Unhinge Me (19 page)

Graham suddenly took out his phone as if it had rung, even though it hadn’t. He excused himself, saying he had to take a phone call.

Caleb looked over at Alex. “You’re not demanding answers,” he noticed.

Alex gave him a small smile.

“Ugh,” Caleb sighed, frustrated. “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything about this before, love. I swear I wasn’t trying to keep anything from you,” he tried to plea.

Alex interrupted him with a wave of her hand.

“You don’t have to explain yourself to me,” she promised.

“I want to though,” he insisted. “When I left England, there was still an investigation into Lilith’s death. I knew the bobbies, er, the police, didn’t suspect me, but I think others did. It was all too much on me, trying to deal with my loss and run the family business. I drank and made stupid decisions trying to defy the naysayers. Finally, my brother saw the destructive path I was on and knew it wasn’t leading anywhere good. He was the one who suggested I leave and start over. I knew it would look even more suspicious, but he convinced me that I needed to think of my own sanity. So I left, and tried to leave it all behind me. I wasn’t trying to keep anything from you, Alex. Everything feels so good with you that I didn’t want to even think about the dark clouds from my past.” He looked so desperate to make her understand.

Alex wasn’t upset though. What Caleb said made sense, and she was sick of the drama. She was done running.

“I know. It’s fine, really,” she reassured him.

Caleb was so happy to hear her say that, he leaned over and kissed her. Slowly, the kiss became more passionate and Alex whimpered a little. Caleb slid around the table and stood up to take her into his arms, never breaking the kiss. With everything going on lately, it just felt good to have her in his arms.

Graham walked back in the room and cleared his throat. When he was ignored, he decided to leave them alone. He needed time to think anyway. He grabbed his coat and shouted goodbye as he walked out the door.

Caleb heard Graham leave but was too intoxicated by Alex to even stop long enough to say goodbye. Instead, he picked Alex up and carried her into the bedroom.

A couple weeks later, Alex walked into poetry class and sat down. She tried to ignore Caleb standing in the front of the room. It was hard to pretend she wasn’t falling in love with him when she was around him at school. She was glad they had so many places they could go to be alone.

The rest of the students filed in and class started.

“Today, we are going to read
Storm Ending
by Jean Toomer,” he began. Alex’s head shot up. That was the poem he had quoted to her under the willow tree during the flash rain storm. Alex’s cheeks immediately flushed. Was he crazy? What was he thinking?

Actually, Caleb was thinking that he was so happy to have Alex back, he was feeling a bit bold… and frisky.
Let’s see how long she lasts,
he thought to himself, and began reading.

“Thunder blossoms gorgeously above our heads,

Great, hollow, bell-like flowers,

Rumbling in the wind,”

His deep voice slowly read the words.

Alex felt a warm shiver run down her spine. Listening to his dark accent still felt like a caress. She couldn’t help picture that day in the meadow.

“Stretching clappers to strike our ears…

Full-lipped flowers

Bitten by the sun.”

Sun. She remembered how the sun beams had shone through the leaves, sprinkling them with sparkling dew drops. She felt her own dew drops form between her legs and a familiar tingle began. She closed her eyes and felt his touch on her cold, wet skin. Her face felt redder than it had ever been and she was glad to be in the back so no one could see her. She tried to catch Caleb’s eye to tell him to stop, but he was purposely avoiding her gaze. He knew the effect he had on her and he enjoyed it.

“Bleeding rain

Dripping rain like golden honey—

And the sweet earth flying from the thunder.”

Alex heard the words ‘dripping rain’ and she almost lost it. An actual moan escaped her mouth and it jolted her back to reality. She squeaked her chair to cover the noise, but it was too late. She had gained the attention of those around her. Completely unraveled and mortified, Alex jumped out of her seat, ran down the steps, and out of the classroom. The rest of the students looked at each other curiously. Caleb just smiled.

When class was over, Alex went back in to grab her things, feeling safe now that the students were filing out while new ones were coming in. As she walked out, she made a detour to get as close to Caleb as possible without arousing suspicion.

“You know I’m going to kill you for that, right?” she threatened. Caleb quickly looked around to make sure no one could hear him.

“Don’t worry love, I plan to finish what I started as soon as I get home tonight,” he threatened right back. Alex squirmed and hurried out of the classroom before she blushed again. A smile formed on her face as she rushed away, and she gave her hips a little sway for Caleb’s sake as he watched her go off to her next class.

Alex gathered everything off of her desk and headed out of her last class for the day. She walked to her car slowly, taking her time. It was a Friday afternoon, but for once she had no plans. Caleb and Graham were going to go over a list of suspects they had made to try to narrow down who could have left the threatening notes. Rachael was out with her parents for their anniversary. That meant Alex had a night to herself, and Bear. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do yet, but she suspected a bottle of wine would be involved.

She could smell flowers in the air. It was a beautiful day. As she walked past a pond, she saw a big willow tree leaning over the water and decided, on the spur of the moment, to go sit underneath it and watch the water.

She put her bag down next to her and settled in between two roots, leaning back against the trunk. It felt good to have nowhere to be and have time to just sit and enjoy the quiet. As usual, because it was Friday, the campus cleared out quickly and it was soon silent and serene.

She looked over the pond. The air was so still there wasn’t a ripple on the water. She looked for swans, but saw none. It made her think of the picnic with Caleb. Looking back, she realized that day had probably been one of her best days ever. They had laughed and cried together. But her favorite part was probably just lying there together in silence. Except for maybe what happened once it rained.

Alex looked up through the long branches of the willow tree and was once again reminded of that last time she was under one. She wondered how it was that she thought sex was boring before she met Caleb. There was nothing boring about that afternoon. Her body warmed at the thought and she felt her face get hot. Wrapping her arms around herself, she closed her eyes, remembering Caleb’s touch. An unintentional smile broke out across her face.

She sat there a while longer just thinking about all that had happened to her since she’d met Caleb and how absolutely happy he made her. Suddenly, she realized it was getting dark.
How long have I been sitting here?
she wondered and stood up, stretching. It occurred to her that she was all alone on the quickly darkening campus and the thought gave her goose bumps. Grabbing her bag, she walked to her car as fast as she could, no longer trying to enjoy the fresh air. She silently scolded herself. Even in the quiet Georgian campus, a girl alone was a stupid idea.

When she reached her car, she breathed a sigh of relief. Throwing her bag on the passenger seat, she quickly stuck her key in and started the car. When she looked in the rear view mirror, she froze. Instead of her back window, she saw a black shape and a pair of eyes. Her blood ran cold as her thoughts tried to process what was happening. Paralyzed in fear, Alex realized the black shape was a mask and someone was in the car with her. She tried to think, to produce even one coherent thought, but couldn’t even find her voice. Time slowed down in her panicked state but, before she could react, everything went black.

Alex tried to blink away the fuzzy world as she started to wake up. She felt groggy and couldn’t remember where she was or what was happening. She thought she heard mumbling and the sound of footsteps echoing, but before she could figure it out, she was out again.

The second time she woke up, things were a little clearer, but not much. She tried to think and place herself, but all she could focus on was the pain. Her head was pounding and her leg was throbbing. She reached down to touch her leg and felt wetness.
Blood?
She started to pass out again, but willed herself to stay awake. She tried to think of something important. The first thought that came to mind was Caleb. When she thought of him she felt a pang in her stomach. But thinking about him also made her feel awake so she forced herself to picture him. To picture him laughing or kissing her. The pangs in her stomach got worse and she started to feel a little more awake. She tried to open her eyes but her vision was still too blurry.

She tried to think of the last place she remembered being. Her mind was still incoherent though and, try as she might, whenever she tried to think back, everything was blank. She opened her eyes again and could finally make out some shapes. It was dark wherever she was, but there were shadows from a light source somewhere behind her. She could see what looked like a staircase over to the side and maybe some boxes, but that was it. It was still too indistinct to make out anything else. She tried to feel for her phone when she realized one of her arms was yanked at an unnatural angle above her head. Moving it slightly, she could feel a chain around her wrist. Wherever she was, she was chained to the wall. Panic made bile rise in her throat and she tried to open her mouth to scream. The pounding in her head grew to a shattering magnitude and before she could scream, she passed out again.

“Would you calm down, mate, you’re making even
me
nervous.” Graham tried to calm Caleb, who was pacing around his small apartment.