Saturday, June 18, 2016
Aqua Resort
19 weeks...
An awkward silence reigned between them for a few seconds, as they stood side by side in the dimly lit exclusive garden maze at the back till he broke it.
"Dance with me?" he asked, looking ahead of him. He was expecting rejection so he tried not to look desperate.
She lifted a brow at the question, but agreed to it with an "Okay." They did need to work the tension out of the air.
Slowly, he turned to her and reached for her hands, placing them around his neck, not once taking his eyes off her. He set his on her waist, going a bit lower.
Alexandra tugged on his hair sharply, eliciting a groan. "Don't push it." She narrowed her eyes at him.
"Sorry," he murmured when they began moving together to no music. Already off to a terrible start.
"Forget it," she replied quietly. He let out a breath, turning serious.
"What did he talk to you about?" There was no need to say who because she knew.
"Nothing," she said, remembering his warning. "He was just talking about random things, you know. . ."
"Lexi," Trey cut in, "you know I can tell when you lie to me, right? Tell me the truth, please." He looked genuinely concerned, so much that she almost felt bad for lying to him. Almost.
She looked down at their feet as they continued dancing. "I'm sorry, but. . . I can't tell you. It's between him and I." Trey gave a brief smile and looked away. He looked hurt, and Lexi wondered if he had the right to.
"The main reason why I brought you out here is because I wanted us to talk," he said, dropping the issue of what Ethan had said.
"You made it clear that you wanted to talk to me. But what exactly did you want to talk to me about?"
"There's no simple or easy way to say this," he began, returning his gaze to her, "so I'll say it straight up."
"What is it?" she asked, curious.
"I..." he trailed off, looking away again.
"Is something wrong?" she asked, stopping to look at him.
"Why are you even dancing with me?" he asked with self-loathing.
"I—I don't know. I guess I found out men talk about serious matters when they ask you to dance out of the blue," she responded with a shrug.
"Tonight? That's what happened with Ethan?"
Alexandra tensed up, looking away. "I don't want to talk about it, not with you. Stop changing the topic and tell me what you brought me out here for."
"I'm sorry I didn't believe you." She closed her eyes. He just had to rip the band-aid off the wound. He continued, "You were right when you said I should have looked into the issue before making any conclusions or judgements based on what I had heard.
"That day you came back for the rest of your things, I asked someone to look into it for me." He turned back to her. "You were right all along, and I am very, very sorry for not listening to you."
She huffed out a pained laugh. "Doesn't matter anymore, does it?" She crossed her hands under her breasts. "Why, really, did you want to talk?"
"Why didn't you tell me Ethan came to the house?" He watched her eyes go wide with surprise. "Why did you cover up that piece of information?"
She remained silent and he felt himself lose his patience. "Do you realize what he did was trespassing? And that he could have hurt you?"
"But he didn't," she said finally, dropping her hands. "He just gave me a message. . .at least I think that's what it was."
"What did he say?" he asked almost immediately.
"All he said was, 'you're mine Alexa, remember that'," she recounted with a shudder.
He turned away, pinching the bridge of his nose. "What made you think this wasn't worth mentioning?" he asked through clenched teeth.
"I don't know. I didn't want to bother you," she replied quietly, knowing it had been a bad decision.
"That's why he's doing all this. In effect, he's saying if he can't have you—"
"—no one can," Lexi finished. Then she looked up at him. "I know."
"We could've put a restraining order on him!" He turned back to her. "He's obsessed with you."
She ran a hand through her hair, letting out harsh breath. "Don't you think I know that?"
"The point I'm making here is that I love you, Lexi." She looked up at him, shocked at the sudden change in the direction of their talk. "Let's not go through with divorce."
"No!" Lexi yelled suddenly, both hands flying to her mouth when she realized how she'd sounded. She hurried to explain what she could to Trey. "I know you did whatever you thought was right. With respect to that, I'm not mad at you.
"But you did hurt me—a lot. You disgraced me in front of the world. You can't expect me to forgive it all just like that just because you say you're sorry. It's. . ."
"It's what?" he asked quietly, running a hand through his hair.
"I think it's too late." She took a deep breath, hating herself for what she was about to do. "I want to go through with the divorce."
His hand dropped from his hair. "Do you really want to? I can organize a press conference and explain everything. Does this have anything to do with whatever he said to you?"
Yes.
"Take whatever conversation I had with Ethan out of this. You were off dancing with and touching Nicolysse. You can't possibly tell me all of a sudden that you still care about and love me!" she spat.
"It was all for the camera and for a stupid bet," he explained, taking a step forward.
"I don't care!" She was jealous, he realized, which was a good thing. He still had a chance to get her back. "So let me make that decision for myself." Too angry and tired, she added, "Goodnight," and turned to leave.
"One more thing." She paused in her stride but didn't turn back. "Were you ever going to tell me about the pregnancy?"
She turned back sharply, her hair bouncing off her back as she walked back towards him. "Who told you I was pregnant? Jason?" She changed course again, heading back into the ballroom. "I am going to kill him!"
"Slow down," he said, jogging after her. He grabbed her by the elbow and pulled her back against him, holding on to her till she calmed a bit.
"He didn't. Not really." He let go, shoving his hands into his pockets. "I connected the dots, and by his expression, I knew I was right. All the signs were there."
She closed her eyes, allowing herself to relax completely while his eyes stayed glued to the bump peeking out of the dress. "You didn't answer the question. Were you ever going to tell me, or would you have waited till they were teens before you told me I have kids?"
"You didn't make it possible to," she whispered back.
He stayed quiet for a moment, then nodded. "Fair point. Can I... feel it?" he asked, nodding towards the bump.
She snapped back to reality. She wasn't to be this close to him if she wanted to keep her babies. "No," she said, stepping back.
Hands coming out of his pockets, he grabbed her by the wrist and spun her around. Cupping her cheeks, he kissed her briefly. "Goodnight." She was too stunned to talk. Instead, she stumbled back inside, touching her lips once she was out of his sight.
She'd missed this. A lot. She ran off to find the others before she got caught.
*
Sunday, June 19, 2016
Lainston House19 weeks...
"I'm going miss you guys," Sierra mumbled, hugging Lexi and Melissa.
"You'll be away for a couple of weeks only," Melissa grumbled, rolling her eyes. Lexi let out a short laugh. "But yeah, I'll miss you too, and you," Melissa admitted, pulling Ashley into the hug.
Trey strode into the lobby then and made eye contact with Lexi. She looked away when she felt herself blush. Trey's mouth lifted in a small smile, glad she wasn't mad at him. Or was she?
"Hey mate," Jason greeted, coming to stand next to Trey.
"Hey," he responded, shoving his hands into his pockets.
"Where have you been?" Jason asked. Trey didn't answer and Jase followed his gaze to Alexandra then smiled.
"She's not wearing a huge dress today," Jason said again. "Did you confront her about the pregnancy?"
"Yes." Trey left out the part where she'd wanted to kill him—Jason, that is. As he relived the events of last night, a thought occurred to him. He walked over to the group, mumbled his greetings, and told them to excuse Mitchell. Then he grabbed his friend by the arm and pulled him over to a corner, signaling Jason to follow.
"What is it?" Mitch asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Did you both see Ethan dance with Alexandra?" Trey started, looking at them for answers.
"Yes," Mitchell said slowly, wondering where this was going.
"Yeah, I did too," Jason confirmed. "What has that got to do with this? He was obviously trying to make it look to the media that he and Alexander are back together.
"That is his game, and I'm sure that is why he came to the wedding as someone else's plus one, because I surely didn't invite him."
"I think it's more to it than that," Trey said earnestly.
Mitchell stepped closer, asking in an undertone, "What do you mean by that?"
"Think about it. Alexandra looked shook after I got him away from her. Then she says she wants to go to the bathroom and disappears for. . . I don't know how long.
"But I can say that when I next saw her, she looked worse. I know Alexandra, and even though she tried to hide it, I could tell something was troubling her."
"You're losing me," Mitchell said, and Jason nodded in agreement. "Get to the point."
"When I told Alexandra I came here to apologize, and asked if we could stop the divorce proceedings, she said no."
"What?" Mitch asked in surprise.
"I don't understand either. She loves you," Jason added. "It doesn't make sense."
"Exactly," Trey agreed. "The manner in which she said it. . . she sounded freaked. Like her life depended on getting divorced."
Trey lowered his voice even further. "The last time she came to the house, I gave her the documents we both had to sign concerning the splitting of assets and my wealth. She looked sad—broken even."
"Like she didn't want to go through with it?" Mitch asked.
"Yes. So naturally, it's weird that right after he talks to her, she goes to the bathroom and comes back looking worse off. Then she wants to go through with it.
"She didn't even stop me when I kissed her," he added, and the boys shared a smile—which Trey ignored. "I just have a feeling something is not right, because if she really wanted a divorce, she wouldn't tolerate me even."
"I see how that's strange," Jason mumbled. "I mean, she cried a lot, so she couldn't have gotten over you this quickly."
"I don't know what is going on, but I do know that she was scared after talking to Ethan," Trey said confidently. He looked at her, looking away when he saw her turn.
"Whatever it is that she's scared of and whatever he told her. . . that's something we won't know till we talk to her," Mitch told them.
"Maybe he's threatening her with something. He is her ex after all. He might have dirt on her," Jason said with a heavy exhale.
"Very probable," Trey agreed. "I don't know what we are up against. So, I was thinking of getting someone to keep an eye on her at all times, but do you think it's a good idea?"
"Well, if she's not talking, you can do that and then when she finds out, you can explain why," Mitch replied.
"Your choice," Jason muttered, patting him on the shoulder. "I do think you should rebuild the trust though. It might make forgiving you and accepting your help easier if she knows you're actually sorry, that you truly love her and that you really want to help."
Silence reigned for a beat. "Thanks man," Trey muttered, pulling him into a hug. He pulled back to smile at him. "I hope you enjoy your honeymoon."
"You know I would," he replied, wriggling his brows in a suggestive manner.
"Gross," Mitch muttered with a gag, before giving Jason a hug.
"How about this?" Jason began when he pulled away from Mitch. "Since Melissa is Lexi's best friend, ask your sister if she can get it out of her."
Trey scoffed. "Melissa won't betray her friend's confidences."
"Explain the urgency behind it—that Lexi's life, as well as the babies', is at risk."
He gave a two-finger salute, saying, "Got it."
Then Jason turned to Mitch. "See how much more you can also find." Mitch nodded with a smile. "Don't get too sucked in and forget to take care of Sam though."
Mitch winked. "Never."
"And, most importantly, keep me updated," he added looking at both of them, "got it?"
"Got it," they both responded.