's own words to her, "I'm a coward, Alexis, because I haven't had the guts to kiss you sober." Alexis' lips parting against his. Their tongues tickling and probing. Alexis, draped across his chest, looking down at him. Their hands, exploring each other through yet another kiss.

"Oh, my God," Sonny breathed, the memories of that night coming into focus for him finally. He had kissed her, and she had kissed him back. He had wanted her, and she had wanted him back. He had. . .he had told her that he loved her. And then she had left him.

"Alexis," he rasped hoarsely.

But before he could form a thought, far quicker than he could voice one, Alexis lifted her head from her pillow and bent her mouth to his, capturing his lips in a kiss so sweet and tender that it nearly stopped his heart.

Alexis pulled back and peered into Sonny's dark eyes. For a long second, neither spared a breath. Then Sonny lifted his hands to her face and brought it back down to meet his. His kiss began tenderly, but soon grew more demanding. Rolling her back into the bed, Sonny shifted his body over hers. Hungrily, he took possession of her mouth as his hand slipped under the silk pajama top, seeking the warmth of her smooth skin. As his touch moved from her back to the soft curve of her breast, it was Alexis who became more demanding with her kisses.

Suddenly Sonny pulled back with a jerk. "Damn!" he spit out roughly.

Alexis was mortified. Sonny had come to his senses, and she had ruined everything.

"Sonny, I'm sorry. . ." she began.

"Why? You didn't bite me, your dog did!" he answered incredulously, shaking his arm as if to dispel the pain.

Alexis knew it was wrong, but she couldn't suppress her laughter. "Is it bad," she asked, truly more concerned than her giggling might have made it seem.

"No, he just nipped me," Sonny replied. "Startled me more than anything else," he continued. Looking down at Alexis' laughing face, he smiled in returned. "So what are we going to do about your bodyguard, here?" Sonny asked nodding toward the puppy who remained entrenched at Alexis' side.

Alexis turned her face toward Quincy and sighed. "Well, buddy. I know this is new territory for both of us. But here goes. . ." Slipping out from under Sonny's weight, Alexis scooped up the puppy and carried him to the door. Setting him down in the hallway, she softly shut the door behind him and returned to bed.

A pained expression crossed her face when she heard soft scratching at the door and the soft sound of Quincy's whine.

"Sonny, I. . ."

"Go ahead, open the door Alexis," Sonny sighed, knowing that he couldn't let Alexis suffer the separation anxiety of her beloved puppy.

At that instant, though, they both heard a soft, low whistle from the living room, followed by the gentle padding of Quincy's paws across the floor as he walked away from the bedroom door.

Beau patted the couch beside him, inviting Quincy up onto the soft cushions. Ruffling the dog's fur with a loving hand, Beau bent his down toward Quincy's ear and whispered, "Looks like you're gonna have to learn how to share."

chapter 9