Twist of Faith

by Kelly A. Purcell

15

  Dangerously Good Looking

  Alex tiptoed through the house and dashed up the stairs to her room; she pulled the door behind her easily, until she heard the click of the lock, and exhaled.

  She’d made it up to her room without being caught by Sherry or Sonti; it wasn’t that they were particularly demanding. It was just that all her extra-curricular expeditions were beginning to take its toll on her and by her she was referring to her school work.

  “You know sometimes I forget that I actually have a roommate.”

  She turned around to find Rachel sitting at her desk, looking up at her with her head cocked to one side while she brushed the long blond tangled locks of her Barbie.

  “Rachel?”

  “Were you expecting someone else?” she stopped brushing and arched a brow suspiciously, “is just the two of us in here right?”

  Alex chuckled, “of course,” she said as she bent to remove her sneakers, just as an aggravated voice screamed out her name from downstairs.

  “Oh yeah, I forgot,” said Rachel, “Sonti was looking for you.”

  “Alex!” came the angry voice again, sounding closer than it was before.

  Alex stumbled and quickly regained her balance just before she got the shoe off, “I shouldn’t have gone to that party with her, now she won’t leave me alone,” she moaned.

  Rachel looked over at her with wide eyes, “Sonti took you to a party? That is awesome, that means she must really like you.”

  “Yeah well am not going again. I don’t have a wealthy grandmother to take care of me after I finish school,” said Alex.

  “Alex!”

  Rachel shook her head and put aside her doll, “look her here,” she called back, “you’ll thank me later,” she said, ignoring Alex’s glare.

  “She likes you. She took you out with her. Did you meet her friends?” she continued without waiting for an answer, “that means that anything other than that and you’re her enemy, she’ll make your life like hell on earth and trust me, comparing her to the devil is a euphemism.”

  Alex could only stare at Rachel in awe. How old was she again? Suddenly the door burst open and Sonti stood in the doorway, looking considerably calm compared to her boisterous entrance. She looked directly at Alex.

  “Are you ready?

  Alex stood immobile, blinking at her as though she might actually disappear if she thought about it real hard.

  “Kane Collins has a VIP only party at his club tonight, remember? We were invited. Let’s go.”

  “Uh... I... I just got back from...uh town so...” Alex sputtered.

  “and now you have time to try on the dress I got you,” Sonti finished for her, turning toward the door, “let’s go then.”

  Alex swallowed hard, “look Sonti, I’ve got lots of labs to finish and I have an exam tomorrow, which I haven’t even begun to study for so...”

  Sonti turned around slowly, regarding her with the coldest gaze ever, daring her to choose school work over her precious Kane Collins.

  “But.... I can do that later,” Alex said with a nervous grin, “Kane Collins is way more important. Wait did you say dress to try on?”

  If Sonti picked up the sarcasm, she didn’t show it, instead she turned and stalked out of the room, “my room now,” she called back.

  They waltzed into the brightly lit room side by side, and were immediately greeted by the host. His dazzling flirty smile going before him.

  “Sonti!” he exclaimed in a rich French accent, “Como cava?”

  They embraced and planted a light kiss on each other’s cheek, and then the man turned his attention to a self-conscious Alex.

  “And you brought your friend again?” he asked, his bold eyes already perusing her.

  “This is Alex,” Sonti replied.

  Alex gave a timid wave, while her other hand smooth the front of the mini dress Sonti had gotten her. Her hair was in loose twist outs reaching just above her shoulders, as Sonti had suggested had suggested she wear it.

  “Hi,” she squeaked.

  “Ah Alex, you looked like such a fright the first time I saw you,” he said as he took her hand and lifted it to his lips.

  “It’s a pleasure to finally meet you up close,” he paused still leaning over her hand, “just as beautiful as from afar. I am Kane.”

  She blushed visibly under his searching eyes; he had a full head of dark wavy hair, with dark brown eyes shadowed by jet black bushy brows, and an athletic build; his powerful biceps pushing against his close fitting T-shirt. She wouldn’t describe him as handsome, there was no way he could match Reuben’s pure attractiveness. He was more what she would call, dangerously good-looking.

  “Have you ever been here before?” he asked. It was pointless to try to explain the effect his accent and flirty smile had on her; it was written all over her flushed face.

  “Uh...no” she replied.

  He extended a hand, “Then let’s ensure your first night is enjoyable. Come meet the others.”

  Kane took them up some stairs at the back of the restaurant which led them to a bar; dark and smoky, with flashing neon lights and deafeningly loud music. They walked past a small crowd dancing drunkenly on the dance floor and he waved to a group at a table at the far side. His simple greeting was met with loud boisterous cheers.

  “Hey guys,” Sonti greeted as she took a seat. Kane placed his hands on Alex’s shoulders and pulled her closer to him.

  “Everyone, I like you to meet Alex, Sonti’s friend. This is her first night with us so let us make her feel welcome.”

  There were two guys at the table, both of whom were knocking back beers, and lining the empty bottles up on the table in front of them.

  Kane sat her down next to them and introduced her to each one. The lanky guy with the cornrows who seemed to have already had too many beers, was Dave, he ogled her with blood shot dark brown eyes. The other guy was Benjy, he was broader than Kane with a much softer build and he didn’t seem sober either.

  There was one other girl there and she was under the arm of Benjy who kept turning to whisper drunkenly in her ear, apparently she didn’t think it was nonsensical because she giggled each time.

  Kane slipped his arm on the back of Alex’s chair possessively and leaned close to her ear so she could hear him above the loud music. The throbbing bass was annoying, and the lyrics narcissistic and demoralizing, making Alex continually cringe.

  “So Alex, how about a drink?” Kane asked.

  “Oh no, am fine” she replied.

  Kane clucked his tongue and shook his head, “Hey it is on the house,” he persisted, “It’s my place you know and my cousin is the bartender here,” he explained.

  “I’ve never heard of it before,” Alex said, avoiding his distracting eyes.

  Kane chuckled, “it’s relatively new,” he replied, eyes still glued on her, scanning her face, reading her every twitch.

  “I’ll have a Sprite.”

  He laughed loudly as though she was the number one comedian of the era.

  The others turned to look at him, eager to get in on it.

  “She wants a Sprite,” he said with a wide grin.

  Sonti smiled sympathetically at Alex, “She just needs to loosen up a bit,” she said as Dave nuzzled her neck, “she isn’t used to this. Spends most of her time with her nose between a book, like a book mark”, Sonti looked smugly at the others as though she had done Alex a huge favour. All Alex could think about was the catching up she would have to do after tonight.

  Kane looked at Alex with new found intrigue, “Oh really, we must really be creeping you out,” he said almost sympathetically, then he smiled, “I’ve got just the thing” he said and got up from the table, “be right back.”

  Alex exhaled as she had her personal space once more, she looked over at Sonti who was now making out with Dave and her stomach churned in disgust, now she was sure she didn’t wan
t to be here. This was a much faster pace than last time.

  Kane came back and placed a pretty looking drink before her, she lifted a brow. It didn’t look dangerous, it was actually quite cute, like the colours of a sunset. He sat down next to her again and slid the drink closer.

  “Have a go at it, you’ll like it,” he leaned toward her, “it’s called sex on the beach.”

  A blatant blush crawled up Alex neck to her cheek and she ducked her head, hoping they wouldn’t notice in club lighting. She stared at the pretty glass and she thought of all the reasons why trying it might be a bad idea. She’d never been the kind of girl who drank or partied just so she could have something to boast about at school the next day and that was reason enough. But for some strange reason she thought of Reuben, and with Reuben came the thought of James, and James and Reuben brought thoughts of God, and Alex found these days, that once He got into her head it was hard to shake him.

  “I think I’ll pass,” she said firmly.

  The looks of disappointment and disgust aimed at her, twisted her resolve and she felt herself weakening. She looked down at the glass again and then up at Sonti, who was looking at her with a sympathetic smile.

  She took a deep breath, “I don’t want any alcohol, especially one with that name.”

  Kane chuckled he clearly found her innocence humorous.

  “I’ll have a Sprite if that’s okay.”

  Kane smiled at her, “a Sprite it is,” he said, but his eyes said something different.

  He looked like a daredevil staring at the ultimate death ramp, like a race car driver looking at the ultimate route. Alex glanced at him from the corner of her eyes, then pushed the drink to the centre of the table and turned to smile pleasantly at him.

  “Thank you very much.”

  Kane dropped them home at around two in the morning as Sonti was too drunk to walk much less to drive. After Alex helped her to her room, she went down to the kitchen hoping to find something substantial to eat before hitting the books, it was going to be a long night.

  She found Ryan sitting in the dark with just the pale light from the open refrigerator.

  “Ryan?” she turned on the lights.

  He was sitting at the table with a bag of ice pressed against his mouth; Alex noticed the two dark drops of dried blood on the front of his shirt.

  “Did mom do that?” she asked, having seen Sherry’s handiwork on several men. If that was the case it wasn’t good news. This usually signified the end of said relationship, or the start of one.

  Ryan chuckled drily, “I wish she’d bother enough to punch me,” he replied, “it was just business, I guess.”

  Alex took a box of milk from the open fridge, and poured some cereal into a bowl, “What kind of business man are you?”

  He shrugged “An extremely broke one as of today.”

  She sighed, “Made it official huh?”

  He nodded, “yep, took out another mortgage on the house and blew through a company investment but at least all my debts to those creeps are paid. All I need to worry about now is losing this house and meeting my monthly quota, which is a big step upward from being beaten to death by a bunch of sharks.”

  “You should let mom look at that,” she gestured to his swollen lips.

  Ryan shook his head and got up, “nah, I don’t want her to worry.”

  She smiled sadly at Ryan, “Everyone’s going to have to know eventually Ryan. You know that right?”

  He shrugged, “doesn’t make it any easier.”

  He got up, picked up his ice pack and keys and staggered out of the kitchen. Alex watched him leave, stirring her cereal absently as she thought of the days to come that would lead up to that inevitable disaster. She still hadn’t prepared herself to return to her old home and she wasn’t sure she would ever be ready.

  Then it dawned on her; a mischievous smile eased its way onto her face. With Ryan’s cowardice and Sherry’s oblivion, there was only one person left in this equation to do something. After all she was used to fixing her mother’s mistakes. She dropped her spoon and dashed out the side door to the garage.

  Ryan had left the door to his office open, so she snuck in and went to his desk, “there’s got to be a contact number here somewhere,” she muttered as she rummaged through the desk drawers and messy table top.

  It was distractingly quiet and Alex kept looking up at the door, partly expecting to see Ryan’s angry face emerge from the darkness as she searched through his things.

  “Yes!” she hissed as she picked up an address book with the name Edna Hartley written at the top of the first page, followed by an address and contact number. She knew that this Edna Hartley was just who she was looking for; Ryan’s deceased wife’s mother, the last hope for Ryan’s redemption. She quickly punched in the number onto her phone and snuck out of the office, pulling the heavy door quietly behind her.