Image of Deceit

by Rumer Raines

  “I think your drunk, Noah,” I tell him as he wraps a lock of my hair around his finger.

  “I am in my fucking hotel room, Alexis. You wanted in and now we should talk about you being selfish and disappearing on me.” Noah continues to wrap the lock of my hair around his finger and he pulls me closer to him. He tilts his head and moves in closer when there is a knock on the door.

  “Fuck,” he mumbles as he turns me loose to walk to open the door.

  A beautiful girl with long, dark hair throws herself into Noah’s arms and I watch as he embraces her. She looks over his shoulder and notices me as she pulls away from him.

  “Am I interrupting something, Noah?” she asks, and he looks back at me and shakes his head.

  “No… she was just leaving,” Noah tells her, and I shake my head glancing at both. I walk out of the room and look back as Noah closes the door on me.

  Noah

  I close my eyes as the door closes on Alexis. The look she had in her eyes made me sick. She obviously thought that Sam was my girlfriend or worse my wife when I kicked her out of my room. I hate that Sam just showed up tonight, but I should admit it was perfect timing. If I had been alone with Alexis for a few more minutes, I would have ripped off her clothes and had her under me before either of us knew what was happening.

  I walk past Sam and grab one of my last bottles of beer, and I feel her eyes on me. She is expecting me to deliver good news. However, it’s not the good news that she expects. It’s not the good news any of them would expect.

  “Noah, have you found him?” Sam questions and I take another drink before I turn to look at her. I can’t help but notice that she looks like she has been losing weight again. Her clothes are practically hanging from her and it will destroy her if I tell her what the detective told me.

  “Why are you here, Sam? I told you that I would keep you updated,” I scold her, and I can see the tears forming in her eyes.

  “It’s going to be fine, Sam. I found another lead but I will need at least a week. You need to go back to Boston and look after Mom and Dad.”

  “I would feel better if I stayed here with you. I feel so useless being at home while you’re here looking for him,” Sam tells me as she wipes away a tear.

  “If you stay here, I’ll be more focused on keeping an eye on you and not finding Nick. It would help me more if you were back home keeping an eye on them, Sam. Please,” I explain to Sam praying that she listens and goes back to Boston, where she should have stayed.

  “I bought a one-way ticket,” she says. I let her know I’ll get her a ticket home. Luckily, there is a flight to Boston leaving in two hours. I book her a flight and tell her that we need to get to the airport immediately. Sam doesn’t appear to be happy to be leaving so soon, but I couldn’t care less.

  The next morning, I wake up with a headache. I stare at the ceiling thinking about Nick, Alexis, Sam and my parents. Nick has caused a shit storm for being the perfect son. I am sure in the end I’ll look like the bad guy and Nick will appear to be the fucking saint. At least, I told Sam that I’ll be here another week. That will give me more than enough time to create the perfect lie.

  I get out of bed with one purpose for the day, and I just hope she’ll talk to me. I have been in Chicago for weeks and this is the first time I have been to her store at the mall.

  As I enter, a guy straightening a shelf looks up as I approach. I ask, “Is Alexis here?” His eyes narrow as he looks me over. I tilt my head and walk closer and ask him a second time if she’s in.

  “Who’s asking?” he questions, and I take a deep breath before responding.

  “Look… I really don’t have time for you. Is she in?” I ask, and he looks shocked that I would talk to him in that way.

  “No, you look. I will call security if I need to. So, how about you stop playing these silly little games and tell me who in the hell you are, and I will tell you if she is or is not here,” he retorts. I have reached my breaking point with him. I am not a patient man and this little dick has pissed me off.

  “Listen, you little mother fucker. I have had a bad night and I will break your pencil neck if you don’t answer…”

  “Noah?” Alexis says in the middle of my threat. I turn to look at her.

  “Hey, I need to talk to you,” I practically whisper to Alexis, not wanting this little prick to get involved again.

  “I’m busy, Noah. You shouldn’t have just shown up here,” she tells me, and I can’t help but notice how cold her voice is. As I stare into her eyes, I can see they are just as cold.

  “You’re right I shouldn’t have. I just need to explain what happened last night.”

  “I don’t need an explanation. I just need to get back to work, so if you could leave.” Alexis’ cold tone practically gives me a fucking chill.

  Alexis

  “Are we still on for tonight? You owe me a drink after getting rid of him. The man is very intense,” Chance mentions and I nod that we are still on.

  “Good. You know this is my favorite night to go to Deluca’s,” Chance laughs and walks over to help a customer.

  Chance loves Deluca’s on Wednesdays because neither Alex or Frank is there on Wednesdays. They say that Wednesday is the slowest day for them, so they let Oliver handle the entire club.

  A few hours later, we are walking into Deluca’s. Chance and I have had a few drinks when I feel someone standing behind me. I turn around and meet Noah’s intense eyes. I hear a chair scrape across the floor and turn around to see Chance leaving the table. “I guess you two need to talk,” he claims before he walks over to the bar and starts to talk to Teddy, the bartender.

  “Please, Alexis. Can you just hear me out?” Noah pleads, and I sigh.

  “Not interested, Noah.”

  “You said you made a mistake by walking away from me once, are you really going to do it again?” he reminds me, and my eyes narrow on him

  “Are you serious? You’re going to tell me what I said before your girlfriend or wife showed up?” I explode and Chance, Teddy, and a few customers turn from the bar to look at me.

  “She is neither, Alexis.”

  “Okay. Who is she?” I question.

  I wait for him to get his words together and watch him.

  “She is my brother’s wife,” he says, but I don’t believe him. I have two brothers and I don’t think Adele would be meeting Frank in a hotel room or vice versa. I also think that if either wife met the other brother in a hotel room, I would have one less brother.

  “Is that your best answer?” I start to laugh. “You want me to believe that your brother’s wife would come to your hotel room in the middle of the night, throw herself into your arms and nothing is going on? And your brother would be fine with this?”

  “I don’t know where my brother is, Alexis.”

  “What are you talking about?” I ask as I lean closer to him.

  “I told you that I came to Chicago to see my brother, I came here to find my brother. He’s been missing for over one year.“

  “Noah,” I whisper as my heart starts to break for him.

  “He had business here. He was always traveling between here and Boston. He always kept in touch; he called Sam every fucking night. We filed a missing person report and we thought the cops were looking for him. I went to the station recently and they said they closed the fucking case.”

  “Why would they close the case?” I ask, and grab Noah’s hand, He pinches the bridge of his nose and I can feel the pain he’s in.

  “They said that he walked into the station and told them to call off the search that he’s fine,” Noah whispers.

  “Maybe I can help. Frank used to be a cop and he still knows many of the guys that work at the station,” I tell him and Noah nods.

  Noah

  “Come back to my hotel with me,” I reply. Her eyes widen, and I can see her chest rising and falling as her breathing increases. She wants me as badly as I want her. She nods, and I throw enough cash on
the table for her drinks and the table next to hers.

  Alexis drives us back to the hotel and neither of us says anything until we are in the elevator up to my room. When we’re in my room, I push her against the wall and slide my hands up her skirt, pushing her panties out of the way. “Are you sure about this? Because if you want to stop you need to tell me now.” I tell her as I push two fingers inside her and she gasps at the intrusion.

  “Do you know how badly I want to be inside you right now?” I growl against her neck.

  “Not as bad as I want you in me,” she moans, and I carry her to the bed. We both are wrestling for control when she pushes me onto the bed. I close my eyes to remind myself to be gentle and she straddles me.

  My hands began lust-arousing exploration of her soft flesh. I undressed her slowly, worshipfully. My hands roamed intimately over her breast as she pulled my belt off pushing down my pants. Alexis kissed me with a hunger that belied her outward calm as she ripped off my shirt.

  Her hair hangs over us almost like a blanket and I push it away, so I can focus on her eyes. I pull her head down toward mine and press her soft lips against mine. She rises and reaches for my cock. She squeezes and pulls just enough that I groan and raise my hips so that I can move in her hand. I close my eyes wondering if she will use my dick as her own personal dildo.

  I shift so my cock is lined perfectly against her opening. I rise to kiss her, and she pushes me back down. Alexis rides my dick like it belongs to her and, for now, I am willing to give her ownership. As we both moan, I place my hands on her thighs to drive myself harder into her. She starts groaning with pleasure and whimpering how good my dick feels inside her. I could feel her climax begin to roll through her. I kept thrusting myself into her, but I wasn’t ready for this to end.

  I roll us over so that I am on top of her and push back inside her. I pushed her knees up higher, and start to pound into her. Alexis shakes and writhes underneath me and I know we are both close. I lie on her, placing my mouth against her neck and whisper into her ear. Alexis starts to shake, and I tighten my hold on her as I come.

  We both fall quietly into sleep together. When I awaken a couple of hours later, I gently pull myself away from her and hear Alexis give a small moan. I fall back onto my side and pull her against me. I don’t know what It is about this woman, but it’s going to be hard to leave her in Chicago when I go back home. The next morning, I wake up to the perfect friction against my hard dick. Alexis is still sleeping, and I’m debating on if I should be a gentleman and let this perfect goddess continue to sleep. Or should I be the single-minded bastard that everyone expects me to be?

  Alexis

  I can’t believe the night or morning I had with Noah. The man is like a freaking sex god. Just thinking about the sex we had gives me goosebumps.

  When I finally get to the store, both Chance and Adele glare at me as I walk past them to put my purse away. I turn around and meet two sets of curious eyes. I glance around the store and am thankful that there are not any customers in the store yet.

  “Well? Do you have anything to tell us?” Chance asks, and I turn to glance at Adele who is standing with crossed arms waiting for my answer.

  “I don’t,” I reply.

  “Chance told me that last night he saw you leave with some guy and now you’re late. You are never late, Alexis. I started to call Alex to tell him you were missing.” Adele says, and I roll my eyes.

  “Not just any man. A drop dead gorgeous one that could make any woman drop her panties before he finished saying hello,” Chance tattles as I give him my “shut the fuck up” look and his mouth snaps shut.

  “Chance saw right. I did leave with him. We talked and had a good time. End of story.”

  After the store closes, Noah and I have dinner and we find ourselves back in bed in his hotel room. I could barely even eat dinner, knowing this is where we would end up. The waitress was once again some pretty girl that had her eyes focused on Noah, but today his eyes were focused on me. When his eyes weren’t on me, his hands were.

  I lay on Noah’s chest listening to his heartbeat and I start to wonder about his brother. “What are you thinking about?” he asks, and I rise to meet his eyes.

  “Are you going to keep looking for your brother?” I ask, and Noah takes a deep breath and looks away from me.

  “No,” he responds curtly.

  “Why not?” I ask and raw hurt glittered in those dark eyes as he places a hand on my face.

  “He doesn’t want anything to do with me or our family, Alexis. He made his choice and I am done wasting my time on him.”

  “How do you know it’s what he wants? Maybe he has another reason,” I suggest to him, and he shakes his head.

  “I doubt it.”

  “I don’t think you should give up on him, Noah. He’s your brother.” I urge him to not give up on his brother. I could never give up on Alex or Frank. Family is everything and you always stick with them, no matter what.

  ~*~*~

  Noah and I have spent every possible moment together for the past two weeks. We both know that our time is limited, and he keeps pushing off booking his flight back to Boston. Neither one of us wants whatever this is to end. I want to call it a relationship, but how can I when I know there will be an end date? Noah tries to convince me that we can still see each other after he goes back home.

  When Noah finally announces that he has booked his flight home, I can’t fight back my tears. He took me back to his room and made love to me. It was different and more intense. Noah told me that he would make things work even if we were in two different states. I heard and felt every word that he told me, but still, I couldn’t be convinced.

  I took the day off work since Noah is officially leaving Chicago tomorrow morning. I bought tickets for a boat ride at Navy Pier. I am going to hate today, but hopefully, I can stay in a positive mood for our official last day together. I suggested that we leave my car parked at the hotel and take a cab since parking at the Pier is such a hassle. Noah and I kissed all the way to the Pier and couldn’t keep our hands off each other during the blustery fall boat ride. I walk over to the rail of the boat and Noah follows me and wraps his arms around me as I press my back into his chest.

  “I am going to miss you so much, Alexis,” he whispers as he places his stubbled jaw against my cheek.

  “I am going to miss you too, Noah,” I tell him and turn as a waiter approaches us with two glasses of champagne. Noah grabs both glasses and I watch him as he hands me one.

  “This is to our beginning, Alexis. Being in another state won’t keep me from you. You are the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. I don’t even think I deserve you, but I am going to take you anyway,” Noah says, and I hold my glass up to his and he gives me another deep long kiss before pulling away.

  “I guess I should also thank Nick,” Noah whispers and I stop breathing as my glass stops halfway to my lips.

  “Nick?” I repeat, and Noah stares at me and tilts his head.

  “Yes. I guess I never told you my brother’s name is Nick.”

  Noah

  Alexis suddenly became white as a ghost. We were having the perfect day and I was planning on making it one hell of a night. She was fine when I made the toast to us, but when I thanked my selfish ass brother I thought she was going to faint. She pushed me away and walked away from me. I followed her back to our seats and asked her what was wrong, but she basically ignored me. I tried to force her to talk to me, but she looked right through me.

  “What’s going on, Alexis?”

  “Nothing. I guess I just feel a little sick,” she advises, but I don’t believe her.

  “You were fine until I toasted Nick,” I remind her.

  “Tell me about him,” she whispers.

  “Tell you about who? Nick?” I question, wondering why the hell she wants to spend our last night together talking about Nick?

  “Yes. Tell me, please.”

  “What do you want to kno
w?” I ask, and she looks at me and I notice that her eyes had a burning, faraway look in them.

  “Everything,” she says.

  “He’s my younger brother. He came to Chicago on business a few times a month, but his home was Boston. He was a silent owner in my business. He was the fucking family prince. He is also married to Sam,” I tell her, and her eyes become flat, hard and emotionless.

  “He is married to Sam…” she whispers.

  “Yes. He’s married to Sam. Why are we talking about this Alexis? This is our last night together, so I’d rather focus on us.” I remind her, and she drifts off looking out over the water

  “He’s married?” she questions, and I stand up, pissed off.

  “YES! Nick is married! Are you planning on tracking him down for yourself once I’m gone?” I yell at her and she snaps her attention back to me.

  “I’m sorry, Noah. I guess knowing his name, makes the situation more real,” Alexis says and for some reason, I‘m not buying her explanation.

  “This is our last night together, so let’s just enjoy it,” Alexis says, as she reaches over and rubs my arm. I stare at her and see that something has changed. Why the hell is she rubbing my arm like I’m her fucking dog?

  We spend the last hour sitting next to each other like strangers. I tried to grab her hand once and she flinched and moved away. Neither one of us said much of anything as the boat docked. Alexis practically jumped out of her seat and I quietly followed as she walked out and hailed a cab. I am not even certain if I should get my own cab or if she’s expecting me to climb in with her.

  When the cab arrives, Alexis hops in and I look at her determine if I should get my own cab. Her expectant gaze lets me know to get in. The driver asks where we are headed, and I stay quiet to find out where she’s going. Alexis calls out my hotel and I wonder if she is planning to get out there too.

  The driver pulls up in front of the hotel and Alexis hops out while I pay the driver. I follow her as she is, apparently, still planning on going to my room. The elevator is full of other people, but I notice that Alexis still won’t make eye contact with me. When the elevator stops on my floor, I place my hand on her lower back and walk out behind her. She jumped when I touched her, but I bite my lip and keep escorting her to my room.