by Amy Gregory
Pulling a long draw of the cold water helped, as did crossing his arms over his head and yanking off his sweaty jersey. Leaning back against the cool vinyl was a sudden shock, but within a second it had warmed to his skin temperature. Picking up his cell off the table, Dallas swallowed hard. He knew better than to expect a missed call, but he couldn’t help but hope. With one click the screen lit up—and he’d been right.
Damn it.
Why he expected her to make the first move he didn’t know. Was he acting his age? Well no, of course not. Was he acting like a man? Unfortunately in the eyes of most women, yes. But he’d hurt her, and now that a week had passed, the distance and time were making it harder and harder to make the first move. Letting out a deep breath, he took another large swig of the cold water. With his head tilted upward, he nearly choked on the water as the phone in his hand vibrated.
A simple text—but from the right person.
Race safe.
Before he could stop himself, he grabbed ahold of the olive branch with both hands and hit the number one on the keypad. Her speed-dial number…her rank in his life.
“Well, well, well…the prodigal son has blessed me with a call.”
Dallas swallowed hard. His eyes drifted shut as the hurt in Alex’s voice, even though it was masked with sarcasm, still cut like a jagged knife through his heart. And he deserved it, every nick, every poke, every twist of the blade—he’d earned.
“Hey.” He answered back. Unsure of himself, of his words, of why he even had called, but his finger hit the button before his brain could overrule his heart. She always called two and three times a day, every day. But Friday and Saturdays, she knew his routine down pat, knew exactly when to time a call, knew exactly when to wish him good luck, and knew exactly what to say to put him in the right mindset to race. Alex was simply his go-to girl, his rock. He hadn’t realized how much he depended on her until he’d experienced eight days of silence and withdrawal. Dallas hadn’t realized how much his racing was affected by her,
and each day’s practice had suffered more than the previous one. The team was getting edgy, his boss was getting pissy. Dallas was losing hope—hope that he’d go to the gate without hearing from her, the one person who got him, the one person who knew how his mind worked.
He didn’t need some fired-up pep talk, he didn’t need pointers. He needed distance. He needed normal. He needed to “just ride”. That’s how it had always been. When left alone to enjoy the track, enjoy the bike and the speed, Dallas could let the pieces slip into place. With Alex’s joking and talking about what they’d do when she saw him next, it was the last piece that allowed him to relax and do what he did best—win.
Even with the hurt he detected in her voice, it was still her voice. And although it made him want to slam his head against a wall because he’d been the one to cause her pain, he let that go for a moment, because for a moment, he could pretend everything was normal. “I’m so glad you texted. I…ah, was beginning to think I wouldn’t hear from you.” Rolling his eyes, he smacked him palm against his forehead for starting off an already tense call, with something so stupid.
“Yeah, well—”
“I didn’t mean it like that, Lex. I just meant I’ve never raced before without seeing, or at least talking to you. Everything has been off this week. And, I know I screwed up…I…we. We need to talk.”
“Not now, not before a race. I just wanted to wish you good luck. I’ve gotta go. Be safe.”
With a click she was gone.
Bikes were revving outside the bike trailer, men from all sides yelling back and forth, some laughing and carrying on, some stressed out to the point of stroking out. Still, all he could hear was the silence, so loud it was buzzing in his ears. A weight lifted with her voice, but dropped right back into place with the knowledge he was several states away. He couldn’t go to her, hold her in his arms, or apologize in person and kiss her like he’d longed to for the last four years.
Dallas knew where she stood, or had. He knew their feelings were mutual, or at least they had been eight days ago. If he could just get tonight’s race done and over with, he could jump on a plane and fly home. Be home Monday—Tuesday at the latest. He could get to her, he could grovel and beg for forgiveness. Maybe then, the life he’d been dreaming about for the last few years could actually become a reality.
~~~
With the bay doors of the shop all open, the night air drifted through Alex’s office, the soft sounds of crickets and cicadas singing, a happy reminder of her childhood. Too many nights to count spent running through the yard chasing fireflies as the summer songs of the bullfrogs, owls and locusts played in the distance.
Typing in the information on the newest applicant for a scholarship, she felt a set of eyes on her. Her fingers stalled on the keyboard and she looked up. “Oh…hey, Levi. What’s up?” She pushed the enter button. Then her mind registered seeing something in Levi’s hand. Turning back, her cheeks started to burn when she noticed the black guitar case. The corner of her mouth quirked, embarrassed, but also shocked. It’d been almost a week since Levi had announced his revelation. She had lain low, hoping he’d forget. Apparently his Friday nights weren’t any snappier socially than hers were since here they both were, still at work long after everyone else had gone for the day.
“The look on your face is priceless.” He chuckled, a low friendly rumble, without an ounce of sarcasm. “I can assume you thought I’d forget—or maybe you hoped I’d forget?”
Normally her days flew by, the pages of the calendar changing right before her eyes. Since that chance meeting with Heather… Alex rolled her eyes before she could stop herself, then forced a smile so Levi wouldn’t think her anger was directed at him. From that one defining moment, life had twisted into a house of mirrors. Nothing was the same. And as much as she tried to ignore it, Parker’s father made several more snide comments. She’d also gotten repeated hang-ups, on her business line no less. The calls came at the same time for the last three nights. There had been so much noise going on in the bike area of the shop right outside her door, the caller quickly disconnected before she could ask who it was. Luckily, whoever it was must have gotten bored, because she’d been alone for the last hour and all had been silent.
“I see your notebook.” Levi’s head motioned toward the floor where Alex’s purse was lying by her desk. “Go on and grab that. We’re going to need it.”
Doing as she was told, Alex shook her head. “What are you doing here on a Friday night, Levi? Don’t you have a life outside this place?”
“I could ask you the same question, but I know your answer, so I won’t bother.”
She sneered at his smartass comeback, trying not to grin at the twinkle in his eye. Feigning frustration, she tossed the worn leather-covered notebook on her desk. If he wanted to her to do this, he was going to have to lead the way. Her personal thoughts were in no way songs, as he seemed to think. Rolling back enough in her chair, Alex stretched her legs out and stacked her ankles on her desk.
“You’re a brat.” Levi laughed as he grabbed the notebook himself and sat down in the chair on the other side of the desk.
Flipping through pages, he found the one he caught her with the other day. The words on that page hurt more than any others she’d ever written. The ones before had held such hope. The purple ink on that page didn’t. Feelings—hurt, denial, broken—they were all there. Alex watched the lines of Levi’s face as he took in the words as if he understood where the pain she described came from better than she expected. With the last paragraph, he swallowed hard, drummed his fingers on the paper then reached down. Hearing the metal hinges opening, Alex waited silently as Levi sat back up, the guitar on his lap. She didn’t know music at all. Other than she had a weird obsession for pulling lyrics apart and trying to figure out what the songwriter meant at the time. Sometimes, she’d listen to a track over and over, appreciating the message as much as the work that went into putting it on the air. Al
ex also didn’t know anything about instruments, but even she could tell the shining beauty Levi held as gently as a newborn baby, was precious and probably priceless. He started to strum a few chords and the breath caught in Alex’s chest.
It was perfect.
Not him, not his talent. The notes he strung together, the melody, the harmony—the way he linked them together was as if she’d heard it before. Then he looked up, not at her, but at the notebook on her desk facing him.
Why is it that I stand planted
Watching you walk away
How is my love
Not enough to make you stay
She was staring, completely still, open-jawed at him. The words she’d written came from his mouth in the form of a song and totally shocked her.
“Alex?” She realized he’d stopped and was pointing. “Aren’t you going to get that?”
The phone. Of course. She shook herself back to reality, answering on the fourth ring. “Noland Academy. How can I help you?”
Nothing. Well—except for the breathing she heard.
“Hello?”
The line went dead and a chill raced down her spine. She noticed it was after eight, getting closer to nine. Levi had stopped playing when the phone rang, and for the first time, she’d heard the eerie breathing. Suddenly, she was cold from head-to-toe, even in the summer heat.
“Alex? What the hell? You’re as white as a ghost. Who was that?” Levi grabbed the phone from her hand, listened and then hung it back up.
Facing her friend, she blinked multiple times. “I-I don’t know?”
“What did they say?”
“Nothing. That’s just it. Nothing.”
“I take it by the way your hands are shaking this isn’t the first call?”
Alex looked down and sure enough, adrenaline kicked in and the uncontrollable shaking in her hands over-took her entire body. Four nights in a row. The first three times she hadn’t heard anything on the line, because the surrounding noises had been too loud. It was a business. Misdials and hang-ups were quite common. She hadn’t thought anything about it. Until tonight. The breathing, she could still hear it ringing through her ears.
“Levi. I just want to go home. Can we do this another night?” She started to log off her computer before he had a chance to answer. But she saw him stow his guitar away from the corner of her eye. At least he wasn’t going to blow it off. She was glad he wasn’t going to make her feel stupid. If anything, he was acting a little shaken-up himself. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean—”
“No. Don’t apologize. I am going to follow you to your house.”
Her screen went black for the night. Fumbling with the papers on her desk, her argument instantly died on the tip of her tongue as she pulled open her desk drawer to stow away the items with personal information.
They were out in the middle of nowhere. Her grandparents’ property was in the secluded countryside. Even though her parents and her Uncle Eli and Uncle Jesse had bought off sections years ago, she and Levi were basically alone out here. A person didn’t just drive-by as they would in town, or if she was closer to the main road. To be near the Noland property, a person would have to purposely be out that far. And besides, once they reached her Uncle Eli and Aunt Honor’s drive, their property line was a dead-end road. Still, Levi’s offer to follow her down and around the road to her parents’ house was sweet, and normally she’d reassure him she was fine. Instead, she slammed the drawer shut before Levi could see the rose.
A shy admirer might sneak in a token gift while she’d been running her last practice session of the day. It wouldn’t have been the first time to have a smitten young guy fall for her, it was however, the first time she’d had a dead rose left for her. And its symbolism didn’t float over her head…no it slammed into her like a Mac truck and her heart was still pounding.
The latches on Levi’s guitar case snapped, breaking her focus. Looking up, Alex nodded her acceptance at his insistence to see her home. Pulling in a deep breath, she stood, determined to remain outwardly calm. Part of her wanted to believe it was just a cruel prank one of the guys in the shop or one of the students had pulled—successfully. But Alex knew better. Not now, not combined with the phone calls.
Leaving certain lights on that remained lit during nighttime hours, she locked the door, then stood to the side as Levi checked it as well. He made good on his promise, walking her to her Jeep, then following her down the pavement. It was faster to cut through the fields if she’d been riding an off-road vehicle, but she always drove her Jeep to the school, loving the warm weather when she could leave the top off and feel the wind around her.
Pulling into her driveway, she hit the garage door opener, then waited so she could pull in. As she exited, Levi stood nearby. Being home and seeing both of her parents there, made her immediately feel things were back to normal. Suddenly she felt stupid for panicking over a dumb prank phone call. It was summer. It had to be just some middle or high-school kids looking for something to do on a Friday night, daring each other to do stupid stuff.
And the rose—she was going to do her damnedest to forget it. “I’m sorry, Levi. I don’t know what got into me back there.”
He grinned for the first time since she’d noticed him in her office doorway, but he shook his head. “No, I’m sorry. I can see you backpedaling. You could be right, and maybe it was nothing, but”—he placed his hand on her lower back, urging her toward the door that led to the kitchen—“I have never seen you like that before. Something in what you heard or picked up on triggered a basic gut instinct. I think it’s probably a good idea to say something to your parents. Let’s go.”
Now she felt really stupid. Once her parents got wind of how she’d freaked out, they’d be really worried about her working late, even if it was technically on the property, and only a few long strides to the backdoor of her grandparents’ home from her office door.
“Levi, really…it’s no big deal.” The lie even tasted bitter as her mouth formed the words. But she was a Sterling. More than just that, she had Noland blood running through her. Alex could handle whatever this was.
She hoped.
“I’d feel better talking to your dad.”
Alex stopped, turned and laid her hand on his chest, trying to stop his momentum, she begged, “Please, Levi. Really. I’ll tell them, I promise. But don’t worry about it. It’s nothing. And think about it…you were there.” In the glow from the driveway light, she could tell he wasn’t buying her story.
“I guess,” he was hesitant, but stopped walking. “But trust me, Alex. I’m going to be keeping an extra eye on you.”
She forced a half smile for his sake, “Thanks, Levi.”
“Don’t thank me yet. I see something else weird, and your dad isn’t the only one I’ll be calling…and I mean immediately. Jackass or not, I’ll get Dallas on the line in less than a New York minute—just warning you now.”
With a squeeze to her upper arm, his lips were barely more than a tight line, the smile didn’t break through. Her friend was right, and for a second time, she nodded to answer. Levi was right, she needed to say something to Dallas, and Jack too for that matter.
It just hurt that Dallas saw her more of a sister-figure, than what she’d always hoped. It brought back all those feelings, the ones she knew would never be returned.
Pivoting, she walked in between the cars and taking a step up, pressed the button for the garage door, shutting Levi out before he could see the tears well in her eyes.
CHAPTER EIGHT
“Mornin, Joey. Hey, Aunt Emery.” Alex yawned as she stopped at the coffee pot outside her office door for a quick refill. Apparently her lack of sleep was catching up with her, requiring more caffeine than normal. In the days since she’d found the dead rose in her desk drawer with its creepy, dark petals deliberately crushed, Alex had stopped answering the phone after business hours. That put an end to the madness.
And no one around the academy seemed the wis
er. Anyone that needed her called her cell, others could leave a message on the academy’s voicemail. The vision of the fragile petals, dried and crumpled still haunted her dreams. She’d been successful in dodging Levi over the last few days because he was swamped in the shop and wasn’t able to break away to ask what her parents said about the call. She hadn’t lied to him. Alex knew she would tell them…when she figured out what to tell them.
From over her shoulder, she felt a wave of guilt wash through her as she watched Levi work. He was a good friend who was looking out for her, but if word of the pranks ran through the shop, the guys who had always been her equals, would suddenly turn into a team of bodyguards. Letting out a deep breath, Alex turned to walk into her office, slamming face-first into the heavy oak door.
“Ahh.” She pressed her fingertips to her forehead, blinking a couple of times. Her door was never shut. Opening it, she didn’t think much about it as she let her bag slip off her shoulder to the floor by her bookcase. Setting her mug of steaming coffee down, her desk phone started ringing. Forgetting her fatigue and the sharp pain in her head, she slipped straight into the consummate professional.
Rolling back her desk chair, she grabbed the manila folder that was lying in the seat, and placed it on her desk as she grabbed a pen, dashing out information as fast as the parent on the other end of the line could speak. Her excitement was contagious and Alex grinned several times as they continued their conversation.
Ten minutes later she had confirmation of their newest scholarship student, and if the rider was half as excited as the mother was, Alex was going to have to hide all caffeine from him. Reaching for her coffee, she spotted the folder again. Reaching for it, her cell started to ring and she let the thick paper fall back closed. Fishing her cell out of her purse on the third ring, Alex’s heart started pounding double-time.