“Good morning. Right on time, Felicia,” she said on opening the door.
“Hi there, Alex!” Felicia beamed back at her with the thousand-watt smile women reserved for guys they were hoping would pay attention to them.
Felicia completely ignored Lynn. Alexandra ducked her head, feeling slightly embarrassed at the interest this day nurse had been sending her way for the past two days. Unlike Lynn, who was middle aged, Felicia was in her twenties. Even with the spray-on tan, she was an attractive woman, and Alexandra noticed that because she envied her slightly—Felicia had a body with the fit curves she had never been lucky enough to have.
Today, her fine chestnut brown hair was pulled back in a twist, and she was wearing pink scrubs. She looked like the type of woman who was used to getting the guy she wanted. Alexandra seriously wished the nurse would stop throwing herself at her while she was being ‘Alex’.”
“See you later, Lynn,” Alexandra said, to make up for Felicia’s blatant neglect of her colleague.
She looked out at the neighborhood as Lynn stepped out and Felicia came inside, her eyes trained on Sebastian’s Jeep parked next door. The thought of a visit from Bash later in the day sent waves of heat shooting through her, but there were things she needed to do before she could socialize. Felicia followed her to the dining room, and Alexandra did her best to steer clear of the nurse’s come hither stares.
“So, how’s Mr. Storme this morning?” Felicia made small talk as she checked her patient’s vitals.
“He’s been sleeping peacefully, as far as I can tell.”
Alexandra moved to the opposite side of the room and crossed her arms as Felicia prepared her father’s cocktail of medications.
“My father has always been such a busy guy. It’s weird to see him like this, laid up in bed. Usually by this time of day he’d be down at the office for hours, talking to clients on the other side of the world.”
“Oh, he’s your dad? I didn’t know Mr. Storme had a son. I was watching on MTV the other night about his daughter Lexxi Rock being somewhere out in France. What a sister you have, huh? How does it feel to be related to such a self-centered person?” Her annoyed expression ended on a gulp when she noticed the expression on Alexandra’s face. “I’m sorry. I meant no disrespect. Sometimes this mouth of mine gets away from me.”
She licked her lips seductively and pulled her bottom lips between her teeth. Alexandra struggled not to roll her eyes.
“That’s my cousin,” she said, trying to backtrack to keep her cover. “Lexxi Rock is my cousin.”
“Okay,” Felicia said slowly, clearly confused.
Alexandra shook her head. The woman must have thought they had some weird family triangle going on, where her sister was also her cousin. People preferred to think the worst of celebrities, but Alexandra was not about to add fuel to the fire for Lexxi Rock.
“Let me clarify. Maxwell Storme is my uncle,” she told Felicia, correcting her cover story. “He’s like a father to me. I look up to him…I guess you could say he raised me. And, Lexxi is my cousin, but she’s not selfish. You have no idea who she is. Don’t you think what you said was a little insensitive?”
Alexandra got some satisfaction from the embarrassed blush on Felicia’s face as she looked away. “I just meant…”
“Yeah, don’t worry about it.”
Alexandra wandered out of the dining room, fuming at the awkward situation that had her defending herself to a perfect stranger. She grabbed her coffee and breakfast shake from the kitchen, and stomped upstairs to her bedroom.
Maybe now she’ll stop with her flirting.
Standing in the doorway, she looked around, searching for her to-do list. She had the day all planned out, and had already decided to make herself scarce while Felicia was around. She sat at the edge of her bed and took a few minutes to have breakfast. After that, she got to work. First on the agenda was to get this new set of storage containers to the basement. Okay, dragging it to the basement.
With the newly found space, she emptied the remainder of her shopping bags, and put her new things in the closet. When that was finished, she stepped outside the bedroom and listened from the top of the stairs. Felicia spoke to Dad as she worked. It sounded like things were under control.
Alexandra went down to her father’s home office to check some new files Rosa had left behind for her to review. It was a contract and paperwork for her father’s firm to acquire a top tier product design company. He had been brokering mergers and acquisitions as an investment banker for thirty years—until falling ill. It was unorthodox for him to leave the work to someone outside of his office to complete, but he knew Alexandra could handle the trade better than anyone else in the firm.
This was something very few people knew or cared about Alexandra when she became Lexxi Rock. She had more going on upstairs than music and melodies. She had graduated from college—twice—thanks to Dad’s help and encouragement. Her fans weren’t that interested to know that while she was living a starving artist lifestyle early in her music career, she completed college. During the time she was recording her first album, she had also done her father proud by graduating from Berkeley with honors. It was also public knowledge that she went on to complete a Master’s degree in business finance—public knowledge that fell off everyone’s radar, because it didn’t involve drama, jet-setting, excessive shopping trips, cheating boyfriends, raunchy sex, starvation diets or whatever the media was usually after. Getting that far academically took a big sacrifice. There were no summers off during her time at college, no breaks, and she constantly had to juggle work with school demands and schedules.
Her father always wanted her to have a backup plan. He was adamant when it came to her education, in case the music thing didn’t work out for her. As it stood now, she technically never had to work another day in her life if she chose not to, thanks to shrewd investments cultivated by his business acumen. Even her great grandchildren were set for life, if she ever got out of the serial celebrity dating scene. Thanks to her father, she was probably one of the best kept secrets in Hollywood—a responsible, drug-free billionaire. And the funny thing was most of it had nothing to do with her alter ego, Lexxi Rock.
Other than Dad’s lawyer, who had been with him since the beginning, Alexandra was the only person outside of his firm that he trusted with the delicate work of projects like this. This one she looked at was supposed to have been his last project before retiring. She got down to it. Squaring her shoulders, she reviewed the contracts and got busy with phone calls and faxes to his office, wherever she needed verification or supporting documentation to tie up the loose ends.
Before she got too far into it, the oh-so-friendly nurse eventually yelled out to get her downstairs. Felicia gave her a detailed accounting of what she had done so far, and flirted some more. The button-down top portion of her scrubs was opened one button more than it had been when she had walked in through the front door.
Does this woman have no shame?
Alexandra listened, nodded, and made a few remarks. She may have been abrupt with her, but Felicia had officially gotten on her bad side. After Felicia’s report, Alexandra checked up on her father and headed back upstairs to finish what she started.
Hours later, with her head still swimming with figures and an excessive number of details about this transaction, she had completed her assessment, rolled up all of her recommended financial checks, and listed out next steps for Dad’s lawyer. Putting the file away, she stretched and she stood up. She rubbed her tired eyes and checked the clock. She had worked right through lunch, stopping only to check on dad periodically while simultaneously avoiding Felicia.
It was now after one in the afternoon. If her housekeeper Lilly were here, there would be a meal waiting for her and a lecture that Alexandra didn’t eat enough. She smiled at the thought and grabbed her phone before going down to the kitchen to prepare lunch. Alexandra rifled through the pantry and fridge for something to eat. She settled
on a reasonably healthy meal, throwing it in the microwave before she darted into the dining room to check on Dad again while it cooked.
She talked to him about the acquisition. He would have probably been worried about his work even in his hospital bed under a drug-induced sleep. She teased him about his notoriously bad handwriting that she had found in some of his notes, most of which were near impossible to decipher. It almost felt like they were having a regular conversation. His fingers were cool and dry in her hand, and although he was still asleep, she was grateful to have him still here with her.
After a while, she dragged herself away to the empty, quiet kitchen. Sitting at the small side table, she ate the less-than-appetizing meal. She started thinking about Bash, who had not come over in days. She was beginning to miss having him around.
Maybe I should drop by.
With a shake of her head, she laughed off the idea of taking the initiative. She wanted to see him, but did not want to send him mixed signals.
After she ate lunch, it was Felicia’s turn to leave for the day. She was replaced by Joanne, the mid-thirties nurse who appeared to be the most professional of the three. Alexandra fired off a text message to Evangeline. She gave her an update on how things were, and headed back to her father’s office. Rosa had asked Alexandra to give her a call when she was finished reviewing the documents. There was a lot to do to distract her from her preoccupation with Sebastian Sullivan. She needed to keep away.
The man is off limits.
Now was not the time to get caught up in another doomed-to-fail relationship. She had her father to consider. Not that she could have had a relationship with Bash, anyway. He was gay, with somewhere around eighty percent certainty.
He’s gay and I’m not really a guy.
Dammit, this was all so frustrating.
Rosa answered her cell phone. “Hello?”
“Hi. It’s Alexandra.”
“Oh, hi honey. How’s Max doing?”
“Good, I think. He’s still sleeping a lot from the meds. Hey, I just called about that acquisition he wanted me to look at. All the power of attorney paperwork is finalized. I signed the contracts, and dad’s end of the work is complete. I added some notes for the lawyer to check on, but it looks good overall. Whenever you get back in town, you can swing by here and pick up the originals to take to the attorney.”
“That’s great. Your father always said you were a whiz at this. I’ll arrange for a courier.”
“Perfect.”
“I can’t wait to get back there. I should be back before the week is out.”
“Great. Don’t worry, Rosa. Dad will be fine,” she told her. “Well, come back soon. We miss you.”
She hung up the phone and stared blindly at the wall, thinking about her own romantic life, or lack of it.
“Wilkes, you jackass,” she growled. “Why did you have to turn out to be such a waste of time?”
She sighed, rising from the chair to leave the office. She checked out the window at Sebastian’s house next door, wondering why he had stayed away this long. She missed his smile. He was so easy to talk to. It was time to pay him a visit. He said he wanted to be friends—with Alex, but whatever.
Chapter 14
ALEXANDRA ran up to her bedroom to get her hair into some semblance of style. She giggled at the thought of wanting to look attractive, even in the boyish get-up. She studied her reflection, wondering what she must look like through Sebastian’s eyes. She was still in the plaid skater shorts, black t-shirt and tan shirt from earlier in the day. Her hair was a wild, spiky tumble of black layers. Without eyeliner and mascara or any other makeup, she thought she could still pass for a guy.
A damn good-looking one, too, Alex.
She smirked and ran back down the stairs after grabbing the baby monitor off her dresser. She had Rosa buy a set before she left, so she could listen for dad from upstairs through the night while she slept. Even with twenty-four hour nursing care, she wanted to listen out for him. Between the sounds of his medical equipment and his occasional weak calls for her, it came in handy.
“I’ll be right next door, Dad,” she called out, nodding to Joanne as she made it to the wide living room door. “Give me a call on my phone if you need anything, Joanne.”
“Will do, Mr. Roberts.”
Alexandra smiled, reaching for her keys and locking up. Before she stepped off the porch, she looked over at Bash’s house. His Jeep was no longer parked outside.
“Darn.”
She gnawed on the corner of her lip and let her anticipation fizzle out. It sucked. Just when she got up the nerve to go over there, he was not home. Sighing, she marched back inside and went into the kitchen. She got a pen and ripped off a sheet of paper from the grocery list sticky notes. She would jot down a quick handwritten message to let Bash know she had stopped by. Other than signatures and financial documents, she could not remember the last time she had done up a handwritten note for anyone. It felt weird, but she was on autopilot as she wrote the message.
What the note really meant was she wanted to see him.
God, this is so high school.
She told herself it was not a love letter, but a friendly note to let him know she missed—she struck through the word “missed” and then scribbled through it like she was trying to redact a government secret. All the scribbling in the world was not going to make that look manly. She ended up crumpling up that note, and yanked another sheet from the sticky pad to start over.
“I haven’t seen you around lately,” she spoke aloud as she wrote, “and thought I’d stop by to say hey…” she pressed the pen to her lips and tilted her head to one side, rereading it. She added, “Stop by whenever you get a chance.”
Satisfied the note was now manly enough, Alexandra went back next door and stuck the folded piece of paper in the crack between the doorjamb and the stained-glass door. Her phone rang as she was speed-walking back to Dad’s house. She ran through the front door and threw her back against it as she slammed it closed. With a sigh of relief, she was proud for taking the note over while she still had the nerve.
She pulled her phone out of her pocket on the beginning of the fourth ring.
“Hello?”
“There you are!” It was Rick. “I thought I’d have to leave a message. How’s my favorite rock star princess?”
She ran up to the second floor to take the call in her father’s office. “Hi Rick. I’m great. How’s this for good news? Daddy’s home!”
“That’s fantastic news, princess!” he said, relieved. “How is he feeling?”
“He’s sleeping most of the time, but he looks better every day.”
“That’s the Max I know, the old fighter. So, you won’t be long now, right Lexxi?”
“I…I’m not sure, Rick. He still needs me.”
“Lexxi, honey, I’ve got hounds on me trying to sniff out when you’ll be back in town. That story about the French Riviera has taken on a life of its own. It was probably a bad call on my part. Now two of the concert venues are thinking you blew them off to party! It’s bad for business, honey.”
“Wait, now you think your cover story and stand-in were a bad idea?”
“I should have anticipated they’d find out Max was hospitalized.”
She was annoyed about Rick’s eagerness to get her back to work. He had no right to put her return above Dad’s wellbeing.
“I’ve only been gone a little over two weeks, Rick. You can keep them off my back for a little while longer, can’t you? I really need this time.”
“Sweetheart, I understand you’re…you know, I know what you’re going through, and I’m happy to hear he’s improving. You’ll have to come back eventually, and the sooner the better. I don’t see why you can’t just fly in, do a few appearances and then go back.”
She dropped her voice to a hushed whisper, feeling her blood begin to boil. “I’m not leaving Tucson until I know Dad’s completely recovered. I can’t believe you would even sugg
est it.”
She was so upset, she held back a growl. Rick sighed in frustration on the other end of the line. He would do anything in this business, and had forgotten her in the process. That was the one thing about the celebrity circuit that ticked her off the most.
“Come on, Lexxi. You know better than that. Business is business.”
“Yes. I know. The show must go on,” she muttered, unable to hide the bitter edge to her voice. “Look, I’ll get in touch with you when I’m able to make the trip. Until then, I need you to keep stalling for me. When I get back, we need to talk about some changes with the way you and I work together. For starters, I’m planning on taking more control of my image and brand.”
“Whatever you want to do, Lexxi, you know I’m game. Get your ass back out here…soon. Now don’t make me beg, young lady.”
“Bye, Rick.”
She hit the end call button, pacing the office for a few more minutes. Her frustration grew as she thought about how much she had sacrificed to get this far. She had so little control over her time, and almost no control over something as important as taking a few unplanned weeks off. Rick had forgotten about all the long hours, constant travelling, lost friendships, muddled almost-relationships, and missed family time. She had been away for birthdays, holidays and special time with Dad, to travel the world time and time again for international concert tours, to record new music, film videos, tackle interviews and make public appearances. That was the price of being in demand. She had very little time to be with the people she knew and loved most. It was unfair, and Rick’s phone call came at a bad time. Something had to change when she got back to LA.
She could never get back the years she had spent focusing on the business. She had been absent from her father’s side for too long. Another three or more years making the same mistakes did not make sense anymore. There was also Eva, who would wrap up her filming soon. She thought about Rosa, who was starting to feel more and more like family.
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