It wasn’t Alexis who sent those messages to me that day. No. It was him. He’s been here all along, the person I was looking for was right under my goddamn nose the whole time. Neil warned me to stay away from Alexis, but I honestly thought that he was looking out for me. Not once did I think he was responsible for any of this or that he had any other motives than to be a good friend.
I don’t understand. The more I try, the more confused I become. She was mine, not his. Holly was mine. I lift my gaze away from the same door I’ve been glaring at since I was discharged from the hospital late last night. His bedroom door. Though, it isn’t his anymore. They’ve got him. They’ve finally taken in the person they should’ve had all along.
I spent three days in the hospital. Most of that time I didn’t talk, but I listened. I heard every word spoken when they thought I was either incoherent or asleep. When I say they, I mean Alexis, Rach, and Paul, Alexis’ father. Yeah, he was there. He came to Seattle as soon as Alexis called and told him what happened. But, what happened that day wasn’t the only thing they spoke about. You wanna know what else they were saying? Well, I’ll tell you. Alexis is pregnant. Yeah, with my baby. But, you wanna know something else? That motherfucker knew, and he was still determined to do what he did. He wanted me out of the picture. That much is clear in itself.
“I’m going to go and grab us something to eat,” I hear Alexis speak by my right ear. She’s resting her hands on the couch, and leaning in close. “I won’t be long.” When she presses a kiss on my cheek, I reach up, and take a hold of one of her hands.
“Alexis, no. Rye will go. I’ll get Rye to go,” I insist, stand, and then walk around the couch until I’m right beside her. She cocks her head to the side, and her brow creases. I know what she’s thinking, and she’s most probably right. I’m not ready to go outside yet. I’m not ready to hear them all laughing at me because of what he did, and what he tried to do. You wanna know something else? I don’t want her leaving my sight because I need to make this up to her.
I was the one who was supposed to be taking care of her. Me. But, I didn’t. I put her in danger, and from now on, I don’t want her going anywhere without me by her side, “He’s not around anymore, Brandon. And to be honest, I need the air. We’ve been in here ever since you got let out of the hospital. If you want, why don’t you come with me?” Her eyes are searching mine, flickering over my face while she waits for me to answer her.
Have I told her why I won’t go outside? Well, would you? She must think that I’m a big enough idiot as it is without me needing to confirm it some more, “No, not yet.”
“They’re on your side, Brandon. All of them. They’ve been asking about you, and they told Ryan and Alyssa that they’re glad you’re okay.” She reaches up, and lightly strokes her fingers along my jaw.
“Who’s they?” Yeah, I’m having a hard time believing her. They’re most probably only saying that shit to mock me; to mock us.
“Pretty much everybody!” she answers me, clutching my face now, forcing me to look at her. “The guys from your class, some from mine … Matt.”
I drop my gaze from hers and turn around. Yeah, you heard that right. Matt. The biggest walking asshole on the planet has been asking about me. But, he isn’t the biggest asshole anymore; we know who is. Why would Matt be asking about me? Well, that might be partly due to the fact that I pretty much owe him my life. Ironic, huh? If it wasn’t for him then I wouldn’t be here now, telling you my story.
Alexis told me that he’d heard her screams. She said she wouldn’t leave me because I begged her not to, but when I closed my eyes, she ran out from the building, and he was the first person she saw. He helped. Granted, he helped her for probably the wrong reasons, but he did it anyways. Do I forgive him for everything he’s done to her in the past? Nope, but I’m sure as hell grateful to the guy for calling 911 because if he hadn’t then I wouldn’t be here today. I wouldn’t be back with Alexis, and I wouldn’t be around to meet our baby in a few months’ time.
Honestly? The news is still sinking in. Had I ever thought about having kids? Sure, in around fifteen years’ time maybe, but not at twenty years old. It was a shock. No. No, it was a surprise, not a shock. We haven’t really had much of a chance to discuss this because of everything else that’s going on, but we’re gonna have to start sorting things eventually. There’s no way we’re gonna be able to stay on campus, and it’s more than likely that I’m gonna need to quit college and get a full-time job to support us. Whatever it takes. Whatever I have to do to make sure Alexis and our baby are okay, I’ll do it.
“Please come take a walk with me?” My shoulders slouch from her request, and I inhale a shaky breath. “Please?”
“I’m not going anywhere, and neither are you.” I answer, and walk toward our room, pausing when I hear a knock on the main door. I turn around, glancing between Alexis and the door. “Leave it.”
“Miss. Harper?” A female voice calls through the closed door. “Miss. Harper, it’s Detective Steele.” Again? I watch as Alexis goes over to let her inside, and make my way back over to the couch. They’re not gonna stay away and leave us alone. I just want us to be alone. Me and Alexis. That’s all. Is that really so bad?
She lets them inside, and I turn to look over the back of the couch, “Miss. Harper,” she begins, stopping when she sees me sitting over here. “Mr. Taylor. We may have identified one of your attackers. We have somebody in custody, and we need you both to confirm whether or not you recognize him. We have strong leads to believe that he was Neil’s main accomplice.”
“His accomplice? What are you talking about? Do you mean one of the guys who kicked the shit outta me?” I stand back up, and head straight over to her, her eyes darting to Alexis before they land back on me.
“I think that we perhaps need to sit down.” Yeah, what she’s just said is making me feel nervous, too. Whenever somebody says ‘we need to sit down’, it always means they’ve got something to say, and it’s never a good something.
The three of us take a seat, and Alexis grabs a hold of my hand as the detective opens up a file, “Do either of you recognize this man?” We both lean forward to take a closer look when she slides a photograph across the coffee table and toward us.
“He … yeah, he was …” My hands ball into fists when I see that same blonde guy who showed up at the cabin, right before he and the others kicked and punched me unconscious. “He was the one at the cabin.”
“No, he was at the bar. I remember,” Alexis taps the picture. and turns to face me once she’s picked it up in her hands. “The night my drink got spiked. Brandon, look. It’s him! I’m sure he said his name was Vinnie, don’t you remember?” Well I’ll be motherfucking damned.
“That’s right. His name is Vincent Goffrey. He was picked up in Olympia a few hours ago, and it seems he’s been involved in a lot of this alongside Neil Kelly.”
My jaw’s clenched tight, and I rip the photograph from out of Alexis’ hands, “What does this mean? Huh? What? Are you telling me that—?”
“So far, Mr. Goffrey is cooperating, and he has already admitted to spiking your drink, Alex. Mr. Kelly hired him to do that, amongst other things …”
“What the hell’s that supposed to mean?” I snap while leaning forward in my seat. She can’t just tell us some of the details and expect us to not wanna know more. “What else?” I grind out, and even the detective appears a little taken aback.
“He also admitted to supplying Mr. Kelly with heroin on two occasions, and …” she turns in her seat, and throws Alexis a sympathetic look. “We’re trying to piece everything we have together, because at this present moment in time, we only have your witness statements, and Mr. Goffrey’s.”
“What about Neil? What’s he said about all of this? Surely you’ve spoken to him?” Alexis’ voice is flat, and she grabs a hold of my hand. “Has he told you why he did all of this?”
The detective shakes her head while closing her file, “He�
��s not at this moment willing to help us with our investigation. Now that I can confirm what you’ve just told me, we have a stronger lead.”
“Wait up. Just wait a second. If he’s already admitted to being a part of all of this then why did you need us to verify this?” Oh, I know. I’m pretty good at this. I’ve gotta be. My trust in mankind no longer exists. She’s not here for us to confirm his identity at all. There’s something else. I know there is.
“Just to be sure.” She’s lying. “I’ll be in touch in due course.” She stands. “Alex? May I have a word with you outside for a moment?” Alexis glances over to me, and she looks just as confused by the detectives request as I am. I start tapping my foot uncontrollably as I watch the both of them walk out of the dorm.
Neil hired him to spike her drink? You know what? This doesn’t surprise me in the slightest. Not anymore. If I hadn’t seen that guy slipping something into her drink then what would he have done? No. I can’t think about this. It didn’t happen. Not that time, anyways.
Ten minutes pass by before Alexis steps back inside, and she’s looking whiter than white. I immediately stand and head straight over to her, “What happened?”
She doesn’t look me in the eye, but I see her shaking her head at me. “Nothing.” Oh, and now she’s lying, too. “She just wanted to see how I’m handling things, what with my mom and all.”
“Then why did she ask you to step outside? Couldn’t she have asked you in here?” My questions earn me a shrug of her shoulders, and it’s now that I notice just how exhausted she really looks. “Are you sure that’s everything?”
“Yes. Yes, I’m sure,” she answers, offering me a small smile as she walks around me, heading toward our room. “I’m going for a lie down.” She throws over her shoulder, and I pause by the breakfast bar.
Yeah, I’m not buying it. Not one tiny bit. Something’s going on here, “Hey, Alexis? Do you want me to make you something to eat?”
“I’m not hungry.”
“But you just sa—”
“I said I’m not hungry!” She says firmly, her voice filled with what? Anger? She slams the door closed behind her, and I stay standing here, my eyes wide from the way she just reacted to a simple question.
“What’s going on?” I turn to my left when I hear Rye stepping out of his room, his eyes darting between me and the closed door. “Is everything okay between the two of you?”
His guess is as good as mine.
Chapter Twenty-Four
ONE WEEK LATER
With my head resting on the pillow, I cross my arms up behind my neck, and keep staring up at the ceiling. I’ve been doing this for a while. Actually, I’ve been doing this since Alexis fell asleep last night.
It’s five o’clock in the morning, and it’s only just starting to get light outside. I haven’t been able to sleep; not even for an hour. The flashbacks are still haunting my thoughts as soon as I close my eyes, so I figure it’s probably for the best if I don’t even try and sleep anymore. There’s plenty of time to sleep when I’m dead.
When she went for a lie down once the detective left for the second time, I sat with Rye for a while. He and Alyssa have been spending a lot of time out of the dorm because they thought that me and Alexis would be wanting some space.
We talked about what happened, and it was hard. Really fucking hard. Even the mention of that asshole’s name gets me riled. Yeah, Rye knows about Holly now, and he seemed surprised. Will I ever forgive her for what she did to me? I don’t think it’s a matter of me forgiving her, that’s not what this is all about. From the way she’s written the words in her diary, she sounded as though she regretted what she did. She thought that I was always putting her second place, but that was never my intention. It wasn’t, but now I don’t have a chance to go back and put things right with her. He’s made sure of that. She chose him, when she should’ve chosen me. I would never have hurt her. Ever.
The cops went over to speak with Rach a couple of days ago, and she called me right afterward. She cried, a lot. It was the first time I’d spoken to her since I left the hospital. She was upset for me, and also for herself. She thought Holly told her everything. Holls always went to speak with Rach if she had a problem or needed advice, but not about that. Do I believe Rach had no idea? Yeah, I do. I have no reason to suspect otherwise because she would’ve told me sooner. I know she would’ve.
I hear Alexis make a slight sound, and turn on my side, wrapping my right arm firmly around her waist while stroking my fingers through her hair with the other. I rest my face in the crook of her neck, and listen to her light breaths as she sleeps. It’s things like this that I need to make the most of. Simple things in life that you don’t seem to value or appreciate until it’s too late. I’m gonna make sure that for every moment I have air in my lungs, I’ll make the most of every single second I have with her.
I brush my fingers lightly over her stomach, and smile when she lets out a soft moan while pressing her body up against me, “Why aren’t you sleeping?” she asks, her voice is hoarse from just having woken up. I trace my fingers lower, and pull her nightdress up slowly while skimming my fingers higher over her thighs. “What time is it?”
“I think it’s time to show you just how thankful I am to have you in my arms again, beautiful,” I whisper, and press myself against her a little more firmly this time. When she inhales a sharp and shaky breath, I smile against her ear. Oh yeah, she felt just how hard I am for her.
She shuffles over until she’s laying on her back, and smiles as she reaches down to my shorts, “I think I like the sound of that.”
Lazily tracing her fingers underneath, I let out a groan when she runs them lower, until she’s taken me in her hand. She raises her chin up a little higher, and then strokes her tongue lightly across my bottom lip.
“Take this off,” I whisper hoarsely against her mouth while tugging on her night dress. Grabbing her by the waist, I lift her on top of me until she’s straddling my chest. But, then I have a better idea. She’s smiling down at me with her disheveled hair falling over her face and past her shoulders. Damn she’s beautiful even first thing in the morning.
I grasp at her waist, and bring her higher, until she’s hovering right above me, “What are you doing?” She asks, looking down at me, her eyes widening up when she notices me licking my lips.
I take my hands from off of her waist and grab a hold of hers, placing them on the headboard behind me, “Keep your hands on there.” I say, and watch as her cheeks turn a slight shade of pink. “It’s been far too long since I’ve tasted you, beautiful.” I glance up one final time to make sure she’s keeping her hands where I asked her to, and bring mine away, running them up her thighs before tracing my fingers along the edge of her black panties.
When I dip my fingers underneath the fabric, I can feel how wet she is already, and let out a growl while moving her panties to the side. Damn I’ve missed this. We haven’t been together like this since we were at the cabin. That was over two weeks ago. To say that I’m ready for her is definitely an understatement.
I pull her closer to my mouth until my tongue is swirling over her, and smile when I hear her soft moans as I flick my tongue against her, dipping it inside a couple of times when she starts wriggling against my mouth.
Keeping one hand firmly wrapped around her waist, I slowly run my tongue along her folds while reaching down for my dick, never allowing my eyes to leave her the whole time. Tasting her again, and being able to feel her excitement is almost too much for me to take, and I glide my hand up and down my length at the same speed my tongue whirls against her, “Oh, that’s good.” I lift my gaze to see her face when I hear her whispers, and watch as she throws her head back while gripping onto the headboard even tighter. Now this is my kinda breakfast.
I actually think that I’m harder now than I ever have been in my entire fucking life, and if I don’t stop rubbing my dick right at this second then I’m gonna explode before I even have the chanc
e be inside her. Nibbling on her clit, and sucking softly, only makes her thrash herself harder against my mouth, and I know that I need to be inside her right this second.
I shuffle down the bed, and she glances over her shoulder, with a look of bemusement filling her eyes when I go to kneel behind her. She’s wearing far too many clothes. But then, so am I. I pull my shorts down until they’re around my knees, and lift her nightdress up until it’s high up and around her waist. Yep. Still too many. Pressing myself against her, I watch as she bites down on her bottom lip before she turns to face ahead, her hands still firmly wrapped around the bars.
“Damn, your ass is sexy,” I tell her, and smack her playfully before placing my hands on either side of her waist.
“Are you just going to stare at my ass or do you intend to do anything else while you’re back there?” Whoa! Alexis has never spoken like this before … I like it. I chuckle and hook my fingers around the edge of her panties.
“Are you ready?” I ask, wrapping my other hand gently around her throat, tilting her head back some.
“Mmm …” she answers breathlessly, and I rip the panties right off of her body before ramming myself deep inside. “Ah!” A smile creeps over my lips when I hear her cry out, and I pull slowly back, just enough so the tip of my dick’s still touching her. She said she was ready? I tighten my grip around her neck and thrust forward hard and fast. Let’s see if she meant it. “Ah!”
“Dammit you feel so fucking good,” I growl while running the hand that was previously around her neck, along her spine and around to her naval, before resting it lower until I’m circling her clit with my thumb. Pounding harder and deeper with each thrust, I cup her wetness. When she arches her back, she moans even louder. “You like that?” I ask when I lean over and trace my tongue over her earlobe.
Misguided Truths: Part Two (Misjudged) Page 28