Beautifully Twisted (32 page)

“Good morning, my name is Alexa Drake. I had a plane ticket for Friday and I want to change it to leave as soon as possible, today in fact,” Alexa explains to the woman behind the ticket counter for the airline. After a near sleepless night, Alexa arrives at the airport at the crack of dawn, desperate to get the hell out of New York. She didn’t even wait to call Martina.

“I’ll see what I can find, Ms. Drake,” the woman responds, and begins clicking things in the computer. “We have two open seats in first class on a plane that leaves in about one hour. I can get you on that flight.”

“That would be perfect,” Alexa says and hands the clerk her credit card. She glances at her phone hoping that it would ring and be Scott but knowing it won’t. If he hadn’t tried to get her back by now, he wasn’t going to.

“Here you go, Ms. Drake. It’s gate 12A. Boarding will begin in about thirty minutes.”

“Thank you.” After passing security, Alexa walks down the long terminal to get to her gate. What a fool she’d been to come here and expect happily ever after with Scott Patrick. She texted Martina to tell her she was on her way back and she would explain everything later. Even though she was still hours away from home, the sooner her feet were no longer on the ground in New York, the sooner she’d be happier.

When boarding began, she quickly found her seat and settled in for the long flight home. She looked out the window as they circled over the skyline of the city and as the sight of land became more and more distant, Alexa lifted her middle finger to the ground below with one final thought–
Fuck Scott Patrick
.

“I want to lock her in a fucking cage so I can protect her and

keep her all to myself. It’s fucking crazy, I know.”

~ Scotty

Alexa woke earlier than usual and stared out her bedroom window, a cloudy sky casting the city in a sheet of gray. Her mood matched the dreary coldness of London. It had been more than a week since she left New York, with no word from Scott. He left her world as quickly as he entered it, but this time he left her barren, unable to experience the world around her. She thought it was bad the first time, but the emptiness she felt now was nothing compared to what she felt before. If she could have, she would stay in her bed avoiding interaction with other people.

Martina had tried to get her to go out numerous times, but she continually declined. She was hardly good company before, now she was downright depressing to be around. She ran her shower and attempted to summon the strength to prepare herself for work.

Her world seemed to be swirling around her in slow motion, as if she wasn’t really part of it. She interacted as much as she needed to and not a bit more. She was beyond thankful for Martina and the other people in her office who kept things running smoothly. Brett called at least once every day but she refused to take his calls. She finally realized that her poor judgment in handling him is what caused her current heartbreak.

Oswald pulls up just as she steps out of her building, quickly running to her side to open the door. He had never seen Alexa so despondent and even though he didn’t know her very well, he was actually worried about her. He had no idea what had happened in the days he took off, but whatever it was, it was huge.

“Morning, Miss Drake,” he says, carefully.

“Good morning, Oswald. Take the scenic view to the office today. I’m not ready to deal with my day just yet,” she says as she begins to chew her fingernail. She hasn’t even had the ability to light up, the habit reminding her of Scott too much.

“Yeah, sure,” he says, glancing at her through his rear view mirror. Alexa Drake was intentionally going to be late for work? He expected hell to freeze over at any moment. He turned the car around and went the opposite direction from her office. He drove around a big city park and continued to glance at Alexa, as she stared out the car window. Occasionally, he thought he saw her wipe a tear from beneath her large, black sunglasses. He knew it had to be related to Scott Patrick and suddenly he felt a big brother protectiveness over Alexa, wondering just what Scott had done to her to make her behave like this.

“Are you ready, Miss Drake?” he asks cautiously.

She nods. “I guess.”

Oswald drives to her office and pulls up in front, exiting the car to open her door for her. She steps out and says nothing as she walks inside. As she rides the elevator to her floor, she leans back against the wall, trying to compose herself before the doors open. Her office staff no longer avoided her presence and in fact, seemed to stare at her with rapt attention. She couldn’t blame them. The last few weeks have been pure entertaining to watch, as long as you weren’t Alexa Drake.

The elevator doors open and she takes a deep breath before she steps into the hallway. She pulls her hands out of her coat pockets and stands up straight, the sound of her heels clicking against the marble floors as she walks. She turns the corner and picks up speed, getting to her office lightning quick. The less time she spent out in the open, the better she felt. She pulls her coat off and immediately notices Martina’s uncomfortable demeanor.

“Why are you looking at me like that, Martina?” Alexa asks, worried about the answer.

“Braveheart is waiting for you in your office. I tried to stop him but he insisted, Alexa. I told him you were not accepting visitors, but-”

“I’ll deal with it,” Alexa says, clenching her jaw. She stomps into her office pissed off and ready to take it out on Brett Collins. “What are you doing here?” she asks, accusingly as soon as she sees him.

“Alexa, I’ve been so worried about you. Are you okay?”

“You do not need to be worried about me and you have no right to show up here unannounced. I don’t care if you are my boss. I want you to leave, Brett.”

“Alexa, I do have a right to show up here, as your boss. But as your friend, I’m deeply concerned about you. You won’t take my calls and neither will Scott. What the hell is going on?”

“None of your business,” she says as she walks behind her desk to sit down. “Unless you have something work related to discuss, I am very busy and I do not wish to share the details of my personal life with you.”

He stands and walks towards her, a concerned look on his face. “The sooner you talk to me the sooner I’ll leave. I care about you, Alexa, you know that. I know we will never have anything romantic but I told you we would be friends at least. I want to help you.”

“Help me?” she laughs coldly, “the only way you can help me is to leave me alone. If it wasn’t for you none of this would be happening.” She glares at him.

He nods. “So this is about what happened between us. Scott’s mad?”

“Scott is not
mad
, Scott is gone. Fucking gone, Brett. He left me and he’s not coming back,” Alexa says, as her voice breaks from the tears she can no longer hold back. As much as she doesn’t want to, she buries her face in her hands and sobs, wishing Brett would just leave. He walks behind her desk and places his hand on her shoulder but she shrugs him off. “Don’t touch me,” she says, her voice full of venom. “Don’t ever touch me again, Brett.”

He backs away, his brow furrowed. “Let me try to talk to him, Alexa. Maybe I can talk some sense into him. If he doesn’t know how much you love him, he’s a fool.”

She looks up at him, her green eyes burning. “I don’t care what you do. I don’t care what Scott does either. In fact, I don’t care if I ever see either of you again. Please respect my wishes and leave me alone.”

Brett raises his eyebrows, but nods his head. “As you wish, Alexa. If it matters to you at all, I’m deeply sorry for my part in all of this. It pains me to see you in tears.”

Alexa says nothing as she watches Brett leave her office. Martina rushes in immediately afterward, a fresh cup of coffee in her hand. “Are you okay?” she asks.

“Do I look okay, Martina?”

Martina shakes her head and places the cup of coffee down. She wants to wrap her arms around her boss and try to comfort her, but she knows Alexa can be defensive when she’s down. And the only time she’s ever seen her down was when Scott did something to her. Martina was starting not to like Scotty the hotty very much.

Alexa stands up abruptly and grabs her handbag. “I can’t handle this anymore, Martina. I’m going to take some time off. I don’t know how much yet but at least today. I’ll call you, but if you could just handle things around here, that’s what I need. You know who to rely on in case anything comes up. I just can’t do this right now.”

Martina nods and fetches Alexa’s coat for her. She stands in the doorway as she watches Alexa walk down the hall. When Alexa reaches the street, she decides to walk; the cold, London air doing its best to chill her to the bone. She just wants to run away, to go somewhere where no one can find her. She can no longer keep up this charade. The best thing for Alexa Drake right now is to disappear.

“Parker Collins Media, Alexa Drake’s office. May I help you?” Martina answers Alexa’s ringing phone. “I’m sorry, Miss Drake is out of the office for an undetermined amount of time, however, Patricia Reed is handling her meetings. I’ll pass you to her.”

Martina transfers the call, and then goes back to managing Alexa’s extensive business calendar. She’s had to reschedule at least a dozen meetings, deciding to clear everything at least through Christmas. She had no idea when Alexa would be back and she’s already been gone a week. The only reassuring thing to all of this is that Martina talks to Alexa every afternoon. She and Oswald are the only people in the world who know where Alexa is and they’ve been sworn to secrecy, especially if Scott asks.

The phone rings again and she sees Brett’s now familiar number on the caller id. “Hello, Mr. Collins, Miss Drake is out of the office still. No, I do not know when she’ll be back. No, I do not know where she is but I’m assured she’s quite well. I’m happy to take another message for you.” Martina was tired of fielding this daily call from Brett. When she told Alexa, her reaction was simply to guffaw and ask what was next. Martina had taken to writing, ‘another bloody call from Braveheart’ in the journal she kept for Alexa.

She looked around the empty office and missed her friend and boss. Even though she said she was okay, Martina knew that Alexa was far from okay and it worried her greatly.

Tomorrow, Martina would just have to tell Brett to wait for Alexa to call, which of course she never will. Brett needed to learn what everyone else already did–when Alexa Drake makes up her mind, there is no changing it.

Alexa looks out the huge window overlooking the courtyard of the cozy cottage she chose to sequester herself in. Watching couples walking hand-in-hand along the lake, only makes her heart ache a little bit more. She’s waited, prayed, wished, and hoped Scotty would call, but he never did. She called her office every day to check in but only had calls from Brett, the last person she wanted to talk to. She was finally accepting that she lost her chance with Scott and it made her burn with anger. Both of them were so stubborn they broke their shot at love.