The Stand Off (9 page)

She heard her door open and
looked up to see her sister. Pixie shuffled over to the bed, wearing her red
footed pajamas with the orange stars. Her orange and white braids were held
back by a headband with robotic stuffed animals on it.

“How did your date go?”

“I told you a million times, it
was not a date,” Lux insisted.

“Fine, then how did your dinner
with Dean go? Any resolutions?” she asked as she sat down beside Lux.

“No. Each time seems to get a
little worse; he keeps upping his demands,” she said in a frustration.

“Demands?”

“Yes demands. He’s a spoiled
glutton who makes unreasonable demands and enjoys bartered sex.”

“Bartered sex?” Pixie’s eyes grew
wide.

“Only the King of womanizers
would think of a demeaning trade like that.”

“Wait a minute, back up a second.
What do you mean by…trade?”

“A trade; as in a deal. He
offered me the building tonight.”

“You’re kidding me? How much?”

“He doesn’t want money… he wants
me.”

“How does he want you?”

“How do you think?”

She gasped in utter shock. “You
mean sex?”

“Yes.” Lux felt her frustration
begin to rise at just the thought.

“Wow, is he barking up the wrong
tree. He’s got a better chance of finding a three-winged unicorn with tulips
growing out of its ass. But you’ve handled guys like that before, so I don’t
understand the problem,” Pixie explained.

“This is different…
he’s
different. I’ve never met anyone as bold as him nor as unreasonable. He’s
blatantly disrespectful, and I’m having trouble keeping focused.”

“Maybe you should just stop
trying to make deals with him.”

“Are you suggesting that I just
give up? You think I should just hand the building over to him?”

“No, but if you keep going to see
him then it will just keep getting worse.”

“You’re acting like I want to go
to his office! What choice do I have? Who else is going to try to stop him?”
she asked defensively.

“I just don’t think that
continually tempting the beast is smart; eventually he will strike.”

“What are you getting at Pixie?”
Lux challenged her.

“If I didn’t know you better, I’d
think you were trying to provoke him,” Pixie admitted.

“What?”

“I’m just being honest.” she
tilted her head to the side a bit.

“Well you know me better than
that.”

“I do. I’ve known you my whole
life, and I’ve
never
seen you like this before.”

“It’s him; he’s dangerous; you
should hear the things that he says to me. I’m telling you, this man is trying
to break me down.” She shook her head.

“We’ve been through worse shit
than this and you never broke, not once. Even when everyone around you was
breaking, you stood strong. Even when it would have been okay for you to break,
you refused. That’s why I know that he could never break you,” Pixie said
honestly.

“I’m not so confident.” She
looked at her sister without guarding the emotions clearly etched on her face.
Pixies eyes widened as if it had finally dawned on her.

“You like him don’t you,” she was
blown away by the thought.

“I told you he’s dangerous,” Lux
admitted.

***

The next morning, Lux cursed at
her alarm when it went off. She pulled the covers over her head and sighed,
wishing she could sleep the day away. After a long battle with herself, she
finally rose from the bed and sluggishly put on her robe. She left her room and
shuffled her way towards her mother’s bedroom.

“Good morning, Lux,” her mother
said with a bright smile.

“Moring Mom. You’re not coming
downstairs for breakfast?” Lux noticed the breakfast tray on her small dining
table.

“Not today dear; today is one of
those lazy days,” Pax smiled.

“Okay.” Lux wouldn’t bother to
argue, especially since it wouldn’t make a bit of difference. Her mother’s
definition of a lazy day was much different than the average person’s. To Pax,
a lazy day meant a day that she was too consumed with anxieties to venture out
further than her bedroom. She had these episodes every now and again; Lux hoped
this one would pass quickly. “I’ll come and check on you later.”

“Okay Dear.” Pax smiled and waved
as Lux left the room.

Lux tried to clear her negative
thoughts as she went downstairs to the kitchen. Everyone was sitting around the
table; they had just finished breakfast.

“Are you hungry?” Kiki asked.

“No, just coffee,” Lux answered
as she went straight for the coffee pot.

“So how did everything go last
night? You didn’t even let us know you were back,” Graves said.

“It was late; I didn’t want to
bother anyone.”

“Since when are you worried about
bothering any of us?” Kiki asked with raised eyebrows.

“So were you able to work out
some kind of a deal with Dean?” Graves asked.

“No,” Lux answered as she sat at
the table with her cup of steaming coffee.

“Don’t worry, we’ll get it back;
we’ll find something he won’t want exposed. Clifton is digging up dirt on Dean
as we speak. He said he may have found some promising information,” Pixie
reassured her.

“He’s shameless; I don’t think he
even cares.” Lux shrugged her shoulders before taking a sip of her coffee.

“There has to be something; we’ll
find it.” Pixie gave her sister a quick sideways hug.

“What the hell happened?” Graves
asked. She knew something was up as she watched the exchange between Pixie and
Lux.

“Nothing.” Lux shook her head
before taking another sip of coffee.

“I’m calling bullshit, something
happened,” Graves insisted.

“Something definitely happened,”
Kiki switched to the chair next to Lux.

“It’s not important.” Lux shook
her head.

“I beg to differ,” Graved
objected.

“Since when do we keep secrets?”
Kiki asked.

“Dean Blake offered her the
building in exchange for sex,” Pixie blurted.

Lux heard the collective gasp and
looked to see that all eyes were on her.

“You have such a big mouth,” Lux
hissed through clenched teeth.

“I’m sorry, that was way too much
pressure Lux,” Pixie cried.

Everyone sat silently for a
moment, obviously digesting the news while unabashedly staring at Lux.

It was Graves who spoke first,
“Is that true?”

Lux nodded, “Yes”

“Did you say no?” Kiki asked.

“Of course I said no.”

“You’re crazy; you should have
done him on the spot.” Kiki grinned.

“Why would I do that?”

“Because he’s sexy,” Kiki
answered.

“Being sexy isn’t the golden
ticket for sex,” Lux declared.

“I’m glad you turned him down. I
wouldn’t have agreed either,” Graves said.

“I can’t believe you passed up
sex with one of the hottest and most successful men in the country.” Kiki shook
her head.

“I’m not giving up my virginity
to anyone to save this building. I can still get what I want without having sex
with him.”

“He is so sexy. If I had the
chance to get rid of my virginity with one of the Blake brothers, I would do it
in a heartbeat,” Kiki purred.

“You would do what in a
heartbeat?” Lolo asked as she walked into the room. Her rainbow colored hair
pulled back into a ponytail.

“Give up my virginity to Vaughn
Blake,” Kiki answered.

“Who wouldn’t? Vaughn is super
sexy. He’s like the,
I can’t even believe they even make them that sexy
,
kind of sexy.” Lolo grinned.

“Lux wouldn’t. Dean asked her to
have sex with him in exchange for the building,” Pixie informed her, and Lux
rolled her eyes.

“Dean Blake?” Lolo gasped as she
turned to Lux.

“Yes,” Lux nodded as she shifted
in her chair.

“Our building?”

“Yes,” Pixie answered.

“The same Dean Blake who has a
million dollar plan for this area?” Lolo asked as she tossed down the magazine.

Pixie picked it up and scanned
the headline. “Damn, he really does.”

“And he’s willing to give that
all up for sex?” Lolo asked in amazement.

“That’s what he told her,” Pixie
answered.

“And you really told him no?”
Lolo asked although she already knew the answer.

“Yes,” Lux answered.

“You don’t like him at all? Not
even a little bit?” Lolo asked.

“Liking someone and having sex
with someone are two completely different things,” Lux explained.

“So you do like him?” Kiki
gasped.

“I don’t have to explain myself
to any of you,” Lux said defensively as she got up.

“Don’t be mad Lux, we love you,”
Pixie said.

“Lux, come back,” Kiki said as
Lux headed out of the room.

Pixie waited until Lux left the
room before she turned to them and whispered, “She does like him.”

“How do you know?” Graves, always
the voice of reason, asked.

“She told me herself Gloomy
Graves,” Pixie informed her, calling Graves one of the many variations she used
for her name.

“I knew it! I could so tell,”
Kiki smiled.

“Don’t even think about it.”
Graves wagged her finger at them. “Let Lux handle this; she would not
appreciate your interference.”

“You’ve been Lux’s best friend
for your entire life,” Pixie said.

“Yeah, so.” Graves shrugged.

“In all that time, has she ever
liked a boy? Have you ever seen her even have a crush?”

“No,” Graves answered.

“Then you will understand why
there is no way in hell we are staying out of this.” Pixie grinned.

***

All classes at the music hall
were let out early for the concert. The music group The Revolting, Rotting Dead
were debuting a few songs from their new album. All the members of the group
had been taught at The Music Hall. They were gifted teenagers who spent their
time making music instead of getting into trouble. Lux and her family were
proud of their students and wanted to reward them.

Lux had rushed around all day to
make sure that everything was perfect for the event. She had the whole lounge
decorated in the band’s colors: lime green and black. She’d even had Lolo
design and paint an amazing banner for them.

In the end, she was greatly
rewarded by their performance that evening. The band members had played their
hearts out and were brimming with joy by the response from the crowd. There was
a short intermission after they left the stage. Lux took a deep breath because
her band was playing next. She didn’t care for performing live, but she did it
for her sister. Pixie lived and breathed for her band. She watched Pixie and
the others step on stage, so she finished her glass of wine and followed suit.

***

Dean walked from his car over to
the front doors of the lounge. His men had told him that there was some kind of
party going on. He wanted to see firsthand what Lux was up to now. It was
obvious that there was some kind of festivity going on; the music was loud
enough to be heard from the street.

Dean walked into the lounge and
was instantly drawn to the stage. Pixie was standing in front singing, her long
neon orange and snowy white braids were hard to miss. He looked to the right to
see the large neon orange piano and Lux sitting behind it. She was in a zone,
oblivious to the crowd as she played. He was transfixed by the look on her
face. Her passion for her craft was glowing brighter than the neon stage
lights. He saw the desire on her face and was suddenly jealous of the piano. He
wished she felt that passionately about him. He stood in the shadows watching
her until the end of the song.

Lux was deep into the song,
pouring her heart out through her fingers. She knew the beat… she’d written it.
She could manipulate the keys as well as she could manipulate her own breath.
She was lost in the chorus when she felt it: that all too familiar heat was
penetrating her from afar. She’d been playing for the crowd for an hour without
noticing them but suddenly she was overwhelmed by a presence.

It was Dean of course.

Even unannounced and standing
silently in the shadows across the room, she knew it was Dean. She knew it was
him before she lifted her head to look out. Her eyes locked on a dark shadow
towards the back. She gasped and did something she’d never done, she pressed
the wrong key. Everyone on stage turned to look at her for a moment, but her
eyes were locked on the shadow now leaving the room.