Image of Deceit

by Rumer Raines

  Alexis

  Noah and I go on that date the next night. We also go out the night after that and the next. We can’t seem to get enough of each other. We still haven’t had sex, and we are to the point that I am nearly throwing myself at him. I can tell he is now playing hard to get.

  After working all day at the store, I head directly to Noah’s hotel room. I can’t help wonder how long our time together will last. I know he is here visiting his brother, but he hasn’t mentioned going back to Boston anytime soon. I park my SUV and walk through the hotel lobby like I own the place. While on the elevator up to Noah’s room, I realize that he has met both of my brothers. I think I would like to meet his. I know we haven’t known each other long, but we have spent a lot of time together.

  Noah opens the door and pulls me into his arms and I can’t believe how good his lips feel against mine. I moan as I wrap my arms around his neck. He tightens his grip on me as I shamelessly adjust myself, so I can rub against his hard bulge. If he doesn’t fuck me soon, I think I am going to figure out how to dry hump him without him noticing.

  Noah closes the door and pushes me against it and I notice his legs moving between mine. Is this finally it? Noah puts his hands on my face as he pulls away from me and I close my eyes praying that he doesn’t stop now.

  “How was your day, Alexis?” he asks as he puts his forehead against mine and I take a big breath to calm my racing heart.

  “It was fine. But I am hoping you’re about to make it even better.” I grab his shirt and pull his mouth back to mine. Noah chuckles and gives me a soft kiss as he backs away from me. I glance down and can see the evidence of him wanting me as much as I want him.

  “Don’t play games with me. Why are you putting the brakes on this? The first night I was here, you couldn’t get me into bed fast enough and now you’re acting like you have no interest at all.

  “I have an interest, Alexis. Every night I crawl into that bed and jack myself off thinking about your wet little pussy. I think about taking my tongue and licking so far inside you that you tremble while your legs are around my shoulders. I think about fucking you so hard that you won’t be able to leave this room for days,” Noah taunts and I watch as his eyes darken while staring at me.

  “Then why haven’t you done any of those things?” I whisper, and he walks over to me and grabs a lock of my hair and twirls it between his fingers.

  “I haven’t done any of those things because when I do, I want to know you’re here with me and not thinking of some other man. I want you to know whose dick is bringing you pleasure,” he explains, and I close my eyes as he waits for a response.

  “I would know who I’m with,” I whisper.

  “I want us both to be sure. I am not going to lie to you, Alexis. I can be a selfish man. I don’t like to share and I sure as hell won’t be someone’s replacement.”

  “How about we order a pizza?” Noah asks as he walks over to grab his cell phone and he looks back at me as I stand frozen watching him. He takes a deep breath and glances at the bed.

  “I think we better go out for the pizza,” he says as he grabs my hand and we head to my SUV. Noah opens the passenger door for me, so he can drive, and I give him directions to the restaurant. I can feel his eyes glance at me every few seconds, but I ignore him. Am I really one of those girls who get angry about not getting sex? No, I am not. He is just being frustrating.

  When we get to the restaurant, I hop out of the truck and walk in front of Noah to the door. I hear him chuckle behind me and I still don’t look at him. I am pissed off and I want him to know it. The sound of him laughing at me only pisses me off more.

  The waitress takes us to a booth and I notice that she glances at Noah and flirts with him while taking our drink orders. I can’t believe what a rude bitch this girl is. She notices his accent and starts to ask where he’s from and he has the nerve to tell her.

  “Am I going to get in the way, Noah?” I practically bark at him when she finally leaves.

  “Getting in the way of what?” he asks as he starts to rub his stubbled chin.

  “You and her. I know you won’t touch me, but she appeared to be willing to fall onto her back right here on the table. Maybe I should leave you here and you can do all those things you said earlier to her,” I suggest, and Noah closes his eyes and taking a deep breath.

  “I am not going to even reply to that comment, Alexis,” he replies, which only pisses me off more. The waitress comes to our table several more times. She delivers our drinks, then comes back to check on Noah. She then comes back again to tell Noah our pizza is in the oven, followed by another check-in with Noah to make sure his drink is to his satisfaction. She comes over four times before our pizza is delivered to the table. I have had enough of her and Noah and I am done.

  Once the pizza is finally on the table, the waitress comes over to check on Noah again. While they are talking, I nod at Noah and advise him that I am going to the ladies’ room. I walk straight out the door. Noah didn’t even notice that I grabbed my purse when I left for the ladies’ room. I am so done with him and I don’t stop walking until I get to my truck.

  I have been gone ten minutes when my cell phone starts to ring. I can’t believe it took him ten minutes to notice, but I suppose he did have the pretty blond waitress to keep him occupied. I grab my phone and see that it’s Noah. I toss the phone on the passenger seat and it eventually stops ringing. A few seconds later it starts to ring again, and I pick up the phone and turn it off. I have nothing else to say to Noah Hudson.

  Noah

  I won’t deny it I was amused at how pissed Alexis was at the waitress. I watched as Alexis squirmed and I saw the smoke coming from her ears as she sat across from me. I had no interest in the waitress, but I was entertained by them both.

  When Alexis asked if she was getting in the way, I didn’t even reply. I didn’t think a comment was needed. I have been spending a lot of time with Alexis. I have never spent this much time with any woman without fucking her. Alexis is different, and I have no idea why. She is fragile and frustrating at the same time. I want to hold her, fuck her, and scream at her all at once. I have been holding back with her and she doesn’t like it one bit.

  The night I took her back to my room, I wanted to fuck her so badly that I could barely breathe. I had her right where I wanted her; when she put her hands on her chest, it broke me. She was in my bed and still hiding from me? If that wasn’t bad enough, I looked into her eyes and saw fear. She wasn’t over her ex and he still held a piece of her that she wasn’t going to turn loose. I am a selfish man and I wasn’t going to fuck her if she was thinking of any other man. I still won’t do it, and we are both suffering because of it. I am dying to put my cock inside her and I know it’s what she wants too. I just want to make sure it’s my cock she wants and no one else’s.

  I nod when Alexis excuses herself to go to the ladies’ room and I watch as the waitress walks to her side of the table. I glance towards her name tag and realize that her long blond hair is covering it. I never even bothered to get the girl’s name because I was never interested and I’m still not. She finally leaves the table and I turn to look back towards the ladies’ room wondering what the hell is taking Alexis so long?

  When the waitress again returns to the table, I ask if she would check on Alexis. She goes in and returns advising that the ladies’ room is empty. I pay the bill and walk outside to see if her truck is still here and not surprisingly, it’s gone. I call Alexis and she doesn’t fucking answer. I wait a few minutes and call her again and she still doesn’t answer. When I call a third time, I hear the message that the caller is not available. She turned off her fucking phone to avoid me and I am now pissed off.

  The next morning, I call Ted, to let him know his information was useless. Why am I paying him if he can’t do the fucking job? I have been to all the places that he put in his report and I haven’t found Nick. Ted advises that he still has his people looking into things and he w
ill report back. I am not paying him to consider anything. I paid him to find Nick and he is about to get his ass fired. I have been in Chicago for too long and I am about to snap.

  Nick was constantly in Chicago, but despite his frequent trips, he didn’t have a home here. There is no property listed with his name on it. Where the hell was he staying? Based on his credit card information, he wasn’t staying in hotels. I hop out of bed and start looking at the hotel listings in the area. There are too many for me to even consider going to each one. Was he staying with someone while in Chicago? I shake my head wondering if somehow could he have been living two separate lives. I have my work cut out for me, but I made Sam a promise that I intend to keep.

  I am not going to get distracted. Alexis did me a favor by walking out. She gave me a reason to end things with her. She was only getting in the way and I am here to find Nick. She wasn’t ready for me anyway. She was too hung up on her ex, and I don’t have time for that. I should have just fucked her and moved on. I just don’t know why things felt different with her.

  Two weeks later, I still don’t have anything new on Nick. I have been avoiding all of Sam’s calls and have made sure to give Ted a few angry calls of my own. I have been walking the streets and staring at every face that walks past that even remotely looks like Nick.

  I start to wonder if I should just file another missing person report. We filed one last year and we haven’t heard anything. We assumed that it was just moved over to some cold case file. Maybe I should visit the station and ask them if they are still looking?

  The police station is full of chaos. A cop walks over to me and asks if I need help. I tell him I am checking on a missing person report. He asks for the name and when I tell him he has me take a seat. A few minutes later, a detective comes over and takes me to his desk.

  I listen to the detective for almost five minutes until I can no longer hear him. I stopped listening after his first few sentences. I can’t believe what I am hearing. I am beyond pissed off. When the detective stands up and holds out his hand, I do the same. I walk out of the station feeling like I was just suckered punched and have no idea what I’ll tell Sam or my parents.

  Alexis

  It’s been two weeks since I walked out on Noah. I didn’t take any of his calls after I left, but I didn’t expect them to completely stop. I was angry when I walked out of that damn restaurant. That waitress flirted with him the entire time and he just sat there and let her. It’s over before it really got started. I had started to have feelings for Noah. I loved talking to him and arguing with him. I looked forward to getting out of the store, knowing I would be spending time with him. Granted, I was frustrated with him for keeping me at arm’s length as far as sex goes, but eventually, he would have caved. I could see that he was forcing himself to hold back, but he was getting weaker and weaker. How much time did we even have? He was going back to Boston and I would be here in Chicago. How successful can long distance relationships be anyway?

  There is only one problem, though. I miss him. I stare at any nearby phone and force myself not to call him. I so want to call him.

  “Hey, girlie. Everything okay?” Chance asks, and I snap out of my “Noah funk” and realize that I have been staring into the mall for at least five minutes. I need to move on and get over this. What the hell is wrong with me?

  “Everything is good. How about we start cleaning up so we’re not here too late,” I suggest to Chance as I walk past him to start putting everything back in its place. I can hear Chance’s footsteps behind me as I walk toward one of the sinks

  “Do we have a date tonight?” Chance whispers and I shake my head. Chance is the only person that knew I was dating anyone. I don’t have many friends other than Lola and Adele and I refuse to tell them. Once they find out, it means Alex and Frank will find out too. I didn’t want them harassing Noah since the relationship was still new.

  “I won’t be having any more dates, Chance,” I tell him, and he tilts his head waiting for me to continue, which of course I don’t. “What happened, Alexis? I could tell you really liked the guy. You practically glowed when it was time to get out of here.”

  “He was a jerk. We went out and he let the waitress flirt with him the entire time.”

  “What do you mean he LET the waitress flirt with him?” Chance questions and I notice he emphasizes ‘let’.

  “I mean she took us to our table and batted her eyes at him, made sure he enjoyed his drink and practically offered to do a lap dance while we waited for our food to be delivered.”

  “Hmmm… And he flirted back?” Chance asks.

  “Well, he didn’t flirt back with her. He didn’t tell her to stop either.”

  “So, your waitress flirted with him, he was polite to her, and you’re mad because you would have preferred for him to tell the bitch to back off?” Chance asks with raised eyebrows, and I start to feel pissed.

  “Of course, I wouldn’t want him to be rude. He could have blown her off nicely. I think,” I tell him, and I am really starting to question myself. Chance is looking at me like I have suddenly become a stranger.

  “Okay. You are mad because the waitress flirted, and he didn’t blow her off. Did you maybe let him know that you weren’t happy with all the attention he was getting? Or, even better, why didn’t you say something to the waitress? You could have easily said back off bitch, too. How did you end things for the night? Did you just sit there and keep quiet the entire time? Does he even know you’re pissed over the waitress thing?” Chance asks, and I take a deep breath and sigh.

  “I excused myself to go to the ladies’ room and I left,” I whisper, and Chance starts to chuckle. I look at him and he is shaking his head at me.

  “You ditched him? That was a shitty thing to do, Alexis,” Chance scolds me and I realize that he is right.

  “I was angry, Chance.”

  “You were jealous, Alexis. You didn’t like that another woman was paying him attention and he didn’t tell her to stop. Instead of saying something, you assumed he would do what you wanted him to do and when he didn’t you ran like a spoiled little girl.”

  “Did you just call me a spoiled little girl? Do I have to remind you that I am your boss? I can fire you right now in case you have forgotten?”

  “Nah., you wouldn’t do that. You would just get mad at me and excuse yourself to the ladies’ room,” Chance teases and I can’t believe he is talking to me this way. The same Chance that would never give me his true opinion and would make ass kissing look like a science, is calling me a spoiled little girl? Who suddenly gave him an attitude?

  “I can’t believe you're talking to me like this, Chance?” I tell him as I put my hand up to my chest. I glance at him wondering if he has an evil, testy twin that may have taken his place.

  “I can’t either, to be honest, but we did say life is too short for regrets. Besides, I care about you, Alexis and I want you to be happy. Don’t let your stupidity ruin this for you,” Chance says, and he walks over to pull me into a hug.

  “Did you just call me stupid?” I mumble as I talk with my mouth against his chest and he laughs as he pushes me away to start cleaning up.

  I don’t know if I am doing the right thing, but I’m now standing in front of Noah’s hotel room. I take a deep breath as I raise my hand up to knock and lightly tap on the door. I wait a few seconds and there is no answer. I close my eyes and knock a second time, but this time I knock hard enough for him to hear.

  The door is suddenly pulled open and Noah is standing in front of me in just his pajama bottoms. His hair is wet and there is a towel wrapped around his neck like he just got out of the shower. I can’t help but look him over and take in his colorful tattoos as my eyes travel down to his six-pack abs and the perfect “V” that will lead me to places I have been trying to get to for weeks. My mind and eyes drift further and look at his bare feet. Jeez, is it even possible for a man to have sexy feet?

  “What are you doing here, Alexis? Lookin
g for the ladies’ room?” Noah asks, and I notice the bitter tone of his voice. My eyes make their way back up his body and I finally meet his angry eyes.

  “I thought we could talk?” I murmur, not knowing if this was a good idea. I never thought Noah would be thrilled to see me, but I never expected anger either.

  “Talk? Are you kidding me?” Noah practically spits and backs away from the door.

  “Please!” I blurt out as I see the door coming slowly towards me and he stops it before it fully closes.

  “I’m sorry, Noah. I was mad and jealous and stupid. I just want to talk. I have missed you and even if you're completely done with me, I know you’re going back to Boston and I don’t want you to leave hating me.” I plead with him and I hear him take a sigh as I search his eyes for anything.

  Noah opens the door to let me in and I stop just inside the door. He walks away and heads to the table that has several open beer bottles.

  “Talk, Alexis,” he says tersely.

  I look towards the bottles and back at Noah as he gulps one of the open beers.

  “Is everything okay, Noah?” I ask, and he starts to chuckle, but I can tell it’s not genuine

  “What the fuck do you care?” he asks as he narrows his eyes at me.

  “I care, Noah,” I whisper, and he rolls his eyes and sighs.

  “You care? Did you care when you disappeared on me during our date? Did you care about how I would get back to the hotel? Did you care if I would worry about you going missing? Disappearing is one of the most hurtful things a person can do, Alexis. You go missing and your family suffers. Only a selfish ass would disappear without caring what others would have to deal with. The pain others go through when someone just fucking disappears!” Noah is now screaming at me as he practically stalks toward me and I can feel pain flowing from him. I don’t think this has anything to do with me.