Nodding, I turn to face him and place my arms around his waist, nestling my head against his chest so he doesn’t see the tears that have just fallen from my eyes.
“I want this whole thing to be over,” I sob, feeling him wrapping his arms around me tightly and hearing his heartbeat thrashing through his shirt.
“It will be, and most probably a lot sooner than we’d realized,” he whispers, lifting a hand and stroking it through my hair as he attempts to comfort me somewhat.
Lifting my head until I can see his face, he smiles again, “How? What do you mean?”
“Your father and I just went to the cop shop,” he begins to explain, never once allowing his eyes to leave mine, “he dropped the charges against me over the burglary. That’s where I’ve been all this time. He offered to hear me out and so I told him everything that’s been going on.”
Feeling the biggest form of relief running through my veins, I rest my head back against him, “So the cops are off your back?”
“Yeah, although one of the detectives down there didn’t seem too happy about it,” he smirks, while tracing his hands lightly along the small of my back. “Just because your father called off the cops, doesn’t make everything else go away though, Alexis.”
Nodding in understanding, I know that he’s right, “When are you leaving?”
“In around ten minutes,” he answers, “I know college starts back next week, but I was hoping that maybe you could come and stay with me, until you have to be back for classes.”
Is he for real? Like there would be any other answer than to say yes.
“Five minutes? I can be packed and ready in five mi—“
“No, no, that’s not what I meant,” he grabs me and pulls me back in front of him when he sees me hurrying to grab the case from my closet. “I need to go now, and I’ll have Zach come and collect you tomorrow, we can’t go together, Alexis.”
“Tomorrow? Why tomorrow? Why not now?” I search his face and see a flare of something entering his eyes. “What’s going on?”
Walking across the room and towards the door, he leans back against it and lets out a sigh, “Whoever is watching you, and whoever is watching me,” he hesitates, as though he’s trying to decide on a better way of explaining things. “They’re close, Alexis, really fucking close and until I’d spoken with your father, I hadn’t realized before how really close they actually are.”
“How close?” my stomach plunges when I think about having someone watching me this whole time.
“Close enough to know that I was here the other night. Close enough to know about you heading to your fathers, and close enough to know that you and your father never gave or threw away your mom’s things.”
“Are you serious?” I stride over to him, feeling sick to the stomach by all of this.
“Why else start all of this up when I’d already done everything they’d asked me to do?” he answers my question with one of his own. “Something, and I have no fucking idea what, but there must have been something that your mom had, that they wanted. I know this doesn’t make a lot of sense right now, but, it’s the only thing I can think of that could and would make any sense.”
Brandon’s cell phone chimes, and what with the deep sigh and disappointment etching over his features, I’m assuming that it’s time for him to leave.
“Tomorrow, I’ll have Zach come and get you,” he tells me, cutting the call that was disturbing our conversation and placing his cell phone back into his pants pocket. “I’ll message you later tonight.”
Standing forward and grasping my face in his hands, he crashes his lips onto mine, and I open my mouth as his tongue plunges inside. Groaning into my mouth and kissing me with such a great need, I grab at his waist and press myself against him, noticing that he breaks our contact almost immediately, before shaking his head at me.
“For the love of all things fucking holy, Alexis!” he says, while raking his hands through his hair and beginning to look really frustrated, “don’t tease me when you know I can’t have you or I swear to God, I’ll turn you around and fuck the living—”
“Fuck me?” I muse at his choice of words, especially because he told me that I’m more to him than just a fuck. “Say that again?”
Narrowing his eyes on me, he realizes what he just said and I notice his face fall also immediately. “I didn’t mean … what I meant was …”
“No, no don’t make excuses,” I tell him, keeping my face straight as I step closer, our lips only an inch or so apart as I keep my eyes firmly gazing into his, “I’m not sure why, but what you said and the way you said it … well, it was kinda hot!”
“It was?” he sounds surprised and I notice his mouth fall open slightly, “you liked that I—?”
Placing my index finger over his lips, stopping him from saying any more, I smile widely at him and nod my answer, “I like that we get to spend a few nights alone together.”
Licking his lips slowly, with his eyes still searching mine, he gives me one final kiss goodbye before making his way out of my room for the night.
***
I’m finding it really hard to concentrate on anything.
Brandon left a few hours ago, and although I know I’ll be seeing him again tomorrow and that I’ll be wrapped in his arms for almost a week before the college semester gets back underway, I miss him badly already.
Everything he told me earlier keeps repeating in my mind, making it impossible to even try and keep my focus on anything for longer than five minutes at a time.
Placing my Kindle on the nightstand, I decide to start packing my case, so that I’m ready for whenever it is that I’ll be picked up.
I called my father about an hour ago, thanking him profusely for what he did for me and Brandon today. He and Diana were on their way out for dinner when I called, so he wasn’t on the line for very long, but he did mention some of the same things that Brandon had earlier on today.
He seemed really calm considering he knows now that the person who broke into the house is still out there somewhere, but he reassured me that he’ll be okay and that he’s not on his own anymore.
Although my immediate reaction was to lash out at him over finding someone else, I actually found myself to be smiling when he said he had a good woman taking care of him.
If we’re going to be away in the cabin for most of the week, I don’t think I’ll be needing a lot of things to take with me. I pack the essentials, and find that it only takes me around twenty minutes until I’m done.
Finding myself sitting on my bed and twiddling my thumbs, looking around the room and wondering what I can do for the rest of the evening, I eventually decide to go and see if the guys want to do something, do anything that will make tomorrow come around sooner.
“You ordered a pizza without me?” I ask, pretending that my feelings have been hurt by clutching my hand on my chest overdramatically, as I drag my case and place it over by the door.
“Well, we weren’t so sure if you were all hot and naked in there for one, and we didn’t really didn’t feel like sharing, you eat a lot, Alexis, go order your own!” Ryan laughs out, and I see Alyssa throwing me a quizzical look.
Taking a seat by them, I go to take a slice but Ryan’s a lot quicker than I am, and I watch him as I leans over, smacks my hand, and then slides the pizza box from out of my reach, “get your fucking own!” he laughs, before passing me a couple of the smaller slices over. Always so generous is Mr. McGregor.
“What’s with the case?” Alyssa asks through a mouthful of food.
“It seems I’m going away for a few days,” I smile as I go to take a bite out of the just warm slice.
Rolling her eyes, she takes a sip of her Diet Coke, “Well, duh! Where?”
Knowing that I’m within the comfort zone of my three best friends, and that there’s nobody else around to hear our conversation, I decide that it would be okay to tell them.
“You guys can’t say anything, do you promise me?�
� I ask, glancing around the table and noticing that all three pairs of eyes are watching me, waiting for me to continue. “They’re getting closer to finding out who has been doing everything, and we don’t think that it’ll be too much longer before they figure out who was behind it all, Holly, Brandon, the break in …”
“Shit! That’s fucking incredible news!” Ryan beams, a small piece of pizza dropping out from his mouth through all of his excitement at hearing the news, “I mean, then we can all get back to normal and hang out.”
Smiling happily to know that they’re routing for him too and haven’t ever given up on him, makes me realize that both Brandon and I really do have the most amazing friends in the whole world. I don’t think I would have been able to cope these past few weeks without them by my side.
“Tell me!” Alyssa pipes up, seemingly impatient to know where it is that I’ll be spending my time.
“I’m not exactly sure where it is,” I tell her, “All I know is that it’s a small cabin, just outside of the city,” shrugging my shoulders and realizing that it really doesn’t matter where I am, as long as I’m with Brandon.
We could be shacked up in a tiny little building and have nothing but each other, but to me, that means that I’ll have everything that I’ll ever need.
“Ooohh, a mystery waiting to be solved!” Neil smiles while rubbing his hands together, with a small sparkle crossing into his eyes. “You’ll be back for when classes start though?”
“Yeah, I mean, if we can work out who did all of this beforehand, then there will be no reason for him to stay away from the city, but if we haven’t figured it out by then, well then I suppose I’ll be coming back on my own.”
Saying this makes me feel sad, and this is why I’m so determined to find out who has ruined both my life, and Brandon’s, so we can put all of this behind us and never have to be away from each other again.
14.
The Love Shack
“Welcome to the love shack,” Zach says, pulling up outside the cabin at just a little after seven o’clock in the evening.
Smiling and feeling my cheeks redden at his comment, I unclip my seatbelt and look over at him, “Are you not coming inside?” I ask, while checking my make-up and hair in the pull down mirror.
“No, I don’t think my cousin in there would be particularly happy, especially after all the effort he’s put in,” he answers, returning my smile when I go to open the passenger door up.
“What effort?” I ask, narrowing my eyes on him and watching as he throws me a look of innocence in return. “Thanks, Zach.” I say, stepping onto the stony driveway before going to grab my case from the trunk.
Opening it up, he lifts the case down for me and insists on delivering me right to the door. He is actually a really nice guy. I need to quit judging people before I get to know them.
I’d been waiting all day to hear from Brandon, with him finally messaging me at four o’clock, telling me that there had been a slight delay and that Zach would be collecting me as soon as he could. This was just over a half hour ago.
I’m nervous. I have absolutely no idea why, but butterflies have entered my lower abdomen and feel as though they’re flying around in there at the speed of lightening.
My breaths are even becoming shallow. Shit. What the hell is wrong with me? It’s not like I don’t know him, for Christ’s sake it’s Brandon after all.
“Enjoy your night!” Zach says rather excitedly as he knocks the door once, before making his way over to the SUV, leaving me standing on the small porch way waiting for Brandon to open the door.
Hearing the SUV driving over the stones as Zach pulls away, I try and open the front door but it’s locked. Huh. I decided to wait a few more minutes, messaging Brandon and telling him that it’s rude to keep a lady waiting, but I’m yet to receive a reply from him.
The cabin is sitting in the countryside, and there’s nothing or no-one else around for a few miles. When he said we’ll have alone time, he really meant it.
I try looking through a couple of the windows at the front of the cabin, but because the curtains have already been drawn, it’s no use, so I make my way around to the back of the place.
Pausing when I see him standing on the back porch, I notice that he’s wearing a black button down shirt, a shiny black tie, and a pair of silver-grey slacks. He looks edible.
“I’d better get going before she gets here,” I hear a woman say as she walks out through the double doors, attracting Brandon’s attention and making him turn around.
He hasn’t noticed that I’m standing here, and I don’t want to intrude on their conversation, but I’m feeling slightly disappointed that we may not have the whole place to ourselves after all. I assumed that it would be just me and him.
I watch as he checks his wristwatch and begins to nod at her, “Yeah you’d better, she’ll be arriving any minute,” he says in reply to the blonde woman, and although I can’t see her clearly, I somehow think that I recognize her voice from someplace.
“I love you, Brandon,” she adds, kissing him on the cheek and giving him a warm embrace. “Get your name cleared, and then everything can get back to how it should be.”
“I love you too,” he tells her, “that’s been my number one intention all along.”
Breathe, Alex, breathe.
I’m not particularly sure whether I should walk over to him this way, so he knows that I’m here and that I saw his interaction with his lady friend just now, or make my way back around to the front, so he isn’t aware of what I just saw and heard.
He wouldn’t be with anyone else, he wouldn’t. Why go to all of this effort and ask me to come out here if he didn’t want me to be here?
I head back around to the front, just as the blonde is climbing into a cab. I watch as she waves to him and blows him a kiss goodbye from her open window, before the cab pulls away.
Hearing the door close, I make my way up the wooden steps, taking a couple of seconds to compose myself before I knock on the door.
I’ve accused him before when he had done absolutely nothing wrong. I won’t be making that same mistake twice. Lisa springs to my mind, and that particular night appeared a lot worse to what I’ve just witnessed here.
“Hey,” he swings the door open without me even having to knock, and so I smile at him as he opens it wider, allowing me to walk by him and inside. “Where’s Zach?”
“He, um … he said he didn’t want to interrupt anything,” I answer him, slipping out of my jacket as I watch him bring my case inside. “How has your day been?”
Taking my jacket from me and hanging it up on one of the hooks in the hallway, he lets out a deep sigh before grabbing my hand and walking me through to the living room, “Now that you’re here, it just got a million times better, let’s put it that way.”
“Why did something happen?” I feel my face fall at what he just said.
“Apart from going out of my mind from missing you and wanting you here with me? No,” he answers, a wide smile crossing his lips as his eyes roam over me. “You look fucking amazing.”
Blushing when he tells me this, I allow my eyes to roam over him, thinking the exact same thing. His hair is styled in his usual chunky spikes, and don’t even get me started on the way his shirt fits his body to perfection, with a couple of the buttons at the top undone.
I wanted to look good for him, even though I knew we would be locked away in here for the night. I chose to wear a figure hugging, sleeveless black dress, which stops just above the knee, with a square neckline. Smart, sexy, but in no way slutty.
Our attention is drawn over to the beeping sound that’s travelling through from the kitchen, and I see his face light up as he makes his way towards the doorway, “I’ll be right back!”
Looking around the place, it feels a little like a show home. Everything has its place, and nothing is out of place. It’s quite modern and stylish, with all the up-to-date gadgets.
Hearing him curse, I walk t
hrough to join him, and see him standing with his back to me while shaking his head and continuing to mutter a few more obscenities under his breath.
A strong smell of home cooked food fills the room. Whatever he’s made smells absolutely divine.
Something to my right catches my eye, and it’s then that I see some candles flickering on a table that’s set up just outside the open patio doors to the back of the cabin.
“It smells delicious,” I say, walking over to him and noticing him glance over his shoulder for a second, throwing a smile my way. “I didn’t realize you were such a good cook!”
“Beautiful, I intend to surprise you every day, for the rest of my life,” he winks, stands in front of me, and moves my hair over my shoulder before leaning and kissing my neck softly.
After pouring some wine for the two of us, Brandon tells me to go and sit at the table he’s set up outside. Candles, flowers, wine … It’s all here. He’s certainly exceeded all of my expectations, he always does. I thought we’d be grabbing a takeout or something, and snuggling up together on the couch in front of a movie for the evening.
***
“Brandon, really, it’s fine,” I try to reassure him, but it’s no use, he won’t listen no matter how many times I tell him that I wasn’t overly hungry anyway.
Emptying the food trays into the trash, it does feel like a bit of a shame to be throwing all of this away, especially where he’s gone to a lot of trouble in preparing it all, but then, it does look and taste a bit too, what’s the best words … rubbery and black?
Slumping down on one of the bar stools, he looks thoroughly pissed with himself, “You need to eat, Alexis,” he states flatly, resting his chin in his hands and wearing the biggest frown over his face for which I think I’ve ever seen.
“Let’s order a takeout!” I walk over and grab the phone that’s hanging from the wall, and then glance around for a menu. Seeing him scowling and staying in the same position, I try not to laugh at the way he’s sulking. “Brandon, it wasn’t your fault that the oven miraculously decided to switch itself up to a higher setting.”
Misplaced Trust (Misjudged) Page 12
