Aubrey let me change the subject as we wolfed down our food and she told me about her parent’s upcoming anniversary party. Before I knew it, the time had come for us to leave so she could head to work and I could go over to the airport to work on some paperwork for my dad before my flight.
As I walked to my Mini Cooper, I saw a white rose resting on the windshield and froze in my tracks. It completely freaked me out, but I didn’t want Aubrey to see it yet. Not until I could figure out what the hell was going on. I swiveled my head to make sure she was almost to her car and I snagged the flower from the car and dropped it to the ground. I stomped on it in frustration, tears welling in my eyes. I wasn’t going to go through this shit again. When everything went to hell with Brad, I was so relieved when he finally gave up and left town.
This just didn’t make any sense to me. Was he back? And if so did he really think he had a chance in hell of getting me back? Drake had been gone for a few weeks now, so maybe he didn’t know that I had a boyfriend now. There was only one thing I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt - Drake was going to go crazy when he found out what was going on.
Chapter 3
Drake
Something was wrong with Alexa. I knew it deep in my bones. She tried to act like everything was okay, but she was acting weird during our calls whenever I asked how her day had gone. I wasn’t sure what the fuck was going on, but it was starting to drive me crazy and mess with my head. It wasn’t that I thought she was cheating on me or anything like that, but she was definitely hiding something from me. I just couldn’t figure out what it could be and I was stuck here for another week before I could hunt her down and make her tell me.
She had gotten a lot better at sharing with me, but communication wasn’t her strong suit. Sometimes it felt like I still had to pull the most important stuff out of her even though she knew she was safe with me. It drove me crazy, but we were working on it together. I just wish it wasn’t taking so damn long for us to get better at this.
“Dude, what the fuck’s wrong with you?” Lance, one of my line mates asked me. “You can’t have another shit game like that and keep your place on the first line forever. You need to pull your head outta your ass and fast.”
“I know man. It won’t happen again,” I promised.
“It’s your chick, isn’t it? She has you so wrapped. Just pick up some strange tonight at the bar and work out some of your frustration. She never has to know. What happens on the road stays on the road,” he reminded me, raising his fist for a bump. Like I’d go for that shit with the crap he was talking. I just shook my head and walked away. I paused to glance at my phone when it rang and was surprised to see that it was Aubrey.
“Is she okay?” I asked as soon as I picked up the call.
The pause on the other line freaked me out and I started to walk faster to my car. “She’s fine. Or at least I think she is, except she’s going to kill me for calling you.”
I beeped the locks and levered myself inside. “What’s going on? It’s got to be bad for you to call me instead of just talking Alexa into doing it herself.”
“I had lunch with her on Friday,” Aubrey started as she told me everything Lexi had shared with her a couple days earlier. “And I don’t think she realized I saw, but I saw her pick something white up off her car and drop it on the ground. I didn’t get a chance to go back until yesterday morning when I met my mom for lunch. And I found crushed white rose petals and a very thorny stem on the ground by where she had parked.”
“Fuck,” I swore.
“So I called Jackson to ask him for advice and he told me I better call you and make sure you knew,” she continued.
“And what did Alexa have to say about why she hasn’t called me herself?” I asked Aubrey, hoping for some insight into my girlfriend’s thoughts since I was completely stumped as to why the hell she hadn’t let me know what was going on already.
“Honestly, I think she was in denial at first. Worried that she was blowing the whole thing up in her head because of everything that happened with Brad before,” she explained.
“And now?”
“She’s scared to ruin your chances with the rugby team,” Aubrey replied. “And I think she’s a little worried that you might flip out and do something stupid to protect her. So you need to show her that she doesn’t need to worry about shit like that with you. That you’re smart enough to keep her covered without messing up your own stuff.”
I didn’t reply as I struggled with my desire to start the car and hit the road right then and there. But Aubrey was right, Alexa would let the guilt eat her alive if I just up and left without a word to coach and lost my place on the team.
“Did you hear what I said, Drake?” Aubrey asked.
“Yeah, I got you Aubrey. Don’t worry. I’ll figure out a way to get back without screwing everything up here. I’ve only got four more days of practices anyway, so I should be able to talk my way out with a family emergency or something.”
“I went out on a limb here, calling you like this. Don’t make me regret going behind Lexi’s back to tell you what’s going on,” Aubrey warned. “I never would have done it if I wasn’t so freaked out by what this could mean and what could go wrong. She needs you.”
“Then she has me,” I swore before hanging up and calling my dad for help.
“Hey Drake! How was the game?” he asked as he picked up the call.
“It was fine. We won, but I’ve got a problem, Dad,” I answered before explaining what was going on with Alexa.
“That does sound like it could be a problem. Do you want to ask her if she wants to fly out here to stay with us?” he offered.
“No, Dad. I need to figure out who’s at the bottom of this. As much as I’d like to just pull her out of her hometown and away from possible danger, it won’t work in the long-run because we’ve got to go back to school in a few weeks anyway,” I pointed out.
“That’s a good point. I know a guy I can call for advice. He’s done some work for me before. I think you’ve even met him a few times. I’m sure he’ll know what to do. I’ll give him a call to see what he thinks our next move should be. So don’t go running off half-cocked until you hear back from me, okay?” he asked.
“I’m not making any promises, Dad. I’ll head over to talk to Coach and get out of this week’s practices so I can head back early. If I hit the road tonight, I can drive through the night and make it back to town tomorrow.”
“I recognize that tone of voice, so I know there’s no changing your mind. Just promise me you’ll drive safely and have your coach call me if he gives you any trouble about leaving early,” he offered. “I’ll call you back as soon as I can to let you know what Nico has to say.”
With a plan in place, I felt some of the weight lift from my shoulders. My dad had my back so I could have Alexa’s - exactly how it should be.
Chapter 4
Alexa
I’d finally given into my exhaustion and taken a Tylenol PM before going to bed, so the ringing of my phone confused me at first. I thought it was coming from my dream, but the sound was persistent. I reached a hand out to blindly search for my phone which was resting next to me on my bed for when Drake called me. I’d gone to bed pretty early, but I didn’t want to miss his call.
“Hello,” I murmured into the line when I managed to grab it. I blearily rubbed at my eyes when there was no reply, trying to peer at the screen to figure out if I’d missed catching him in time. Only the call was connected and it said Unavailable instead of Drake’s name. Before I could say anything else the caller hung up and I realized that I’d somehow slept through ten missed calls. Back to back to back. All of them showing an unavailable phone number.
I was officially freaked out. My dad was gone for the next week on a trip for a company who used him for charters a lot, so I was alone in the house and suddenly I didn’t feel very safe. What I wouldn’t give for Drake to be here with me right now, but I knew those thoughts were purely selfi
sh. He was exactly where he needed to be, but I definitely needed to tell him what was going on the next time we talked.
My phone rang again and I grabbed it and punched the green button without thinking first. “Who the hell is this?” I screamed into the phone.
“Alexa, it’s me. What the hell’s going on? Are you okay?” Drake asked on the other end of the line.
“Oh thank God,” I sobbed into the phone hysterically. Between the tension of the last week, the medicine I’d taken to help me sleep and seeing those calls on my phone, I completely lost it.
“Shhh, baby. Everything’s going to be okay. I promise,” Drake soothed me. “Calm down. Tell me what happened.”
Everything tumbled out from me in a rambling explanation. The calls, the flower, the weird feeling of being watched, my sudden fear at being home alone tonight. All of it.
“Alexa,” he sighed. “We’re going to have a serious conversation later about why you waited to talk to me about this. But for now I want you to go downstairs and make sure the doors and windows are locked and the alarm is set.”
“Okay,” I whispered, ashamed at the disappointment I heard in his tone.
“Do it now while I’m on the phone with you, baby. I want to make sure you’re safe tonight.”
I wandered downstairs and made sure everything was locked up. I hardly ever used the alarm system my dad had put in because he wanted me to be secure when he traveled out of town overnight, but I was relieved that he’d had it put in now.
“All done,” I said as I climbed back into bed and pulled the blankets over my head to shut the rest of the world out.
“Good,” Drake replied before there was silence on the line.
It was a deafening silence that made me worry Drake was pissed and wouldn’t forgive me for not telling him about everything right away. “Are you mad at me?” I asked.
Drake didn’t answer right away. I felt the tension mounting between us. “I’m not happy with you right now,” he admitted. “But we can talk about that later. You need to get some sleep.”
“I’m sorry,” I whispered , my words slurring slightly as my sleepiness overcame me again.
“I know you are, baby. Everything will be okay. Sleep now,” he murmured into the line as I felt myself drift off.
The sunlight was streaming through my bedroom window when I woke up the next morning. I still felt fuzzy since I always reacted weird to Tylenol PM. I couldn’t even take a full pill, I had cut one in half last night. As I rolled over onto my phone, I realized that the last thing I remembered was talking to Drake about him being angry with me for keeping stuff from him. And rightly so. I didn’t know what I had been thinking. I should have mentioned it after the first phone call. Or at least when it happened the second morning. Definitely on the third. By then it was a pattern that I couldn’t ignore.
Burying my head in the sand wasn’t going to help anything. It seemed like whatever was going on was just getting worse. The call last night threw me since it wasn’t in the morning like the others. And the flower on my car freaked me out. I needed to figure out what the hell was going on here, but I didn’t have any idea where to even begin other than maybe to call the Sheriff’s office. I definitely need to talk to my dad and Drake about it too.
I made some coffee to help wake myself up and wandered out onto the front porch as soon as I was able to pour myself a cup. With my first step outside I realized something was wrong. A bunch of white roses rested on the doorstep. That meant that the person who had been calling had been to my house this morning first thing before I woke up and left them for me.
I stared at the flowers for a moment before picking them up and tearing them apart in search of a card. There had to be something here that would tell me who had sent them. I needed a sign, a clue, anything to tell me who was behind this all.
As I was flinging flowers out of the package, the sound of a car turning into the drive startled me. I glanced up and saw Drake’s Viper pulling up to the house. The staggering relief that I felt at seeing him, even knowing that it meant he left early and drove through the night to me, almost brought me to my knees. I ran towards him and flung myself into his arms as soon as he stepped out of the car. Even with everything hanging over my head, I’d never felt safer than I did with his arms wrapped tightly around me.
Chapter 5
Drake
I had pushed my car to the limit to make my way back to Alexa as fast as I possibly could, stopping only for a few quick pit stops. My focus was completely on the drive ahead of me and trying to keep my temper in check. I hadn’t liked the advice my dad had given me when he called back. I liked it even less right now. How in the hell was I supposed to keep a level head when some ass was playing games with my girl?
When she broke down during our call last night, I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that I’d made the right decision in leaving early to be here for her. Having her in my arms right now only reinforced that feeling. I carried her upstairs to her room and dropped her onto her feet before I noticed the rose petals in her hair.
“What the hell?” I growled, gesturing at her head. I watched as she reached up and pulled a petal away.
“I found them outside this morning,” she explained. “But I have no idea who sent them. I couldn’t find a card or anything.”
I was pissed the hell off that someone was tormenting my girl and frustrated beyond measure that things had gone this far without her telling me anything. “Dammit, Alexa. You can’t keep shit like this from me.”
“I’m sorry, Drake. I was going to tell you what was going on. I swear I was. At first it was just little things and I didn’t want to worry you. I didn’t realize that it was so serious and by then you were already here.”
“Goddamit, Alexa!” I roared. “When are you going to get it? If you’ve got a problem, then I’ve got one too! You are mine! Mine to fuck. Mine to love. And mine to protect!”
“Yes, I’m yours,” she tried to soothe the beast that was roaring inside me, but mere words weren’t going to cut it.
“Strip,” I bit out as I ripped my shirt over my head. She looked at me with a stunned expression on her beautiful face. “Now!” I ordered because she wasn’t moving fast enough. The need to dominate her was riding me hard.
As soon as she was down to her panties I tossed her onto the bed and rolled her onto her stomach. I pulled her panties to the side and lifted her ass in the air so I could feast on her from behind. At the first flick of my tongue I heard her sigh deeply. Stiffening my tongue, I fucked in and out of her body while I roughly held her in place with a tight grip on the crease at the top of her legs.
I hadn’t shaved in days, and my scruff was scraping against the sensitive skin between her thighs. The red marks on her skin, a stamp of my possession, soothed me a little. But it wasn’t enough. I dipped two fingers inside to make sure she was ready. Thank fuck she always wanted me because I found her dripping wet so I drove in with one powerful thrust.
“Do you trust me baby?” I groaned.
“Yes,” she gasped out her answer as I drilled her with measured strokes.
“When you don’t talk to me about shit, it makes me feel like you don’t trust me,” I growled.
“No, Drake. That wasn’t it at all,” she whimpered, whipping her head back and forth.
“I don’t know if I believe you baby. Do you really trust me that much?” I goaded her.
“Yes! You have to know I do. With everything. Anything.”
A dark chuckle escaped from my lips as an idea formed in my head. A way to prove that she had complete faith in me. “Give me your hands, Alexa.”
“What?” she asked, a dazed look on her face as I held still behind her with my cock buried deep inside.
I pushed her shoulders down on the bed and drew her hands behind her back. I gripped them tightly in one fist and lifted one of her knees so I could fuck her slow and deep. “I know it’s gonna hurt a little baby. I’ve never been this far before, bu
t I need you to trust me to make it good for you. Can you do that for me, Alexa?”
“Yes,” she hissed out.
“Fuck, just like that,” I groaned as I bottomed out inside her bumping against her cervix. My balls slapped against her pussy with each thrust earning me a gasp every time. Her hair had slid over her face so I couldn’t see her eyes anymore so I widened my knees to get more leverage and reached down to pull her hair away. Her walls clenched against me as I tugged it out of the way.
“More,” she moaned so I grasped her hair in my fist and yanked it back as I pounded inside even harder.
“My baby likes being a little bad?” I grunted.
“Oh God,” she screamed as she flew over the edge and clenched tight around me.
“Lift your ass higher for me,” I growled as I tugged her hair more tightly in my fist and pulled her fists up a little to make room for her to follow my command.
With her body spread out below me, completely at my mercy, I knew she got my point. I grabbed Lexi’s hips as I hammered inside, over and over again. Each punishing thrust a reminder of who she belonged to. Me.
Chapter 6
Alexa
As I stared out the kitchen window, sipping my coffee, I pondered how the last couple days went by without too much trouble. Having Drake around made me feel less vulnerable. Some women might judge me for it since I should be able to take care of myself, but part of what drew me to Drake in the first place was how safe he made me feel. But I never expected to be in the kind of situation where he would find the need to take it to the extreme.
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