He smiled. “Sounds perfect for you.”
I turned to look at him one last time. “I know I don’t have any right asking you for anything, but will you look out for Lexi? I think something is going on with her and she’s not ready to talk to anyone yet. She tends to keep everything bottled up. I just want to make sure she’s okay while I’m gone.”
Adam gave me a hard look. “Lexi is strong. She’ll figure out whatever is going on, but I’ll keep an eye on her.”
“She’s stubborn as hell. Thank you.” I opened the door and stepped into the hallway. “I’ll see you around, Adam.”
He nodded and followed me out, leaning on the door.
“Hey, Em?” I turned back. “No regrets.”
“No regrets.”
***
“You’re doing what!?” Lexi screeched.
I took a sip of my wine. “I’m quitting my job and moving back to Savannah. Oh, and Mason and I are back together.”
She fell back onto the couch and I handed her the glass of wine I had already poured for her. Hopefully it would soften the blow.
“Wow.” She huffed out a breath.
“I know it’s a lot to take in, but I think I’m going to be happier,” I said softly.
“Wow.”
I groaned. “Lexi, say something other than wow. Even when Vi told you she was pregnant with some guy, she’d known for a nanosecond you had more to say than that. Not to mention you had plenty to say when Stephen and Taylor told you they were moving in together.”
She took a huge gulp of wine. “Are you sure?”
I nodded. “I am.”
“Is that where you disappeared to last weekend?”
“Yeah. I’m sorry. I probably should have told you I was going, but I didn’t really think it through. Before I knew what was going on I was on a plane back home. ”
“You don’t owe me an explanation, Em. I’m just trying to put the pieces together. How is it going to work with you and Mase? Aren’t things weird between you two still?”
“Actually no, they aren’t. We talked a lot while I was there. It’s like we needed this time apart to figure out who we were separately. I’m twenty-eight and I’m just now finding out who I am. It’s taken me this long to realize that my whole life doesn’t have to revolve around Mason.”
She tucked her feet under her and sank in for a nice long conversation. “How did he feel about the whole Adam thing?”
“Well, he wasn’t thrilled, but it made things better that Adam and I never actually slept together.”
Her jaw dropped. “Wait, what? You guys dated for a whole year.”
I blushed. “It just never happened. For the first six months, I was a mess. Then everything with Stephen happened. And I guess our timing was off after that. Honestly, I’m happy that I didn’t sleep with him. He’s a great guy, but he’s just not who I should be with.”
She leaned in closer and looked at me impishly. “Did you see his cock?”
“Lexi!”
“Was it big? Tell me it was big.”
I laughed and shook my head. “I should not tell you this, but yes, it’s huge. I only saw it once, but at the time I was definitely interested. I always thought you and Adam would make a good couple.”
She made a face. “No, we wouldn’t. We’re too much alike, not to mention our schedules would make it impossible.”
I watched as she drank the second half of her glass of wine in one gulp. Okay. She’s off the clock and not on call, but damn. I cocked my head to the side as I watched her.
“Is everything okay with you, Lexi? You’ve been quiet lately.”
“I’m fine,” she said, waving me off. “I’ve been busy with work. There’s this really tough case I’m working on, but it’s nothing. Tell me more about your plans after you move back home.”
I gave her a look, warning her that I didn’t buy her story one bit. “Luke is coming back to Savannah with me.”
“That’s good. I know he misses it. Is James going with him?”
“He is. They are both really excited to start looking for a place.”
“I’m happy for them.”
I took Lexi’s hand in mine and squeezed it. “I want to say thank you.”
“For what?”
“You gave me a place to live when I moved up here and you’ve been an amazing friend. You’ve listened to me bitch and moan without complaining and you pushed me into moving on when I needed it. I can’t thank you enough for everything you’ve done.”
Lexi set her glass down and turned towards me. “Emmy, you’re fearless. I’ve watched you go through so much. Everything with Mase, trying to navigate a new relationship with Adam when you thought it was over. I watched you move across the country because you wanted a new start. Em, you followed your dream, and I’m so proud of you.”
“Lexi, I’m proud of you too. You’re a doctor, an amazing doctor. And you’re the best friend I could ever hope for.” I leaned over and pulled her into a hug. “I’m going to miss you so much. I can’t believe that we aren’t going to be ten minutes from each other anymore. It’s crazy that we’ve all finally found out what we want to do with the rest of our lives. Vi and Jax are happy, Stephen and Taylor are happy. I’m back with Mason and despite my idiocy I’m happy. Now we just need to find you someone.”
Lexi squeezed my hand.
“I don’t think that’s going to happen,” she said. Her voice was melancholy and I wondered what was going on in her head. “But I love my job, and for now, that’s enough.”
“Lexi, are you sure—”
“So how much longer do I get you before you leave?”
Whatever was bugging her was off limits. If she wanted to talk about it, she would, otherwise nothing would get her to budge. Lexi pushed people out of their comfort zone all the time, but she was more private than the rest of us put together. I just wanted to help my friend.
“I told work this morning that they needed to find my replacement. I’m going to make a formal announcement by the end of the week. Mase and I are trying to decide if we want to sell the apartment or if we want to use it as a rental property.”
“You guys love to jump in with both feet don’t you?”
I grinned. “That’s me. I never half ass anything.”
Lexi laughed and leaned back against the couch again. Something was off with her and I wanted to find out before I left. If I didn’t, at least I had the reassurance that Adam would be here for her if she needed him.
***
I bounced excitedly from foot to foot as I waited for Mason to walk down from the gate. We’d agreed that he would meet me at the apartment, but I was too excited that he was actually coming to New York to wait for him at my place. He came out the security doors and a huge smile covered his face when he saw me standing there waiting. I ran towards him, launching myself into his arms and plastering my mouth to his as soon as I could. We were making a huge scene, but I didn’t care. As we pulled back, he cupped my face in his hands and stared at me for a second.
“You weren’t supposed to meet me here.”
I grinned. “This was a good surprise though, wasn’t it?”
“Hell yes,” he said, before kissing me again.
I sighed as he wrapped his arm around my waist. We slowly walked outside to get into my town car. One thing I would miss when I visited the city would be the convenience of having a driver. Mason let me crawl into the car first, following closely behind me. He barely let me sit down before his arm was back around me.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you missed me,” I teased.
He nuzzled my neck. “I missed you so much. The bed was really lonely without you.” He leaned in closer. “And my hand has had more of a workout in the past month than it has since I was a teenager. Your texts are killing me, Em.”
I tried to look innocent. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about you little tease.”
The twinkle in his eye and the dimple showing in his cheek said he didn’t care in the least. “What are we walking into when we get to your apartment? Is it mass chaos?”
I winced. “It’s not too bad.”
“Uh huh, I’m sure. How many boxes do you have packed?”
I looked out the window.
“A few.”
“Emmy,” he drawled in warning.
I sighed. “Fine. It looks like a war zone and I have like two boxes packed.”
Mason laughed. “Your subletter is supposed to be there in a week.”
“I know,” I whined. “I just hate packing. As happy as I am to be moving back home, I hate that I’m leaving too.”
He kissed the side of my head. “It’s a good thing tomorrow is your last full day. We can spend the rest of the time packing.”
I ran my hand up his leg in search of a very specific part. When I brushed over his cock he muffled his groan in my hair.
“I think we can find a better use of our time.” I grinned at him smugly.
“Tease. Don’t think I won’t spank you if you keep acting up, baby.”
My smile widened. “That’s what I’m hoping for.”
Mason shook his head and laughed. “You’re impossible, but I love you so much.”
I snuggled into his shoulder. He was here with me, and half packed apartment or not, I was thrilled that he was.
I groaned when I lifted the heavy box onto the table. Mason rushed over to help me, but the hard part was already done. He kissed my sweaty forehead and I wrinkled my nose.
“That’s so gross. I’m a hot mess and you’re kissing me.”
“It’s salty,” he teased. “You could be covered in mud and I’d still kiss you Ms. Carter, soon to be Mrs. Davis again.”
I shook my head. “I’m not going to be anything if we don’t get this place done. We only have a day left and I feel like it’s worse now than when you first got here.”
He grinned. “That’s because we’re making progress. The movers are coming tomorrow morning and the boxes will be out of here. You’ll be able to see just how much we’ve actually accomplished then.”
I rolled my eyes. He was in for a rude awakening when he saw just how much stuff I had.
“Knock, knock,” Luke called from the front door.
“Come in,” I said. He wrapped me up in a huge hug and I caught my first glimpse of the handsome James that Luke kept going on and on about. Luke laughed as I pushed him out of the way and hugged James like he was already one of my best friends.
“You’ll have to excuse Emmy, she doesn’t know a stranger,” Mason said as he stacked up another box.
“Ain’t that the truth,” Luke said under his breath. “Em, your apartment looks like a bomb went off in here.”
Mason groaned. “Don’t tell her that, she already thinks we aren’t going to be out in time.”
“Where did Lexi get off to? She’s supposed to be helping me pack books,” I said, looking around and down the hall. “She must be in one of the bedrooms.”
James, Mason and Luke kept moving boxes while I went to look for Lexi. I walked up the hall to see if I could hear her. If she was talking to the hospital, I didn’t want to interrupt. When I found her, Lexi was on the phone, but it wasn’t with the hospital.
“I told you I can’t come up this weekend. Em is moving and I promised I would help her pack.” She was quiet for a few seconds. “I miss you too, you know that.” Pause. “I can’t wait to see you either. Next weekend, I promise.” Her voice dropped into a husky sound I’d never heard her use on any man. “Yes, and I’ll wear that thing you like.”
Oh god, I had to get out of here.
Who in the hell was she talking to? Lexi hadn’t told me about anyone she was dating. Obviously, she knew this guy pretty well though. As much as I wanted to know, there was a reason that she hadn’t told me anything. Lexi was one of the most private people I knew. If I pushed, it would probably only make her clam up even more.
I walked back into the living room and sat down on the couch. Mason gave me a funny look, but I waved him off. Luckily he knew to leave well enough alone. It took me a few minutes to gather myself and start packing books again.
“Sorry about that,” Lexi said as she walked back into the room. “The hospital.”
I nodded, but didn’t reply. It would have been one thing for her not to say anything, but it made me mad that she was lying about it.
“Sure as hell didn’t sound like a work call to me,” I mumbled.
“What?” Lexi asked.
“Nothing, just telling myself how behind we are on getting this done. I’m worried we won’t be ready to go tomorrow.”
“I’ll stay as late as I have to tonight so we can get everything done. You and Mase are staying at my place right?”
“That’s the plan if you’re still okay with it.”
She gave me a funny look. “Of course I am. That’s what we’ve been saying for the past few weeks now.”
“I just know things change sometimes. I didn’t know if you had anything else you were supposed to be doing. Somewhere else you needed to be.”
“Like where?” she asked, clearly confused at how I was acting.
“You said the hospital called. I thought maybe you needed to go in to work.”
She flushed. “Even if I had to go in, you know you guys would be welcome at the apartment. Em, you lived there for months for goodness sake.”
I looked at her pointedly. “I just wanted to make sure we weren’t keeping you from something else you wanted to be doing.”
She blanched. “What did you hear—”
“Do you guys want to order Chinese?” Mason asked, kissing my head.
“Sounds good, babe. Why don’t you order and Lexi and I can go pick it up.”
She glared at me, but I raised my eyebrow. Mason looked back and forth between the two of us. “I’ll let you know when it’s time to leave.”
I nodded and went back to packing books. Lexi wouldn’t look in my directions, but she continued to work next to me until Mason told us it was time to pick up the food. The restaurant was down the street. At least getting out of the apartment would give us a few minutes to talk. It was one thing for her to keep her secrets, but it was another for her to lie to me. She followed me to the elevator and I noticed the slight hesitation in her step before climbing in.
I sighed. “Look, I’m not going to make you talk about it, but I hate the fact that you feel like you need to lie about whatever’s going on in your life. I thought we could talk to each other about anything.”
She stared at the ground. “It’s not that I don’t want to talk about it, I just don’t know what to say. Things aren’t…serious between me and this guy. Things might go that way, but I don’t know. We’re just having fun.”
Whatever that phone call was sounded like it was more than just fun, but I wasn’t going to push. I’d gotten my point across.
“Thank you for helping, but if you want to go see him, you should go. We have plenty of help and it sounded like you really wanted to go.”
“I do kind of want to go, if I left now I could probably make it there by midnight.”
I shook my head. “Midnight? Where in the hell does this guy live?” I paused. “You know what, never mind. I just want you to be happy.”
She smiled. “I’m trying.”
“Can you at least change out of your somber black and wear something a little more…colorful? I’ll let you borrow something.”
She reached out and squeezed my hand. “I really appreciate that, but I think I’ll go just like I am. If he can’t handle that, then he probably needs to go anyway. I’ll still walk with you to go get the food. Luke and James can split my portion. I’m sure those guys worked up an appetite.”
I laughed. “You caught on to that too? The sexual tension in that place is stifling. I feel like we need to keep a fire extinguisher next to the door just for them.”
“I’m glad to see him happy though.”
“Me too.”
“I’m happy to see you happy again too. It looks like Mason really has changed.”
“He has. I have too. We seem so much calmer now. I think we just needed this time apart to figure everything out.”
We walked into the small restaurant and I picked up the food. I would be sad not to have this place within walking distance anymore. Dinner had came from here at least once a week for the past year and a half, since I’d moved into the building basically. I smiled and waved goodbye as we walked out.
“Thank you,” Lexi said quietly as we made our way back to the apartment.
“For what?”
“For not trying to make me talk. I appreciate that.”
I winked. “You’ll tell me when you’re ready.”
“I think you know me better than anyone else. If things ever get serious, you’ll be the first one I’ll tell, but I honestly don’t see this going anywhere.”
“Just don’t lie, okay? I really didn’t mean to overhear your conversation, but you know I have a thing about lying, especially after everything that happened with Mason.”
“I should be more upset that you did overhear me, but I think I’m more relieved than anything.”
I grinned and opened the door to the apartment. “So what’s his name?”
“Whose name?” Luke said as he walked up to take the food.
“You’re so freaking nosy,” Lexi said. “Just take the damn food and go kiss on your boyfriend some more.”
Luke grinned. “Gladly.”
We watched the guys go into the kitchen with the food and I reached out to squeeze Lexi’s hand. “I’m here if you need anything. It doesn’t matter that I’m back down in Georgia, I’ll be on the first flight here in a second if you need me.”
She nodded and I saw a side of Lexi I hadn’t in a long time. This woman in front of me had always been strong, but in that second, she looked vulnerable, like a woman scared of falling too hard and too fast for a man. Lexi could handle herself, I just hoped that she’d let this guy in enough to see the real her.
Flawless: A Relentless Series Novel (The Relentless Series Book 4) Page 16