I can’t lose him. I need to keep him around until I fix what’s wrong with me. I roll out of bed and a banging comes on my bedroom door. “Oh my God, Lexi, you have to see this!” Marcos screeches.
Moving quickly, I open the door and the newspaper is in my face. Max and Kate are on the front page and she’s holding up a monster engagement ring. I turn and run back to my bathroom as I start crying.
Marcos comes in and wraps his arms around me. “Lexi, sweetie, don’t cry. If he really is marrying her so soon, he wasn’t the one for you.”
“I was going to go see him today,” I say as I feel a bout of nausea welling up in me. “I’m going to get therapy so I can stop being so crazy.”
“What a great idea,” Marcos says and gets a wet washcloth and taps it all over my face. “After your horrible experience, you really should.”
“I love him so much,” I say as I fall apart and cry on Marcos’s shoulder.
“Perhaps there’s still a chance for you two,” he says.
I shake my head as I sob, knowing I did this.
I told her to take him and she did! And he let her!
Max
My stomach aches with what Kate had me do. I know it’ll break Lexi’s heart no matter what she’s said. Kate assures me Lexi will be running to me by the end of the day. She said sometimes that great love comes with great pain. It’s the pain that lets us know what we have is real.
If that’s true, then what we have is very real as this is killing me to do to her. Kate took my cell phone so I couldn’t get weak and call Lexi to tell her the engagement isn’t true. That little chic is hard as nails.
I think I should take a run to put this out of my mind and see what happens. If she doesn’t contact me by tonight, I’m calling her first thing in the morning and telling her it isn’t true. It’s not in me to torture someone.
Apparently the French are ruthless!
Alexis
I lie in my bed and cry as Marcos has left for a shoot I couldn’t bring myself to go to. I cried all day yesterday when I saw the news and this morning I woke up crying again. It’s crazy how awful I feel. I want to call him so bad, but feel so dumb for telling her to take him. And I’m pissed at him for saying he’d marry her so quickly. I’m sure he still loves me.
Why’d he do that?
Something slams outside my room and I sit up. Marcos is gone and I’m here alone. I jump up and run to open the bedroom door.
It might be Max!
As I throw the door open a fuzzy flash comes at me. I don’t have my contacts on yet and someone is grabbing me by my throat. I choke as I’m pushed back onto the bed. The blur sits on top of me, holding my flailing arms down. A woman’s voice says, “You bitch, you fucked it all up for me and now Max is marrying someone else. You should’ve stayed out of his life. You’ve made my life Hell and now I’ll make sure to repay the favor.”
I blink as I try hard to see who’s doing this. Then she leans in as I find I can struggle no more with no air coming into my lungs. I can see her.
It’s Ashley Sinclair!
Max
The time has come to stop this charade which is surely causing my love so much pain. Lexi never called, so I know she’s hurting and this scam of Kate’s didn’t work. I found Kate and got my cell phone back. She apologized for her plan not working and told me I should give it a few days, but I can’t do that.
I call her number, and it’s ringing. And now it’s going to voice mail, so she isn’t going to answer me. Okay then I guess I’ll leave her a text, telling her it’s not true and then call her in a little while. Maybe she’ll call me then.
A man can hope!
Alexis
I open my eyes and find I’m handcuffed to a small bed. The room is dark, but I can make out the red light of a cigarette. It smells awful and a grey swirl of smoke encircles the head of someone with blonde hair as the small amount of light reflects on the platinum shade of it. I try to speak, but find it hard as my throat hurts so much. I swallow hard and manage to whisper, “Why are you doing this to me?”
Her laugh is low, and it sounds more like a growl. “Miss Mathews, you should know why. You ruined my life. I told you I’d get you and you wouldn’t know when or where.”
The crazy woman still holds a grudge. “Ashley, I don’t have him either, so why do this?”
“I would’ve had him securely in my possession if you hadn’t shown up in that park that day. And you could’ve left him alone. You did see he was with a woman after all.”
“He loves me,” I say then remember he’s marrying Kate. “Well, he did love me, but I messed that all up. Believe me, I’m being punished enough.”
“I’ll decide when that’s happened, Miss Mathews.” She takes another puff and the red light brightens.
“You shouldn’t smoke, it can kill you,” I say.
“I’m not worried about that, nor should you be,” she says and takes another hit. “That isn’t how you’ll die, don’t worry. I’m trying to figure out just how I’ll make that happen. I just about choked you to death, but changed my mind in the last moment and decided that would be too easy.”
“Let me guess,” I say. “You want to see me suffer.”
“That I do,” she says and stands up, moving closer to me. “So you hate cigarettes?”
“Don’t even think about it, Ashley,” I say as I try my best to remain calm. “You’re not a bad person, I know you aren’t. Think about things before you hurt me, please think about things.”
She pauses and laughs like a maniac. “Think? That’s all I’ve done is think. I thought about you and my Max fucking the nights away. I’ve thought about you and my Max laughing together about me and how you both made such a fool of me.”
“We never did that. I swear it to you, Ashley.”
I hear a knocking sound and Ashley turns and runs from the room. I see light as she runs out the door and think I may be in some type of hotel suite. Maybe if she leaves I can make a lot of noise and someone will come see what it’s about.
Max
I cannot believe Lexi has not even bothered to text me back. I’m sure she’s pissed at what we did, but come on. At least a text telling me to go fuck myself or something is in order!
It’s nearly nine at night and Kate and I are going over to the apartment to tell her how sorry we are and let her know we only did it so she’d see how much I really mean to her. At least I know Marcos will let us in.
I punch in the gate code and we park. Kate looks up at me as we walk up to the door. “I’m so sorry, Max. This woman is much more stubborn than any I’ve ever known.”
“Kate, maybe you need to know a little about Lexi’s past to understand her better. You see, when she was a young teenager, a bunch of girls got her to go with them to a park. She was hoping they wanted to be friends with her as she had none. Instead, they led her down by a river and beat her, leaving her for dead.”
Kate’s hands fly over her mouth and she pales. “Oh, my!”
I nod. “To make things worse, they pulled all her clothes off except her underwear and when she made it out of there alive they said she went down the river bank with some boys they’d never seen around before and they must’ve done that to her. They accused her of being a slut which she was nothing of the sort. Nothing was ever done to the girls and Lexi got a nasty reputation.”
Kate’s eyes shine with tears. “I should’ve never handled this the way I have.”
I pull her into a hug. “It’s my fault. You didn’t know.”
“How horrible I feel, Max.” she says as she cries. “I hope she can forgive the foolish girl I am.”
I let her go and ring the doorbell. Both cars are here, hers and Marcos’s so I know they’re home. I ring it again and Marcos answers the door. He’s a little inebriated as he stumbles back and gestures for us to come in. “Well, if it isn’t the happy new couple.”
Kate bursts into sobs. “I’m so sorry this was all my idea. Max only went
along because I told him it would get Lexi to come to her senses.”
“Well, guess what?” he asks then plops onto the sofa. “She’s run off. Imagine that, Max. You’ve run her off again.”
“Her car’s here, so tell me how she’s run off, Marcos?” I say as I make my way back to her bedroom, sure the two of them came up with a plan to hurt me right back.
I throw open the door and she isn’t there. I make my way to Marcos’s bedroom and throw that door open too. She’s not in either room so I check both bathrooms and make sure she isn’t hiding in the dark on the patio. It did take him a while to open the door after all.
I stride back into the living room where Kate still cries and Marcos looks quite odd as he’s wearing a T-shirt and blue jeans and running shoes. His hair is wind-blown and his cheeks are pink. “You need to tell me where she is, Marcos.”
He looks up at me. “Believe me, if I knew I would. I’ve walked all over this complex to see where she might be. I mean she ran off with nothing. Not a damn thing. Her contacts and glasses are even here. How can she leave without those?”
I shake my head. Then go back into her bedroom and look over the whole thing. Her purse, her keys, everything is still here. My eyes scan the floor and I find something is missing. I run back into the living room. “Do either of you remember the rug that was on the wood floor in her bedroom?” They both nod. “It’s gone.”
Marcos blinks. “Why in the Hell would she only take the damn rug? This doesn’t make any sense at all.”
“Marcos, I think we should call the police,” I say.
Kate runs to me and I hug her. “We’ll find her, angel.”
“I’m so sorry,” she says. Her tiny body shakes as I hold her and she cries. “We will find her, won’t we, Max?”
I nod, but fear fills me.
Who would want to take her?
Alexis
Time passes and I have no idea how long I’ve been in here. Ashley looks in on me every so often. Once she said, “You’re not dead yet?”
I guess she thinks she’ll starve me to death or I’ll die from dehydration, because she hasn’t brought me a thing. She did put a bucket by the bed for me to use the restroom in and added a small chain so I can just reach it.
I wonder if anyone has figured out that I haven’t run off this time. If they have, I wonder how long it took them before they came to that conclusion. My idiot ways may prove to be my demise.
Max is probably married by now. Probably went to Vegas and has Kate knocked up already. Marcos is so self-absorbed, it’s doubtful that he thinks much about my absence. Probably thinks I’m upset.
But my car is there and all my things are there, so with a bit of checking things out, he should come to the conclusion I’m missing, not gone on my own. For the love of Benji, even my contacts and glasses will still be sat on the table next to my bed!
Unless Ashley made it look like I left!
I have no idea of what she did once I passed out. She could’ve staged the whole thing like I left on my own. She may be clever enough to have done that. Then no one will ever come looking for me. I wonder if Marcos told Max. If he did I wonder if Max even cares. I’ve made very bad decisions. When I do make the right one to get some help to unscrew my screwed up brain, this happens and makes it all a little too late.
That’s the story of my life. Poor Alex, always a day late on everything. When those girls in high school asked me to go with them to the park, my first instinct was they were up to no good. I even hesitated before I agreed. My instincts grew as we got closer to the park and the girls began to get quiet. As we went down the river bank they were so quiet I had to look back to see if they were even still with me. I had a bad feeling then and should’ve run.
I remember thinking I should just run. Something wasn’t right, I could feel it, but I was one second too late on that idea and the hitting began before I made that decision which would’ve saved me from what they did.
The door opens and Ashley walks in. “Ashley, please,” I whisper as I have no strength to speak any louder than that. “I’ll never tell a soul, I swear, just let me go.”
“It’s been five days,” she says. “How are you still alive? Most people die after three days with no water.”
“Please, Ashley, let me go. I promise I’ll say I went away on my own. I do that from time to time, everyone will believe me.”
“Maybe this bit of news will send you out of this world,” she says as she leans over me. “Maybe if you knew that Max got married to that little French slut yesterday, maybe that would make you forget about living anymore. You’ll never have him now. He doesn’t believe in divorce.”
Tears spring up and flow over my cheeks. I try not to sob, I don’t wish to give her any satisfaction, but it comes out of me anyway. The thought he’ll never be mine fills me with a hopelessness I’ve never felt. She’s right, I don’t see why I need to hang on. I’ll be alone the rest of my life if I live. Who wants that?
Max told me the same thing that he doesn’t believe in divorce and once he’s married that’s it. He’s married Kate and now I’m utterly alone in this world.
Ashley leaves me again and I know I have no reason to hold onto this life. I’ve held on five days with no food or water with the constant thought of maybe if I went to Max before he married Kate and kissed him, he’d change his mind and marry me instead.
He’s married and life as I’ve come to know it is over! Completely over!
Max
The waiting is killing me. The police found surveillance footage from the parking lot cameras, showing Ashley pulling a rolled up carpet out to a car. She had a Hell of a time shoving it into the backseat before she closed the door and drove off. They’re pretty sure that Lexi was rolled up in it.
An officer told us the chances Lexi’s alive are slim. The car was rented under another name and no one seems to know where Ashley is. Lexi’s parents and even Logan have come to Houston to join the search for her.
Though numb in places, I’m in so much physical pain. It feels at times like I’m having a heart attack and yesterday I was taken to the emergency room where they said I had a sever anxiety attack and gave me some pills to chill me out.
I’m a zombie who still feels a lot of pain. I’ve paid for ads all over the local channels and have billboards with her picture on them and offered a two million dollar reward for her recovery, dead or alive. We all want to know, even if it’s the worst news possible.
Logan, and Lexi’s three older brothers, Josh, Luke, and Ryan as well as her parents, Matilda and John are staying here at my mansion. They protested, but I told them I’d have it no other way. When we find her, I want her to see just how people love her.
Just like when I was lost in the ocean, I cling to hope. It’s been seven days and the police are telling us this is the last day they’ll search. It’ll be up to us after that if we wish to continue, which we damn sure will. I’ll never stop looking for her and that fucking bitch, Ashley.
That’s the other woman whose face is plastered on billboards right next to Lexi’s. Another two million dollar reward I’ve set up for her, dead or alive. I’d prefer dead to be perfectly honest. I’m afraid I’ll kill her myself if she’s found otherwise.
My angel, Kate, has her parents here as well. They’re also worried sick. I got Hilda to hire however much extra help she needed to take care of the cooking and cleaning for this bunch.
Something has to happen. Ashley can’t hide forever.
The police think it could be a murder suicide and we may never find either one of them. I hope like Hell they’re wrong.
A knock comes at my bedroom door. It’s late and I wonder who it is, everyone went to bed hours ago. “Who is it?”
“Kate, can I come in?”
“Yeah,” I say and pull the blanket up to cover my bare chest.
“Max,” she says as she comes in and stands by my bed. “I had a dream and Lexi was in it. I think she’s still alive, but I
don’t know how much longer she can hang on. I saw things, but the scene was too dark to see much. There was a door with light coming through it, and a silver chain holds her to a small bed.”
“That’s nice to hear, but I don’t think it’s enough to find her, angel.”
“No, no, Max, there’s more which I think may help,” she says as she sits on the bed. “Is there a place where two lion statues sit on a patio made of stone on either side of a large, glass door?”
My brain isn’t working to full capacity with the anti-anxiety meds and I find myself struggling to think of such a place. “I’m not remembering any place like that.”
“I think it’s in this town, this Houston,” she says. “Try to think hard, Max.”
“Perhaps I should sleep off this pill I took earlier so I could stop being so anxious. Maybe then I can think better.” I give her a smile.
“Okay, Max,” she gets up and walks to the door. “Time is limited, so try to clear your brain before it’s too late.”
I watch her leave and already her words haunt me. I let weakness get in my way of thinking clearly. I’ll take no more pills to stop myself from being anxious. I will be strong and in control. If she’s found after it’s too late and I could’ve found her, but didn’t because I took pills to handle the pressure instead of manning up and handling what I should’ve, well, I don’t know what I’ll do.
Alexis
My eyes open as I wake from the sweetest dream. Max and I were holding hands as we laid on lounge chairs by his swimming pool. Three children played in the water. Two boys and a girl. Light shimmered over the water and their laughter filled the air.
Savage SEAL’s Virgin: A Submissives’ Secrets Novel Page 84
