Looking Out for Lexy (13 page)

             
“I want this love scene to look like it is going to lead to something more intimate and then cut to the final shot of me on the beach.  It's better to leave something to the imagination.  The viewers can imagine for themselves what happens next.  Got that?”

             
“Yes Mr. Wyatt.”

             
The cameraman waved to the others to get ready to shoot the scene.  Gina was in position already.  Jack approached her, at the same time, looking around to find Lexy.  Slowing down, Jack stopped when he did not see her anywhere.  The handsome star looked around at Chris, who was busy trying to look preoccupied in the studio sound booth.  He signaled for his manager to come out.

             
“Where is she Brandt? Brandt!”

             
“Where is who?  Uh...you mean the woman you were with?”  Chris looked rather sheepish as he stepped on to the small stage.  He figured it wouldn’t really matter if the woman was there or not when Jack came out.  It had never mattered before.  Jack strode swiftly over to where he stood.  He looked menacing.  Chris was taken aback.

             
“She...uh...she and Gina had a few words and then she left.  What’s the big deal, Jack?  You’ve had a lot of women come on the set.  You can look her up afterwards.  She’ll still be around, they always are.” 

             
Jack took a step towards him with his hands clenched. What the hell was he doing?  He was right.  She’d be there when he got back. Yes, she would.

             
“She’d better be, Chris.  Let’s get this thing over with.  I have a
nice
woman waiting for me.”  He turned on his heel and headed for Gina, who was waiting with open arms.

             
Jack knocked on Lexy's hotel door two hours later.  He ran his hands through his long, dark locks as he continued to knock, harder now.  A cold knot was forming in his stomach.  The only sound that greeted him was the echoing of his own knuckles.  She was probably in the hotel somewhere, and he’d wager she was pretty angry with him about now!  Great!  He figured he had blown it...
Big Time
!

             
Walking to the elevator, a gnawing feeling was growing in his chest.  Lexy wasn’t that kind and he knew it.  Jack knew it even as he was thinking it.  Even if she had
almost succumbed to his suave charms.  He knew too, that he had taken advantage of the fact that she was vulnerable for the right man, still fresh from the pain of a recent divorce.  And something else.
He couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was.

             
Despite all his precautions to keep it confined to one week-end only, he’d given in to his newly awaked libido and was feeling a lot more for her. 

             
Damn!  Punching the wall of the elevator on it’s way down, Wyatt grimaced with pain, grabbing his throbbing hand.  Damn again!  He had a bad habit of slamming his fist into the nearest solid thing when his temper got the better of him.  He would find her and try to set things right for the rest of the weekend.  Maybe he could get her out of his system by Sunday night.  Maybe.  He seriously doubted it, though.

             
The elevator door opened and he stepped out surveying the lobby. He strode over to the front desk.  His palms were sweating.  He rubbed his hands on the side of his jeans. 
Geez!  What's the matter with me
!
  The true fact of the matter was, he cared about Lexy.  A lot.

  The young man behind the counter looked up as he approached.  “Mr.
Wyatt.  What can I do for you sir?”  He looked at him expectantly.

             
“Yeah.  I’m looking for the lady I was with last night and this morning.  Ms. Kane.  She would’ve returned about two hours ago.  I went to her room but she doesn’t seem to be in.  You wouldn’t happen to have seen her anywhere?”

             
“Why yes, Mr. Wyatt.  She called down and asked me to see if I could get her a standby flight back to Wisconsin.  She said it was an emergency and had to get home right away.  I was able to get her on a flight that left about thirty minutes ago.  She seemed very upset.  Something about her son being ill.” 

             
Jack tried to looked indifferent as his hands clenched and unclenched.  The back of his neck was becoming very warm, a bead of sweat starting to trickle down.  The clerk continued.

             
“I’m sure that is why she didn’t leave a message for you sir.”

             
“Get me a seat on the next flight out.  Now!”   He put his hands on the counter, leaning into the young man’s face.

             
“I’m waiting.”

             
“Yes Mr. Wyatt.  Right away sir.”  He picked up the phone and began dialing nervously. 

             
She can’t walk out on me.   Not again.  No one walks out on me.  Who the hell did she think she was
?
He paced angrily back and forth as the man talked into the phone, muttering to himself.

             
He would set her straight on what was what here.  Damn straight, he would. Why the hell was he so aggravated by her actions then?  Maybe because  he was in love with her.   Lexy.  Oh God.  Lexy.
 
He didn’t understand these sensuous emotions he was trying so hard not to feel.  Jack was fighting them every inch of the way.   He would bring her back and resolve these feelings once and for all.  Get her out of his system.  Tie it up in a neat package and send her on her way.  Lord, then he could get back to his old self.  That was something he could handle, deal with. 

         The clerk hung up the phone and his voice broke into Jack's muddled thoughts. 
Wyatt would be on a plane in an hour.  The young man behind the desk breathed a sigh of relief when Jack strode out the door.  That had been one irate man.

Fourteen

          The teenagers stopped at the corner.  Lexy’s house was lit up like a Christmas tree.  It was only around midnight and her mom and dad were usually out until 2 or 3am.  It was not like them to be home so early.  Lexy hoped everything was alright.

             
“I better say good night here Jack.  My parents are home early and I’m worried that something is wrong.  I want you to meet them under the perfect circumstances.”

             
“You don’t think they’ll approve of me, do you Lexy.”  Jack had a look on his face that she couldn’t read.

             
“It’s not that, really.  If my parents have had a little too much to drink, they don’t always say the right things.  Parents are like that you know.”   She put her hand up to her mouth.  “I’m so sorry Jack.  I didn’t mean to say.....”

             
He cut her off quickly.  “Don’t sweat the small stuff, Lex.  My mom is dead and my dad don’t matter.  Right now it’s yours that do.  We can say our good byes here.”

             
“Are you sure it’s ok.  I really want you to meet them when they haven’t been drinking and when my dad’s in a good mood.  I’d like to invite you over for dinner some night soon.  My mom loves to cook.”

             
“Yeah, maybe.  We’ll talk about it.  Can you sneak out for a ride tomorrow sometime?”

             
“I’m not sure.  Call me around noon.”  She slipped him a piece of paper.

             
He pulled her close and looked into her azure eyes.  They widened as he bent to kiss her.  Lexy remembered what he’d said about her tongue, but wasn’t sure she was ready for that yet.

             
“Mmmmmm, Sexy Lexy, angel.”  His lips met hers in a soft kiss, lingering as his tongue skimmed her lips.  A sigh escaped into the night air.  Lexy realized it had come from deep within her.  Breaking the kiss, Jack gazed at Lexy.  He took her face in his hands. “I’m going to make you mine Lex.  You can be sure of that.”

             
Lexy was tongue-tied.  “I...I better get going.”  She backed away, not ever wanting to leave his sweet embrace, but knowing that now was not the time to tarry.  “I really like it when you call me Angel.  Call me.”  She turned and ran down the block to her house, wondering what was wrong that her mom and dad would be home at this hour.

             
Jack watched her go.  He was unwilling to leave the corner even after the door closed after her.  He had a bad feeling that the early arrival time and the lights might just be about him.  Reluctantly he turned on his heels and strolled away in the dark of the night.  He was going to find out soon how right he was.

             
Lexy shut the door quietly, stepping softly so her parent wouldn’t hear her.  They were arguing loudly in the kitchen.  She sighed with relief and started up the stairs to her bedroom.  Usually Lexy was already asleep when they would battle after boozing the night away.  It was like that with many of her friends’ parents.  Especially Tom’s.  The Kanes and the Lattons were best drinking buddies.  Everyone knew that Tom’s dad beat his mom, and some suspected Tom had been on the receiving end also.  But Judge Kane was a well respected man in the community and did pretty much what he wanted to. 

             
“Lexy, is that you?”  The slurred voice of her mother broke into her thoughts.

             
Their red-haired daughter sighed.  “Yes Mom, it’s me.  I’m going up to bed.  Talk to you in the morning.”

             
Her father’s loud voice entered the fray.  “Come down here young lady.  Your mother and I want to speak with you.”

             
Lexy frowned.  What was the problem now.  Inebriated parents always find something to pick at.  Reluctantly Lexy stepped down the narrow staircase and into the brightly lit kitchen.  Her parents were standing near the sink, drinks in hand.

             
Brenda Latton tried to focus on her daughter.  “Well, maybe you would like to tell us about this boy you were out with tonight.”

             
“There’s nothing to tell, Mom.  It’s a boy I met at school and he asked me out so I said yes.”

             
“And his name is?”  Her dad joined the conversation.

             
“His name is Jack Wyatt.  He’s really nice.”  Lexy looked her dad straight in the eyes.

             
“I understand this boy moved here from New York and is living with his aunt on
that
side of town.”  Brenda made a face.  She looked so comical with her face all screwed up that Lexy had to keep from laughing.  That would not be funny.

             
“Mom, where he’s from should not matter.  What should matter is how he treats me.  And he’s really nice to me.”

             
“Young Lady!”  Bill Latton again broke into the conversation.  “We understand he has a motorcycle and wear’s a black leather jacket.  Sounds like one of those bikers who are always getting into trouble.  I don’t like it.  No I don’t.”  Her dad took a swig from his glass.

             
“Dad, Mom, I want to have him over for dinner so you can meet him yourself.  I don’t think it’s fair for you to judge him before you meet him.”  Unconsciously, Lexy’s hand slipped into her hair and she started to twist a lock, something she always did when things were going badly at home.

             
“Well, the Kanes didn’t have anything good to say about him.  Tommy’s already told them all about this boy and they told us.  I don’t understand why you aren’t with Tommy.  He’s such a good boy.  You know, we hoped that someday after you both finished college that there would be a wedding.”  Mrs. Latton looked pleadingly at her daughter.

             
“Can we talk about this tomorrow?  I’m really tired.”  Lexy was not about to go into why she and the Kane’s boy were not together.  Her parents wouldn’t believe anything bad about him anyway.  Jack already had three strikes against him.  She would try again tomorrow when they were sober, but Brenda and Bill’s daughter knew it would be fruitless.  They had already made up their mind about Jack.  If they only knew that she’d been on that forbidden cycle already.

             
“Go to bed.  We’ll talk some more tomorrow.  The Kane’s have invited the family over for a barbeque and we expect you to be there.”

             
“Night then.”  Lexy turned and left the kitchen hurriedly.  Bounding up the stairs, she closed her bedroom door quickly.  Leaning her head back against the door, Lexy sighed.  She didn’t want to spend the afternoon at the Kane’s again.  Even though the parents were best friends, the intent of this swaray was to get the kids back together.  And she had a date with Jack.  There was no way she was getting out of this, especially if she and Jack were to have any chance at all. Walking over to her orchid canopied bed, Lexy sat down on the edge, looking at her phone.  She would have to make sure she answered the phone first tomorrow when Jack called.  He would understand, Lexy hoped.