ALEX'S POV

I idle in front on Nat's place, looking it over. It's a nice building, painted light yellow with white trim, surrounded by bushes and small flower gardens. Each unit has a window facing the street with pearl colored curtains and flower pots. It's very.. middle class white picket fence without the fence. I wouldn't have pictured Nat here. It's just.. not her.

I park across the street, watching for Blaze. He was reluctant to give me her address, and said they didn't set up a time for today, so i'm forced to just sit and wait. So that's what I do. For four hours.

Belatedly getting a bad feeling about this, I get out of my car, stopping a kid on his bike.

"Yo! What the hell-!?"

I stare him down, not in the fucking mood right now.

He backs up a little, cutting himself off mid rant.

Satisfied, I take a twenty out of my wallet, offering it to him.

He starts to take it, but hesitates.

"What do you want?" He asks suspiciously. Smart kid.

"I want you to go into that building-" I start, pointing behind me. "And knock on apartment 3B. Tell whoever answers that you're sorry and you have the wrong apartment. Come back out."

His eyebrows furrow, but I wave the twenty, so he crosses the street.

Sixty seconds later he comes back and makes a grab for the money.

I shake my head, holding it out of his reach.

"Who answered the door?" I ask a little too eagerly, knowing, hoping she's in there, feet away.

"I don't know. How the hell am I supposed to know?" He demands, looking pissed as he makes another grab for the twenty, acting more entitled that he has the right to be.

I hiss out a breath through my teeth, narrowing my eyes in warning.

He drops his hand.

"Describe her" I try again, grating the words through clenched teeth as I fight for patience.

"It wasn't a her. He was old and potbellied. That good enough?"

My jaw clenches, and I think he realizes how close I am to snapping because he mumbles an apology under his breath.

"Was he the only person in the apartment as far as you could see?" I continue tightly.

He nods, eyeing the money.

I hand it to him, watching as he gets on his bike and pedals away.

Glancing back at the building, I bite back a curse. Blaze gave me the wrong address. He's obviously not over her. I was competing with him in her heart, now I might be competing with him in her bed.

Pain tears through me like a knife at the thought of my best friend's hands on my soulmate. His name on her lips.

I lock my knees when they threaten to buckle, bracing my palms on the hood of my car, bowing my head.

I need her in my arms, her gaze locked on mine, my name on her lips. I just need.. her. She makes me clean again. I haven't been clean in so long. She understands darkness without holding any. She may have seen and done some bad things, but she's nothing but light in my eyes. Absolute beauty. And I need her to be mine. Only mine. Apparently so does Blaze.

Like him, i'm going to do something about it.