Page 15 of Alexander: Alexander's Story

Jesus, driving around in a deathtrap had been just another cry for help, but no one seemed to have an issue with it. And so I kept on driving it. People think I’m oddly attached to it like it’s my baby, but it’s not. It’s just another way I’ve tempted fate over the years.

“So, we’ll drive in this car?” Emma asks, pointing towards Blanks’ Maybach.

I nod, and she opens the passenger door to drop her purse. She starts to walk towards me to help with her duffle, but she’s fucking stupid if she thinks I need help with the lightest, and also saddest, weekend bag I’ve ever seen. I shake my head at her approach, and she retreats, slipping into the front passenger seat to wait.

I’m doing it. Really fucking doing it.

I stand, staring at the trunk, buying myself a couple more minutes, but Blanks honks his horn, and reality slams back into me.

‘Don’t call me. Don’t text me. Don’t come visit.’

The message is clear.

The message has been received.

Sitting in the front seat, with Emma beside me, looking happy to be here, I pull out onto the highway and think of nothing but long, dark hair, hazel eyes, and her words for the entire drive.

Emma

Alexander retreated. Like he couldn’t get far enough away from me in the small space.

So badly, I want to reach out and soothe him. Somehow. A touch, even a knowing glance. But I don’t. I turn my head in the opposite direction and look out the window at the changing landscape. It affords him some privacy and gives me a glimpse at what this place is like.

He said lake house, but I still didn’t know if that’s where we’re going right now.

I don’t need to know, though. That’s the thing about having nothing to lose; you have the freedom to do crazy, stupid shit because stakes are low.Almost as low as my expectations.

As the altitude rises, the roads turn windy, and we slow down to maneuver the steep curves and narrowing lanes. Even with the windows rolled up, blocking the December morning chill, I can practically feel the change in the air. Smell it, too. It’s earthy and damp.Fresh.Like a Christmas tree lot where all the trees are still alive. So, I guess it’s like a Christmas tree farm, which is basically just a forest. So the forest smells like a forest.You’re using all your brain cells today, aren’t you, Em?

The landscape is changing, too. The hills’ light brown, dry dirt is being swapped with rich-looking chocolate soil spotted with dried pine needles and moss. We even pass a few meadows that still have tall green grasses growing even though it’s December. I wonder what they look like in June when everything here blooms? Probably beautiful. Probably likeactualheaven.

Inhaling deeply, I lean back against the heated leather seat.This is going to be my life.Maybe only for a short time, but still. This is already more than I anticipated. Way more.

I might actually be sad when this ends. Maybe not because of Alexander, but because all this would be gone. Though, with the divorce settlement, I’ll probably be able to afford to live here by myself, and that thought is exhilarating.

Finding a job that allows me the option to work from home, a small cabin nestled in the woods. I’ll start each morning with a coffee on the porch, watching the deer graze through my backyard and —

“I have to go talk to my sister really quick. I’ll be right back.” Alexander interrupts the fantasy but stops before he’s fully out of the car. “Just promise you’ll stay in the car?” I nod.

“Of course,” I say, punctuating it with a smile. But he doesn’t even look at me, walking briskly towards the large mountain home we’re parked in front of. This isn’t a lake house. This is a lakemansion.Lake estate even?I don’t know what I expected, but it hadn’t been this. I mean, I should have. After we got on a private jet and flew to a private airfield, I should have expected Alexander and his family to live like this, but I didn’t. Because I couldn’t.

My poor-person brain had limits. I couldn’t fathom howactuallywealthy people live.

I’ve never seen anything like this before. The large house is modern yet blends with the surrounding mountains. It’s massive, with a separate building for the garage and a guest house over it.

Would I be living in a guest house, too? I haven’t really thought about it. I haven’t thought about where I would sleep…at all.

Movement in front of me draws my eyes up to see a woman padding down the guest house stairs, then faltering when shesees me sitting in the car. Her face flashes with something like anguish, like she stepped on a nail, before she plasters on a tight smile, giving a small yet genuine wave.

I smile and wave back.Alexander’s sister? Maybe?Her hair is pretty dark, and she’s far more tan, but maybe they have different moms or dads. I’m pretty sure the woman he’s talking to at the main house is his sister, though.

That makes more sense. She has long-ish blonde hair, far more petite than Alexander, but with a fair complexion and a similar-looking face shape. I could see that more.

Just as quickly as the woman on the stairs appeared, she disappears, and Alexander is sliding back into his seat beside me.

“So that was your sister?” I ask him softly as he buckles his seat belt.

“Yeah.” His voice sounds…broken? Even more so?