Page 8 of All Your Lies (All or Nothing #2)
six
Alexa
I turn toward Jenna, who’s looking a little disheveled and buzzed as hell with glossy, bloodshot eyes.
“Are you okay?” I ask, stepping closer to her.
“Are you almost ready to go?” she says, scanning our surroundings.
I most definitely am not ready to go. I’m five seconds away from having one of the best all-consuming orgasms of my life, and then this happens. If I didn’t have shit luck, I wouldn’t have any luck at all.
“Just give me a second,” I say as I glance back at my mystery guy... who isn’t there?
What the fuck?
Where did he go? What a prick.
Unless I imagined him in a drunken haze. Which would be terrifying—and something I should speak to Dr. Schults about.
Looking back at Jenna, I shrug. “Let’s go.”
I interlock my arm with hers and walk with her out the door, through the kaleidoscope hallway, and into the bar area.
I try to avoid searching for my mystery guy, who may or may not be real. Not that I’d have much to go on besides tattooed hands and built like a brick wall.
Once we gather our belongings, including my switchblade, which I attach to my body right away, we exit through the front entrance.
A rush of refreshing, cool air compels me to take a long, satisfying breath in, and then out, to purge my mind and body of all the debauchery that pumped through my veins minutes ago.
“Keys.” I hold my hand out to Jenna, and she hands them over without a fight before climbing into the passenger side.
I make my way around to the driver’s side, but halt when I see another red rose hanging from the driver’s-side door handle.
A wave of nausea hits me as my stomach plummets and I frantically scan the dark, deserted parking lot.
Now I’m a little creeped out, thinking someone followed us. I throw it on the concrete, hurry inside the car, and slam the door lock.
Once I’m on the freeway, the tension eases as I glance in the rearview mirror and see no signs of anyone following us.
I turn my attention to Jenna, who’s curled up on her side. “You sure you’re okay? Do you want to talk about it?” I say just above a whisper.
It’s a rare occurrence for her to be in this state. Mostly, she’s a ball of sunshine. Her infectious energy lights up the room, but every so often, a wave of melancholy washes over her.
She avoids discussions about her past, but I sense it sometimes affects her. I mean, how could it not? She’s an orphan. The thought of not having my family is unbearable, and I hate that she only has me, that she never had a dad to protect her and a mom to love her unconditionally.
“I’m good, I promise,” she mumbles.
“I’m always here if you want to talk. You know that, right?” I ask, giving her back a rub.
“Yeah.”
After we get home, I make sure Jenna gets in her place safely, then head to mine.
I take my shears to the too tight dress and moan in satisfaction as it falls to the floor, then hop in the shower.
The thought of sinking into my soft sheets and sleeping for a solid three to five business days is all I can think about as I rush through my night routine.
My mind drifts back to earlier at the club. I still can’t believe that guy. He acted like he wanted to devour me whole. Only to ghost me the second my back was turned.
I rub my hand against my side where his fingers traveled. He had to be real. I can still smell him, still feel him. How his hands grabbed hold of me. Anchoring me to him. How his fingers worked me.
Guiding me to the highest peaks. And how his words caressed me. Mind, body, and soul.
Only to leave me hanging.
What a dick.
“We came, we saw, we conquered. Can we go home now?” I say with a huff as I wind my hair into a bun, which should be criminal since I just got a fresh blowout.
I’m exhausted from last night, and Jenna woke me up at the ass crack of dawn for a massage, which was actually just my body getting polished and waxed until I’m raw and shiny but hydrated. Followed by shopping.
“Not until we eat. I’m starving. What are you feeling like? Italian? Mediterranean?”
Honestly, I will have anything if it gets us home sooner.
“You decide.” I yawn. “I’m not feeling picky today.”
“Shocker,” she says and gestures with her palms to her mouth.
“I am not picky!”
“Oh yes, you are. You’re picky with food and men.”
“I find those both reasonable things to be picky about.”
“Eh, true. But still. The way you’re going, you’ll end up dying a virgin who has the food variety of a child. I think we’ll have Mediterranean. Let’s go.” She all but pulls me to a little restaurant down the street.
The inside is adorable. Different shades of green. Plants and mosaic Turkish chandeliers hang from the ceiling, giving the whole restaurant an intimate, upscale tree-house vibe. We opt for a patio seat since the weather is so nice.
“What did you think of the club last night?” Jenna asks with a mouthful of falafel.
“It was okay. The music was decent, and the drinks were lethal. Wouldn’t you say?” I say, poking fun at how drunk she was and steering the conversation away from the sex room I was held hostage in before getting ghosted.
“Indeed. There was none of that watered-down shit like I make at the strip club.”
“So did you get that guy’s number or…”
“Of course. I told him we’d be back soon. Real soon,” she says as she does a little happy dance.
I shake my head. “Once was more than enough for me.”
“Oh no you don’t. You had fun, and we both know it.” She points a finger in my face. “That guy, Jace, I think his name was, says the front area is only like twenty percent of the entire club. Can you believe that shit?” Her eyes are wide with disbelief.
“Do you remember coming to get me? In the back, in that other room,” I ask vaguely as I take my beef kebab and dunk it into hummus.
“Barely. I was trashed.” She shrugs.
“You didn’t see the guy with me?”
She squints like she’s trying to remember. “I think I saw a guy’s back, but not much else.”
Well, at least I didn’t imagine him.
My phone ringing startles me and I see the caller ID flash with an unknown number before reluctantly answering.
“Lex,” Rosie says from the other end. Her voice causes my back to snap straight.
“Oh my fucking God. I thought something happened to you. Why haven’t you answered any of my calls or texts?”
“I broke my phone when I fell out my window.” I laugh as I imagine her hanging from the trellis outside her window at her parents’ house. “Not funny. It hurt like hell.”
“Maybe a little funny,” I say with a smile. “Are you okay? Where did you end up, anyway?”
“A small town on the border of Illinois and Indiana.”
I quirk a brow. “But I thought...”
“I got intercepted.”
Intercepted?
“What the hell does that mean?”
Rosie pauses, and the silence stretches, making me worry we lost the connection. Then she speaks, uttering the one sentence I never expected her to say.
“Gage found me.”
With a creak, my back meets the chair while my mouth hangs open and my eyes widen in disbelief. I’m unable to form a sentence, let alone a word for Rosie, or even Jenna, whose face shows concern. My stomach is in my throat, and it seems the world has stopped moving.
“Hello?” Rosie asks.
“He-he’s back?” I say as I swallow down the lump in my throat.
“Yeah, and he’s not the same.”
“What do you mean?”
“Imagine him from before. Honest. Sweet. Understanding. Now throw that version in the trash. He turned into a hard man, Lex. You can see the ruthlessness in his eyes, but he did hit one of the guards over the head to knock him out cold to save me, so maybe he’s not all bad.”
Jenna’s hands go up in question, and I mouth to her, “Gage is back.”
I can’t wrap my mind around Gage being back.
I want to ask her a million questions. What does he look like now?
Does he still have that same smile, where his upper lip subtly tilts upward as if he’s attempting to hide his delight?
Where has he been? How is he doing? But what screams in my head the most is why did he find her and still leave me behind?
It’s not a jealousy thing because he’s her brother.
I’m glad she has him back. I’m just heartbroken and feel insignificant.
But I don’t ask those questions or tell her the way I feel because my heart hurts too much to know the answer.
So I move the conversation from him and ask about the guard.
“Which one?”
“Alfonso.”
“No way.”
“Yeah, he had blood trickling from his head while he was lying on the ground. I even got to kick him in the ribs on the way out.”
A mischievous smile tugs at the corners of my mouth as I think about my best friend, who is usually so gentle, engaging in an act of violence. “You should have kicked him in the balls so he’s unable to procreate. He always gave me the creeps with his leering and weird comments about our clothes.”
“For real. Maybe next time.”
“Who are you, and what have you done with my best friend? First, running away, and then violence... Please tell me you’ve already made two horrible decisions but regret nothing.”
“I haven’t been able to do shit since Gage happened.”
“So he’s really back?” I ask with tears lining my eyes.
“Yep. Just be thankful you haven’t run into him yet.”
“Yeah, I guess so,” I say with a resigned sigh. “So where are you staying? With him?”
“No, he dropped me off at some friend’s house who is now my babysitter.”
My heart beats painfully as I think about him with someone. “A girl?”
Jenna’s eyebrow raises, and I feel like an idiot for voicing the question aloud.
“No. A dick. I swear he makes me want to poke out his eyeballs.”
Relief fills me, and I feel like a hypocrite, considering some unknown guy’s hands were all over me not even twenty-four hours ago.
“Is he cute?” I ask.
“No, he’s ugly as hell and a total asshole. I mean, I get he’s helping me out, or more like helping Gage out, but fuck, is he irritating. I don’t want to talk about me, though. Tell me about you. Are you okay?”
“I’m good, Ro. Real good. You’d like it here.” Silence greets me on the other end. “Hey, you still there?”
“Yeah, sorry,” she says, sounding preoccupied.
A hand appears in front of my face to place our baklava we ordered for dessert. I glance upward, offering a silent thank you and a smile to the server.
“Can we talk tomorrow? They just delivered our dessert.”
“Yeah. Love you, Lex.”
“Love you, Ro,” I say as I hang up and place my phone on the table before gazing at Jenna.
“Maybe Gage is just doing his rounds, and you’re next,” she says, her expression hopeful. She doesn’t know him, but I’ve talked about him more than enough times on a drunken night when I was in my feelings.
My mind goes to the saying, ‘ If he wanted to, he would .’
I clear the emotion in my throat. “It’s fine. I need to focus on myself.”
“Let’s go back to the club, then,” she says as she wags her eyebrows.
“You—”
“Good evening. Your tab has been taken care of for the night. We hope you enjoyed yourselves,” the server says before bowing his head and walking away.
“Well, shit, lucky us,” Jenna says, rising from her seat and grabbing her bags.
“Yeah, sure,” I say, looking around. “Nothing is ever free in this world,” I say more to myself just as my phone buzzes.
Unknown
Little Lamb, little lamb, where have you been?
The gravelly texture of his deep voice, like stones scraping against each other, is so present in my mind that a gasp escapes me, and a flutter stirs deep within my core.
What the fuck?
Alexa
How the hell did you get my number?
Unknown
You’d be surprised at what I’m capable of when there’s something I want.
Alexa
Says The Ghoster
Unknown
Make no mistake, you were never ghosted. I’ve kept tabs on you.
Alexa
Sounds like I need to take out a restraining order.
Unknown
Restraining you would please me much more.
I roll my eyes and pocket my phone. He’s pretty ballsy. I’ll give him that.
Once home, I hang all my new outfits up, then lie on my bed. I’m exhausted.
Bing . A notification.
Unknown
Leaving me on read... what bad manners you have.
Alexa
Says the guy who vanished. Why don’t you take a hike? I’m not interested.
Unknown
See me again.
Alexa
Not a chance in hell. Go find someone else to annoy and waste their time.
Who does this guy think he is? Like I’m just going to fall at his feet.
Unknown
Oh, you thought I was asking...? This isn’t a request.
I roll my eyes and leave him on read again.
He might have magic fingers and a voice dripping with so much sexual intent I’m putty in his hands, but I’m not interested.
I learned my lesson with Marco. He remained cold and distant until something came over him, and he changed, making me believe we had a real chance to make things work. Then I walked in on him with a girl’s face buried in his lap.