Dirty Disaster

by Addison Moore

  Someone heard. God himself has taken a moment from his busy night to give my destiny a nod.

  I don’t bother asking permission. Instead, I help myself to a seat.

  She looks up, her eyes ten times brighter than I remember, her face a thousand times more beautiful than my memory would allow—a young Scarlett Johansson meets Megan Fox. And holy wow, Lex Ximena Maxfield is a fox—just as wily as one, too.

  “Oh, it’s just you.” She gets back to work without missing a beat.

  “You’re hard to find. You know that?” I knock my knuckles over the table two times fast, but I can’t help but smile. Damn, she’s beautiful.

  She takes a bite out of a donut, and it’s only then that I note four different pastries surrounding her.

  “Comfort food night?”

  “Homework,” she says through a mouthful as if painfully pointing out the fact she’s not out to impress me.

  “For that nutrition thing you mentioned?”

  She glances up before washing down her mouthful with a swig from her coffee. “Are you always this annoying, or is this something special just for me?” She slips her laptop into an oversized purse and picks up her coffee along with the glazed donut she just took a healthy chunk out of and starts to head out.

  “Whoa.” I scoot alongside of her. “Look, you don’t have to take off on my account. Go back and finish your feast.”

  “Please, that carbohydratefest? Any food critic worth her salt knows that you don’t down every last calorie. I’d be a cow that couldn’t navigate a pasture if I licked every plate clean that was ever set in front of me.”

  The Hollow Brook night air cleanses us as we move swiftly under a crisp autumn moon. She’s headed for the parking lot so I’m guessing she’s taking off.

  “Food critic, huh?”

  “That’s right. I’m double majoring in journalism and nutrition. I figure I’d meld my love of writing and my love of eating and eventually turn a profit. Probably not a big one, but I don’t really care about much beyond the basics.”

  “Wow, I’m floored for two reasons. One, you’re far more verbose than you were the first night we met. And two, you’re about the only girl I know who is at all interested in the basics.”

  She belts out a short-lived laugh, and even that sounds like a threat. And God, how I have missed her threats. I’ve missed everything about her.

  “So why no social media? How are you successful at being a ghost every day of the year? Any reason why you’re so hard to track down?”

  “To keep guys like you from stalking me.” She heads down the brick walk leading to the parking garage, and I jump in front of her, doing my best to stall.

  “How about that walk you promised me?”

  Lex takes a moment to lean in and glare. “What’s your major again?”

  “Pre-law.”

  “Figures. One—you’ll make a great lawyer since you’ve just minced my words. I never said I’d play bear bait with you and go for a walk in the woods while we rubbed ourselves down with honey. And, yes, I do believe you’re that moronic. And two, pre-law isn’t a major.” She dives past me and speeds off into the night.

  “Exactly!” I shout after her. “It’s a state of mind.”

  She gives a light chuckle, and there it is—a crack of light in that dark soul. So I do the only thing I can think of. I run like hell to catch up with her.

  Lex pauses to toss her coffee and donut out just long enough for me to jog up alongside her.

  “How about five minutes of your time in Founder’s Square?” I nod over to the giant expanse of dark lawn just a few feet away with a fountain lighting up the center with an ethereal baby blue glow. “It will be our third unofficial date, and if I don’t manage to make you want to come back for more, I promise I will leave you alone the next time I see you diligently inhaling carbohydrates in the name of education.” I cross my fingers over my heart and hold up my hand.

  She scowls at me a moment, her dark brows each pitched in the opposite direction, one spiking into her forehead and the other dipping down hard into her eye. Lex is the perfect villain. A thief. She’s already stolen my heart.

  “Deal. But only because it’s Halloween, and spending five minutes with you in the dark should give me the proper fright this night requires. But then you’ll leave me alone because you’re a man of your word, right?” she scolds in that placating way that a mother might do, and something twisted about her tone turns me on.

  “Yes, ma’am.” Most likely. Hell, I don’t know that I could leave her alone if I tried.

  We trek over the lawn in the direction of the fountain, and I carefully take up her hand, threading my fingers through hers before giving a gentle squeeze.

  Lex glances down with a grunt. “I take it you don’t want that hand back.”

  A laugh thunders from me, but I can’t help it. There it is, the knife in the gut I’m guessing she’s an expert at wielding—through words anyway.

  “I like your sense of humor.” I bring her hand up and press a light kiss over the back, sending a trail of goose bumps down my arm, through my spine, straight down to my feet.

  “I don’t have a sense of humor.” She plucks her hand free and proceeds to speed us to the fountain. “So why the dateless night of horrors? Isn’t it prime picking at Gamma Gamma Gag me?”

  “That it is”—we pause next to the quiet rush of waters, the blue reflection from the fountain washing all of the hues from the night, highlighting her eyes, making her face light up like an angel—“and if it were not for you, my queen, I might be playing the part of unholy jester in some unsuspecting coed’s bed, but alas, your beauty has bewitched me and it is only you I seek.”

  “Wow”—she muses, taking a step in toward me and the scent of lilacs dances from her hair—“that was a seriously bad mockup of Shakespeare. I’m guessing that move gets you past first base with the girls?”

  “I don’t know”—I boldly trace her hair softly before digging my fingers into the back of her silky mane—“I’ve never initiated that particular bad mockup before. But since you promised me first base.” And then I go for it. I lean in and watch as her eyes round out, and I see the reflection of the moon embedded in each one.

  “Do you think you’re going to kiss me?” she hisses, her eyes dangerously slit like that of an irate cat.

  “Yes.” I inch in ever so close as the warmth of her skin sets me on fire.

  “Then I see you won’t need your hand or your lips back for the night.”

  “How about this”— my mouth hovers a breath away from hers—“we kiss for the remainder of our five minutes, and if you’re still not interested, you can take whatever body parts you want. I promise I will leave you the hell alone.” Damn. Of all the words to come from my lips.

  Lex takes in a deep breath. Her chest rises just enough to graze over mine, and my balls ache from that sweet soft touch ten times more than they ever have for a girl that had actually managed to land in my bed.

  “You have less than thirty seconds remaining,” she whispers, all of the wicked intent emptied from her voice and in its place a hint of longing. My ego wants to believe it was lust in bloom just for me.

  And I do it. I land my lips over hers and linger. Every last cell in my body detonates with relief, with a hallelujah choir, a roar that screams hell yes right down to the marrow in my bones. I have kissed a thousand girls easily and never in my life, not even with the very first lip-lock have I ever felt so wholly alive, so desperate for this moment to stretch out forever. It’s in this moment I realize I can never be with anyone outside of Lex. No girl could make me feel this way. No girl could possibly replace her. It was just her for me. And if she wanted nothing to do with me, I was doomed to walk the planet with a broken heart for the remainder of my days.

  Lex pulls me in by the back of the neck and meets me with a far hungrier kiss, one that says here I am, make my day, make the best out of these remaining seconds I’ve gifted you. And then
the unthinkable happens. Her mouth falls open, and I fall into the warm wet wonderland of Alexa Ximena Maxfield’s beautiful, beautiful mouth. And that’s when I realize I’ve found my way home. I don’t ever want to leave.

  Lex and I duke it out with our mouths, with our tongues, with those wandering hands for the next few hours.

  Yes, it’s safe to say that neither of us ever wants to leave.

  Present Day…

  Axel

  August in Hollow Brook is hotter than the surface of the sun, and that’s on a good day. On a day like today, when the soles of your shoes threaten to stick to the sidewalk like chewing gum, it’s more like the armpit of that solar menace in the sky.

  I open the doors to Hallowed Grounds Coffee Shop, and both a blast of Arctic air and the scent of fresh roasted beans hit me. I’m in heaven. I can’t get inside fast enough. I used to frequent Hallowed Grounds back in my Briggs days. Heck, Lex and I ended up there more than a few times while we were dating. She would bring her laptop and work on her papers, and I’d vie for her attention mercilessly until her lips landed on mine right where they belonged. Lex never made me beg for long. How I miss those carefree days, worshiping at the altar of my favorite goddess. My mouth made a habit of tracing out her curves. Mapping out the landscape of her every inch with my tongue was my favorite pastime. I loved her more than I’ve loved anything or anyone. Lex was more than just a girlfriend. She was my home. She loved me too once. And we all know how that ended.

  I grab a cup of iced coffee just as Levi and Brody strut in and do the same. We find a table near the back and slump into our seats. At least twice a month we try to have an official unofficial meeting regarding our investment. We used to meet at the Black Bear, the bar across the street from the university, but since we’ve befriended the guys that own the place, it just doesn’t feel right sharing thoughts of our struggling endeavor in their robust, high economy establishment. Not that The Pelican is still struggling any longer. Low put the kibosh on that, and it happens to be one of the chief reasons I really appreciate her. Ironically, the three of us have never talked shop at The Pelican in the event a stray ear picked up on one of our morbid conversations. And they were all morbid until Low stepped in and resuscitated life back into the menu. Things have been pretty solid since.

  “How they hanging?” Levi ticks his head over at me. I know Low’s been pumping him for information regarding Lex and me. He told me so himself. And disappointingly enough, there’s nothing to report.

  Brody gives a dry laugh. “He doesn’t have any. Lex has his balls dangling from her rearview mirror like a cheap carnival prize.”

  “Crap.” I pluck the laptop out of Brody’s hands and open it up to a clusterfuck of numbers. I can’t help but laugh. I talked to the boys at the accounting firm, and they’re having a good ol’ time giving poor Brody here the runaround. “Looks like shit. You sure you’re a numbers guy?” I slide it back to him with a grin on my face.

  Brody looks as if he’s about to take that laptop and shove it down my throat. “What are you smiling about? This financial knot is going to take me weeks to undo. Hope Daddy doesn’t fire you from the firm. Your services are needed at the bar, my friend.”

  “No way.” Levi shakes his head at me. “You get back to the courtroom where your ass belongs. I’ll just tell Low that I need to spend more time at the bar.”

  “Dude.” I laugh at the thought. “Your wedding is weeks away. There’s no way I’m having it. Do what you need to do and don’t worry. I’m covering your honeymoon, too. Take a couple of weeks. Take a couple of months. I gifted my workload to Chip and Shep. They love it. Believe it or not, people enjoy being busy. Everyone’s happy.”

  Levi and Brody exchange a brief glance.

  “What?” I take a long swig of my drink—and swear to God, on a hot day, iced coffee tastes just as good as an ice-cold beer.

  Levi folds his hands onto the table. That shit-eating grin he gets when he thinks he’s got something over you takes up precious real estate on his face. “You seem happy. Especially now that Lexy is waiting tables for us. Coincidence?”

  “Maybe I hate law. You ever think of that? I like the bar.”

  Both Levi and Brody light up with a laugh.

  Brody wipes a tear from his eye as if it were too much to handle. “Dude—we know you’re loving it. We know you’re loving her in your airspace. But seriously, Lex is one brutal lady. You sure you want to ride that crazy train again?”

  “I’m already onboard. Never left.” I didn’t even need a second to think about it because I’ve spent the last six years thinking of Lex. If it came right down to it, I’d swear it was one long continuous stream of consciousness. I’ve thought of her so much she’s become a part of me, encoded in my DNA, ingrained on a cellular level.

  “Dude”—Levi leans in hard—“the chick is batshit.”

  “Say it again and I’ll bash your head through the window.” I give a sly smile because we both know it’s true. “Same goes for you.” I kick Brody’s foot from under the table. “She’s”—my voice pitches with emotion—“she’s the love of my life.” I press out a peaceable smile at the two of them, hoping they’ll go easy on my sudden urge to share my affection for Lex.

  “Okay.” Levi nods just once as if I put out a war plan and he were grimly going along with it because there were no other alternatives.

  “It’s fine by me.” Brody practically gouges his eye out with his palm and the action alone makes him look all of twelve. Brody is the same age as the rest of us, but for some reason I’ve always thought of him as being much younger. I know it’s not fair to say, but I pegged him for having a lack of direction in his life up until we embarked on The Pelican endeavor. In a way, I guess I’ve always envied him in that respect. I hauled ass getting my law degree, passing the bar—making partner at my father’s firm may sound like nepotism, but my father doesn’t adhere to archaic standards of climbing the corporate ladder. I had to prove myself. And it was tough as shit.

  “Tell me something”—Brody cocks his head to the side, those narrowed eyes let me know he’s already come to a conclusion about whatever it is he’s about to inquire—“what attracted you to Lex—I mean, other than the obvious. Sure, she’s hot. She’s smoking. Anyone with eyes can see that, but once she opens that mouth—”

  Levi cuts him off, “Once she looks at you—”

  “Glares at you,” Brody adds. “You realize she’s got a chip on her shoulder the size of the Rock of Gibraltar.”

  “The moon,” Levi counters. “She’s about as stable as plutonium. The girl is pissed at life. How’d you manage to see past that? She must have opened up to you, but was she ever—you know, nice?”

  My gaze settles somewhere between the two of them, straight through the wall, straight through Hollow Brook, into the nebulous past where I try to decipher this for myself.

  “Yes,” I say, lacking the confidence something of this magnitude requires. “She was great. It’s true we had our ups and downs, and unfortunately toward the end it was all downhill—but that sweet spot we shared…” I drift right back into the memories we built, her at my place, in my bed. Those nights where we attacked one another under the sheets like charging lions. Lex has always been a force to be reckoned with in and out of the bedroom. “She’s nice. You just need to crack the armor.”

  Levi’s brows flex and he looks momentarily pained for me. “Low says she’s pretty steady across the board with that caustic personality, but she likes her and I’m hoping the vice versa is true. She’s in our wedding.” He leans over and socks me on the arm just enough to make it hurt. “And she’s paired up with you.”

  “Perfect. By then I’m hoping she’ll be exactly that—paired up with me.”

  Both Levi and Brody groan at the idea as if the thought wrenched their balls.

  Brody shakes his head with that despondent look on his face. “You really like a challenge, don’t you?”

  “If her name is Lex Max
field, then I love her.” There. I said it.

  A sobering silence crops up in our circle before we meander to the topic of the bar. We spend the next hour looking at numbers, talking strategies before the realtor calls Levi and hauls him away. Brody finds himself getting sucked back into that vortex of the trap I’ve laid out for him and he too staggers out of the place.

  No sooner do I rise to leave than my favorite redhead struts on in, shoulders back, hair wild and flowing, that look on her face says I will slit the throat of every person in here without thinking twice, and something about that makes my lips twitch with a smile and I sit right back down. My heart starts in on a few quick stomps. It’s never in rhythm when Lex is around. It’s a long-standing tradition that she makes my heart beat faster, my entire body shakes as it begs to have her. And right about now, it’s downright pleading on a cellular level. My balls ache, my mouth salivates just wishing for one more night, but my heart knows better. I don’t want just a singular night with Lex—but hell, I would take it. What I really need is all of her. Her beautiful complicated mind, her energetic spirit that keeps me on my toes, and that heart of hers. I’d do anything if she’d let me dust it off for her one more time. Lex was never a fan of that particular beating member of her anatomy, nor was she a fan of the one I happen to harbor myself. Nope. Somewhere along the line she closed it off, buried it under a layer of ice—about the time her mother skipped out on her in what would pan out to be a long line of disappointments. That’s all people were to her, disappointments. And I happened to fall into that category. Here I sit, one of Lex’s disappointments, my own biggest disappointment.

  She collects her coffee, grunting at the barista’s attempt to make small talk as she stalks her way past me as if I were invisible and sits near the back. Lex opens her laptop and ducks in close, pounding at the keyboard like a woman on a mission.

  I don’t hesitate in getting up and heading over. I may have hesitated before the big reprisal in my life, but now that we’re working together, that she’s working for me, it feels like fair game.