Outside the Box (19 page)

There was a driver waiting for me when we landed, I wanted to go to the beach house and get things in order there before I went and visited mom. 

I called dad on the drive from the airport to the house,

“Hello dear son!” he answered.

“Hey, where are you at now?”

“Paris!  Where are you at?”  He asked.

I shook my head, ever since he had started dating this younger woman he was traveling the world, his medical
supply business had made him a fortune, obviously he was spending it on her.

“Just got to
L.A., I’m going to spend a couple of weeks here.  Oversee a business project and visit mom.”

The line was quiet he said something to whoever was with him, “Why the hell are you going to see her?” he asked

“She’s in rehab, I told her I’d come see her it’s just a surprise.”

“You’re wasting your time.  What’s the business project?  Anything I can help with?”

“Converting a club to one like mine.” 

“Do they have all of the medical staff and equipment needed or do I need to ship some?”

“I’ll let you know when I find out.”

We talked a bit longer, he asked how Derrick was doing and told me he planned to visit the both of us the weekend of my birthday.  “As long as your mother isn’t there everybody will get along fine.” He said and chuckled. 

“She’ll still be in rehab, I’ll call you after I visit the club and let you know what they need.  Sound good?”

“Yep works for me.  Take care, see if you can find yourself a good woman while you’re on vacation too.”

“Right.  I’ll talk to you later.”

We hung up, I checked my other phone and still had no reply from Ember so I sent her another text.

J
: 
Ignoring me isn’t going to fix anything.  It’ll just piss me off more
.

Lexi

****

Jasper left my room, he left me in the shower surrounded
by darkness.  I slid down the wall of the shower and sat down.  I cried, I was crying over a man that I knew absolutely nothing about, I didn’t even know
who
Jasper really was. 

I finished the last session with Sky, the entire time all I could hear was that song by Adele playing over and over in my mind.  I felt his lips on my neck, his hands on my breasts, his deep strokes in and out of me…it wasn’t Sky that was bringing me pleasure it was the thoughts of Jasper that brought me to my climax and it was Jasper that I was thinking about when Sky’s cum covered my stomach.  I opened my eyes and watched as Sky cleaned himself off then handed me a damp towel before he put his boxers on and left the room.  I quickly wiped off and hurried out of the room and to my private room.  I showered in record time, I needed to talk to Destiney so I sent her text as soon as I got in the car and told her she needed to
get some coffee.

D
: 
Utoh, that bad again?

L
:
 
long story
.

D
: 
I’ll one up the coffee and uncork a bottle of champagne
!

L
: 
GOOD
!

When I checked my work phone there was a simple two word text from Jasper, *
I’m sorry
*.

Destiney was sitting on the couch with a bottle of red wine in an ice bucket and some cheese breadsticks on a tray.  I walked in the door threw my stuff down and dragged my feet over to where she was sitting. 

“God Lexi what’s the matter?” she stood up and hugged me.  I started crying and sat down when she did.  “Tell me what’s got you all upset.” 

I wiped the tears and poured us each a glass of wine, blew out a breath
, and told her in detail about everything that had happened. 

“He CLAIMED you?  Like, said, “You’re mine?”

I nodded my head as I poured myself another glass of wine.  “I don’t get it, we can’t actually have feelings for each other right?  I mean if anything it’s all lust, infatuation…?”

“Well, (she took a big drink) let’s try to sort out your feelings for him.  Obviously you two met under some
really
strange circumstances and sex is the biggest key factor between you two.  You’ve had sex with Sky and said you didn’t feel the chemistry there that you do when you have sex with Jasper right?”

I shook my head ‘no’ and wrinkled my nose up, “Not at all.”

“Okay, I’m still waiting on the details from your sheet time with Derrick, but before you start telling me.  Did you feel the chemistry with him that you do with Jasper?”

I slowly shook my head ‘no’ again, “That’s what is so confusing to me, the first night that we messed around it was like I couldn’t wait for Derrick and me to have sex.  He did everything right, made me orgasm and everything but…when we finally had sex it felt like we were just doing it because we could.”

“Was he bad or were you comparing him to Jasper?” she asked.

“That’s the thing!” I threw my hands in the air then slapped them down on my knees, “I think about Jasper all the time!  Tonight at my second session I was thinking about him the entire time, not Sky,
Jasper
!  Gahhh this is so stupid…stupid…stupid…maybe we should call Dr. Phil?”

She shook her head and laughed, “Don’t you have two weeks off after this week is over?”

“Yes, thank god!  Except Carter is coming to town, he knows nothing is going to happen between us though.  I feel like I’m leading Derrick on, I feel like I’m losing my ever living fucking mind if you really want to know.  Carol and Harold are coming to town too, they’re going to know something is bothering me.  I can’t tell them how I met Jasper.  Can you imagine that conversation?... ‘I met this guy that I get paid to have sex with while people watch us, he’s super good in the sack.  He’s got a huge dick. That’s all I can really tell you about him, oh and he goes by the name Jasper because we can’t tell each other who we are.  I can’t tell you exactly what he looks like because we wear the blindfolds that turning everything 3D and make weird swirly colors to throw your sense of vision off.’  “THAT’S a conversation everybody needs to have.” I finished and downed the half of glass of wine then quickly filled my glass again leaving just enough in the bottle for Destiney to refill her glass.

“Settle down, everything is going to work out in the end.  My honest opinion is
, it’s not lust.  If he was the mid fifty’s and balding would you still have these kind of feelings for him if he made you feel the way Jasper does?”

I made a gagging sound then looked at her, she was waiting for me to answer.  “Probably how crazy is that?”

We sat there in silence for a few minutes before she spoke again, “You’ll have two weeks off soon, take that time to just relax, have fun, and try not to think about Jasper.”

I laughed, “Sure
like that’s easier said than done.  I think I’ll just tell myself that he’s married, has two point five kids, and drives a green minivan with the little stick figures on the back window.”

Destiney busted out in laughter, “That’s one hell of a way to try and forget about a guy, that’s for sure.”

“I want to get a couple of tattoos.” I told her.

“Wow, wine makes you totally random!” she replied.

I took my phone out and showed her the infinity symbol that had the words family and love together.  “I want the family one on one wrist and the love one on the other.  This big water color dandelion with the little seeds blowing in the wind I want on my ankle.”

“Those are beautiful.  I’ll go with you if you want me to, if I can get away from the office for a weekend I should say.”

“One of the ladies at the cosmetology school gave me the name of the guy that did hers.  She has full sleeves and they look awesome.  I’ll call tomorrow and see if they can get me in next week some time, if I don’t do it soon I’ll chicken out.”

We both yawned at the same time, Destiney put the wine bottle up to her eye and looked down inside of it.  “Yep, it’s bedtime, you drank the whole thing.”

“You helped, but I’m sure my head is going to hurt worse than yours tomorrow.  The bad thing is, I’m just as confused as when I came home.”

She stood from the couch and held her hand out to me, “Just take it one day at a time, when you have your two weeks off, don’t go to the warehouse and don’t answer any calls from them or him.”

“That reminds me, he sent me a text that said he was sorry.”  I showed her the text.

She squinted one eye at the bright screen, “What’s he sorry for?”

“I have no idea, but I’m just going to ignore it.”  I told her.

“That’s what I would do, don’t be drunk texting him either.” She winked at me, yawned again then told me she was going to bed.  We hugged then each went our own way to our rooms.  I didn’t even bother pulling the covers down, I flopped face first onto my bed and passed out.

The next morning I woke up when my alarm clock blaring like it was a foghorn sounding off next to my ear.  I sat up in bed and groaned when my headache hit me, I thought about calling in to school but figured it would be better if I didn’t.  Today would be an easy day with just reading material and tests.  I showered put on some blue jeans, ballet flats, put an off the shoulder grey t-shirt on, and pulled my still wet hair into a ponytail.  As I was exiting the elevator and walking across the lobby my work cell phone chimed.  The driver Joe was waiting for me when I walked out of the building, I got in the backseat before he even had a chance to say anything. 

“Are you okay Lexi, you don’t look like your feeling too good.”

“I might have drank a little too much wine last night after work.”  I told him as I dug through my bag for the phone.  There was a new message from Jasper;

J
: 
Ignoring me isn’t going to fix anything.  It’ll just piss me off more.

“
Ugg
!” I said and threw the phone back in my purse. 

“You okay back there?” Joe asked.

“I’m fine, I’m so ready for next week.  I need a break!”

Joe smiled but didn’t say anything. 

The first part of the day dragged on, mostly because I was still fighting a headache and my stomach was empty since I didn’t think I could actually hold any food down.  By the time lunch time came around I was starving so I called Joe to bring me a sandwich from the deli. 

I jumped up from the steps that I was sitting on when I seen him pull into the parking lot.  “Thank you SO much, I’m starving.” I said and leaned against the car while I unwrapped the sandwich. 

“Let’s go over to the picnic table, I’ll eat with you.”

I smiled as
he walked beside me to the table. 

“Tell me what brought on the drinking binge last night kiddo.”

“What’s the different between love and lust?” I asked then took a bite of my food and waited for him to answer.

“Well…this is just my
opinion,
I
think lust is you like the idea of the person for the time being.  You like the now of it all, when you try to picture a future with them (he shrugged a shoulder) you just can’t form the picture.  If you love somebody, you can’t wait to talk to them, tell them about your day, you can be just you in front of them.  Even when you think that you look your worst you’re still comfortable being around them because they make you feel special and beautiful no matter what.”

I raised my eyebrows, “Wow, that was pretty deep.”

He laughed and shrugged his shoulders, “That’s just my opinion, it may not be right, it may not be what the next person thinks, but you asked me.  Why do you ask?”

“What if a relationship is only about the sex?”

“Ah, is this about your time inside the Box?”

I bit my bottom lip and lightly nodded my head ‘yes’.

“I’m not going to ask with whom you’re questioning but I will ask you this.  If you take away the sex…if you can only talk do you still feel the chemistry?”

“There’s not a whole lot of talking that goes on in the Box Joe.” I said with a small laugh. 

“Does the guy know how you feel?”

I nodded my head, “He feels the same way.”

“Well about the only thing you can do is, you both quit and try to have a relationship, if that’s not what you want then you’re just going to have to enjoy your time together in the box until you both move on.  It really does complicate things when you are limited with what you can know about your partner in there.”

“I know.” I put my face in my hands.  “Maybe over my vacation things will sort themselves out.”  I looked at the clock on my cell phone, “Crap I have to get back in there!  Thank you for the talk Joe…please don’t tell anybody about it?”

He stood up and took my trash, “I won’t, anytime you need to talk you just start talking and I listen.” He hugged me with one arm and smiled. 

I smiled, “Thanks.”

I turned and ran to the building so I wouldn’t be late.  The rest of the day went fast, luckily the teachers postponed the tests for the following week since so many of the students were absent. 

After class was out for the day I called the tattoo parlor about the tattoos that I had in mind to get.  The artist had a cancellation and told me that if I wanted to get started I could come down.  Joe gave me a questioning look when I told him where I wanted to go.  I showed him the ideas that I had, “Oh ok, I was trying to picture you with some kind of skull and crossbones on your neck.”

I laughed, “No, I’m having man trouble not a life crisis.”

He pulled into a parking stall, “Would you like me to stay?”

“You don’t have to, I’m going to call Destiney and let her know I’m here.”  I told him.

I called her but she wasn’t able to come sit with me but insisted I send her pictures.

“I’ll stay, my wife is working the night shift.  I don’t have anything better to do.” Joe said.

We walked in to the tattoo parlor, “Welcome to Inkling can I help you?” a lady with short black hair asked.

“I’m here to see Falcon, I called earlier.”

“Cool, follow me.”  She led us over to a leather dental chair.  “He’s in his office I’ll go get him.”

A few minutes later a tall guy with tattoos covering his arms, part of his neck, and his legs walked up to me.  His eyes were a deep shade of blue and his voice was so deep I could barely hear him.  “I’m Falcon.”

“I’m Lexi.”  We shook hands and smiled.

“So, do you have a picture of what you have in mind?”

I pulled my cell phone out and showed him the pictures, “Right on
, let me get the two smaller ones drawn up.  Sit tight.”

Not even ten minutes later he came back to where I was sitting talking to Joe, “Okay, here they are.” He smiled and handed me the papers, the drawing was exactly like the picture. 

“Perfect!”

He applied the stencil to my left wrist first and asked me if the placement was where I wanted it.  I nodded my head, the very second I heard the tattoo machine kick on I tensed.  “
JEN!” he yelled.  The lady that was working the front desk came walking back, “Go grab my ear buds out of my desk please.”