Foreseen: Lex (The Four Book 2)

by Sloane Kennedy

  "Gideon, I know you don't understand why I'm upset—"

  "Get in the truck, Lex," Gideon bit out. He didn't sound as angry as he’d been in the house, but he did sound… something. Disappointed, maybe? Which made no sense because I was the injured party.

  Wasn't I?

  The next thing I knew, I was sitting in the front seat of the truck and it was moving. Self-doubt began to creep along my nerve endings. I thought back to the conversation in the kitchen. He’d seemed genuinely upset by my accusation. What if I had gotten it wrong? I’d taken steps to make sure no one would know who I was, so how had Gideon figured it out?

  What if he hadn’t figured it out?

  My skin felt hot and cold at the same time and I suddenly found it hard to breathe.

  "Gideon," I began as regret burned my insides like acid. But Gideon didn't respond and when I said his name again, he just turned the music up in the cab of the truck so there was no possible way we could have a conversation.

  It took just a few minutes to reach Birch Cabin. Gideon once again helped me navigate the path into the cabin, but once we were inside the kitchen, he released my arm. I opened my mouth to try and explain my behavior, but Gideon beat me to the punch.

  "Here's your bag," Gideon said coolly as he dropped my testing kit into my hand. "If the power goes out, I'll take care of the generator. There’s a landline on the kitchen counter as well as one upstairs in the master bedroom. I went through your fridge and freezer and got rid of anything that didn't survive the outage. Oh, and just a reminder that the fireplace doesn't work with a fucking switch."

  As soon as he said that last part, the truth hit me like a ton of bricks. I suddenly remembered the conversation we’d had in his bedroom after I'd woken up. We’d talked about why I hadn't been able to start the fire in the fireplace. I’d told him that I hadn't been able to find the switch for it because fireplaces in LA high-rises…

  Fuck.

  I felt like I'd been sucker punched… by my own hand. How in the hell had I forgotten that I had told him I was from LA?

  "Gideon," I began, but then the side door slammed shut and there was nothing but silence. A moment later, I heard his truck start up outside and then it was driving off and within a matter of seconds, I was once again alone.

  And it was no one's fault but my own.

  Chapter Eight

  Gideon

  When my phone rang for what had to be the tenth time in as many hours, I reached into my pocket to silence the damn thing. Lex had been texting and calling me since the previous day, but I'd steadfastly ignored his attempts to talk to me. I could only assume that Harvey had given him my number, since I hadn't given it to him myself.

  I was as pissed at Lex as I was at myself for what had transpired. I still had no clue what had really happened, but I had no one but myself to blame because I'd allowed the younger man to get under my skin. If I hadn't, he never would have been sitting at my kitchen table in the first place, let alone been doing dishes after sharing a meal together. I cursed when my traitorous body remembered what it had been like to be pressed up against Lex's back as he’d been washing dishes. I hadn't intended to turn it into anything other than a quick demo on the layout of my sink, but as soon as I’d felt the heat of him, I’d found myself aligning my body more closely with his.

  We’d fit perfectly together.

  His attack had come out of nowhere just moments later. He hadn't even given me the opportunity to remind him that he'd been the one to tell me he was from LA. One moment he’d been smiling and joking with me, the next he’d been laying into me for absolutely no reason. I should have been grateful because it had made it that much easier to wash my hands of him.

  Well, mostly, anyway.

  I told myself that the only time I'd go back to Birch Cabin was if we had another storm that could threaten to take out the power. But I'd ended up driving back to the secluded structure three times already. I wasn't sure why I’d done it, especially since I hadn’t been able to see anything from outside anyway. But it was just like my attraction to Lex… it was something I couldn't understand and didn't have the mental energy to try and figure out. Especially not when the object of my strange new obsession had turned out to be the asshole I'd known he would be all along.

  My phone beeped, indicating I had a new voicemail, but I didn't bother looking at it. I hadn’t listened to any of Lex's explanations. No doubt, he'd remembered the truth about how I'd known he was from LA after I'd made the jab about the fireplace not working with a switch. But I wasn't interested in any apology from the man. He was merely the client and I the employee. Maybe not his actual employee, but I might as well have been. I should've been glad the whole thing happened because it meant I could get back to my normal routine.

  Unfortunately, my normal routine had somehow started to include checkups on Birch Cabin that were wholly unnecessary.

  As I turned onto the little road leading to my house, my thoughts drifted to the other aspect of my life that consumed nearly every waking moment of it. I supposed I should be grateful to Lex for having provided a little bit of a distraction from the reality of the nightmare I was living. I glanced at the small brown paper bag on the passenger seat. I had no idea why liquor stores packaged their sales in the bags because everyone knew what was inside of them. And since Fisher Cove was the size of a shoebox, by now everyone in the small town knew I’d bought a bottle of whiskey. No doubt by tomorrow I'd be getting questions from concerned residents about how I was doing. It had taken a year of being borderline rude to break them of the habit of asking me that question, but now it would start all over again.

  I supposed there was no need to explain that I was planning on drinking myself silly this time around to get rid of the unwanted thoughts of the young man in Birch Cabin who’d somehow managed to rip me wide open without even really trying.

  The one good thing about my anger was that I hadn't really had any extra energy to focus on my newfound sexuality. It helped that most of the residents in Fisher Cove were older individuals and couples who had either lived in the town their whole lives or had decided to retire there. There were only a handful of so-called eligible bachelors in Fisher Cove and thankfully, none of them had me looking their way twice. However, after my fight with Lex, I had spent a small amount of time exploring things on the internet that I never would've thought I would. It had been eye-opening for sure. It had also been confirmation that the strange feelings Lex had stirred within me weren't entirely unique to him.

  I slammed my truck into park and then reached for the bottle. I was in the process of opening the door when Brewer let out an excited yip from the back of the truck and then jumped over the bed. He raced past my side of the vehicle and straight for the house. I stilled when I spotted something black on the bench outside the door.

  "What the—?" I said as I exited the vehicle. It took just a few steps to recognize what—or who, rather—the bundle in black was. Especially when Brewer began barking and dancing excitedly around it. I stopped midstride when Lex sat up from where he’d been lying on the bench.

  "Hey, buddy," he murmured as he used his gloved hands to clasp Brewer's face. He happily accepted the wet kiss from my dog.

  "What are you doing here?" I asked, not bothering to hide my irritation.

  The smile on Lex’s face faded as he looked in my general direction. I was glad to see that he was at least wearing a nice thick parka, heavy gloves, and a hat.

  "I, um, wanted to give you these back," Lex said as he held up something gray. The clothes that I’d lent him.

  "Leave them on the bench," I said. I had his clothes in the house but I didn’t offer to get them. I glanced around and then asked, "Where's your ride?"

  "I'm hoping that I'm looking at him," Lex murmured. "Old Man Mitchum got another call," he added.

  I felt a smile tugging at the corners of my mouth before I realized what I was doing. As soft and sweet as Lex looked at the moment, there was no forgett
ing his anger as he’d laid into me for something I hadn't done. I'd had enough of being accused of shit to last me a lifetime, thank you very much. My silence must have made Lex nervous because he climbed to his feet and began rubbing his gloved hands together. "I sent my driver into the city to pick up a few things for me. I told him if I wasn't home by the time he was there to drop them off, to come back here and get me. I'm hoping that if you won't give me a ride back to the cabin, at least you’ll let me borrow your bench here for a little longer."

  "What do you want?" I asked. I couldn't keep the anger from my voice. I wanted to just dismiss him, but I had a feeling it wouldn't do any good. We’d gotten some snow in the past couple of hours and I hadn't noticed any car tracks on my driveway. That meant his driver had probably left a while ago. And if that were true, Lex had been sitting on my bench, or lying on it rather, for quite some time. He clearly wasn't going anywhere anytime soon. At least not until he had his say.

  Lex shifted uncomfortably back and forth on his feet, but I reminded myself not to show him any consideration, just like he hadn’t shown me any when he’d thrown his unfounded accusations in my face. “You have two minutes,” I said.

  Lex nodded and, not surprisingly, looked down at his feet. “I don’t know where to start,” he murmured.

  “Why don’t I save us both some time?” I said as I climbed up the couple of porch steps in front of me. It put me painfully close to Lex but it also got me closer to my door and I had every intention of escaping through the thing the second I got the chance. “You screwed up and you’re sorry. Does that about cover it?”

  Lex lifted his head and tried to find me with his eyes. I fought the urge to move closer to him so he could feel like he was connecting with me. He didn’t deserve it.

  And I didn’t want that connection.

  I just wanted him gone.

  "Yeah, I guess that about covers it," Lex murmured.

  I hated how dejected he sounded but that wasn't my fault. I'd actually started to enjoy his company the day before, so I felt like an even bigger asshole both for allowing him into my private world and for actually liking having him there. "Take care of yourself, Lex," I said as I stepped away from him and headed for my door. I heard him mumble something, but I couldn't make out what it was. I figured it was a reciprocal response either wishing me a good day or merely saying goodbye or something equally benign. I let myself into the house and called Brewer, but not surprisingly, the husky mix didn't respond. I left him sitting with Lex and shut the door behind me.

  I placed the bottle on the kitchen table and then went to the cabinet to look for a glass. I snagged one and poured myself a hefty drink then lifted the glass to my lips. But I stupidly chose that moment to glance out the window. My heart pounded painfully in my chest as I watched Lex walking along my driveway, away from the house. A few things went through my head all at once.

  First off, I wanted to stop the man and ask him what the hell he was thinking wandering down a driveway he didn't know out in the middle of nowhere. Did he seriously think he was going to be able to make it back to the cabin he was renting?

  Second, my loyal dog had turned traitor and was accompanying Lex. But I couldn't exactly be upset about that. Actually, it was the only bright spot. I knew Brewer wouldn’t let anything happen to Lex. I didn't really understand my dog's fascination with the young man, but since I couldn't explain my own, I figured who was I to judge?

  And lastly, as pissed as I was at Lex, I wasn't happy to see him walking away. He was doing exactly what I'd told him to, but it still felt like some kind of strange rejection. I lifted the glass again but as soon as the liquid touched my lips, I found myself looking out the damn window once more. "Fuck," I growled and practically slammed the glass down on the table.

  Since I hadn't taken the time to work my jacket off or remove my boots, it took just a handful of seconds to get back outside and into my truck. It took about the same amount of time to catch up to Lex because he was walking slowly, carefully putting one foot in front of the other. He had one hand stretched out before him just a bit and the other was on Brewer's head. Not surprisingly, he stopped when I pulled my truck up next to him.

  "Gideon?" Lex asked in confusion. I was already climbing out of the truck. I grabbed his arm, though I kept my grip gentle as I led him around the front of the truck, making sure not to go too fast because I didn't want him to trip or slip. He repeated my name, still clearly not sure what was going on, but he didn't resist me at all. I wanted to think it was because he trusted me a little, but I knew that wasn't true. He’d proven as much the day before when he'd accused me of snooping around to find out who he was.

  I yanked open the passenger side door and said, "I'm taking you home. You have as long as it takes for us to get there to explain what the fuck happened yesterday." I didn't give Lex a chance to respond before I slammed the door shut and stomped around the front of the truck. I wanted to kick my own ass for having given in to this man yet again. I tried to tell myself I was just giving him a ride home so he wouldn't freeze to death on my stoop, but it was impossible to deny the fact that I really did want to know why he’d turned on me like he had.

  I got back into the truck and threw it in gear. I waited only long enough for Brewer to jump in the back and then I took off. I expected Lex to launch into a long-winded explanation, but he merely sat as still as a stone in the passenger seat. I almost reminded him that his time was ticking down but then I remembered I wasn't supposed to care.

  "It's the world in general," Lex said softly after what had to have been a good minute of silence. I glanced at him but saw that he was staring straight ahead. I knew well enough what he was talking about because I remembered every part of our conversation from the day before.

  "Unless you're one of those lucky foster kids who find your forever family the first time out, you learn pretty quick not to trust anyone. Especially the grown-ups, even though they all tell you that you can trust them. Just like they all tell you that things will be different and how happy they are to have you in their family. It took me a while to figure out that grown-ups don't always tell the truth. What didn't take me a while was learning that I had absolutely no say in any of it. Anyway, you weren't asking about that. You wanted to know about trust. I trust my brothers. That's it. Absolute, unconditional trust? That's for my brothers and no one else."

  It was hard to keep my attention on the road as Lex spoke because I really wanted to see the emotion on his face since his voice had fallen flat. But I didn't interrupt or ask questions because we had just a few minutes left, and I wanted as many details as I could get.

  "I made my first million when I was twenty-two. And it wasn't just a million. It was more like ten. The year after that it was a hundred." Lex paused for a moment and then said, "There’s no class on how to deal with making a shit ton of money after you've grown up without any. Spending the money is easy, of course, but all the stuff that comes with it…” Lex let out a small laugh. “I know this sounds like some poor little rich boy thing—”

  “It doesn’t,” I heard myself say. Despite promising myself that it wouldn’t matter what Lex said, I was completely caught up in wanting to know more about him and why he’d reacted the way he had.

  “When the money started coming in, people began taking notice. All of a sudden I was giving interviews in magazines and getting fan mail and stuff. People would send me letters telling me all about their lives and how badly they needed money. Some of them would even use their kids to try and get a handout. They’d tell me how sick their kid was and how if he didn’t get an operation… well, you get the idea,” Lex murmured.

  Yeah, I did. Money did strange things to people and if Lex had as much as he said he did, he would have had a target painted on his back for all sorts of con artists.

  “I always wanted to be able to do good things with my money because I had more than I’d ever need, but I had to learn how to do it in a way that it would actually do some
good. Sorry, I know you’re probably wondering what this has to do with how I acted yesterday…”

  I opened my mouth to tell him not to apologize, that I wanted to know as much as he was willing to tell me, but then I realized how strange that would sound, especially considering I was supposed to be pissed at him.

  And I was still pissed at him.

  Admittedly, though, maybe it was a little less now than it had been.

  Which made no sense because he still hadn’t explained why he’d turned on me. I should have told him that we were just a minute from his cabin, so his time was running out, but instead, I found myself easing up on the gas pedal. I glanced at Lex and saw that he was staring at his hands, which he was rubbing together like he was trying to soothe himself. I actually started to reach out to cover his hands with one of mine before I remembered myself.

  “I became this overnight success story… foster kid turned self-made millionaire,” Lex said softly. “People started wanting to be around me. They wanted to be my best friend or confidante or whatever. Some wanted more…”

  I realized he was talking about romantic partners. The near-violent streak of jealousy that went through me was so surprising, I actually ended up jerking the steering wheel a bit.

  “What happened?” Lex asked in surprise as his body hit the door.

  I glanced over my shoulder to the bed of the truck to make sure Brewer was okay. The big dog was lying up against the cab, so he likely hadn’t been affected by my momentary lapse in driving skills.

  Since I didn’t want to lie to him and I couldn’t really tell him the truth, I settled on saying, “Um, let’s just say there was a squirrel and leave it at that.’”

  “Uh, okay,” Lex responded in confusion but thankfully he didn’t press me on the issue.