Lightly I touch her lips with my fingertip. “You don’t have to worry about that, Lexi. I’m not the cheating kind and you and I are together, right?”
“Is that what people call it, being together?”
“I don’t care what you call it. Are you and I exclusive?”
She rolls away from me and says, “I’ve never even dated anyone else. So yeah, you and I are exclusive. If that’s how you really want it.”
I roll her back over. “That’s how I want it.” I press my lips to hers then pull back before I get carried away. “You have nothing to worry about. I’ll be here before five this evening and everything will be rosy from here on out.”
“Smooth sailin’ huh? My life’s never went real smoothly.”
“I hope it’s something you can get used to, princess.”
The lack of a smile on her face makes me uneasy, and I should stay with her, but I have to go. I throw her a kiss and it works, she’s smiling again. “Bye, see you at five.”
How can such a beautiful woman be so insecure?
Alexis
On my way to my first dog washing gig of the day, I sing along with the radio. Last night with Max was the best time I’ve ever had with anyone, and we didn’t do a thing, but talk.
There was a little hot action, but I kept it pretty clean.
I don’t know how long I can hold out on the guy, but I’m shooting for a month at least. He’s in such a rush to get married and have kids that I’m afraid he’ll knock me up before I even get to know him.
He told me about his childhood and it’s a heart breaker. His mother had a terrible addiction, but she made the right decision when she sent him to live in a secure home. Even though his young life was hard, he turned out pretty well.
It’s a mystery to me why he keeps hooking up with these uppity women when he’s so down to Earth. He said he’s telling that Ashley women he got hooked up with online that he’s no longer interested in her. I feel bad for her, but not so bad I’ll pass up a shot with him.
I’ve been an idiot. Leaving him in the first place was a mistake. I can see it all so clear now. Wish I wasn’t such an insecure whack job. It’s now my mission in life to stop this nonsense and let me be me. Dork or not, Max likes me, so I need to stop worrying about what might happen one day, and live this life.
Maybe since I turned twenty-six last month it has made me more mature and thinking of a future. I don’t want to be alone forever, nor a virgin for that matter. Max has awakened something in me that I didn’t realize was asleep.
I wonder if he’s telling her now, and if he is, I wonder if she’s crying or throwing things at him. She’s from New York so I hope she just gets on a plane and leaves so things don’t have to be awkward.
He said he was going to ask her to marry him, he’s such a dope. It makes me think he’s too lonely and grasping at anyone to fill the most important spot in his life. I need to have no doubt in my mind that I love him and he loves me, not puts up with me, not kinda cares for me. He has to love me, want to give up his life for me, not that he’ll ever have to, but it has to be in him.
The lust he has for me is evident, but I need more than that. I want to tell him about what happened to me when I was in school. If he still likes me after that then there’s a chance we might grow something between us. I do care about him that much is for sure. When he told me about his lonely birthday, I nearly lost it. It made my heart ache for him. I felt the same when he told me about his childhood and how even though his mother did all those terrible things, he still loves her and prays for her all the time. He’s a really good man.
There’s the lady whose dog I’m going to wash. Oh great, it’s a sheep dog. This is going to set me back today.
Max
Ashley took the break up rather well. Not a tear one did she shed. I dropped her back off at her hotel and we said our goodbyes. A weight is off my shoulders and I’m on the way to see Lexi and help her with the dog walking thing.
The only thing I noticed as I told Ashley that it wasn’t going to work out between us was a little twitch that her eyebrow made a few times. Other than that, not a thing. She just said she understood, and that she was sorry.
I’m pulling up to Lexi’s and her van isn’t here. It’s five o’clock now. I hope she didn’t go without me. It would be just like her to do that. A quick text I send her telling her I’m here and hope she answers me.
A taxi is pulling up behind me and stopping.
Shit! I thought that went too easy, it’s Ashley.
She’s banging on my window and I notice the taxi is pulling away. I roll the window down. “Tell him to wait for you, Ashley.”
“No, let me in the car. I’m not letting you go, Max.”
“Fuck! Get in, I’ll take you back to your hotel.”
I let her get in the car and take off as fast as I can back across town to her hotel. “Ashley, I get this isn’t easy, but I’m in love with someone else.”
“Is that where she lives?”
“Don’t worry about where she lives. She’s an innocent in all of this.”
“Innocent, my ass,” she says as she reaches for my hand, grabbing it she pulls it to her breast and I yank it back. “You’ll miss these, if you leave me.”
“You need to stop that. This is how you act when someone breaks up with you? It’s a little crazy,” I say, and glance at my phone as it lights up.
Ashley sees it too as it lies in the center console. She grabs it and reads what Lexi sent me.
“Oh my, Max. You’ve set up a date with the tramp before I’ve even left town. She says she’s sorry, she’s running late. She left the key under the mat so you should go in and wait for her.”
She starts to type something back and I yank the phone from her.
“Stop! I won’t let you fuck this up for me. I love that girl and I’m truly sorry I led you on like I did. I was confused, okay?”
“No! It’s anything but okay. You and I are the perfect match. The dating site said so. If you were supposed to be with that girl, you would’ve been already, so why now? I mean, when did you meet her?”
“Six months ago, before you. She’s insecure about my money and ran away from me.”
“What makes you think she won’t do that again?” she asks as her hand runs over my shoulder. “Would you throw away what we have for such a risky thing with her?”
I brush her hand off my shoulder.
“What do you think we have? You shop, I follow you around and pay for the things you want. I have no idea who you really are. I know nothing about you and you know nothing about me.”
Her eyebrows raise and she smirks.
“I know you like it when I put my mouth on your…”
I hold up a hand and interrupt her.
“It’s just sex, Ashley. Everyone likes that. It’s not what makes a relationship though. It’s not what makes a marriage.”
The hotel comes into view and my heart is racing. I can’t get this chick out of my car fast enough.
“Don’t act like that’s all we have, Max. I’m not letting you throw this away on some tramp from the hood.”
“She’s no tramp and whatever it was you and I had, it’s over.” I pull up and the doorman walks to her door. “Goodbye. I’m sorry it has to end like this, but it’s over and I don’t want to talk to or see you ever again. Do you understand me, Ashley?”
“Good evening, ma’am,” the doorman says as he opens the door and extends his hand to her. “Welcome back.”
Her eyes glare into mine. “I understand you. Now understand me, this isn’t over until I say it is, and I’m not about to do that. So let your little tramp know that she’s in for a fight because that’s what you do for someone you love. You fight for them.”
“How can you claim to love me? I don’t love you, doesn’t that matter to you at all?”
“It’s on, Max,” she says then gets out of the car and walks away.
I grab my cell and call Lexi. “Are you home ye
t?”
“Just about, why are you tired of waiting on me? You can leave if you want, I’ll understand.”
“No!” I shout and find myself a bit over-excited by what’s just happened. “No, I’m running late, please wait for me. I want to go with you. Don’t go without me, promise.”
“Okay then, see you soon.”
She hangs up and I press the gas pedal harder. Something tells me that Ashley is more than capable of starting up something which will send Lexi running from me again. I have to keep her safely tucked away until Ashley calms down and gets over this.
Alexis
As I pull up to the apartment to wait for Max I peek in the mirror and see that I’m a wreck, but I already have the dogs in the van and don’t want to leave them in here while I get cleaned up. I run my hands through my ponytail and grab a wet wipe from the glove box, running it quickly over my face.
His black Jaguar pulls up next to me and he gets out, looking completely gorgeous in blue jeans and a T-shirt and his sunglasses. He looks like a ding dang model and I resemble something the cat drug in.
He pops into the passenger seat.
“Hey there, gorgeous.” He leans over towards me. “Gotta kiss for Daddy?”
I giggle and lean in so we can kiss and stars fill my head as our lips touch. “Wanna tell me how it went?”
He shakes his head and puts on his seatbelt. He sniffs the air and makes a face. “Do I smell dog crap?”
“I think some got on me during that last dog bath I gave, but I can’t find it and don’t have time to change before I walk these dogs, so you’re stuck with smelling it for a little while. Unless you want me to leave you here, you don’t have to go with me. I’ll totally understand.”
“I’ll adjust. I want to go with you.”
His eyes aren’t sparkly like they have been and I sense that things didn’t go well with that woman. “Tell me how it went, Max.” I put the van in drive and take off, making the wheels spin a little on the loose gravel.
“Whoa!” he shouts as he grabs a handful of dashboard.
I turn to him and smile. “Really! That scared you? You hang out of moving helicopters and that scared you?”
“I usually drive,” he says relaxing his Kung Fu grip on the dash. “Take it easy Evil Knievel.”
I slow down some so Mr. Scaredy pants can get some blood back to his face. “I’m dying, Max. Please.”
“It went well, she’ll be fine. How about you take a little vacation and let me take you somewhere for a week or so?”
“I can’t. I have these dogs to walk and appointments all this week and next for grooming gigs.”
With a turn of his head, he stares out the window. “Oh.”
He sounds disappointed so I add, “How about after that, like in two weeks? I can get someone else to walk the dogs and I won’t set up any appointments until we get back.”
With a frown on his gorgeous face he says, “Yeah, we can go somewhere then if you want.”
I’ve never made plans with someone before, it’s kinda nice. I pull into a parking space and jump out of the van. Max meets me at the back and takes both the big dogs out of their kennels.
“I’m taking these two…,” he says. “I’m too much of a man to walk that little bitty thing, whatever it is.”
I place the Shih Tzu on the ground. “Too much of a man. A real man doesn’t worry about such things. I think dainty dogs are too cute. You’d look great walking any kind of animal. With your looks, you could easily get away with walking a skunk and the women would still flock to you.”
A deep chuckle comes from him as he puts both dogs’ leashes in one hand and the other arm he wraps around my waist. What we must look like walking side by side like this. I’m wearing faded blue scrubs that have dog poopy on them somewhere I can’t see, and my hair is a mess from wrestling all the dogs I have today. Max looks like he walked out of a fashion shoot as he always does.
His lips touch my cheek and it ignites something in me. This commitment I’ve made to myself about waiting a couple of weeks before I give into my deep, dark desires for him is going to be hard to keep.
“We should make some ground rules about this physical stuff.”
“Uh, uh,” he says and kisses my cheek again. “No ground rules, control freak.”
“I don’t consider myself a control freak by any means, buster.”
The Great Dane sees somewhere she’d like to pee so we change directions. Max looks at me and smiles.
“Buster? Wow! Harsh words there, little lady.”
I giggle and slap at his chest. “You goof.”
Something freezing cold splashes all over my back and all the dogs begin barking at once as we turn to see the woman Max was with, holding an empty bottle of water. “So this is the tramp!” Her words spew from her mouth.
The dogs lunge at her, barking like crazy, and Max holds them back as he shouts, “Ashley, Goddammit what are you doing?”
The woman’s face breaks into a melting mess as she points at me and says, “So this is what you left me for. It’s not right, Max. I’m better, so much better. Look at her for the love of God.”
Max holds me tight to his side and glares at the woman.
“Ashley, you better get the Hell away from us right now, before I let these dogs do what they want to you.”
The woman falls to her knees, crying.
“Max, please don’t do this to me, I love you.”
“You’re making a fool of yourself. Stand up and stop this. We’re leaving and you had better not follow us or I’m going to call the police.”
Max turns and we walk away as she screams. “I love you, Max! I know you still love me too. Don’t let that bitch do this to us!”
Her words are confusing me and I ask him, “Did you tell her you loved her?”
He shakes his head. “Something’s wrong with her. She never told me she loved me and I never told her those words either.”
We’ve made it some distance from her, but I still hear her yelling. Most of its incoherent, but the last words I hear resonate in me.
“I’ll get you, bitch. I’m not letting you take my man without a fight. You won’t know when or where, but I’ll get you.”
My body begins to shake and Max whispers, “Don’t listen to her. She can’t do a thing to you.”
As we get to the van I find I’m shaking so hard the keys rattle in my hand as I push the button to unlock the doors.
“Max, can you drive?”
“Sure,” he says as he loads the dogs into their kennels. “You go sit down, I can do this.”
As I walk to the passenger side I see the woman coming across the field towards us again and shout, “Hurry, Max, she’s coming over here.”
The back doors slam and he jumps into the driver’s seat, starting the engine and pulling away just as she gets close enough to throw something at my window. A brown bunch of goo which I think is dog poop smashes against the window, leaving a yucky mess on it.
“I thought you said it all went well, Max?”
The van moves down the road as fast as he can make it go.
“The first time it did, the second time it didn’t,” he says, without looking at me.
“The second time?”
“Well, yeah. I thought it was over and done with and I dropped her back off at the hotel. I guess she followed me to your house because right after I pulled into the parking lot, she got out of a cab and that’s when I got to meet the crazy Ashley she’s been hiding.” He glances at me. “I’m giving her a bad review on that dating site.”
“Okay, she knows where I live?” I say to myself, trying to decide what I need to do.
With a shake of his head he says, “Not the actual apartment number, no. It doesn’t matter anyway. I’m taking you to my place. You’ll stay with me.”
“Max, that’s not dating, that’s called living together, and that’s going way too fast.” I begin shaking again as I realize it’s too soon to do that
, but I also don’t want her to do anything horrible to me. I know all too well what terrible things people can do to each other.
“You can stay in the bedroom you stayed in before. I promise to respect you, Lexi.”
We drop off the dogs and stop by my apartment so I can pack some things. I throw some clothes into an old bag and Max takes me by the wrists.
“What?”
“Leave all this stuff here. Let me get you some new things. We’ll go shopping tomorrow.” He pulls me into his arms. “Let me spoil you, baby.”
To be spoiled is a thing I’ve never been. I’ve worked since I was sixteen. I search his deep green eyes and for the first time I let my stubborn pride go out the window. “Okay.”
“Good. Now let’s get you home.”
“I should probably take my van.”
Moving me along with him to his car he says, “I’ll send someone to get it later. I want you with me for now anyway, okay?”
I nod in agreement. I don’t really want to be left alone either. After helping me get in the car, he gets in the driver’s seat and I bust out and say, “When I was fifteen a group of girls from school asked me to join them at a park. They never seemed to like me before, they usually said mean things to me.” I hesitate at how hard this is to say.
His hand touches mine. “Please tell me.”
“I wanted to have friends like anyone does. So I went. There was a river, and we all went down to it. They were being really nice to me, and I ran along with them as we moved down a steep bank, away from the other people in the park.” I swallow hard to get the lump out of my throat. “One hit me in the face as I turned back to see if everyone was following, and then another one hit me in the stomach. All of them began hitting and punching me, pulling my hair, and screaming bad words at me. One of them picked up a log and hit me across the back of the head. When I woke up, I was face down in the mud. My glasses were gone and my clothes had been ripped off. I only had my underwear on.”
The Billionaire Bad Boy Plan Page 93