Image of Deceit

by Raines, Rumer

  Oliver spends most of his time taking calls. We have barely talked since we had the conversation about Sam. We are rarely in the same room at the same time. Ironically this morning Oliver and I sit across from each other having breakfast. He let out a long, audible breath and looks at me.

  “Noah booked a flight to Chicago and has a meeting with a realtor this afternoon,” Oliver advises, and I drop the spoon into my cereal. I have barely gotten any sleep since the conversation I had with Oliver.

  “How do you know this?” I ask, and his eyebrows lift, as he rolls his eyes.

  “Are you going out today?” I ask and Oliver nods.

  “I am. You’ll be safe here, Alexis. It’s been almost two weeks and the only things moving are the damn squirrels. Besides you know where the gun is,” he says as he stands, and I follow him to the door and lock it after he leaves.

  I get restless a few hours after Oliver left me to fend for myself. I grab my cell phone off the table and I call the one person that doesn’t want to hear from me. He answers on the first ring.

  “Hello,” he answers with suspicion in his voice.

  “Hi, Noah. It’s Alexis” I whisper, and I can hear him quietly sigh and I can almost picture him closing his eyes when he hears my name.

  Noah doesn’t respond, and I start to think I made a huge mistake calling him. I should hang up, but I can’t.

  “I’m sorry for calling, I just needed to hear your voice,” I tell him, and he doesn’t say anything, but I hear him breathing in the background.

  “I just… I miss you and I just wanted you to know I was thinking about you. I know you're probably busy so…” I stop talking when I hear him sigh

  “I miss you too, baby,” he whispers, and I close my eyes as the first tear rolls down my face

  “Noah,” I whisper.

  “I need to see you. Are you at home?” Noah asks, and I glance around the safe house that Oliver has me hidden in. I can’t have Noah come here. Oliver will have a stroke.

  “I’m not home, Noah. Can we meet at the townhouse?” I request, and Noah responds affirmatively. Within thirty minutes, I am in a taxi headed to the townhouse to meet Noah.

  When I arrive at the townhouse, Noah is already inside. He opens the door and I can hardly breathe just being near him. Noah is even more beautiful than I remember. He is wearing black trousers and a blue shirt that has the first buttons undone. He was wearing a tie, but it is draped around his neck as if he was in the process of taking it off.

  His dark eyes pierce through to my soul. I rush into his arms and grab his face as I put my lips to his. I worry that Noah will push me away, but instead his arms reach around me and pull me closer. I moan when I feel his hard bulge against the very place it needs to be.

  His hands lift my t-shirt, his fingers icy, but the palms are fiery hot. Noah doesn’t stop there, and I am grateful that he doesn’t. He undresses me slowly, worshipfully. While Noah’s tongue explored the recesses of my mouth I took it upon myself to start ripping his clothes off. His tormented groan was a heady invitation to continue.

  Noah and I fall to the floor and I gasp as he enters me with one firm thrust. I moan aloud in erotic pleasure as Noah continued to thrust repeatedly into my softness. The push and pull of him inside me is almost too much to handle. I want him inside me. I want his weight on top of me. I want to watch his face as he pushes himself further and further inside me. Noah lifts himself up on his arms and stared into my eyes while he continued to pound into my wet pussy. Noah thrust four more times and he collapses into my waiting arms and gives me a soft kiss.

  We lie naked on the floor and stared into each other’s eyes. Noah’s hands touch my face and I could feel a sense of possessiveness in his touch. Noah and I aren’t over, and I don’t think we ever will be.

  “Did anything exciting happen while I was away?” Noah smirks and I lift my eyebrows wondering where I should even start? I tell Noah everything and he listens quietly.

  “Why was Chance showering at your house? Did he spend the night?” there was a cold edge of irony in his voice

  “That’s your question?” I ask, and he nods.

  “We went out the night before and we got drunk and it was late.”

  “Did you sleep with him?” he asks as he lightly rubs my arm.

  “No. I haven’t been with anyone else, Noah. Have you?” I brace for his answer.

  “There hasn’t been anyone else,” he says.

  “Can we get back to the fact that I am staying in a safe house because someone may be trying to kill me?” I remind Noah and he stands to put on his pants.

  “You are safe, Alexis. There is no need to worry about anything,” he says while he continues to get dressed.

  “How do you know that?” I ask, and Noah hands me my clothes.

  “Because I will kill anyone that tries to hurt you myself,” he tells me as he leans in to kiss me.

  “How are you going to do that?

  “I am going to stay in Chicago until we figure out who the hell killed Chance,” Noah says and before I can respond, there is pounding on the door.

  Noah waits until I am completely dressed, before answering and once the door is opened Oliver comes rushing inside. He glances over Noah and walks directly to me.

  “Alexis, what the hell were you thinking?” he growls.

  “Don’t talk to her like that,” Noah tells Oliver, whose eyebrows lift as he faces an annoyed Noah.

  “Excuse me? You were told to leave Chicago and not come back. You can shut the hell up.” Oliver returns his focus to me.

  “This is my damn house. You don’t make the fucking rules once you come through those doors,” Noah growls at Oliver who has a stunned look on his face. Oliver then smirks and before I realize what is happening, he has grabbed his gun and point it at Noah, who apparently, doesn’t care because he chuckles and starts to walk towards Oliver.

  I push Noah back and step between the two stubborn men and ask Oliver to put the gun away. He stares over my head towards Noah, who is now standing with his arms crossed in defiance.

  “Oliver! I came here because I wanted to. I called you to let you know exactly where I would be. I wasn’t under house arrest, damn it! Put the gun away because you know I won’t let you shoot him,” I advise Oliver and he takes a deep breath and finally puts away his gun.

  “Why did you come here, Oliver? You knew I would be safe here with Noah,” I ask, and Oliver chuckles.

  “Are you kidding me? Do you think I would tell either of your brothers that I let you hang out for a fucking booty call?”

  “This isn’t a fucking booty call,” Noah snarls furiously and I hear Oliver starting to grind his teeth.

  “Did I ask you anything?” Oliver snipes.

  “My fucking house.” Noah reminds Oliver and I close my eyes hoping I don’t have to separate them again.

  “Not for long. Aren’t you meeting with a realtor tomorrow? You’re here to put the house up for sale, right? Did you think you would take Alexis for one last spin?” Oliver spits and I turn back to look at Noah, whose eyes soften when he looks at me

  “I was going to put the house up for sale, but not anymore,” Noah says while gazing into my eyes and he pulls me close and his lips came coaxingly down on mine.

  “Oh fuck!” Oliver shouts and Noah and I watch him as he rolls his eyes and starts to pace the room.

  Noah and I both turn to look at Oliver, who looks annoyed.

  “How about we talk about this calmly.” His lips twisted into a cynical smile as we each walked to the kitchen table.

  Noah

  Alexis and I are sitting at opposites ends of the table and Oliver grabs a beer from my fridge. I didn’t offer him one, but he decided to help himself. I cross my arms and stare at him as Alexis shakes her head for me to remain silent. Oliver paces the kitchen and looks at us and chuckles.

  “Alexis is a Deluca, Noah. So, if there is anything you need to tell her, you need to talk now, or I’ll tell
her everything,” Oliver threatens, and I shrug my shoulders again. I have no secrets from Alexis, so I don’t know what the hell he is talking about. I guess being in the damn mob makes a person paranoid.

  Oliver laughs and glances at Alexis and back to me.

  “When did you find out about the private investigator?” Oliver asks, and I sigh and look back at Alexis whose eyes are narrowed.

  “My business partner hired the PI to find Nick. I had nothing to do with it,” I tell them while keeping my eyes on Alexis.

  “Your PI knew about Alexis. He took pictures of her with Nick. Are you trying to say that you didn’t know they were involved when you came to Chicago?”

  “Listen, mother fucker…,” Noah begins. Oliver’s eyes widen, and he tilts his head. “I told you Maurice hired the PI. When I came to Chicago I didn’t know that Alexis and Nick were involved.” I turn back to Alexis and stare into her questioning eyes. “Baby, we have nothing to do with Nick,” I tell her and Oliver sighs.

  “How fucking sweet,” Oliver mocks, and I take a deep breath to calm myself before reaching for his fucking neck.

  “You never knew about Alexis and Nick? He never told you?” Oliver asks and I glare at him and he just smirks and lifts his eyebrows questioningly.

  “Alexis asked for my help, Noah. Did you know that she is staying at a safe house with me?” he asks trying to provoke Noah. Alexis’ eyes widen, and I glance at them and nod.

  “Did she tell you that we were involved at one time? It was me that used to slide between her legs,” Oliver gloats and Alexis gasps. “Oliver! What the hell are you trying to do here?” she yells, and I sit at the table grinding my teeth.

  Oliver grits out, “I am testing the fucking waters, Alexis. If you two want to be together, you need to lay everything on the fucking table. You are a Deluca, and any information or anything else will be used to end this little relationship before it even gets started.” Alexis sighs and looks at me, but I look away.

  She tells him, “I have always been a Deluca. This isn’t new for me.”

  “You have been a protected Deluca. Now that you know who your brothers are, you’ll see and hear everything differently now. That PI his business partner hired…do you know how many fucking times he was in your store? Lola tipped off Thomas that you were being watched,” Oliver advises and Alexis gasps shaking her head.

  I start to chuckle and they both look at me. “Maurice said he disappeared. You did something to him, didn’t you?” I ask, and Oliver looks at Alexis.

  “I didn’t do anything to him, but yes he was handled,” Oliver says.

  I shake my head and push away from the table. “You killed him. You killed an innocent man because he was looking for Nick? Do you people know anything but killing people?” I spit, and Oliver moves to within inches of me.

  “You people? You were just fucking one of us people a minute ago, professing your love for her. Now you want to put us in a category that is below you?” Oliver adds, and I just shake my head in disgust looking at him.

  “Alexis isn’t like any of you,” I add as I glance at Alexis and now she looks away from me. I can see what Oliver is doing. He is tearing me and Alexis apart with all this honesty shit. He is broadcasting the ugliness that has nothing to do with our relationship.

  “Can you have a relationship with Alexis while blaming her brothers for killing Nick?” Oliver continues.

  “I am not going to answer that question.”

  “I think I need you to answer.” Alexis whispers and I tilt my head to stare into her beautiful dark, worried eyes.

  “I don’t know how to answer that. Nick is my brother and he’s dead. Alex and Frank didn’t kill him, but they buried him and took away the opportunity for my family to say goodbye. We didn’t even have a funeral to say goodbye to him. Can I forgive them? I will co-exist with them because I love you more than I hate them. For you, I will forgive what they did, but I can never forget it.” I promise Alexis and grab her by the hand and pull it up to my lips.

  “Funny. That wasn’t forgiveness when I caught you in the alley ready to execute them,” Oliver says tauntingly and I close my eyes as Alexis snatches her hand away.

  “You were going to kill my brothers?” she yells, and I take a deep breath and stare at Oliver, who lifts his beer to his smirking lips

  “I was. I walked away.”

  “He walked away because I caught him and took away his small pistol and sent him home with the other,” Oliver smirks and I narrow my eyes at him threatening retribution.

  “Is this fun to you? Are you enjoying seeing the hurt on her face? Why are you really doing this? I was going to put a fucking bullet right between their eyes. I wanted them to suffer the same way they made my family suffer. You sit here and try to portray fucking family loyalty, yet I am supposed to be fine with the fact that my brother was taken out like trash? I am in love with Alexis, so if you want to lay more fucking cards on the table lay them out, but when you’re done I am going to throw you the hell out of my house and she’s fucking staying.”

  “You two need to sit down. We’re not done here,” Oliver advises, and I pull Alexis closer to me.

  “Yes, we are. Get the hell out,” I order him. as my hands caress the curve of her back. I have had enough of Oliver’s bullshit.

  “I can leave if you insist, but if I leave you’ll regret it,” Oliver tells me and laugh.

  “Why in the hell would I regret it?”

  “If I leave you will never find out who really killed your brother,” Oliver promises, and I feel Alexis tense up in my arms and my blood suddenly runs cold.

  Alexis

  I watch as Noah paces the kitchen in anger. His hands squeeze the back of his neck and his face is tense and hard. He shakes his head and looks back at Oliver. Neither one of us can believe what Oliver just said. Sam killed Nick, not Garth. We all thought Garth killed him, but Oliver has known the truth this entire time. He is just another person presenting an image of deceit.

  “How long are you going to pace?” Oliver asks, and Noah stops walking and shakes his head.

  “I don’t know if I believe you,” Noah says.

  “Believe whatever the hell you want. I don’t have any reason to lie to you, do I?”

  Noah falls back into the chair and runs his hand through his short hair. “Why the fuck would she do it?” he grumbles, as Oliver and I look at each other.

  “She’s forced herself into your company, hasn’t she?” Oliver speculates.

  “She killed him because she wants in the company?” Noah asks, incredulously.

  “Money changes people. If she ever changed.” Oliver adds.

  I spent the next hour listening to Noah and Oliver discuss how and why Sam would have killed Noah. Did she find out he was with me and become a woman scorned? Did she kill him because she just became greedy and wanted the money instead of him? Oliver tells Noah how Nick taped the entire fight he had with Sam. She showed up at his door and he had no choice but to let her in. She was his wife and she had tracked him down. Nick was wearing a bulletproof vest when Adele’s husband shot him, unfortunately, he felt he was safe to take it off when Sam was with him. Once Nick had taken off his vest, she pulled her own gun. She had no idea that when Nick tossed his phone on the bed it had started recording them. When Alex and Adele found Nick, Adele grabbed the phone and eventually passed it along to Oliver.

  “I can’t believe that bitch killed Nick. This whole fucking time… she did it. She begged me to find Nick,” Noah says while baring his teeth.

  “Of course, she did. She isn’t entitled to shit without a body,” Oliver reminds Noah, who shakes his head.

  “She knew,” Noah whispers.

  “She knew what?”

  “She knew about you. She knew that Nick was having an affair. She was pissed that I was involved with you. She fucking knew!” Noah yells as he shoves back his chair and starts to pace again.

  “What are we going to do?” I ask looking at O
liver and Noah.

  “Noah is going to give Sam a call. Get her to come to Chicago and we're going to take care of this shit,” Oliver replies, and I glance over at Noah.

  Oliver leaves saying that he’ll be in contact with us tomorrow. Noah locks up we head up to bed. We lie next to each other in silence. I know his mind is probably spinning at everything Oliver told us tonight. Nick’s wife killed him.

  I turn to my side and look at Noah, who has his arm tossed over his face. He turns his head to face me and I can see the hurt in his eyes.

  “I don’t know what to think about any of this,” he whispers.

  I lean into Noah and give him a gentle kiss on his tender lips. I turn around so that my back is against his chest and we both eventually fall asleep.

  The next morning, Noah is getting out of the shower when I finally awaken. He tells me that I should get dressed because we are heading to Deluca’s for a meeting with Oliver. I gasp when he mentions where we will be meeting because I don’t think I’m ready for Alex and Frank to find out Noah is back in town.

  Noah notices my hesitation as I get dressed and assures me that Oliver said it was safe. I pray that Oliver isn’t setting us up. Is he only telling Noah this to gain some false security that we’re all in this together?

  I grab my cell to give Oliver a quick text.

  ME: Why are we meeting at Deluca’s?

  Oliver: Meetings are ALWAYS there.

  ME: Who’s going to be at this meeting?

  Oliver: Everyone.

  ME: WHO is everyone?

  Oliver: Just be there in one hour.

  Me: Is this a setup?

  Oliver: Fuck. Just come, Alexis.

  Me: Is this a setup?

  Oliver: No. We all want this to be over.

  Me: What do you want over? Noah?

  Oliver: Can you please just trust me?

  Me: Like I trusted you when you told Noah about being between my legs?