Unhinge Me (10 page)

Alex frowned. “You act like we will never see each other again. It’s not true!”

Rachael rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean. Just open it.”

Alex sifted through the tissue paper and found the prize inside- a framed photo of the two friends. “Oh my God, I love it!” she cried. The frame was a simple one. Colorful and hodgepodge looking. The picture was one from a year ago at a party. They were covered in beads and holding drinks. Alex had a huge, happy smile on her face and Rachael had reached over and was giving her a big, sloppy kiss on the cheek as they snapped the shot. It was Alex’s favorite photo of the two of them. It reminded her of happy times.

Emotional for the second time in an hour, Alex reached over and gave her friend a big bear hug. Until Caleb, Rachael was all Alex had had for the last three years, besides Bear. Their friendship was priceless.

Rachael gave her friend a small smile. “You okay?” she asked. She was going to ask at some point tonight. Might as well do it
before
the funny movie.

Alex sighed and didn’t answer at first. She wasn’t sure she knew the answer. Was she okay?

“I think so,” she started. “Everything has just been so crazy lately. There are a few unanswered questions with Caleb but, for the most part, things are really good! Too good. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop.”

Rachael snorted. “The problem is, you need to learn how to be happy,” she said matter-of-factly. “You’ve spent so long with one foot stuck in sadness. It’s about time you got out.”

Alex sucked in a breath at the truth in her friend’s words. It did seem like Alex had somehow just gotten used to the sadness.

“You’re right, of course. You always are,” she nodded. Rachael was probably one of the most sexually active people Alex knew, but there was so much more to her than that. She was also one of the smartest people she knew. After graduation, she planned to join the Peace Corps and was really excited about it. Alex thought the world was the one who should be celebrating. Rachael was going to change it.

“He was married,” Alex suddenly blurted.

Rachael’s eyes widened. “I
knew
it!” she shouted angrily.

Alex paused in shock for a second, but recovered quickly. She shook her head.

“No, it’s not like that. He
was
married. It was an arranged marriage and he didn’t really love her. Plus, she’s, well… she’s dead.”

Rachael shook her head, blown away. “Wait, what? Dead wives from arranged marriages? Start from the beginning.”

So Alex did. She told all about the time they’d been spending together and all they had in common. Then she told her about Caleb’s marriage, the fire, and the news about him being an Earl. She didn’t know any more about that yet, so even though it felt like she had all this news, what she really had was more questions.

“
An Earl
!” Rachael sighed and fell back against the couch pillows. “Well, obviously you have to find out more about that. But it sounds like you have a really good thing with him, Lex. Don’t just give up and run. Promise me you won’t do that. And stop letting his sex distract you from getting the answers you need to be comfortable. You deserve this!” she insisted, squeezing her friend’s hand.

Alex groaned. “Yeah, yeah. I won’t… to either. I’ll ask him tomorrow. He has a surprise planned.”

Rachael eyed her friend suspiciously.

“I promise!” she held her hands up in surrender. “Now can we watch the movie please?”

Rachael finally smiled and grabbed the remote to the TV.

“Alright, I’ll stop. Just keep me posted,” she relented.

Alex smiled at how much Rachael cared for her.

“Deal,” she agreed.

As the two settled in for the movie, Alex reflected on the conversation. Rachael was right. Every time she tried to get answers from Caleb, she was distracted by something, usually his mind-blowing kisses. She needed to focus next time. No matter what, she had to get answers tomorrow.

But, she decided, tonight she planned nothing but brainlessness, wine, and junk food.

Bear jumped up onto her lap, eyeing the streamers suspiciously. She turned around in a circle a few times and flopped down, instantly falling asleep.

Alex watched her. “Ah, to live the life of a cat,” she shook her head and smiled. “Pass me the lemon drops.”

Caleb’s alarm clock assaulted him awake the next morning. He shut it off and reached around to find Alex, but found the bed empty. Confused, he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and looked towards the window at the dusty morning light leaking through his dark curtains. It was too bright to be early in the morning. Finally, Caleb realized that was because it was Saturday. Then he remembered Alex went home early the night before for some “much needed girl time”. It felt weird to not have her in his bed as he woke up. He had clearly gotten too used to having her around.

He quickly got up, showered, and got ready for the day. On his way out the door, he called Joe to make sure the food he had ordered was going to be ready, then headed to his classroom to pick up some papers. After his life altering blowjob the other night, he’d completely forgotten he had things he needed to go over that weekend. He had a fun day planned for Alex, but he was going to have to find time to grade papers too. Getting any school work done lately was getting harder and harder with Alex around. He wanted to spend every waking moment with her and school work seemed like an inconvenient necessity.

Campus was always slow on Saturdays. A few sleepless students moseyed around like zombies but, for the most part, it was empty and quiet. Caleb walked as quickly as he could to his building and ran up the steps. As he went to open his classroom door, he was startled to find it unlocked.
Man, that blowjob really rendered me
useless,
he decided.

As he gathered the things he needed, he saw a folded piece of thick paper sitting in the middle of the desk. Knowing it wasn’t there the night before, he hesitantly picked it up. He looked around, trying to see if anything else was moved or amiss. Seeing nothing, he opened the paper.

You should be more careful.

I know who you really are.

I know what you’re really doing here.

I’m watching.

Be warned.

Caleb’s blood ran cold.

The drive out to Shenanigan’s seemed to take forever. Caleb couldn’t get thoughts about the note out of his head. It said that whoever wrote it knew the real reason he was there. No one in America, except Alex, knew about the fire, and even she didn’t know the whole story. That meant that whoever had written it was probably from England, and that was very concerning. He hadn’t seen or heard from anyone over there in months.

As much as it worried him, he was going to have to tell Alex about the note as soon as possible. He also knew he was going to have to explain more about his being an Earl, so it looked like there was going to be a lot of talking on his end later. Luckily, he had a quiet day planned and there was going to be plenty of time to chat.

Picking up the food Josie was sweet enough to make for their day, Caleb rushed back out to pick up Alex. About an hour later, he was at Alex’s door with fresh cut flowers.

When Alex opened the door, she stood in awe of the view in front of her. There Caleb stood in faded jeans that fit perfectly and a white linen, button-down, short-sleeved shirt. His dark hair was untamed as usual. It was getting longer and he could curl it behind his ears now. He did so, while standing there. With the wild flowers in his hand looking so nervous and yet relaxed, Alex thought he had never looked better. She bit her lip.

Caleb handed her the flowers and smiled. “My lady,” he bowed. Alex swooned a bit and wondered, for the millionth time, what the hell a guy like him was doing with her. He looked like a freaking knight in modern-day clothing.

Bear walked over and rubbed up against Caleb’s leg, purring.

Alex looked down at her cat. “Traitor,” she said quietly and smirked at her.

Caleb melted with the small pet’s affection.

“And who is this?” he asked.

“That’s Bear, my cat, or the bane of my existence. Depends on how you look at it.”

“Hello Bear,” Caleb said, scooping up the cat to pet her and rub her belly. She instantly relaxed in his strong arms.

Alex rolled her eyes.

“What?” Caleb inquired.

“Never in her life has she let me pick her up and hold her on her back like that. You must have the magic touch.”

Caleb’s eyebrow went up and he gave her a devilish grin.

“Magic touch, huh!?” he half growled and leaned into her. Bear, sensing the attention was no longer on her, scrambled out of his arms and up the stairs, breaking up the moment.

Alex marveled at how quickly she and Caleb went from zero to clothes shredding in seconds. Taking a step back to clear her head, she took the flowers into the kitchen and told him to look around. “Just don’t get lost,” she joked.

Caleb didn’t even notice how small the place was. The whole space smelled and looked like Alex to him. It had a homey and unassuming air to it. It was fully and painstakingly decorated, while feeling simple and classy too. He also noticed the little touches of lilac around. It was exactly like her. Caleb loved it.

“The early lilacs became part of this child,”
he recited quietly to himself.

He followed her into the kitchen, where she offered him a cold green tea. He declined. He was feeling frisky, and had other ideas. He looked over at her with a mischievous grin on his face and suddenly advanced toward her. Alex’s eyes widened and she started to back away, but her kitchen was so small she only took a few steps before she backed into the counter. Her heart started beating faster as she watched him stalk toward her. Before she had time to react, he scooped her up by the waist and flung her over his shoulder. She shrieked in surprise. He spun her around the small kitchen, trying not to knock anything over. Laughing, Alex tried to squirm out of his arms and slapped at his butt, which was now upside down, right in front of her face. As much as she loved the view, she pleaded for him to release her.

“I’m too heavy! Put me down!” she yelled at him in a very uncharacteristic, high-pitched girlie voice.

Caleb rolled his eyes and shook his head.

“Nonsense!” he told her, and to prove his point he tossed her up in the air a little bit. She shrieked again and dug her nails into him with a death grip, afraid to fall.

Full out laughing at her now, Caleb carried her into the living room. He tried taking her right out the front door, but Alex, who was laughing now too, told him to at least carry her to her purse so she could grab it as he ran out the door with her.

Caleb didn’t put her down outside either. He carried her all the way to his car. Alex looked around to see if any neighbors were watching, thankful she lived far away from campus. She saw that a few were out and looking their way curiously and couldn’t help be embarrassed at being carried like that in front of them. She had to admit, though, it also made her feel kind of special. By the time he put her down and opened the car door for her, she was blushing from ear to ear.

Unfazed, Caleb smirked and ran to the other side of the car to get in. Alex slapped his arm as he got in.

“Jerk,” she joked.