by Pavan Kaur
***
“I figured you woke up and realized you could do better than Mr. Knight.” Joe smiles at me as I sit on the chair next to him behind the desk.
“If I left, who would you gossip with?” I put the plate of food on the desk. “Plus, I don’t think Ethan’s that bad,” I say, with a laugh. I sent Ms. Jackie a message on my way down asking her to call me when she got a minute.
“I do like your company.”
We spend a good hour talking about nothing really, mostly his family. I told him a little about mine, but nothing too in-depth. It’s not that I don’t trust him, I just don’t want him to feel sorry for me.
My phone rings and I look to see Ms. Jackie’s name flashing on my screen. “Hi,” I say, walking outside the building.
“Lexi, how are we?”
“I’m good. I wanted to talk to you about the whole Sam situation.” I look around the street.
“Are you leaving?”
“Well, that’s the thing. Dan and Jon don’t want me to leave, and Ethan doesn’t either. But, if I stay here, Sam will show his face—I know he will. So, I want to start working again. Just one client, so my face will be shown in different states and he will think I’ve left here,” I tell her. I’ve been thinking about it a lot since everyone wants me to stay here.
“I don’t think Ethan will agree to that.”
“I have to work, Jackie. Where else can I find a job that pays as well as this?” I ask her.
“I’ll talk to Ethan,” she says. Turning, around I see him standing behind me. “Mr. Williams has a charity event in Texas this weekend if—” Ms. Jackie says.
“Book me in,” I say, ending the call before she can talk me out of it. “How long have you been standing behind me?” I ask him.
“Long enough. Do you need money?” he asks.
“I don’t need your money. The last time I checked, I still had a job.” I walk back into the building, stopping at the desk. “Joe, I’m going to make you a chocolate cake tomorrow. I’ll be down at lunch,” I say, kissing him on the cheek.
“Looking forward to it.”
“So, did Selena get the meeting for you?” I ask, standing in the elevator as we go up to the apartment.
“You want to go back to work. Is this to annoy me, or because you think my family believes you are a gold digger, too?” He stops me walking away from him. I like how he ignored my question about how his meeting went.
“I don’t want them to think I am, because I’m not, and I’m not doing this to annoy you. I’m doing this because you want me to stay here,” I explain, and Ethan softens the grip on my hips. "You want me to stay here, so I agreed. I want to stay here, too, but that also means Sam knows I'm here. If I go back to work with my clients, then I'll be in a different place each week. Maybe he will try to follow me there. I just…”
“My mother doesn’t think you’re a gold digger and my sister is just a little hard at times.” Ethan pulls me down as he goes to sit. “Lexi, the last thing I want I want is to fight over work with you. I know you're safe here with me. If you go to another state, I won’t know if you are.” He lightly moves some of my hair around my neck. “I don’t want you to go anywhere. I don’t want you to work for Jackie like that again, but if you want to work with her in the office, then I'll talk to her about it. The thought of you—”
“But, I need to know that Sam thinks I’m somewhere else. I’m looking over my shoulder all the time, and—”
“Lexi, I’ve got people looking for him, ready to arrest him. I have people willing to make sure he stays in prison for the rest of his life. I won’t let him hurt you.” Ethan cups my face. “I won’t let him come close to you, so please, while he's still out there, stay close to me. When he's in prison, you can go back to work with Jackie—in the office.”
Putting my hands in his hair, I slide them down the sides of his face and look in his eyes. “What are you scared of, Ethan Knight?” The trace of fear that I see in his eyes worries me.
“I don’t know what this is between us, but I do know the thought of losing you scares me more than anything in my life. I know you’re safe when you're close to me,” he says, putting his hand on my thigh. “So please, until he’s caught, stay close to me.”
“I’ll call Ms. Jackie. I hope you know we might end up killing each other if we are together every second of the day,” I say with a smile.
“If you're killing me with sex, I think I’d be happy.”
I can’t help my laugh at him. I can’t say he’s sex-crazed, because I want it as bad as he does. I would be more than happy to have him between my legs all day.
“Your pants are vibrating.” I put my hand in his pocket. “Your girlfriend has been missing you,” I say when I see Selena’s name on the screen.
“What does that make you?”
“Well, I’m living with you, so that makes me the wife, and Selena the mistress.” Giving him a kiss, I get off his lap as his phone rings again.
“Lexi,” he says. Turning around, I face him. “Trust me when I say, there's no one even close to you.”
Smiling at him, I walk into the bedroom to call Jackie.
Ms. Jackie and I talked for a long time, working on a plan for me. I told her I don’t want to have any clients since Ethan and I are together, and she was happy of us. She offered me a job alongside her, and she asked me to come in this afternoon to talk about it some more, as she didn’t want to have this conversation over the phone. I told her I would meet her at the restaurant across the road, and that Ethan would more than likely be with me.
***
I walk into the restaurant with Ethan by my side. It felt nice to get dressed up again, even if it’s just meeting up with Ms. Jackie. Kissing her on the cheek, I sit down and give the waiter our order for drinks.
“Before we start, I wanted to let you know that I had to tell the girls what’s going on. You haven’t been to the office, and they thought you had been fired, so I told them. Don’t worry, though. They have all signed a confidentiality agreement.”
I didn’t want the girls to know what was happening because I didn’t want them to worry about me the way Ms. Jackie, my brother and Ethan do, but it’s too late for that now.
“Thank you.” I smile at the waiter as he puts my wine on the table. Ethan gets up and walks away as his phone starts ringing. I already know that it’s someone he doesn’t want to talk to, by his body language. “I understand why you did it. Have you told them about Ethan and me?” I ask.
“Yes, and I’ve told them that you're no longer a call girl, but will still be a part of the company. They all know what I’m offering you, and are very happy that I chose you.” We both look at Ethan as he joins us. He drinks his whiskey in one go, then looks over at the waiter to ask for another.
The waiter walks over with his drink. “Would you like to place your order?” he asks.
Giving him our order, I watch Ethan as he declines the call coming in on his screen. I look over at Jackie, waiting for her to continue with what she was saying.
“So, once Sam is gone, I’m offering you my job. More like, half my job. You will take two of the girls, and I'll keep the other two. That way, I’ll get to spend time with my family, and you will be able to stay here and do what you know best.” I look at Ms. Jackie in surprise as she offers me this job. This is brilliant.
“See, I told you she would have a job for you.” Ethan leans over and kisses me on the cheek. “Now no one can say you’re a gold digger.”
I look over at Ethan, shaking my head at him before turning back to Jackie. “Thank you! That would be amazing,” I tell her.
“Seeing him this happy, I wasn’t about to let you leave,” Ms. Jackie says, looking at Ethan.
Looking over at him, I take his phone off the table as it rings again. I know he’s a busy man, but even I’m starting to get annoyed with the damn thing.
“Hello, you have reached Mr. Knight’s phone. How may I help you?” I ask, watc
hing Ethan grin at me.
“Who's this?” The woman asks.
“I work for Mr. Knight. He left his phone at our business meeting. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to give it back to him until tomorrow morning’s meeting. If you could give me your name I would be more than happy to let him know you called.”
“Can you tell him to call Angie as soon as he gets his phone?”
“Of course,” I say, ending the call. “That should at least give us tonight.” I give Ethan his phone back.
“Who was it?” he asks.
Taking a sip of my wine, I look over at him. “You know who it was. The bitch that rings you a hundred times a day, and the reason for your whiskey problem.” I don’t know who it is, or what she did to him, but I know that she’s persistent. If she can’t get in contact with Ethan, she calls Selena, and whenever that happens, his drinking gets worse.
“You’re not worried about her?” Ethan asks, and I want to slap the smile off his face. I look over at Ms. Jackie who's smiling at me.
“I get the feeling that you hate her about as much as you wish we were home in bed right now,” I answer him as our food is placed on the table. “So, how bad do you want it?”
“Is she always a tease?” He looks at Jackie, who’s laughing at us.
“I think you bring it out of her,” she tells him.
I’m not worried about this ‘Angie’. It’s obvious how much he hates her. All I want to know is, who the hell is she?
“Well, we are now going to Washington on Monday instead of Friday. So, I plan on showing you just how bad I want it,” Ethan tells me.
“Oh, I’m excited. I’ve been to Washington, but haven’t really seen any of the sights. I’ll get to be a tourist,” I tell him, and he has that devilish smile he had the first time I met him.
“Yeah, the only…” He looks down at his phone. “It’s my other bitch,” he says, answering the call. “Travis.” He gets up, and walks away from the table.
Laughing as he walks away, I look over at Ms. Jackie who’s watching me. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen him like this, ever, even with ‘the bitch’ as you like to call her,” Ms. Jackie tells me.
“He’ll tell me when he wants to, and until then, I’m not worried.”
“You shouldn’t be. He told me that the second you say yes to dating him, he won’t be letting you go,” she says, and I smile at her, remembering Ethan saying the same words to me.
The rest of our lunch was excellent. Ethan left his comments about sex to himself, but I knew there were times that he wanted to say something.
Ethan
Sitting in the garden with Travis, I watch Lexi talking to my sister. Mom said she spoke to Tanya about Lexi, and how she isn't with me for my money. Seems liked it worked. Tanya has been keeping her comments to herself.
“Lexi’s told you about Sam and what she's running from. When are you going to tell her about Edward and Angie?” Travis asks.
“I’m not going to tell her anything, for now. Why bring her into my shitty situation if I don’t have to?” I say.
When we leave the apartment, she’s constantly looking over her shoulder to make sure he’s not there. Even though I’m with her, she’s still worried. I don’t blame her. The man killed her father in front of her to get to her. He could easily do that to me.
“I don’t think she runs from a fight, but Sam is a different situation. That crazy fuck could easily kill her, but if she's staying here to fight that crazy man, then she will fight for you, too.” Travis hands me a beer, holding onto it until I look over at him.
I get what he’s saying. I’ve made her stay with me, and each time we leave the apartment she's living on the edge. Lexi fought me the whole way here, begging me not to tell my family about her situation. The more people she gets close to, the more people Sam would hurt to get to her. I told her I don't care about Sam. They need to know for their own safety, and I was going to tell them everything. Lexi knows I already told Travis. He needed to know why I’ll be working from home, and now she knows I’ll be telling Mom and Tanya today. Lexi was still annoyed with me about it, but this is happening whether she likes it or not.
“I might tell her when we’re away this week.” Getting up, I walk over to the three of them talking to tell Mom and Tanya what’s going on. Travis follows me down. “Time to tell those two about the crazy fuck,” I tell him.
“You know I’ll always have your back,” he says, and I give him a nod of thanks.
I wrap my arms around Lexi’s waist. “How is my girlfriend doing?” I ask her, kissing her on the neck.
“I don’t know, you might want to ask her.” She turns her head a little to look at me. “You still haven’t asked me to be your girlfriend,” she says with a smile. She wants to play games with me.
“Lexi, will you be my girlfriend?”
“I don’t know… I want to see if there's anything better out there before I put all my time in you,” she says, making my mom and sister laugh. “Why have supermarket shoes when Jimmy might be around the corner?” She turns to face me, and her smile is so cute.
“Trust me, I’m your Jimmy. No one will ever come close to me,” I tell her, leaning down to kiss her.
“I don’t know, I think I’m going to need some convincing.”
I bring my lips down to her ear, making sure no one else can hear me. “I’ll convince you tonight,” I whisper.
Lexi starts shaking her head and slapping my chest. “Are you going to talk to them now?” she asks.
I look behind her at Mom and Tanya talking to one another. “I’m sure they’ll be okay with it, but if they aren’t comfortable with you being around until he's found, then we’ll stay away.” I haven’t given her much choice about staying with me so I can make sure she's safe, but I’ll stay away from my family if that's what it takes to keep her with me. “Mom, Tanya, can we talk to you?” I ask.
Mom looks between Lexi and me. “Yes,” she says, looking down at Lexi’s stomach, and I start laughing.
“She’s not pregnant.” I turn to face Lexi. “Are you?” I ask her. I’m not asking because I would be pissed, I’m asking because it would be amazing. Yes, it’s fast, but the more I look at this amazing, beautiful woman, the thought of bringing a child into this world, with her, fills me with joy.
“No, I’m not,” she tells me, but I hold her eyes for an extra beat.
Turning back to them, I pause and just look at them. I’m not sure how to talk to them about this. “Ethan, you’re scaring me,” my mom says, looking back at me.
I don't know where to start. I know Lexi is going to find this hard, but I can’t hide any of this from them. I begin by telling them that Lexi is living with me now. I take hold of Lexi's hand which has been tapping on my leg for a while now. I tell them about Sam, and how she’s been running from him since she was eighteen. I tell them what he did to her father, and how he’s found her again. I tell them everything.
My mom looks at Lexi for a moment, and Tanya looks over at me. "Lexi already thinks she should leave and start a new life. She's scared of getting close to you since Sam always hurts anyone she loves. It gives her more motivation to not get close to people. If you both feel you're at risk having her around, then we’ll stay away until this is over. Just so you know, I'm not letting her leave," I tell them both. I haven’t told Lexi, but I don’t think he will go after my family. He wants her, and I’m the one standing in the way of that now.
“You're always welcome here.” My mom gives her a hug. “Don’t worry about us, okay? We’ll be all right,” she tells Lexi before looking over at me. “I only have one question, Ethan.”
I already know the question. Do I see myself with Lexi ten years from now? My mom knows I’ve never put a woman before myself, not even Angie. For Lexi, I would turn my phone off, cancel plans, take her on trips so she would be with me all the time… I never did any of that for Angie. That's how I know we’ll be together even ten years from now.
&n
bsp; “Yes,” I answer her.
She smiles and walks into the house. Lexi watches Mom walk away then stops and stares at me.
“She’s fine.” I kiss her, then get up and follow my mom into the house. Mom is pacing around the kitchen. “So, do you not like Lexi or is it something else?” I ask her, standing in front of her to keep her from moving around.
“I like her. She’s brought out a side to you that I thought I’d lost. The fun, carefree Ethan.” She cups my face. “The half you lost when your dad left and the other half you lost after Angie. Now it’s back and…” Mom looks out of the window at Lexi on the phone. “Lexi has given my son a reason to smile again, and if I can’t like the woman who did that, then I’m not a nice person,” she says, kissing me.
My mom always told me that I lost a little of myself when my dad walked out on us. There was a lot of hate in me. She blamed Angie for that anger, as well. After her, I just forgot how to have fun again. Until Lexi. She's the sunshine in my life.
“Ethan, the girls are going to the bar tonight, want to come?” Lexi wraps her arms around me from behind. “Travis is up for it. I think his bed has gotten lonely with just him in it,” she says, making my mom laugh.
“I don’t think that bed ever gets time to be lonely,” she says, making Lexi laugh.
“Who’s lonely?” Travis asks, walking in. Lexi turns to face him with her back against my chest. “Is he coming or is it just us?” he asks her. He must think I’m crazy if he thinks I’m going to let him look after her with a madman after her.
“I’m coming.”
“Look at you! You’ve been to the bar twice in one week. Someone call a doctor, quick. The man’s not well.” Travis turns to my sister. “How about you, mini Knight?”