The whole time Kara was just sitting there, not saying anything and I wondered how she’d taken this. “Kara, are you okay with all this? I am brother enough to have two sisters.” She looked up with a big grin on her face.
“This is so much better than you dating her because now when she wises up to your charm she can’t dump your ass. She’s stuck with you just like me.” The room erupted in laughter and I saw that the sarcasm was a family trait.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Today was the day, it had been three weeks and as we pulled up to the Storm Corp building I wondered what it was going to be like. I hadn’t been back since before I left to play the role of Lucy. Walking in there, with everyone knowing about Cohen and the fact that Jax was gone, only made it worse. Oh, and to top the cake, Nolan, who wanted to kill me as a part of his job, told the whole world on TV that he was going to marry Alexis Storm. I didn’t like the game he was playing and I liked it even less that I had no idea what was coming next.
We pulled up and saw the cameras were waiting, so we ducked into the private parking area to miss them. Tory, Clark and Davey were now my personal bodyguards and went with me everywhere. We still hadn’t announced who Clark was yet, not because we were hiding anything, it was just honestly not a priority to either of us. We knew we were siblings. That was all that mattered to us.
When I walked through the Lobby all eyes were on me and they followed me right to the elevator that went up to the CEO and executive offices. Today was the day I tried to find a way to fire Nolan Nathans.
When the elevator opened and the four of us piled in, I felt safe. Once those doors opened to our floor though, that was gone. I sensed everyone was watching me again and it made me squeamish. I wanted to shuffle off to my office as soon as possible and slam the door, but I had an image to uphold. I walked with my head high and greeted my staff while heading to my office. Once we were all in there, I sighed and slumped into my chair.
“Now, that was the easy part. Tory, you and Davey should go see what we’ve missed. Check things out and get back to me about everything Nolan has been doing. I also want all the reports from while I was gone.”
It felt weird to direct them around, but they wanted to limit my contact to those in the office, for my protection. We never expected Nolan to turn on us, which meant it could happen to anyone. I saw Tory shift his eyes to Clark.
“I got this. I will call if there are any issues.” Clark was back in bodyguard mode, but I still saw my brother in there.
“Call if you need us. We will check back in this afternoon, sometime. Order lunch in, Alexis, don’t drag him out there. I don’t want you in public without all of us there. Got it?” I laughed at his approach.
“Yes, Dad.” He smirked at me.
“Didn’t know I’d still like being called that now that I’m not Hector Gale anymore, but I still do.” With that he and Davey left us to get to work.
“So how am I going to fire Nolan Nathans when he owns a part of my brother’s share? Any ideas?” He gave me a look, telling me this wasn’t exactly his area.
“You’re the brains. I’m the brute, remember?” I loved Clark not just because he was my brother but also because he was my best friend first and I loved his sarcasm.
We spent the next hour looking into ways to fire Nolan and had found nothing. Unless he gave up his shares I was pretty much stuck with him. How could he turn on my brother? Was he a part of that too? We were in the middle of some of the more legal ways to strip him of it when a knock came to the door. Weird, since my assistant didn’t buzz in, but I didn’t think twice when I said, “Come in.” Clark looked at me like I just did the most stupid thing in New York. Usually I’d beg to differ, but when my eyes looked up and saw Nolan standing there, I had to admit that this choice might take the prize.
Clark immediately stood, taking a protective stance in front of me, so I had to look around him to see Nolan. For a second, I saw a glimpse of hurt in Nolan’s eyes, when he saw my hand on my brother’s side. It looks like I was cowering behind him when in reality I was just trying to look around my rather bulky brother.
“I’d like to speak with Alexis. Alone, please.” I heard a growl and it scared me until I realised it had come from Clark.
“Yeah, there is no way in fucking hell I’m leaving you with her, after what you’ve done.” Nolan took a step forward, but when he saw my brother move on toward him, he put his hands up to show he meant no harm.
“I’m not going to hurt her. Check me, I have no weapons on me, I just want to talk to her privately. From what I’ve heard she can handle herself now and I will leave the door open a crack if it makes you feel better.” Clark looked at me, begging me to say no, but I couldn’t. This was why I left. I had no willpower to tell Nolan no, even though I knew he was a threat. I knew he was incredibly dangerous to me, based on his emails about taking me out. Even though my mind was saying to shake my head no, I nodded instead. I saw Clark look disappointed.
“Clark, leave the door all the way open, send the assistant and everyone off the floor and don’t come in unless you hear a scuffle. This will no doubt get heated, but I can handle myself in that department.” I saw Nolan pale at my aggressive tone and I knew this wasn’t the Alexis Storm he was used to dealing with. Yeah, suck on that, Nolan, you can push but I won’t always buck to your will. Hopefully.
“Lexi, I will be right out the door and I am leaving it open.” He turned to Nolan and growled at him again, causing Nolan to step back. “If you lay a finger on her, I will fucking kill you.” With that he walked out the door, telling all the staff that this floor was off limits till after lunch. He was angry and I’d never seen Clark like that before.
“Let’s get this over with, Nolan. I want you out of my life. Give up your shares. I will pay double. I don’t care, just take the money and go.” I saw his eyes begin to glisten and I was taken back briefly by his emotions.
“Lexi, that won’t keep me out of your life. I don’t know what you thought you read, but it’s not what it looks like.” I slammed my hands on my desk and he was startled.
“What the hell do you mean? How can ‘take care of her’ not mean killing me and how does disappear not mean that either? God, Nolan, how stupid do you really think I am? Going on the TV saying you want to be with me and marry me. That was a nice touch. We slept together. Was that just for the fun of the job too? Do you just love to torture me? You know, like when I tried to kiss you years ago and you said you couldn’t. I should have known there was another reason other than feelings for me when you all of a sudden took interest in me. You were trying to get close to me to put me in a grave. Then you have the audacity to tell the whole word that I’m it for you.” The longer this rant went, the louder I got and I saw Clark peek in to check. I nodded, telling him silently I was okay.
“What? Lexi, did it upset your new boyfriend that he’s got competition for you? What, he thought now with Cohen dead that it would just be him and Jax?” I felt my color drain from me at his mention of Cohen.
“Don’t you dare talk about Cohen, he was working for Maxwell in the beginning, but loved me enough to save me. Unlike someone else.” I saw Nolan shoot up from his chair.
“Lexi. What the hell are you fucking talking about?” I realised that we never had this conversations about Cohen.
“It’s not important. Why would you do that and tell the world we are getting married? In your own words, what the hell are you talking about?” He leaned over and was inches from me when he spoke next. Having his breath on me made me squirm and I felt the same heat I always had with Nolan. Like I said, he was dangerous for me to be around, because right now I just wanted to kiss him into next week and forget that he was trying to kill me.
“I don’t give a flying fuck what your little new boyfriend thinks, he can’t have you. I won’t let him. You were mine even back then. I didn’t kiss you then because your brother would have had my nuts in a vice. We’re adults now and all is fair game
, which I had told him. I want to know about this Cohen shit. Also, Clark is only a passing. I’m the final constant, do you understand, Alexis?” What the hell was he talking in riddles for or was I going crazy over here with my emotional overdrive? So what happens when something is overload? It combusts.
“You’ve got to be kidding me? Okay, so Cohen, yes he was working for Maxwell in the beginning and when he couldn’t get the code from me, he decided to protect me instead. He saved me that day in the building. He got me out of there when you were off doing God knows what, so don’t you think for one second that you can judge him/ You’re working for Maxwell too or did you forget that you’re supposed to take care of me and that it was considered done? As for Clark, you are so fucking stupid, Nolan. Clark is my brother.” His face showed the shock as to what I’d just said to him.
“Brother? What the hell are you talking about?” I sighed and sunk back into my chair as he walked around and stood over me.
“Clark is my dad’s son, he was conceived before he met my mother. We just found out when I was in the hospital, because they needed blood and Clark was the same type. They told us that we were siblings and we’ve done the test. It’s positive. His birth name was Gabriel Clarkson Storm.” I felt him lower himself down to me and my body couldn’t handle this, I just couldn’t keep this up.
“Just do it, Nolan, put me out of my misery because I can’t keep this up like you can.” I felt him tense, but his next words made my blood run cold.
“As you wish.”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
My eyes were closed, waiting for him to do his worst because I couldn’t take this anymore. I’d never win, not with Nolan on the other team. When I felt his lips move against mine and Clark barged in, I was shocked, to say the least.
“What…oh...seriously…Lexi, did you seriously just tell him to whack you? Clearly something else is going on cause if that’s how you kill someone I’d think more people would want that.” My cheeks burned red at my brother’s interruption. Now that everything was turning itself right again, I looked at Clark. “Jax.” He walked over to me and Nolan was confused. “Jax left, Nolan, he’s coming back, but he left and he wants to be with Lexi too. She agreed to wait and not make any choices until he was home. You better explain what we thought we saw with the emails or I’m going to take her somewhere you will never see her. Then she will get her happy ever after with Jax and you will just have to deal with that from afar.” He looked saddened by Clark’s words and I knew it would hurt to hear someone tell me about Jax, or just me with someone else since that kiss told me the feelings were real.
“I’m not working with Maxwell, but I am working to keep her safe. When the email said, “take care of her,” it meant exactly that. Protect her, not kill her. When I said it was time for her to disappear it was because she wasn’t safe here, but she beat me to that when she disappeared with you and Tory. I’m just glad she didn’t try and do it alone.” My brother laughed, catching Nolan off guard.
“Sorry, I’m not laughing at the fact you were protecting her, but man, you should ask her what she tried to do a few days ago in an airport alone.” Nolan motioned for him to lean in and he whispered something to him and then pulled out his phone, revealing something. My brother was in utter shock and disbelief, but he composed himself quickly.
“I think he’s telling the truth, don’t ask me what he told me or showed me. I can’t say, but Lexi, trust him when he said he wasn’t working for Maxwell. Maybe now, you won’t try taking off on a plane alone to another country.” I saw Nolan tense and turn bright red.
“WHAT.” Clark threw his head back in a full out laugh and walked out the room, leaving us alone.
“Sorry, sis.” I gave him my worst glare I could.
“Asshole.” Nolan took me up from the chair and pulled me to the couch.
“Please tell me you weren’t trying to get on a plane out of here, Lexi.” I gave a small smirk and tried my luck at sarcasm like my brother.
“No, Lexi wasn’t, of course. I’m not that thick. Lucy Gale was heading for a trip to Toronto.” I gave my biggest smile and tried to pull it off. Clearly now was not a time for sarcasm.
“Are you fucking kidding me?"
* * *
After having a very heated conversation about the issues of me traveling alone and using another identity, he finally let me tell him all about Toronto and about Cohen. I agreed to meet him at his house and I thought my brother and Tory would disagree to it, but Clark only insisted on taking me until I was with Nolan. Tory had been avoiding me all day like I was the plague, but I thought he might still be mad at my attempt to flee the country without him. When we arrived at Nolan’s apartment my nerves were completely shot.
I had tried to get a hold of Jax on the way over, but with the time difference and the fact that all I knew was he was gone abroad, I never knew when to call. I was going to hold to what I said and not make any choices until they were both here and I knew the truth about everything. I couldn’t go at this blind anymore. That was how people got hurt and that had already happened enough. I looked down to the chain hanging on my neck as I played with the ring that hung there. A lawyer dropped it off today as it was instructed to be giving to me by Cohen. I got all of his belongings and his money. I didn’t know what, but I would find something amazing to do with it.
Clark was watching me as he helped me out of the SUV. “You’re doing the right thing by not jumping into anything. I know you love them both and when there are secrets there is no way to have a real relationship. If he hasn’t told you what he told me by the time I see you again, I will. I won’t ever lie to you or keep you in the dark. Nolan is a good guy now that we know what he’s really been hiding. But Jax deserves a chance too, Lexi.” I nodded at him and kissed him on the cheek before we walked in and he handed me off to Nolan. “Lexi, everything will be all right.” I looked at Clark confused, but Nolan just pulled me off with him to his apartment.
When we got upstairs, I took off my jacket and I was just wearing a plain black dress that I got in Toronto, but it was a Lucy item not a Lexi one. It was shorter than what I’d wear to the office or even at the club, but I fell in love with it when we were in Toronto and I bought it.
“Wow.” I looked down sheepishly, trying to regain control of my very blushing cheeks.
“Sorry…want some coffee?” I nodded.
“Coffee sounds great.” We headed to the kitchen and I followed him, watching as he walked. Nothing had changed about Nolan. He was the same man I had always been in love with.
We sat there, chatting about nothing in particular for thirty minutes, and it was just like it was before all this horrible stuff happened. He’d come around the island and went to grab the cup from me. I hadn’t even touched it and I flinched at the touch of our hands together, causing the now room temperature coffee to spill all down the front of my dress. I was soaked and just standing there unable to believe that I just did that.
“I’m so sorry, Lexi.” I laughed and brushed off the front of my dress.
“Good thing I picked the black one and not the white one.” He laughed at my sarcasm and I smiled back at him.
“Here, I’ll give you something to change into and we will call Clark if you want a change of clothes to go home in. I’ll have it cleaned for you and return it.”
I followed him to his bedroom where he laid out a shirt and pants for me to put on. I shut the door once he’d gone and let out the breath I didn’t know I was holding in. If I hadn’t gotten out of there, I would have combusted with the sexual tension between us. Luckily, I was in his bedroom at his apartment and not at his dad’s place where we had made love before the fire, or it was game over for Lexi’s sex drive. It would be kill by overload. I walked over to the bed and picked up the clothing, smelling it. Nolan was all I smelled and it brought me all those sweet memories of that night.
I started to slide my dress up and over my head, but it got stuck because it was wet. I
was standing there with my arms stuck and my head covered. Of course, my bra and panties were showing and thank God they matched because there was no way I was getting out of this without help.
“Nolan, I need your help, but don’t come in right away.” I heard him come to the door but not open it.
“Okay, Lexi, what is it?” I sighed because this was so freaking embarrassing I wanted to crawl in the nearest hole and hide. This was what I got for dressing up like Lucy in my Lexi world.
“I’m kind of stuck in my dress and I can’t get it off. My arms are trapped and, well, I need your help to get it off. Don’t laugh at me or I will hurt you.” I heard him open the door and an undeniable snicker seeped out of his mouth at my appearance. He now had a full sight of me in my heels with my matching black strapless bra and my thong. My hands were over my head, trapped by this so-called dress that had cocooned my body, which also covered my face.
“I’m not laughing…much.” He chuckled.
I huffed at him. “Nolan, just help me out, will you, please?”
Nolan began to pull the dress off and his hands glided along my body in the process. I felt a moan escaping my mouth at the mere contact of his hands on me again. Flashes of our night together came to my mind, bringing my hormones through the roof. Once the dress had been peeled from me, I tried to compose myself, but the heat coming from his eyes as they’d taken in my appearance, only made them spike again. Before I knew what was happening, I was on the bed that was behind me and his hands were all over my body. I was pulling his clothing off with such speed. I was groaning out for more and pulling him closer to me like even a hair of space between us would be too much.
Determined & Derailed (Storm Corp Book 1) Page 17
