Alexxxa (20 page)

I’d left Alexa contentedly sleeping in the hotel, while I went off to take care of some business. Some very risky business. The kind of business that could possibly result in my heart being ripped out from my chest.

“What do you think of this one?” The jeweler set a large diamond ring in front of me. I picked it up to examine it as he spoke. “Pink diamonds are very trendy. Your girlfriend will love it.”

I tried to picture Alexa with the large pink tinged diamond on her ring finger and I smiled. “I can bring it back to size it?”

“Yes, of course sir.”

“I’ll take it then.” I offered him my black AmEx card, and his eyes lit up with glee.

“I’ll get the papers and everything ready for you, sir.”

I nodded and leaned against the counter to wait. I was doing yet another thing out of character for me. I loved Alexa, and after what she’d done for me in court yesterday—I was pretty sure she loved me back. With all the other instability in both of our lives, I wasn’t going to wait to make her mine if I had one shot in a million. Things may have been moving lightning fast between us, but sometimes when you know, you just know. Alexa was the one woman meant for me, I could feel it down to my bones.

“Here you are, sir…” I zoned out as I signed all the paperwork to acquire the ridiculously big ring that I hoped Alexa would accept. I couldn’t even fathom what it would be like if she said no. Would she say no? Holy shit, was I making another huge mistake? I swallowed down my nerves and decided it was the right choice. I would propose to Alexa James.

I walked out of the store, whistling. I found myself hopefully optimistic about her answer. As I was about to cross the street to the car I’d come in, a black van screeched to a halt in front of me and the door slid open with a loud bang. Before I had the chance to react, two men in black masks jumped out and grabbed me. Once they had me inside with the door shut, they started wailing on me with their fists. I didn’t have a chance to use any of my self-defense moves; I barely had time to process what was going on.

When I lay in a bloody, trembling mess in the back of the van, one of the masked men leaned forward and whispered in my ear. “Devlin Saint sends his regards. He wanted to remind you and Alexa that you’re not in L.A. and this is his town.” I was then unceremoniously tossed from the van.

I heard a woman scream and I tried to push myself up off the pavement, but darkness was pushing around the edges of my vision. The pain I had felt from my beating had morphed into numbness. I was pretty sure I was going into shock. As I lay there, helpless on the ground, bleeding out, all my thoughts swirled around Alexa. I promised myself that if I lived, the first thing I’d do is ask her to marry me. My last thoughts before I lost consciousness were whether or not those bastards had Alexa’s ring.

~Alexa

I awoke to no David beside me in bed and someone pounding on the door. I hurriedly pulled on a hotel robe. I peered out the peephole before opening it. I’d learned my lesson about not doing that the hard way. I opened the door and frowned at Josh. He had a panicked expression on his face.

“David’s in the hospital,” he blurted out.

Dread forced my heart into my stomach. “What happened?”

“Some guys picked him up and beat the shit out of him. He’s in pretty bad shape.”

I fought to repress my tears; I had no time for them at the moment. I needed to get to David. He needed me. I dashed around the room and gathered my clothes. I got dressed right there, not caring if Josh was openly gawking. It was nothing he hadn’t seen before.  “Take me to him,” I demanded as I snagged my purse and room key off the table.

“Yeah, of course.” Josh and I speed walked to the elevator and I suddenly wished I hadn’t given up smoking years ago. Just the last couple of minutes seemed like an eternity. I started biting my nails on the ride down to the lobby. Not being able to take it anymore, I broke into a dead sprint once the doors opened and I didn’t stop until I was in the car and racing to David.

As soon as UPMC hospital was within eyesight I hopped out of the car and started running. I practically exploded into the front doors and sprinted to the closest nurse’s station. “David Jonez. You need to tell me where he is.” A sob tore free of my chest. “Please, tell me where he is.”

“Alexa.” A somewhat familiar voice said my name. I turned to see David’s female lawyer from court standing a few feet in front of me. She addressed the nurse. “It’s all right, I’ll take her to him.”

I rushed her and grabbed at her hands. “What happened? Why are you here?”

She turned and started walking, and I had no choice but to follow. “I’ll tell you what happened. Devlin Saint fucked with the wrong lawyer. David and I are going to take him for everything he’s got.”

I gasped. “Devlin has something to do with David being here?”

She stopped short and raised her dark eyebrows at me. “Oh yes. But he messed up worse than the last time. This time, he left a major trail to his front door.” She smiled. If you can call it that. In fact, her would be smile made me glad that she was on David’s side because she was kind of scary.

We fell into silence. My mind was reeling. I’d known that Devlin had fallen off his rocker, but I had no idea it’d gotten that bad. Who was I kidding? He’d bought
Sinfully Yours Films
, he’d abused me in
Erotic Exotica
, he’d tried to rape me, and then he tried to get David tossed in jail. Of course having David beat up when things didn’t go his way made complete sense when I looked at everything else he’d been up to recently. But why now? Why after all these years was he so obsessed with me? It had to be the drugs. I could figure out no other explanation. It didn’t make me feel sorry for him though, doing drugs was his choice. No one forced him to do them.

“Here we are.”

I could see into the slightly ajar hospital room and what I saw caused me to press my hand over my mouth to keep from screaming. David was covered in bandages, his face was black and blue, and his eyes were swollen shut. Several IVs were attached to him. I wanted to go to him and yet I was stuck in place.

“It’s not as bad as it looks.” I glanced at David’s lawyer, having almost forgotten she was there. “Go ahead. He’s not awake yet, but I have a feeling he’s going to want to see you when he comes to.” I was still frozen in place as her heels clicking on the floor signaled her departure.

I’m not sure how long I stood there, staring at the bloody and broken body of the man I loved, but eventually my feet carried me closer to him. I slumped into a chair near his bed and fought to not have a complete emotional breakdown. I’d been so selfish. I knew that now. Maybe Devlin wasn’t the person I’d thought he was, but I also hadn’t handled him very well. It was my fault that David was lying in that hospital bed. I’d done nothing but hurt people with my career choice, and for what? Because I had some pathological desire to be adored by every man I met? Because I was an exhibitionist who really, really enjoyed sex? Because I didn’t like to be told what to do? Because I enjoyed doing something that was taboo? There were so many reasons why I thought porn was the right choice for me, but there was one reason why it wasn’t, and that reason’s name was David Jonez. Our relationship had moved so fast, but that didn’t change the fact that I knew what I wanted…him. Love didn’t always make sense, and it didn’t always pick the most convenient times to reveal itself to you. I also knew that now too. The only problem was figuring out what to do next about it.

I wished beyond anything that David would just wake up. Supposedly his injuries weren’t as bad as they looked but I wanted to hear that he was fine from his own mouth. I wanted the reassurance of his shockingly blue eyes gazing into mine. I just wanted him to be okay. I choked back a sob. I had to be close to him, I had to be. So I very gingerly climbed into bed with him, sliding into the small space between his arm and chest. I lay my head gently on his chest and curled up against him. He didn’t smell right, instead of his normal spicy scent, the overpowering smell of antiseptic met my nose. I still felt a tad better being in his arms again, even though he wasn’t aware of it. For all I knew, he’d wake up and blame me for what happened to him and never want to see me again. I listened to David’s steady heart beat and grew drowsy. I was mentally exhausted so I let myself sleep.

~David

I hurt all over and it was difficult to open my eyes. When I finally managed to lift my heavy eyelids I was greeted by the sterile surroundings of a hospital room. It took me a few seconds to figure out what was going on and then the memory of what had happened flashed in my mind.

“Alexa,” I croaked, my throat was as dry as sandpaper. I swore I could smell her but she was nowhere to be found. Instead I locked gazes with my criminal lawyer, Carmella.

“She was here.” When I gave her a blank look she rolled her eyes. “Alexa. She was here. She’s going to be upset that she missed you waking up.” Carmella shifted uncomfortably in the chair near my bed. “The two of you have a very dramatic relationship.”

“Why are you here?”

She frowned. “Because I care about you and you’re injured.”

I laughed and it hurt. “Oh come on, we barely know each other and I wake up to find you keeping vigil at my bedside. How about telling me the truth.”

“Okay, fine. I do care but me waiting here wasn’t necessary to show you that. I could have sent flowers. I’m here because I wanted to talk to you as soon as you woke up.”

“About what?” I skated my gaze to the table next to me that held a pitcher of water. I tried to lift my arm but winced.

“Here let me get that for you.” Carmella jumped from her chair. She poured me a glass of water and held it up to my lips.

After a few sips I groaned and dropped my head back down to the pillow. “Thanks.”
What does a guy have to do to get better pain meds around here?

Carmella cleared her throat. “We’re going to sue Devlin Saint.”

I coughed. “What? What for?”

She scowled at me and then glanced up at the bags attached to my IVs. “What do you mean, what for? He’s the reason you’re here.”

“Well yes, I’m well aware of that. But wait—how do you know that?” I’d been unconscious until a few minutes ago so I hadn’t been able to tell anyone what had happened to me, and yet Carmella was sitting there acting like she knew everything.

“There’s video of you being thrown from the van. Someone filmed it, and the same concerned citizen got the license plate number so we could run it. We found out that the van was purchased the same day of your attack, by none other than Devlin Saint. When police went to question him, they found a diamond ring on him that was purchased by you. Once the evidence started building up, his associates started singing like canaries.” A very pleased smile spread across her face. “So back to the part where we are going to take Devlin Saint for everything he’s got.”

“How long have I been out? And who called you in? Not that I don’t appreciate it but normally—“

“I have a friend who’s a Pittsburgh Police Officer. The guy who filmed you being thrown from the van called the police of course, and my friend called me since he knew I was your lawyer. The rest, as you say it, is history.”

“Okay, things are making more sense now. But what do you need from me?” And where is Alexa? I needed to see her badly. Even though I was having a normal conversation with Carmella, I couldn’t really focus on anything but Alexa.

“What I need from you is permission to go after Devlin Saint.”

I nodded and groaned, my entire face throbbing. “You have it.” I wasn’t sure I’d be so eager to go after him legally if it wasn’t for Alexa. Maybe in the end I’d end up owning
Sinfully Yours Films
and I could free her of her contract.

A truly disturbing smile spread across Carmella’s face. “I’ll be in touch. I have a lot of work to do. You just get better.” She turned to leave.