Last night, Zeke hadn't gotten a second of sleep.

Whenever he'd try closing his eyes, Althea would be there, waiting for him. It was scary how in such a short span of time, Althea had taken over his thoughts; both conscious and unconscious.

It was as if she had branded his body and soul. He might as well wear a collar that said 'Al's property'.

Zeke was known to get fast crushes. If high school was any indicator, he could have a crush in 10 minutes of laying eyes on a girl.

Yes he was a horny teenager back then. No he hadn't had a crush since the end of high school. And yes he did feel like he was in high school again.

Because whenever he tried to form a coherent and useful thought, it would be replaced by his fantasies. Fantasies that involved Althea.

The only thing that was different from high school in this case was that his crush was on a Mafia Boss. Of course his heart had beaten for the dark alluring beauty and Zeke's had no chance in stopping that thump thump beat going cuckoo whenever she was near him.

With a frustrated sigh, Zeke threw the covers aside and stood up from the bed. Maybe a shower would help him clear his head, he thought.

After 15 minutes of incessantly scrubbing his scalp in determination to empty the contents of his head and miserably failing, Zeke got out of the shower.

He picked a light jean from the wardrobe and a cream coloured henley shirt to go with it. Zeke still wasn't comfortable with all these things Althea had provided him with. He would start working at Sole Mio on Monday but Zeke was almost sure that no one else living here got the treatment he received.

No one had expensive tailored clothes lined up in their wardrobe. Maybe he could convince Althea to allow him to go to his place and pick up all his clothes.

That would be great because he was running out of simple clothes to wear in this wardrobe Althea had filled for him. And he was sure he would look like a fucking penguin in one of these black suits.

Zeke left his room in search for Althea, the sooner he asked whether he could go to his house, the better. If he could get it out of the way before his new job started, that'd be fantastic.

His first guess was to knock on Althea's black wooden bedroom door but that wouldn't be appropriate. It was early in the morning and she could be still sleeping...

Her black door cracked open and a man stepped out of it. He had dark hair and blue eyes. Maybe a little shorter than Zeke himself but he was built over-all.

The man closed the door and turned around. He stopped short when he saw Zeke standing there. Zeke could see that the top few buttons of the man's white shirt was unbuttoned.

"Who are you?" The dark haired man said as he frowned.

"I'm Zeke." Zeke replied as he also furrowed his brows.

A not so subtle flash of anger and annoyance passed before the man's eyes. "So you are the Zeke boss has decided to take in."

"And who are you?" Zeke asked.

The dark haired man puffed out his chest a little bit more and said, "My name is Matthew but that isn't your concern seeing as if you won't be here for long. Outsiders don't belong here."

Boy this Matthew guy seemed just so full of himself, Zeke thought. "Duly noted Mate."

Matthew's face contorted in disgust at Zeke's words. He stepped a little closer to Zeke and spoke in a low voice, "You are new here so you might not understand how everything works so I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt. Don't be an idiot and piss off the wrong guy."

Zeke chuckled at Matt's attempt at a threat which seemed to anger him more. "Alright. Now if you will, I have to ask Althea something." Zeke said as he side stepped Matt to knock on Althea's door.

Matthew quickly cut him off and said, "She's occupied right now. I will be sure to let her know that you are looking for her. We have more things to discuss anyways."

With that, Matthew opened Althea's door without knocking and slipped inside. Before closing, he said, "Meanwhile, why don't you go out to the backyard or something." And the door clicked close after him.

Zeke so badly wanted to punch the wall beside Althea's door. He had to fight to urge as his fingers curled into a fist and breaths left through his nose in anger.

That bastard telling him what to do and what not to do. "Matt? More like mutt. Maybe you should go out to the backyard mutt." He muttered under his breath as he turned around and started striding away.

Who was he to go in and out of Althea's room as he pleased anyway? Zeke was bothered by every second of that encounter.

Matt had his shirt halfway undone as he had initially came out of the room. Did that mean he had spent the night at Althea's room? That notion boiled Zeke's blood.

Of course Althea must have thousand suitors lining up for her, she is beautiful, Zeke knew this. But the possibility of that asshole Mutt might spend his time curling up in the sheets with Althea, doing everything Zeke wished to do, made him want to murder someone.

All he needed was a fucking bat and Zeke would beat the life out of Matthew's stupid face. 10 minutes had barely passed since the two had met and still, Zeke wanted him dead.

Maybe going out to the backyard wasn't such a bad idea after all. Zeke could use fresh air to calm himself down.

He left the house through the glass double doors and inhaled deeply. The garden was as beautiful in the day as it was at night.

The colourful arrays of flowers seemed more full of colour now as the bright rays of the sun reflected off of them. Zeke started to walk through the stone path through the massive garden. He lost himself in his thoughts, his head bowed down and the scents of the flowers encompassing him.

He had walked quite a way from the house when Zeke heard a growl.

His head quickly snapped up and met the figure of a black Rottweiler standing there and growling at him. The dog seemed to be full on attack mode as he slowly approached Zeke and barred his white sharp teeth.

Zeke held his ground and waited for the dog to come to him. He knew that running would only be the incentive for a chase and the movement in his direction would be seen as an attack.

So Zeke stood still as the huge black dog walked over to him and sniffed at him. Anytime now, the dog could decide that Zeke was a hostile trespassing and bite in to his leg.

As Zeke waited for the blow to come, the dog smelled him and then tilted his head looking up to him.

The Rottweiler then sat down before Zeke and stuck out his tongue, happily breathing.

Zeke didn't know what had prevented the dog to not attack Zeke but he wasn't going to question it.

Zeke carefully stuck out his hand and scratched the Rottweiler's head. Seeing that the dog was okay with the petting, Zeke continued as he moved behind his ear.

In no time at all, Zeke was sitting on the grass and the Rottweiler was laying before him on his back, looking pretty content with the belly rub he was getting.

He had looked so fierce at first glance but the dog was just a big puppy for Zeke.

"I must be cruel only to be kind; Thus bad begins, and worse remains behind." Althea's voice said from behind Zeke and made him turn around. He looked up from his spot on the grass to see Althea towering over him a few feet away.

She looked glorious in her black suit with white stripes running across it. Her black hair was up in a ponytail and her beautiful face was out in the open.

It took Zeke a minute to stop staring at Althea and digest the words she had told him. "Hamlet? Why did you quote Hamlet?" Zeke asked in confusion.

Althea grinned. "Well it's my favourite piece by Shakespeare and thats the name of my Rottweiler." She said as her eyes turned on to the happy dog lounging on his back.

"Hamlet." Zeke said as he scratched the side of Hamlet's head. The dog seemed to recognise his name and barked out in confirmation.

"He doesn't like strangers. He's trained not to like strangers. I wonder what makes you so special." Althea said as she looked Zeke.

Zeke shrugged his shoulders and then continued to give Hamlet all his attention.

As the silence between them stretched, Zeke could feel the burning gaze of Althea on his body. The silence wasn't at all uncomfortable but his nervousness once again pushed him to open his big mouth and talk.

"I'm more of a Dr. Seuss kinda guy." Zeke said. When Althea didn't say anything Zeke continued speaking. "You know... 'When beetles fight these battles in a bottle with their paddles and the bottle's on a poodle and the poodle's eating noodles...
...they call this a muddle puddle tweetle poodle beetle noodle bottle paddle battle.'" Zeke realised he had rambled off again and quickly added, "Okay I'll stop now." He ducked his head in embarrassment. His ears were burning and he was sure they were the shade of a tomato right now.

His head was brought back up again at hearing the laughter coming from Althea. Zeke watched in amazement as she full on laughed. Her eyes shut closed and her mouth stretched into a smile... and the melodic sound of her laugh. It was a sight to see.

Zeke couldn't help but smile with her. Her smile was contagious. He wished this wasn't the first time he had heard her laugh. She was ought to do this more.

As her laughter slowly died she spoke up, "This is the first time I have the honour of meeting a man who can quote Dr. Seuss from memory."

Zeke blushed a little and scratched the back of his head. "Yeah I'm a treasure." He said in a sarcastic tone.

"Matthew told me you wanted to see me?" Althea asked.

At the mention of Mutt, all previous happiness escaped from Zeke as he frowned a little. "Yeah I wanted to ask if I could visit my house to pick up some of my belongings."

"Is something missing from what I have provided you?" Althea asked.

"No, no. I just need some of my stuff. What you have given me is more than enough." Zeke said.

Althea nodded in understanding and then said, "Alright. You can go to your house tomorrow to pick up your things. I will arrange a car to take you there."

"Thank you." Zeke said. "And about Matthew-" Before Zeke could finish his sentence, a phone ringing was heard.

Althea took out a phone from her pocket and looked at the screen.

"Hold that thought." Althea said to Zeke and opened the phone.

She didn't say anything to the person on the other line but Zeke could distinctly hear the muffled noise of a deep voice speaking. As Zeke intently watched Althea, he saw her face going stoic. All emotion was wiped out from her face as she listened to the person.

"You know what to do till I get there." Althea simply said after listening for two full minutes and then ended the call without even saying goodbye.

"I'm afraid I will have to take my leave. I have business to attend to." Althea said.

Zeke nodded his head in understanding. Althea turned and started walking away from him.

Zeke just sat there watching Althea's retreating figure as Hamlet kept licking the side of his face.

**********************

Heyo beauties! ☺️

This update came a day late I'm sorry. And I'm sad to say I might not update for a while because university is starting in two days and its gonna get crazy hectic.

I'm super nervous about starting college and medical school. I've been waiting for a long time to grow up an go to college and now it just scares the shit out of me. 😂

Anyways sorry in advance for the irregular updates and thanks for bearing with me.

By the way this is Hamlet

Love,
Blake 😘💙