by Alora Kate
I slowly sat up and opened one eye. She looked like she had been up for hours. “Why are you in such a good mood? Don’t you hurt from my vagina punch?”
“That was funny.” She laughed and quickly changed the subject. “We’re over that.”
“Did you do something else?”
“No. I won’t talk to Tapper again, but the thing with Emma, I won’t let that go so easily. Deal.”
I gave in because there wasn’t one ounce of energy in my body. “Deal.”
“Your coffee and bagel are on the island,” she said as she walked out of my room. “I might have bought you an extra-large coffee.”
I slowly followed, and when I say slowly, I mean I dragged my feet. Trudging across the apartment, I had one thing on my mind—coffee.
Prescot was on his phone, standing by the front windows, and Ki was waiting for me at the island, drinking her coffee with a large smile on her face. My coffee was still hot, but not hot enough that I couldn’t drink half of it at once and I did. It was delicious, just like it always was. I grabbed the bagel and took a large bite out of it.
“So, despite what happened last night, Prescot, Lucas, and I are all on the same page.”
“What did Lucas say before Prescot showed up?”
“He asked about my arm and said he had a team now, and that they’re still keeping tabs on me and you. He just happened to be on shift yesterday.”
“Really? A whole team?”
“He said Donovan was still worried.”
I took another bite of my bagel and a swig of my coffee. “He still closing shop on the illegal shit?”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean his enemies will stop. He’s done a lot of bad things to a lot of bad people.”
“I’m glad you’re giving him a chance. You know, to be a dad.”
“I’m glad you’re giving Tapper a chance.”
“So am I.”
I ate half the bagel, showered, and left with Ki within the hour. Prescot was going to meet up with us at two for lunch and then I was going to go visit Tapper after that.
Twenty minutes later, we were standing in front of a yellow door.
“What’s this?”
She pointed toward the bottom right-hand corner and I saw one of our bumper stickers.
“Is this an advertisement window?”
“Something like that. Two girls own this business, like us, but they make dresses. Custom dresses. Mostly online, but they have private showings. Sometimes they design dresses themselves. Sometimes people return a dress that they’ve ordered. So, they allow customers to come check out what they have in stock by appointment only.”
“Sounds interesting,” I said, my eyes bouncing around to all the different ads on the double windows. There was a window pane on each side of the yellow door but you couldn’t see through the window because of the white paper background.
“I stumbled upon it last week from an ad I saw online. I contacted them, dropped off a bumper sticker the other day, and thought it’d be fun to play dress up. Maybe even buy one or have a custom one made.”
The door flung open and a pretty girl, who looked like she was maybe twenty-one, stood in front of us. “Hey, Ki.” She waved and then looked at me. “You must be Alexa; it’s nice to meet you.”
She yelled behind her for a girl named Steph and then let us in. Steph’s hair was lighter than the other girl’s and they looked like sisters.
“Sam and I are cousins,” Steph said shaking my hand. “I could tell you were trying to figure it out.”
“So, let’s get to it,” Sam interrupted standing between Ki and me. “If we don’t have one you like, we can make one or make adjustments to anything you find on the racks. Don’t feel obligated to buy anything. Ki said she wanted a dress up day, and that we can provide.”
The walls had wooden shelves. Everything was color coded. Everything looked perfect. I’m sure Ki was in heaven with the neatness and organization of it all. The only place to walk was the middle of the store because the rest of it was filled with racks of dresses and materials.
“We have so much in common!” Sam shrieked from across the aisle. “We both own our own business and live above them.”
“Did you tell her everything about us, Ki?” I whispered out the side of my mouth.
“Enough,” she said to me and then addressed Sam while pulling a light blue dress off the rack. “A lot of the buildings in this general area have living quarters above it. But I say, Girl Power!”
“I like that. Girl Power!”
I caught Steph shaking her head, standing a few feet away holding a clipboard. I went back to browsing the dresses and was very impressed with the quality and stitch work. These girls were talented with a needle and thread.
“So, you’re going to wear a dress again?” I asked Ki who now had three dresses hanging over her good arm.
“These are one of a kind dresses, Lex. Even if I don’t wear them, they’ll look good in my closet.” We both laughed and went to the dressing rooms. I tried on the light blue dress first. It hit just above my knees and was tight on my chest, giving me a great deal of cleavage. Even though it was tight on the chest, it flowed to my knees loosely and it twirled perfectly. I kept spinning in circles until Ki asked for help.
“You have more movement with your arm, that’s good to see.”
“It’s getting there. I can’t wait to stop wearing this stupid sling.”
I kneeled to grab the zipper that was past her butt and zipped it all the way up to her neck. “That’s one hell of a zipper.”
“God, it’s tight.” She turned around and was right. It was tight. But it looked amazing on her. It was sleeveless, dark blue almost black, and appeared to have no stitching. It was like one piece of material with the zipper in the back.
“Jesus, Ki, you gotta show them curves more.”
We both stood in front of the mirror and did some model poses and goofed off while admiring the dresses.
“It’s hard to move in it,” she said tugging at the fabric.
“As long as you can pull it up and climb on Prescot’s lap, I’m—”
She smacked my arm. “Shush it.”
“You never like talking about sex.”
“I do, sometimes, but we aren’t home.”
“They aren’t listening to us, Ki.”
“I might be!” Sam said coming around the corner. “Sorry, I was in the back but I just had to see these dresses on you guys. We ask customers to post their pictures online and tag us, or email us a copy just to see how it turned out and if we had to make adjustments. One of our best customers wore one of our dresses every day she was on a reality tv game show, it was awesome! We love seeing our creations on our customers, the worst part is waiting to see the pictures, but you’re here, so this is perfect!”
“How much coffee did you drink today?” I asked and again, Ki hit me.
“You’re going to leave a bruise if you keep that up,” I snapped at her.
“Stop being rude.”
“Well, I want the coffee she’s on.”
“Oh no, not coffee. ADHD. No meds. Hate the things.”
Now I felt bad. “I’m sorry I asked.”
“No worries!”
She stayed with us while we tried the other dresses on but they didn’t fit that great. Ki and I bought the first dresses we tried on and made plans for us to meet up for dinner sometime with our significant others.
So now I had to see if I had one of those because I’ve never claimed anyone as my boyfriend.
Never.
Chapter 17 – Tapper
Lex went to the fridge and grabbed a beer for herself to calm her nerves. Even though she didn’t tell me it was for her nerves, I knew. I’d make it easy for her because she didn’t handle her feelings, or talking about them that well.
“Lex,” I called out and she popped her head in the room. “You okay?”
“Yep, just need a minute. To go pee.” She disappeared and I r
ested back against the headboard. I hated being on bedrest and starting tomorrow, I was going to get back into my routine. I was rearranging the living room and setting up more machines and weights so I could workout at home as well as at therapy. I had to get back into shape, get my body back into the swing of things, and get out of this damn bed more often. It took my body a little longer to heal than most people but it was time to get moving again.
“Lex,” I called out again because I could hear her pacing in the living room, “grab another beer and get your ass in here.”
Two minutes later, she walked in with a beer in her hand and a smile on her face. She crawled on the bed and sat facing me. “Sorry.”
“If we get right to it, get the important stuff out of the way, we can be done with it. Take it one day at a time.”
“I’d like that.”
“Should I start?”
“Probably best.” The tremor in her voice threw me. Alexa was nervous, nervous about what I was going to say…what I wasn’t going to say…I don’t know.
I took a deep breath, hell, I was nervous too. But most of the battle was already won—I had her here, which was more than I could say a year ago.
I reached out and grabbed her hand, running my thumb against the side of her hand as I looked into her eyes. “There isn’t much more to tell you, Lex. I still feel the same way I did last year, probably even more. It wasn’t until I lost you that I realized how important you were to me. I knew I was falling for you, but when you left, I knew I was in love with you.”
“Do you think it’s weird to be in love with someone who doesn’t love you back?”
“Are you worried you won’t fall in love with me?”
She dropped her head, her voice small. “I’m the daughter of a crack whore, a heroin addict, a junkie. I don’t feel worthy.”
“Come sit next to me.” She drank the rest of her beer and curled into my side and I kissed the top of her head. “Everyone is worthy, no matter where they come from or the life they lived.”
“I tried so hard to make my mother love me.” She wouldn’t look at me, instead, she stared off into space—probably back to her childhood if I knew Lex the way I thought I did. I didn’t look at her, just listened to her voice and let her find a way to deal with that small piece of emotion that was trying to surface. “I tried so hard, Tap. Everything I could do to be the perfect daughter, I did. I was on a strict diet so I would fit her definition of beauty, I studied hard so I could get on the high honor roll, I was polite, used my manners . . .” she breathed in a shaky breath as I opened my mouth, but she wasn’t ready, “. . . and when I realized all of that didn’t mean shit to my mom, I changed to chase her love. I drank with her, flirted with guys in front of her, wore too much makeup and clothes that were way too tight. And you know what, Tap? She’s didn’t give a shit. She didn’t love me—”
“Your mom had problems, Lex, problems that were her own, not yours.”
“I know, I’ve heard it many times from Ki.”
“She’s a smart one.”
“She is.”
We fell into that comfortable silence that you only get when you’re with the right person. There was no need to fill the silence with awkward small talk because, to be honest, we were past that now. Lex needed time to find her comfort and control again, to push that speckle of emotion out of her so she could move on. I spent the silence memorizing the feel of her body against mine, memorizing her soft curves against my hard chest, memorizing the colors of her hair, and how her eyelashes lay so completely perfect against her pinked cheeks. Memorizing how that lone tear seems caught between going back in or rolling down her cheek, like she has control over her body’s reaction to her past. And most of all, I memorized how our breathing synced with each other’s and how full my heart felt at this exact moment.
She shifted and I took it as her unspoken sign that she was ready to move our conversation forward.
“You’re not seeing anyone, are you?” I finally asked and held my breath until she answered.
“I’ve only been with one person since you, Tap, and that’s, without a doubt, over.”
“Didn’t end well?”
“Doesn’t matter,” she said, sitting up. “I like someone else now.”
I smirked at her and quirked my eyebrow. “Oh, really?”
She dropped her gaze to my lips and whispered, “Really.”
“Is he . . . ruggedly handsome, funny as shit, and built like a Mack truck?” I used my best falsetto and batted my eyelashes at her.
Her giggle filled the room.
“Well . . . is he?”
She leaned in and placed a soft kiss on my lips. When she broke our kiss, she whispered in my ear, “Oh yeah, but he is so much more than that.”
My smile disappeared for a minute. “It won’t be easy, Lex.”
“My life has never been easy, Tap.”
“Thank fuck for that.” She smiled and her gaze dropped again to my lips. Images of me and Lex, fucking like we used to, flashed in my mind. “God, I wish I could pick you up just to toss you on the bed.”
“I always did like that,” she said pulling away from me.
Here was the awkward part. Sex. We were so good at having sex. Every day, for three months, we had sex. All over my apartment, in limos after my fights, in the back room. We just couldn’t get enough of each other.
“We’ll go see my doctor,” I said, as she slipped one of her legs over mine and then shot me a look.
“It’s fine, Lex. Get comfortable.”
“See your doctor?”
“About sex.”
I felt her tense at my side. “I don’t have to point out the obvious. Things are going to be different this time around.”
“We’ll work with what we got.”
“You up for that? A relationship with someone who can’t walk and needs to use handicap ramps.”
She looked up at me and playfully rolled her eyes. “You do get front row parking, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then I’m totally okay with it.”
We laughed and talked for another hour, keeping it light. Lex told me about some of the cases they had over the year and how Ki and Prescot met. I listened and paid attention to everything she said until it was time for her to leave. I had to take care of my personal needs, and it wasn’t the time to bring that into the relationship yet. I didn’t tell her that, but I’m sure she knew. She kissed me goodbye and sent a text when she got home safely.
I had her.
Finally, I had the girl.
The girl I loved would open up to me and fall in love quicker than she thinks.
Chapter 18 – Alexa
“I hate Mondays,” I said propping my feet up on my desk. “We had so much fun yesterday.”
Ki glanced at me. “We did nothing yesterday.”
“Exactly.” I spun around, grabbing my coffee off my desk, and continued to spin slowly. I had zero motivation to do anything today.
“I’m going to return these messages,” Ki said. “You want to call Josh?”
“Blah.”
“Just call him.” Ki bent her head back down over her desk, signaling she was not going to entertain my laziness today.
Fine. I’ll call Josh.
The door opened, and I looked up to see another process server, Aaron, walk in wearing his helmet and black biker shorts. “Ladies.”
“Come to ask for a job?” I joked, knowing he’d never come work for us, or anyone for that matter. He was a lone wolf. It wasn’t a bad thing, but we rarely saw Aaron in our neck of the woods. He typically worked further out toward the Boroughs, which was great for him since the majority of the servers worked the city. I asked Aaron once why he took the jobs further out, and he tapped his helmet and said, ‘Someone’s gotta do it, and I’m that someone.’
“I have something better.” He reached around his back and wiggled two envelopes in his hand.
Ki jumped from her chair and it fl
ew back, smacking against the wall. “Those are not for us.”
“Oh, trust me, sugar lips, they are.” He dropped one on her desk and one on mine.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You’re full of shit, Aaron. We all know you don’t slum it and take local jobs.” I picked up the envelope and snapped it toward him.
“Oh, I’d gladly slum it to serve you ladies.” God, he was slimy. The grin on his face told me he was enjoying this way too much. “And the best part is, I don’t need a picture. Not required anymore.”
I didn’t have to look at Ki to know her heart fell to her toes. “Excuse me?”
Aaron lifted his hands and pretended to take a picture. “No more pictures. Just serve ‘em and leave ‘em.”
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard,” I said standing up.
He took a step closer to me and his eyes slowly moved up and down my body. “Although, I could always take a picture for my . . . personal file.”
I curled my lip at him and said deathly quietly, “Get out.”
“They sent an email.”
“What email?” Ki asked, sitting back down and clicking on her mouse. “I’m the email queen, I saw nothing!”
He pushed off my desk, walking toward Ki. “Someone in the group found out and was nice enough to send an email to all the process servers in the group. Maybe you aren’t in it.”
With that last comment, he left.
“There’s a group? Have you heard of this group?”
“No, but he could have been lying.”
“We aren’t in the group?” Her finger was clicking away, frantically looking for the email. “Why didn’t we get invited to this special group of process servers?”
“If there is a group, it sounds lame.”
“Sounds important.”
“I was about to call Josh, I’m sure he’ll tell me.”
“I take the pictures. That’s my part of the gig and if they aren’t required anymore, then what do I do?”
“Let’s just confirm this information first and go from there.”
“I’m useless.”
“Jesus, Ki, don’t even say that.”
“My arm is in a sling, I have to donate my bone marrow, and now I can’t even do my job!”
