Page 14
Thirteen
Promised Punch
W hen Alexa opened her eyes again, she was in her room. Everything felt weird. No reason. It simply felt weird. And strange.
She looked around. The late morning sunlight was pouring in through the windows. What time was it?
Alexa rubbed her eyes before reaching for her phone. A photo of her with Cassie greeted her. She smiled sleepily. It had been a while since this photo was on her lock screen. After checking the time—9:46 am—she went to the gallery and updated another photo of them as the lock screen wallpaper.
She chuckled. Weird. The first thing she had to do after waking up was change her lock screen wallpaper.
She fell back into bed, lay there for a few more minutes until the sleepiness left her muscles, and got out of bed. She went to the bathroom to freshen up, did her morning workout, and went downstairs to the kitchen.
There was a note on the island.
I came to wake you up, but you were sleeping like a baby, and I thought you might be tired from work yesterday. Anyway, I made you a smoothie (it’s in the refrigerator) and French toast. I was famished when I woke up, almost like I ate nothing last night. Lol. Anyway, enjoy breakfast and your day with Daph.
3 Cass
Alexa opened the refrigerator and found the smoothie. While she was about to cut into the French toast, the doorbell rang.
“Coming, Daph!”
Unable to resist tasting it—she felt famished, too—Alexa forked a piece and shoved it into her mouth. Moaning in approval, she grabbed the smoothie and walked out of the kitchen, sipping it.
She opened the door, smiling for Daphne, but frowned upon seeing Jude instead.
Grinning. Holding flowers.
What the heck?
“Good morning, beautiful.”
Alexa arched a dubious eyebrow at him. “Uh… are you sure you’re not at the wrong house?”
Jude’s smile turned amused. “I sure am not looking at the wrong girl, so I guess I’m not.” He held out the flowers to her.
Alexa stared at them and then at him incredulously. “I… what are you doing?”
Jude’s smile faltered a little. “Bringing my girl flowers. What, you don’t like them?”
“I mean, why are you bringing me flowers?”
“I’ve missed you.”
Anger simmered inside her. The gall of him! “You can say that to my dog—oh, wait. I don’t have one.” She gave him a cold smile. “Why don’t you give it to your mother?”
A troubled expression crossed his face. “You mean, y-your mother?”
Alexa’s anger surged. “Get out, Jude.”
“Wait!” He held out a hand to block the door as she tried to shut it in his face. “Are you—are you well?”
He sounded genuinely concerned, so she gave him another cold smile. “No, but I would be if you left me alone and never came back again.”
“But Alexa—”
“I made it clear when I broke up with you—I hate you, and I don’t want you. You disgust me, Jude White. I can’t believe you have the gall to show up right where your lies came to light and I ended things with you!”
“What’s going on here?” a new voice joined from behind him.
Alexa opened the door wide and sidestepped Jude onto the porch to greet her best friend. She couldn’t believe she had forgotten that Daphne never rang the doorbell.
“Would you believe this, Daph?”
Daphne was glaring daggers at Jude as she climbed up the porch to stand between Alexa and him. “What is this, White? I thought we all made it clear that you’re not going to see Alexa again.”
“I—” Jude began but stopped short as Daphne threw a punch at his face.
“Stay away from my best friend, fraud!” Daphne seethed at him. “If I ever see you around her again or hear that you are bothering her, I will call the police. Am I clear?”
Alexa bit her lip to keep from smiling.
Jude’s eyes widened like saucers at Daphne. Then he turned to Alexa. “Lexi, I—”
“She’s right.” Alexa struggled to keep a straight face. “I will call the police the next time you try to approach me.”
“B-but—”
“Get out!” Alexa and Daphne said in unison.
Jude eyed them both like a deer caught in the headlights, eyes darting back and forth between them before he took a very hesitant step back and climbed down the porch. He kept glancing back at Alexa until he reached his car across the lawn.
“You don’t feel bad, right?” Daphne murmured to her, arms crossed as she stared fiercely at Jude.
“Bad? I feel mad ,” she said incredulously, copying Daphne’s posture.
“The gall of him.” Daphne shook her head. “After all these months! He must’ve heard of your breakup with Tristan. Anyways, it feels so good that I finally got to throw that promised punch at him, even though my knuckles hurt like I punched a stone instead.”
Tristan . Alexa pursed her lips. She didn’t want to think about him. Like she always knew, she was better off without boys.
“Come, I’ll get some ice for your knuckles.”