Alex: Woman! Just tell me what the fuck has your panties in a twist!
Izzy: You did not just text me that!
Alex: You bet your sweet ass I did. Now tell me what’s wrong.
Izzy: If you must know it is our arrangement. I think we need to end it.
Alex’s heart sputtered to a stop. He thought they were about to move beyond this stupid arrangement and on to the real relationship he was desperate to have with her. So he said the only thing he could.
Alex: No.
Izzy: You can’t just say no! I have a say too.
Alex: Sorry, not happening.
Izzy: Alex stop being an ass!
Alex: The answer is still no. END OF DISCUSSION!
Izzy: Don’t yell at me dick head! I am saying it’s over.
Done with the texting back and forth crap. Alex grabbed his keys and headed to her apartment. Just as he got to her door he stopped himself. There was no way she was going to listen to anything he had to say tonight. He knew her, knew she was overthinking this thing between them. For once he was going to give her the space and time to think.
Turning, he strolled whistling right back to his apartment, a better plan formed in his head. Sitting back on his couch, he looked at the weather report for the next morning. Perfect! He thought with a smug smile on his face, as he shut off his phone and headed to bed. He needed to be up early for his plan to work and well rested to get through that stubborn thick head of Izzy’s.
Chapter Eighteen
Izzy felt hung over when her alarm went off even though she didn’t even have a sip of alcohol the night before. Stretching as she slid out of her bed, she figured the hung over feeling came from tossing and turning all night. She had finally ended it with Alex. Although, he fought her on it for all of three texts, she knew it was what he wanted since he never bothered to text her back.
Emotionally she was a mess. She got what she wanted; she got the last word in ending their relationship. Yet, she had spent half the night starring at her phone and listening for a knock on her door, willing Alex to not let her have her way. How messed up is that? “I am such an idiot.” She groaned, grabbing her running clothes.
A good run is all she needed to clear her head and improve her mood. After hearing Caroline talk last night about how Alex was never going to settle down, Izzy knew that she was wasting her time. She wanted the two point five kids and the house in the suburbs. Since losing her parents, all she wanted was a family to belong to again. Her friends’ families had always included her in all the holidays and celebrations, but she longed to have a family to call her own. That was not going to happen if she stayed with Alex.
Lacing her running shoes she set out to drive to Wash Park to run her problems away. In the parking lot of her building she glanced over and noticed Alex’s car was absent. She snorted; he probably went to the bar right after she dumped him last night and found a new ‘friend’. The laughter in her head died instantly at the thought of him with another woman. The thought turned her stomach if she was being honest. If she had bothered to eat more than a banana for breakfast she was sure she would have vomited.
Driving to the park, she tried to tell herself breaking it off with Alex was for the best. And that the pain in her chest at the thought of him with another woman was a temporary feeling. By the time she made it to the park she almost had herself convinced. She parked and went about her stretching routine, placing her iPhone in her arm band turning on her running playlist. Imagine Dragons blasted through her earbuds, immediately making her feel energized.
A few miles into the run, she felt as though someone was following her. The circle around the park was popular, and really if someone was following her they were just running the same pace she was. No big deal. Shrugging off the feeling, she pushed herself harder in her run, attempting to clear the vague painful feeling lingering in her chest. She increased her pace, figuring she would ditch the runner behind her and the odd feeling. Another mile and the feeling was still there. Only this time the person felt closer despite her increased speed.
Now she felt a person to her right. Good maybe he or she was passing her and she could relax. Only they didn’t pass they stayed at her pace. She glanced over to assess the other runner’s intention and halted her steps. Breathing hard, hands on her hips she shook her head and ripped the earbuds from her ears. “You scared the shit out of me. What the fuck, Alex?”
“You really do say that sentence way too often.” The bastard smirked. “I was out for a run when I saw you. I thought I would say hi to my friend.”
With her hands still on her hips, she took in his appearance. He was indeed dressed for a run, yet he didn’t have his headphones, nor was he sweating. He looked as though he had only been running since she first felt someone following her. “You were out for a run without headphones?”
“I thought I would take in the sounds of nature today.” He shrugged.
“You must not have been running long, you’re not even sweating.” She questioned.
“Some of us don’t sweat.”
“I have run with you before Alex, and you are a man who sweats. So would you like to revise your story and tell me what exactly it is you are doing here? I didn’t see your car in the garage this morning, so I assume you either have been here for a while or you went out last night and never made it home.” Izzy now stood with her arms crossed over her chest, face tight with frustration.
In one stride, Alex closed the distance between them. Pushing a wayward hair behind her ear, he brushed her cheek. “And where would I have gone last night, Izzy?”
The space between them was minimal. Her mind was telling her to take a step, or twenty, backwards. Put distance between their bodies. His scent surrounded her, and enthralled her into a trance like state. She stumbled a little from his overwhelming presence. His hands were instantly on her waist, catching her before she fell. “Whoa, are you ok?”
Shaking her head like a wet dog, she regained her composure. “Yeah, I’m fine. I must not have eaten enough before my run.”
She knew she had said the wrong thing as soon as she saw the smile on his face. “Well in that case, I better take you to breakfast. Make sure you eat before you pass out.” He took her hand and started to lead her away from the running path toward one of the parking lots. He quickly unlocked the doors of his Porsche Spyder and slid her into the passenger seat before walking around and sliding into the driver’s seat. He managed to do all of this before she could even speak one word of protest.
As he pulled into traffic, she realized she had driven herself to the park. “Wait my car.”
Without taking his eyes of the road, he shook his head in response. “You need to eat; you almost passed out back there. It’s not safe for you to drive. We will come back for it or one of the guys can come grab it for you later.”
Not wanting to argue, because frankly he was right, she turned her attention to look out the window. They drove in uncomfortable silence to the restaurant. Neither of them seemed to know what to say to the other.
~*~*~*~
Alex looked at Izzy sitting across the table from him with concern. She looked tired and distressed as she picked at the eggs on her plate. Instead of eating her food, she was simply pushing it around her plate, leaning her head on her left hand. Looking like a child forced to eat liver. “Something wrong with your food?” Alex asks between bites.
Not saying a word she simply shook her head. At a loss for what to say or ask her to get a response he nodded and concentrated on his own food. Quickly he devoured the large skillet of eggs, sausage, and potatoes. Pushing it away from him, he crossed his arms, resting them on the table. Leaning forward a little, he spoke softly but with a hint of authority that he knew would provoke some kind of reaction from her. “Since you have no plans to eat that meal, I assume you are ready to talk about your texts to me last night. You know the one where you tried to end this between us.”
Sighing, she finally looked him
in the eyes. With her head still resting in her hand, and her fork dangling over her plate she spoke. “First of all, I didn’t try to end this thing. I did end our relationship or whatever you want to call what we were doing. Secondly, we agreed that we would end this when we reached a point of friendship or after a month. We have passed the month, and we have been less hostile towards each other. Some may even call us friends on some level. So goal met, time to move on.” She immediately dropped her gaze back to her plate which told him she didn’t believe her own words. Her little speech also lacked all of the fire he had come to expect from her. Something was off about her today and he was determined to find out what it was.
Staring at her, he waited until she resumed eye contact before he spoke. “I think I missed the part of the evening where the light bulb to the idea to dump me came on, and the reason for the action. We were having fun last night, we joked in the car on the way to meet everyone. You kicked my ass at pool, which always puts you in a good mood. And then we got in the car and you clammed up. Put distance the size of the Grand Canyon between us. Finally, I get a text, a text not a call, that you were ending things. I think I deserve a better explanation then that.”
“No magical light bulb went on Alex. I figured we were supposed to end this a while ago, so we should just pull the trigger and end this thing. See no big conspiracy, just practical. We can each go back to our lives as scheduled.” She was looking anywhere in the diner except his face.
Izzy was a terrible liar. She could never pull off a small lie, let alone the whopper of a lie she was trying to pull off on him now. “So it was simply time to move on?” Alex pushed his plate to the side of the table and leaned in closer to Izzy. Invading her space was all part of his plan. He had quickly learned that the closer he was to her the more her barriers came down.
Izzy must have also have realized how quickly her barriers came down when they were close together, because she immediately leaned as far back into the bench seat as she could without actually becoming one with the bench. “Exactly, time to move on. I am sure you are itching for a change of…menu.” The sentence came out in a rush of exacerbation, except the last word, the last word was spit out with such animosity, he sat back a little from her.
Everything clicked for Alex at that moment, she was scared he was going to leave her. Her text had been a preemptive strike. "Ah, you think I'm getting bored, with being with only you."
"I am sure you have a line of beauties waiting for their turn with the Alexander Porter." Izzy's voice was becoming more and more snarky.
Ignoring the tone of her voice and the clear 'fuck off' body language, Alex stood from his seat, her eyes went wide as he sat down scooting her over. Facing her he took her hand in his. "Ok I don't know who said what last night that got your feathers all in a tuff but there no line of girls waiting for their turn with me. Even if there was a line somewhere, I wouldn't even notice them. If I didn't want to be with you, I would tell you. I would have ended this thing when we should have if I was bored. Izzy, I know we aren't in a relationship or anything but we can at least be honest with each other. I promise to tell you way before I ever get bored." He added the last part with a small laugh.
“Ok, you’re not bored…yet. But you will be and I would rather end this while we are good. I really do want us to be friends.” She said sadly. “Plus we are holding each other back from having something real with someone else. You may not want to get married or have kids but someday I do! And the longer we mess around, the longer I spend not dating for real. Not planning for my future.”
“You think I don’t want those things in life? Why?” Alex asked complete stunned.
“Last night, Caroline said that your mom had all her hopes for more grandkids on Derek because you were never going to settle down.” Izzy was now tearing her napkin apart.
Ah so that’s what happened! It all clicked now. Izzy wanted to run before he hurt her, again. Caroline’s comment set of her insecurities about his intentions. If Alex was being honest with himself, he would admit that convincing her to be with him for a short period of time was a mistake. He should have tried harder to get her to date him not sleep with him.
“Izzy, honey, I do want those things. But you're right neither of us are going to get that if we stay in this agreement.” He held up his hand to keep her from talking. “We need to date. I like being with you. I would like to see where this goes. Can I please take you on a date?” Alex knew he was begging and he didn't care in the least.
"Don't you think a date would complicate things between us? I still see us ending badly. Remember the conversation were we joked about our friends having to wear team Izzy or team Alex shirts? That would become a reality." She sadly reasoned.
"You're right. But I'm not ready to let you go. Let's just keep this between us, like we have been. If one of us meets someone else then we end this. How about that?" It nearly killed Alex to think about her meeting someone else. If she did and brought her new boyfriend around him, he was certain he would punch the guy before even getting his name.
With a small smile, she finally took a bite of her food. Several bites actually. "Fine, But once we meet someone else. It's over."
They seemed to be making a lot of excuses to stay together beyond the month. Alex was not about to complain though. As long as they were together, he didn't care what title or lack of title they had.
Chapter Nineteen
Izzy was on her way to pick up Derek and Roni, to take them to the airport. The rich geek boy had insisted they could hire a car to take them. However, Izzy was more insistent that a friend should take them and pick them up not some stranger. After all they would be gone for weeks and Izzy wanted to see her best friend off again.
They would be gone for a month, which meant Izzy had a month to get over Alex and break things off. When the happy couple came back the two of them would never be the wiser to what Alex and she had been up to all these months. Keeping this from her friend was more stressful then she had believed it would be. She was nauseous as she drove to pick them up. This is why she had wanted to end it with Alex.
Instead once again he had talked her into staying together. He even went as far as bringing up again telling everyone. She could not even fathom why the man kept insisting they tell their friends they were sleeping together. It’s not like they were trying for a permanent relationship after all, they were just getting each other out of their systems so that they could finally move on. Or are we trying for something long term? She had to roll her eyes at her own self destructive internal dialogue.
Thankfully her inner thoughts of forever were cut off by pulling into the driveway of Derek’s home. She looked at the amount of luggage the couple had stacked on the doorstep, and then back at her car. Is all of that crap going to fit? Before she could attempt to do the math in her mind, Alex’s black Range Rover pulled in behind them.
She jumped out of her car and pulled his car door open before he even had the keys out of the ignition. “What are you doing here?” She hissed at him.
“Taking the happy couple to the airport, what are you doing here?” He asked in a playful tone.
“No, I’m taking them to the airport!”
“In that tiny little car of yours? You may be able to take the two of them but there is no way all that luggage is fitting in your soda can size car. I am here to help fix that problem. I’ll drive, you and Roni can talk in the back and then you and I can grab a bite to eat or something after we send them on their way.” Logically it all made sense however, the way he said or something, made he hesitate.
Caught between a rock and a hard place, she knew she had to agree to let him drive. “Fine, but you behave!” Izzy wagged her finger in front of his face. His only response was to wink and head to the porch to start loading the massive amount of luggage.
As he strolled back to his SUV the front door flew open and a clearly exasperated Roni came barreling out, tripping over the carry-on bag, and about half the
luggage that was left. Izzy ran to her friend’s side. “Shit, Roni, are you ok?”
Roni jumped to feet. “Shoes, the man is arguing with me over the amount of shoes I am taking before we board a twelve hour flight.”
Izzy wanted to laugh but she didn’t want Roni to turn her wrath on her. “Well he has to realize that with you guys being gone for a month that you needed options. How many pairs of shoes did you pack?” She asked as she helped Roni brush off the grass from her fall.
“That one bag is all I packed. I still left most of them in the closet.” Izzy looked to where Roni was pointing, and her jaw dropped. The shoe bag was by far the largest bag.
“Are you sure you need all of those pairs of shoes?” Izzy blurted out.
“Not you too? I don’t know our entire itinerary so as I explained earlier I need options!” Roni was clearly nervous about more than her choice of shoes on the trip. That’s when is dawned on Izzy what was going on.
“You don’t like flying over water do you?”
“No! What if something happens while we are in the air? We have no place to do an emergency landing!” Roni barked. Her eyes went wide as though it finally clicked what she was doing. “Oh God, I have been snapping at poor Derek all morning and now you. If I had time I probably would repack my shoes.”
“No need babe, take what all you want and what you lack we can buy there. And please don’t worry about the flight, everything will be fine. By the time we are over the ocean you will have passed out asleep and won’t even know.” Derek smiled and kissed her on the cheek. “Hey Izzy, thanks for driving, or should I thank Alex?”
“I didn’t even notice Alex was here.” Roni said sheepishly.
“Gee thanks Roni.” Alex chastised as he grab another bag. “I figured my SUV would hold more luggage than that toy Izzy calls a car.”
“You know the two of you have to drive back from the airport alone right? As in no babysitters to make sure you two don’t kill each other?” Roni said looking back and forth between Alex and Izzy.
Frenemies With Benefits (Geek To Chic Book 2) Page 15