by Pavan Kaur
In the end, Ethan and Mr. Williams agreed to work on the center together. His PA and Selena will get in touch with each other to get this started, and things can move forward. Mr. Williams mentioned a few teachers they’re going to interview. I’m so happy it worked out for them both.
Yes, I was worried Ethan would hate Mr. Williams just because he used to be my client. But, being the businessman he is, Ethan stuck to being a professional. He hasn’t made his millions by letting personal things get in the way of his good business sense.
“Wine?” Ethan hands me a glass. Giving him a smile, I take the glass from him. “So, that took longer than I thought,” he says, sitting down next to me.
Leaning my head on his, I cuddle up next to him. “Ethan, it’s not that I want you to say please to me—that’s not the case. I used to beg Sam to stop doing things to me. I said please so many times, and it got me nowhere with him. Please is just a word I like to use to show respect, or hear to feel like I’m being respected.” Taking a deep breath, I move away from him. “Sam didn’t run right after he killed my dad. I lied about that because I was too scared to tell you the truth,” I say, then drink the rest of my wine in one swallow before walking away from him. “Sam is a sick asshole. After he killed my dad, he raped me. I didn’t beg him to stop because I knew it wouldn’t do any good. I knew he was going to make me pay for leaving him. I begged, said please so many times over the years that it's drilled into my head. I still remember screaming please to him.” Licking my lips, I look at Ethan. “I begged him to shut my dad’s motionless eyes. Even though he was dead, I…” I pause as my words get stuck in my throat. “I needed them closed so that his last images weren’t of me not defending myself and not begging to be released. I already knew he was disappointed in me— that deep down he hated me for being weak. But I couldn’t let him…”
Ethan wraps his arms around me and pulls me in tight. “I don’t think your dad hated you. He wanted to protect you. He wanted you to be safe.”
I pull away from him. “That’s what I mean. Sam is so fucked up that he killed my dad to get me. What the fuck do you think he will do to you? I'm trying so hard not to fall in love with you, so that if Sam does do something, I won’t lose myself like I did after my dad. As much as I try not to, I can’t help but love you,” I say taking a step back from him as he takes one closer to me.
I need him to understand that anything can happen, and I’m scared he will get hurt.
“Lexi,” he says, taking a step closer to me. “Please look at me.” I lift my eyes to his as he tells me, “Nothing will happen to me or to you, and I promise you that nothing is going happen to us.” Ethan’s voice is calm and soothing. We both look down at his phone vibrating on the table. “Lexi, I love you more than I can say. I won’t let you move away, and I won’t let you push me away,” he says, walking closer and closer to me. I know he means every word he says, but that doesn’t mean I’m not scared of what can happen. Ethan sits back on the couch and pulls me to sit on top of him. “You’re stuck with me for a while, yet. I'm not saying right now, and maybe not even in a year’s time, but the next time you change your name, it’ll be to Knight.” He kisses me on the cheek.
I don’t say anything because I'm so far away from thinking about getting married. I mean, I haven’t even thought about it once. But, Lexi Knight does have a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?
Ethan
Unable to sleep at all, I lie in bed and watch Lexi as she sleeps. I’ve spent the entire night just thinking about what she told me. I always knew there were some sick fucks out in the world, but Sam is one very fucked up man. If he even thinks about coming close to her, I don’t think I’ll be able to control myself. As I move some of her hair away from her face, she slides in closer to me. After Angie, I didn’t think I would ever want another woman in my bed. That was the case for a while, but the moment I saw Lexi, I knew that was about to change.
I hear my phone ringing, and quickly try to answer it before it wakes Lexi.
“You do know that when I move in, that phone is not allowed to ring before nine. It better be turned off until then,” Lexi says, turning her back to me.
“When?” I ask her, and she just waves her hand at me to answer the phone. “Mother, it’s a little early to be calling.” I look back over at Lexi as he snuggles deeper under the covers.
“I was wondering if we could come over today? Tanya and I want to talk to you about something. Nothing to worry about, we just want to talk to you,” she says, which usually means there is something to worry about.
“What time do you want to come over?” I ask, getting out of bed and walking into the bathroom.
“We can come for breakfast or lunch.”
“Breakfast, I won’t be able to wait until lunch. An hour,” I say. Something is going on, and both of them wanting to talk to me only means they know I’m not going to like what they have to say.
“See you then.”
Putting the phone on the counter, I look back in the bedroom and see Lexi watching me. “Mom and Tanya are coming for breakfast,” I tell her, and she gives me a nod before slowly getting out of bed.
As she walks into the bathroom, her finger traces across my back. “Do we at least have time for a shower?” she asks, giving me a wink in the mirror.
“We have time for a nice long shower.” Taking her shirt off, I pick her up and carry her into the stall. “How dirty are we talking?”
“I’m very dirty. I think I need a good, deep cleaning,” Lexi says, reaching behind her and turning the shower on. “I won’t complain if you want to make me dirty again, though.” I can’t help but laugh at her. She's just fucking perfect.
***
Staring at my mom and Tanya looking at each other, I glance over at Lexi as she walks over to the door. Who would be coming over at this time? “Travis,” I hear Lexi say.
Travis walks over to my mom and kisses her on the cheek. I drum my fingers on the table. “Over my dead fucking body.” I stand up and rush over to Travis and punch him in the face. “Not my sister,” I shout at him.
“Ethan!” My mom shouts.
“Don’t,” I tell her. “How long has this been going on?” I turn my attention back to Travis and see him wiping some of the blood from his lip. “I don't want to fucking hear it! I want you to get the fuck out of my house!” I storm away from them, punching the wall as I leave the apartment.
There’s no way I’m going to let my sister date that fucking dick. He's got his dick in a different pussy every night, and my mom knows that. After everything Tanya has been through, she shouldn’t be with someone like him.
Filling my glass up with whiskey, I sit outside on the balcony of the penthouse. I need to get some furniture out here.
Hearing the door close behind me, I already know it’s Lexi. My family knows me much better. They know now is not the best time to talk to me. I look at her as she sits on the floor in front of me, taking the whiskey from my hand.
“A little early if you ask m.” She puts the glass to the side. “I have a few questions, but I think I'll listen to you first,” she says and moves a little closer to me.
“She's my baby sister, and he’s my best friend, but he’s also a dick,” I tell her, and a little smile comes to her lips. “My sister had a drug problem. I spent a lot of money to send her to the best rehab center to get her clean, and I know if Travis hurts her, she will go back to doing drugs.”
I tell Lexi about the night we found out how deep Tanya’s problem was. How her friends called Travis to say she was in a bad way. I still remember the call from Travis telling me she needed help.
“Did you ever ask why they called him and not you?” Lexi asks me.
“I asked Mom. She told me her friends said his name was the one she was muttering at the time.” Lexi nods her head. “She can do better than him,” I tell her.
“You only mutter a person’s name when they mean something to you,” Lexi says, as she scoots down to
sit between my legs. “They’ve been together and kept it a secret for at least a year. He’s been pretending to chat up women in the bar, so you would think he was still the dick you think he is. Your mom has known about it. Your sister has been in love with him for a long time. They’ve just told me about this, hoping that I can talk to you.” Lexi stops and looks at me. “Do you think Travis is bad for her?”
“A fucking year?” I look at her. How did I not notice that he was dating my sister for a year? I lean my forehead against hers. “Am I that self-absorbed that I didn’t see it?” I ask her.
“No, they know you’ve had a lot on your mind this year, and you not noticing is because of that. Which, I’m guessing has something to do with Edward and Angie,” Lexi says, cupping my face. “So, answer my question. Do you think Travis is bad for her?”
“Right now, I’m too angry to think straight about it.” My phone starts to ring, so I take it out of my pocket and answer it. “Selena.”
“Angie has been calling the office and said if you don’t call her, she will show up at your apartment.”
“Tell her to fuck off. Did you find out if she and Edward are working together?” I drink my whiskey in one swallow. The two of them are going to give me a fucking drinking problem.
“From the phone calls we’ve seen, it looks like they are,” she says.
“They want money. Just ask her flat out how much she wants.” Ending the call, I look at Lexi and wonder what they both want. Just the fact they're trying to talk to me is laughable.
Placing my hands on her waist, I pull her closer to me. “Want to go to Washington tonight instead?” I ask her. A few days away from the shit happening around me will be good. I just want to spend time with her.
“Would love to,” she whispers against my lips.
I call Selena to arrange for our tickets to be sent over to us as we make our way back into the apartment.
As we walk in, the three faces turn our way. “We’re going to Washington this afternoon, so don’t call me,” I say, looking at Travis as I walk into my bedroom. It’s best that I don’t talk too much to him because there's a chance I'll hit him again.
“Ethan,” I hear my sister’s voice behind me, “Can you please at least look at me?” I turn around to face her. “I’m sorry that we kept it a secret, but I knew you would be angry. Can’t you see that I’m happy? For the first time in a long time, I’m happy. I love Travis, and he loves me too, but, if you’re not okay with it, I’ll break it off with him. You will always come before a guy.” Tanya walks closer to me, “I love you a lot more than I'll ever love anyone else.”
Wrapping my arms around her I give her a big hug. “Give me some time to get used to the idea. I hate him for this and it’ll take me longer to be okay with him. But you… I love you and only want you to be happy,” I tell her, giving the top of her head a kiss. “And as much as I hate it, if he makes you happy then…” I step away from her and pull the suitcase from my closet. “…fine.” I want her to be happy, but it doesn’t mean I have to be happy about it right now.
“Thank you.” She hugs me from behind. “I love you.” With that, she lets me go and leaves my bedroom. She knows I need to wrap my head around this before I can begin to get comfortable about it.
Throwing my bag on the bed, I look over at the door.
“Only talking business,” Travis says.
He takes a step back as I walk toward him and out of the room to see where Lexi is. “Lexi, are you going to pack?” I ask her.
“Yes, I was just talking to your mom.” She looks at me, then goes back to talking to my mom.
“Lexi.”
“Ethan,” she mocks my tone. “It'll take me less than ten minutes to pack, plus Travis wants to talk to you.” She gives me a look loaded with hidden meaning.
“I know, and he can talk through Selena,” I reply mocking her tone. Both she and my mom look my way. "Don't give me that look. You should be happy I haven’t punched him again so that he actually has to talk to me through Selena,” I tell them both, taking a look at him as I walk away from them.
I look at my phone as it pings with a message. Selena is letting me know about my flight and hotel. I send her a quick reply, letting her know that she's the middle person between me and Travis until further notice. This isn’t the first time this has happened to us. There was a time that we didn’t talk to each other for a month, and she had to be the middleman, so she will just think we have had a disagreement about something else.
Hearing the door close, I look up to see Lexi walking into the room. “So, what time are we leaving?” she asks me, walking over to her clothes.
“As soon as you pack your bags, we can leave,” I reply.
This is one thing I love about Lexi. She knows when not to get involved with things, and she knows just to be normal with me. Most women would be like, ‘you want to talk,’ ‘do you need me to help you.’ No, I fucking don’t. I want to carry on with my day without having to think about how my friend has betrayed me.
I’ve dated women that ask the most stupid questions, and others that don’t care about my life unless I'm spending money on them. Lexi is different; she just goes with the flow.
Lexi
Ethan didn't talk on the plane, and I respected that. I didn't want to mention Travis and Tanya. I could see he wasn’t happy about it, and the only reason he didn’t kill Travis was because of what Tanya said to him. I was glad he didn’t, because it showed he could see how happy his sister was. I’m hoping once we get back, things will go back to normal between them.
Ethan opens the car door for me and I take a quick look around. Not because I think Sam has followed me, but out of habit.
“I’m with you,” Ethan whispers in my ear.
I smile at him and look over at the hotel. “So, what do we have planned for the—” I stop as his phone starts to ring.
“Selena… What the fuck do they need that much money for?” Ethan shouts, making some of the passers-by look over at us. “You can tell them I said fuck you… For fuck’s sake.” He ends the call and looks over at me.
“Want to talk about it?” I ask him.
“I need a drink,” he says, taking my bag from my hands.
The only thing left for me to do was follow him into the hotel. As he goes to check us in, I call my brother to let him know I’m here and safe. Ethan told Ms. Jackie he would keep me safe and that I won’t have to message her every day, which is fine with me. I trust him more than he thinks I do.
I look over at Ethan waving the room key. I start walking over to him as I end the call to my brother.
“So, I thought today could be a hotel day, with you naked.” Ethan gives me a wink and I push him away.
“Is that really all you think about?” I ask playfully.
“With you around, yes. Sex is on my mind all the time,” Ethan says, walking over. “I think you have too many clothes on for what I want to do.” He puts his hand up my top.
“You do, too,” I say, turning around to kiss him.
***
Ethan didn’t lie, we spent the entire day in the hotel. He ordered room service and we stayed in bed, naked, all day.
Getting out of the shower, I look over at Ethan on his phone with Selena about his meeting on Friday. “No, I'll get them to sign before I get back… If you fax them over to the hotel, I'll let them know… Travis oversees the London account… Well, tell him if he can't do it, then drop the account… He’s not a baby, he can work without me holding his hand.” Ending the call, Ethan throws the phone on the bed.
“You know if you give him a chance to talk—”
“I don’t want to hear what Travis has to say.” He walks to the window where the minibar is set up. “He should know what he's doing by now without me there telling him step-by-step.” He fills his glass with whiskey.
“I take it there was more to that call, and I only got to hear the end of it.” I walk over to him, wrapping my arms around him.
“Too much shit is happening right now, and I’m beginning to realize I can’t trust anyone. They always want something from me." Ethan downs his drink and looks down at me. “So, what is it that you want?” he asks. There's something different in his voice. Hate drips from it like venom.
I have no idea who wants his money, or what they want it for, but he has no right to talk to me like this. “Don’t ever talk about me like I want something from you, because I don’t,” I say, walking away. I was ready to walk away from him and start a new life. He’s the one who wanted me to stay, and now he’s being like this.
“Lexi, I’m—”
“Save it,” I shout back as I grab my bag to get out of here for a while. I think he needs some time alone to think about what he wants, and if he intends to talk to me or not.
Walking around, I decide to stay close to the hotel, worried that I would get lost. Plus, I don’t want to see the city alone; I want to see it with Ethan.
I look down at my phone as it rings. “Hello, Ms. Jackie,” I say, as I sit on the bench at the park in front of the hotel.
“How are you?”
“Good, just sitting at the park,” I reply, watching the dogs running around.
“You sound a little upset.”
“There’s something going on with Ethan. I wish he would talk to me, that’s all,” I tell her. I don’t want to say too much. I don’t know what she can tell me, and would rather hear it from him.
“I’ve spoken to Lisa. Ethan has more on his mind than you know, and he’s just not sure how to handle it,” Ms. Jackie tells me.
“I know, but he hurt me today. He thinks I’m with him because I want something from him. He knows better that that. I’m not…”