A Different Side (University Park #4)

by C. M. Doporto

  “Raven.” A shocked gasped released from her mouth.

  I kept my eyes glued to the road — embarrassed and ashamed I had accepted the bribe. It reminded me of the type of guy I really was — a guy with no morals, dishonest, and no respect for himself or others. Another voice quickly pointed out I wasn’t the same person I was two years ago. Things had changed and I was taking steps in the right direction. The best part? I was doing it with Lexi by my side.

  “I know. I think about it every time I get behind the wheel.” But most of the time I just thought about how lucky I was to drive a free sports car.

  “So, give it back.” She rested her hand on my shoulder and then glided it up and down my arm, soothingly. “It’s okay to tell someone ‘no, thank you’.”

  Lexi had a point. She knew how to bring things into perspective. Suddenly, it was eating me alive. Did I really want to throw my career away just to drive a nice car? I had made a dumb choice — but I was notorious for doing that.

  “Yeah, but some things aren’t so easily done.” I parked the car and shut off the engine.

  “I know. I get it. I really do.” Her eyes softened, as if telling me that it was okay. That we all make bad decisions but need to learn from them. God only knew how much learning I had to do.

  I shot her a meek smile and opened the door. We got out of the car, not saying anything else about the Challenger. I knew what I needed to do, but it wouldn’t be easy. I popped my neck on both sides and shook the voices out of my head. I’d deal with them, and the car, later. I took Lexi’s hand, making sure she didn’t fall, and we trekked toward the entrance of the store as the wind and ice thrashed against us. People ran frantically through the store as if they were preparing for an invasion. I laughed internally at the sight. I wanted to tell them it was just ice and snow — not a zombie takeover.

  “So, what do you like to eat?” Lexi pushed the cart, seemingly unaffected by the rush of people. One thing I loved about her was her calm, collective attitude. She didn’t get her panties in a wad or get flustered about life. It sure kept me calm.

  “I’m not picky.” I grabbed a few boxes of macaroni. I didn’t want to impose my strict diet on her, so I decided to cheat, just a little. “What about you?”

  “I’m easy.”

  I laughed. Her words were impeccable at times. They gave me an open door for teasing her. “No, you’re really not, Lexi.”

  She frowned, realizing what she had said. “Okay, I get it.”

  She slugged me and I gripped my arm, stumbling to the side. “Please don’t beat me up,” I whined.

  She pressed her lips together, and then blurted, “And please don’t disappoint me.” Her voice was heavy and I wasn’t sure what I had done or said to make her react that way. Not waiting for me, she took off with the cart down the aisle.

  I dropped the playful tone and shifted to a more serious one. “Hey, what’s wrong?” I placed my hands on her shoulders and tried to get her to look at me. She refused, keeping her face buried in the meat counter.

  Her hands shuffled through the cellophane wrapped packages. “I like spaghetti.” Tears seeped from her eyes, landing on the meat. “I can make spaghetti for dinner.” She quickly wiped her cheeks with the back of her hand.

  I was stumped. I eased the packaged from her hand and turned her to face me. “Lexi, tell me what’s wrong? Why did you say that?”

  Ignoring my question, she pivoted on her heels and zipped to the next cooler. The only thing I could think of was she was pissed about the car. The last thing I wanted to do was disappoint her. She fumbled through packages of chicken and then picked up one. “We can make grilled chicken one night.” She tossed the chicken breasts in the basket and started to take off.

  “Lexi.” I raised my voice slightly, trying to get her attention while reaching for her arm.

  She turned and faced me, tears streaming down her blotched face. “I’m sorry,” she said, wrapping her arms around her body.

  “It’s okay.” Several people stared at us and I shot them a dirty look. I’m sure they’d seen a woman cry before — I mean, come on! Taking her hand, I guided her away from the open area to a side aisle. I hated seeing her upset — especially when I was to blame. “But that doesn’t answer my question.” I pulled her into my arms, holding her tightly. I wanted to ease the worry, the fear, whatever was going through her head.

  “I guess I started questioning whether I really know you. It scares me, that’s all.” Hearing those words scared me, too. With the pads of my thumb, I wiped away her tears, wishing I could take away all her concerns. I’d done everything to make her feel safe, shared private parts of my life with her, and allowed her to get to know me. Of course there were things I hadn’t told her, but I wasn’t sure she wanted to know some of those. What had I done wrong?

  “Lexi, when I told you that I’d never hurt you, I meant it. I’ll tell you whatever you want to know, but you might not like what you hear.” I lowered my voice and leaned closer. “I have done some bad things that I’m anxious to leave behind. Like I told you, being with you makes me want to do everything right. Makes me want to prove that I’m worthy of a girl like you.”

  “Oh, Raven. I’m not that special.” Her eyes lowered.

  “Yes, you are.” I lifted her chin. “And I think you might be able to help me. That is, if you want to.”

  All the doubts about her being able to handle my issues clouded my mind. I still wasn’t confident she could do it. Lexi was a strong, confident woman, but her innocence and lack of experience made it hard for her to understand what I faced on a daily basis. Despite all of that, she had a gusto that shined bright, telling me she could weather my storms.

  “Of course I want to. I’ll go anywhere for you, do anything for you. As long as I can be with you.” Her words wrapped around my heart, giving me a new inspiration to try my damnedest not to disappoint her.

  Lexi was a part of me.

  A part I didn’t want to be without.

  A part I needed to survive.

  “Good, because that’s all I want.” I smiled and kissed away the tears staining her cheeks.

  She took a deep breath and sighed. “We’re going to rewrite your story. It might be painful and hard, but if you allow me to help you, I know we can do it.”

  I prayed she was right. If my life was going to change for the better, it could only be done with her. “You’re the only one I want to help me.” Lexi would be the medicine I needed to recover. She was my angel tasked with healing every wound and closing every hole I’ve possessed since childhood.

  As I turned my head, I noticed the display of condoms. I reached behind her and grabbed two boxes. “And, we’re going to need a lot of these if we’re going to be staying with each other for the next few days.”

  She glanced at the basket and laughed.

  “Yeah, I think that’s a must have.”

  ***

  A bright light filtered in my room. I squeezed my eyes before peeling them open. Lexi was standing at the window, closing the blinds. I yawned and looked at her through sleepy eyes.

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to wake you.” She sat on the edge of the bed, wearing one of my white T-shirts and a pair of PHU plaid shorts. Damn, my woman was hot!

  “It’s okay.” I blinked a few times and stretched. It was great seeing her beautiful smile first thing in the morning. It was something I would never tire of. “As long as you’re the one waking me up, I don’t mind.” Picking up her hand, I placed a gentle kiss on top of it.

  “Did you sleep well?”

  “I’ve never slept better.” I rested my arms behind my head. “What about you?”

  “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to sleep alone again.” She laid against my chest and I reveled in her softness. Her warm breath filtered across my skin, relaxing every muscle. Only Lexi brought this level of satisfaction and comfort.

  “Me either.” I lowered my hand and stroked her long hair in slow strides. “In fact, I
could really get use to this.” The gold in her eyes flickered and happiness spread across her features.

  “Me, too.” Her fingers trailed up my arm, following the curve of my tattoo. Using the tip of her nail, she traced a few of the small black birds. My body shuddered at her touch and my heart beat rapidly. I moaned, thinking about what happened last night in the kitchen.

  As we prepared dinner, something overcame me and I had to have dessert before we ate our Jambalaya. And damn was Lexi the sweetest treat I’d ever had. She didn’t complain when I took her right there on the kitchen counter. She obviously loved the spontaneity and I was game for that. I was totally wrapped up in her touch.

  “I love being here with you, but eventually I’ll have to go home.”

  Her words cut through the scenes flashing through my head. “No you don’t.” I blinked a few times. “You can stay here with me as long as you want.”

  “Yeah, right.”

  “I’m serious.” I pulled her closer, latching on to her. “Now that I finally have you here in my space, I’m not letting you leave.”

  “So, you’re going to keep me here?” She bit out a laugh and pulled away, but stared at me intently. “Like some kind of sex slave?”

  “What?” I released a heavy breath. She had it all wrong. I wasn’t sure what I had done to give her that impression. I thought everything that happened was mutual. “Lexi, that’s not why I want you here.”

  “Sorry.” She shifted within my embrace, but I refused to release her.

  Keeping my gaze steady, I said, “Don’t get me wrong, the sex has been great, but I really like spending all of my time with you.” I stroked the length of her slender arms. Chills dotted her skin and she inclined her head. “I feel so close to you and I like it.” I wet my lips, dying to taste her again. “I don’t know what you’ve done to me, Lexi Thompson, but you totally latched me for good.”

  Her eyes softened and she smiled. “And you’ve totally locked me in The Raven’s trap.” She pressed her hands on either side of my face. “And there’s nowhere I’d rather be.”

  “Good.” I smiled. “So, you’re going to stay here with me?”

  She gave me a quick kiss and dropped her hands. “Maybe,” she teased as she rubbed her leg along mine. Knowing what she was capable of doing with those legs had me shifting in the bed. If she said no, I didn’t know what I was going to do. Get down on my knees and beg?

  She was freakin’ tormenting me and loving it. Then again, so was I. I’d be a damn fool to let her leave. I might have been jumping the gun, but I didn’t care. “Damn. What do I have to do to convince you to stay?”

  She shrugged. “I’m not sure.”

  “What’s today?” My mind scanned through the past few days.

  “Tuesday, I think. Why?” Her stare turned from alluring to serious.

  With Lexi grinding on me, I was having trouble focusing. I counted on my fingers, throwing out days and dates. “I think we have eight days until Christmas, if I have my dates correct. Stay here with me until Christmas Eve. I’ll take you home so you can be with your family and then I’ll pick you up Christmas day. We’ll spend the week together and then we can bring the New Year in the right way.”

  “And what’s the right way?” Lexi bypassed my idea, focusing in on one thing, which I was okay with.

  “You’ll have to wait and see.” I pressed my hardness against her, giving her an indication of what I was referring to.

  “Sounds exciting.” She raised a brow. “Then I can go back to the dorms once they reopen.”

  “If you want, or you can just sleep with me every night.” I waggled my brows at her.

  “Raven.” A throaty laugh escaped her. “And what will Josh say?”

  I shrugged. “Hell, I don’t care. Shelby practically lives here.”

  “He won’t mind?”

  “I doubt it.”

  She paused for moment, and then said, “Okay.”

  Score!

  I couldn’t believe I had practically asked her to live with me. This woman had definitely done something to me. I was shackled in her love — no question about it.

  “Then, it’s settled. I’ll take you home in a couple of days, unless you’d rather wake up in my arms every day.”

  “Don’t tempt me.” She ran her hands along my chest, rubbing my muscles. My eyes rolled to the back of my head. I couldn’t wait to spend the next few days with her — in bed. “Because I don’t mind skipping Christmas this year, if it means I can be with you.”

  “That’s what I thought.” I laughed. “What did the weather do last night?”

  Her eyes lit up like a kid at a candy store. “It’s beautiful outside. Snow everywhere.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah. Go look out the window.” She lifted off me and I got out of bed.

  I peered out the window. A white blanket covered everything, making it look peaceful and serene. A little piece of heaven had definitely fallen last night. “When’s the last time you played in the snow?”

  “I don’t know.” She peeped over my shoulder. “I’ve never seen snow like this in Texas.”

  “Me either.” I turned and embraced her. “Let’s go play in the snow, baby.”

  “Sounds fun.”

  ∑

  Chapter 26

  We shall not grow wiser before we learn that much that we have done was very foolish.

  ~Friedrich August von Hayek

  “It’s so beautiful.” Lexi twirled in a circle, taking in the white, fluffy powder covering the ground, trees, and shrubs. The sky was a bright grey and everything was capped in snow. Silence filled the dry, cold air and it seemed like people had vacated the city.

  We walked in front of the apartment complex, checking out what the storm left behind. The snow crunched beneath my boots, but underneath the soft flakes were layers of treacherous ice. “I feel like we’re in Colorado, even though I’ve never been there.”

  “I’ve been a few times, since that’s where my parents prefer to vacation. It’s somewhat like this, except there’s a lot more snow and people. Everyone is headed to the slopes to take advantage of what the latest storm has left behind. Not hiding inside, like everyone is here.”

  “Hey, there are some people over there.” I pointed to the park at the end of the street.

  “Wanna walk over there?”

  “Yeah, let’s go check it out.”

  We trekked through the snow and I held Lexi’s hand, making sure she didn’t slip or fall — it was difficult to tell where the curb ended and the street began. Some guys were having a snowball fight with a few girls and a family was building a snowman. Huge icicles hung from the trees and I steered Lexi from under the branches. Mounds of snow stacked along the stone wall circling the park, aligning it to our knees. In all my years, I’d never seen so much snow. It really was beautiful.

  “Wow, there’s more snow over here. That’s weird.” Lexi looked.

  “Maybe because there aren’t any buildings?” I wasn’t sure why the snow had accumulated more in the park area.

  “Possibly.”

  Lexi walked ahead of me and I took the opportunity to have a little fun with her. I grabbed a handful of snow, made a ball, and hit her in the back. Snow sprayed her and she turned around, shock written across her face. I laughed, unable to hold it in.

  “Did you just peg me with a snowball?”

  My eyes darted to the trees and I whistled innocently. Her hands scooped a handful of snow and she pounded it against her palm, making a perfect ball.

  “You wouldn’t.” I stood with my hands at my waist and my feet spread apart, challenging her to take the shot. She cocked her head to the side and huffed. Not backing down, she hurled the snowball toward me. I turned slightly, but allowed it to nail me in the chest.

  The ball exploded against me and fell to the ground. “That’s it.” I narrowed my eyes and breathed out white puffs of smoke from my nose. “You’ve done it now!”

  L
exi’s eyes widened as I took off toward her, trudging through the thick snow. She screamed and turned to run away, but struggled as her boots sunk into the ground. I caught up to her, wrapped my arms tightly around her waist, and tackled her to the ground. Our bodies landed on the soft snow, but I managed to shift her in front of me so I took the blow. Peeling herself off my chest, she shook her head and looked at me with dazed eyes.

  “Are you okay?” I pushed away the strands of hair stuck to her face.

  “Yes.” She inhaled deeply. “I just didn’t expect you to tackle me.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay.” Lexi straightened and then dusted the snow from her coat. “I’m good.”

  “Let’s do it again. That was fun.” I tried to get up but she shoved me to the ground.

  “What?” She pulled my knitted cap over my eyes. “Fun for you, maybe.”

  I laughed hard and she crawled off me. With arms crossed and lips pouted, she sat there eyeing me.

  Readjusting my hat, I said, “Oh, baby, don’t be mad. I just want to have a little fun with you.”

  She lowered her arms and smiled. “Then let’s do a something more my style.”

  I bit back a grin, knowing she wouldn’t be able to resist my playful tactics. “What’s that?” I stood and shook the snow from my body.

  Grabbing my hand, she pulled me back to the ground. “Make snow angels.”

  “Oh, lord.” I rolled my eyes, but I had agreed to do something more her pace.

  We goofed off; throwing snowballs at each other, making snow angels, and various animals. We even tried to make a dragon but it ended up looking more like a fat cat. It was most fun I’d ever had playing in the snow.

  After thirty minutes or so, Lexi breathed into her hands and rubbed them fiercely together.

  “Are you ready to go?”

  “Yes.” She nodded, her teeth chattering.

  “Then let’s go.” I helped her stand and then looked across the street to the shopping strip where I bought my comic books. I couldn’t tell whether it was open, but the place next door had their sign on. “Hey, look, the donut shop is open. Want something hot to drink?”