Until There Was You (7 page)

'No more Liam, you have spent
more on me that anyone in my entire life. I am grateful don't get
me wrong but I feel like I am taking advantage, like your Mother is
right about me.' Like a whore I wanted to add but thought better of
it after last time.

'Lexi baby I can more than
afford it.'

'Just because you can doesn't
make it right.' I cut him off, standing my ground.

'What isn't right is you
standing here in the street arguing with me...' He argues back.
'When all I want to do is make you smile.'

'You don't have to spend money
to make me smile.' I fire back, a little insulted he would think
that.

'Is it so wrong that I want to?'
He mumbles sadly. 'Did you not just call me your boyfriend in
there?' Shit, he even hear that too. I don't answer, I don't know
how to answer. Is he mad I called him that in front of people?

'Is this not what boyfriends
do?' I am shocked and I am positive my face shows it.

'You don't mind I called you
that to them?' I tilt my head to the side trying to suss him
out.

'I would mind more if you
didn't.' He laughs 'Now girlfriend don't argue with your man.' He
kisses me quickly on the lips and I can't help but giggle at his
playful attitude and the fact he called me his girlfriend. I love
this mood he is in so I go along with it happily. Who wouldn't?

It has been a wonderful day, I
can't believe how different I look. My once dirty blonde hair is
now light honey coloured, cut nice around my shoulders with soft
layers and a neat side fringe. I got make up that covers my bruises
and more that highlights my cheek bones. My lashes are long and
black fanning my eyes that are twinkling brightly, my lips look
full and soft pink. I am wearing a soft dusty pink cocktail dress
that reaches just above my knees and shows a little teaser of
cleavage. I have on matching heels that have a 4 inch heel and silk
ribbons that lace up around my calves.

I feel like a movie star yet
deep inside the broken girl I truly am hides in fear of the dinner
I am dress up this nice for. Liam's Mother already hates me, like
what I am wearing is going to change that. I shake my head,
lowering it in disappointment, soft curls bouncing in my face. Its
now or never.

'Lexi are you ready babe?' Liam
shouts nearing the bedroom. He stops at the doorway, his jaw
hanging down.

'Wow........you look just wow.'
He clears his throat.

'So do you.' I reply nervously
and god does he. He is wearing a slate grey suit that matches his
eyes with a black shirt and tie, I have seen him in a shirt before
but it still takes my breath away.

'Ready to leave?' He asks and I
can only nod, to busy drooling over him.

Bring it on, I think to
myself.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Twelve

Liam

As we pull up to my parents
house I cannot shake off the awful feeling I have, I do not trust
my Mothers motives. Dem gets out and opens my door first giving me
the perfect opportunity to pull him aside without alarming Lex.

'Don't go anywhere, it could end
badly and we may need a quick escape.' I chuckle to disguise my
nerves. Hell I don't get nervous.

'Sir.' He nods giving me a
knowing smile.

I go around to open her door
myself and can't help but check her out again, she looks amazing. I
can't get over it, she always looks beautiful but when I saw her
tonight I was lost for words. I just wanted to stay home and make
love to her over and over again. Ignore this dinner and keep her
all to myself.

'Liam.' She says with her
eyebrow raised and a smirk playing on her lips, I realize I am
staring like a creep again.

'If at any time you feel you
want to leave all you have to do is say. Dem will be right outside
waiting for us.' I inform her and she nods in response looking as
nervous as I feel as I take her hand and lead the way.

I kiss her forehead and knock on
the door not releasing her hand as we wait.

'Liam darling, do come in.' My
Mother greets, ignoring the beauty beside me.

'Mother.' I kiss her cheek but
don't embrace her. 'This is my girlfriend Alexis Cross.' I say
pulling Lexi forward to my side proudly. Lexi holds her delicate
little hand out and my Mother shakes it.

'Alexis, How nice to meet you.'
Lie, big fat lie. To anybody that doesn't know my Mother it looks
real enough but I know better.

'Likewise Mrs Coltan.'

Everything will be fine,
everything will be fine... I keep repeating to myself. I squeeze
her hand and run my thumb over her knuckles as I lead her to the
dining room. Just me, Lexi, Mother and Father what can go wrong
really.

I had to hope didn't I, I
couldn't just keep my mouth shut. Already seated at the table are
Mr & Mrs Reddington along with Melissa and my best friend Nate.
Joy oh fucking joy.

'So much for just us.' I mutter
as I shoot my Mother an icy glare to which she just smiles
sweetly.

'Dude!' Nate says clapping me on
the back. 'No wonder you didn't want the waitress.' He whispers so
only I can hear.

'Nathaniel.' He says to Lexi as
he captures her hand and kisses it. 'But you Pretty Girl can call
me Nate.' She smiles at his cheesy line and I instantly feel
jealous.

'Alexis.' She replies sweetly
'But you may call me Lexi.' That pisses me off and I pull her
close,wrapping my arm around her waist possessively.

She snuggles into me not
understanding my motives but Nate does, he holds his hands up in
mock surrender as he backs away.

'Liam honey.' Melissa makes a
grab for me as I try and hide behind Lexi who seems to find it
amusing and looks to be stifling a laugh.

'Melissa.' I respond coolly as I
brush her off and replace my arm back around Lexi. She scowls and
turns to Lexi, oh please god don't upset her or I will be
pissed.

'Melissa Reddington.' She sticks
her hand out to Lex, her tone anything but friendly.

'I remember, we met the other
day.' She informs her sweetly, too sweetly, my girl has claws .
That is so hot, I can't help but smile into her hair to try and
hide my amusement.

'We have?' Melissa looks
confused for a minute then it dawns on her. 'You look so different
in your own clothes.' She remarks bitchily hoping to tear Lexi down
some.

'I should hope so.' My Lexi
replies her voice never changing from sweet and amused. God she is
perfect and Melissa does not look pleased, I thinks she is about to
blow.

'Should we take a seat?' I
interject before we are all covered in bits of Mellissa.

'Liam you're next to me.' She
smirks. 'Alexis you are next to Nathaniel.'

Like hell she is I silently
fume. Over my dead body. I go over to Nate and whisper in his ear
and he moves to the seat next to Melissa as I take the one next to
Lexi.

'Your now next to me.' I smile
and kiss her cheek innocently.

'Oh but what about poor
Melissa?' She whispers in my ear, smile innocently. The little
minx.

'I am sure she will cope.' I
whisper back and she giggles.

'I'm not.' I look at Melissa,
who is red with fury then at Nate who has a big shit eating grin on
his face.

'Do you want me to swap seat
back?' I tease and she shoots me a warning glance.

We chat through dinner, well
myself, Lexi and Nate do. Everybody else ignores Lexi so I ignore
them, childish I know but hey they started it. Lexi and Nate seem
to get a long well, part of me likes that she get a long with my
best friend but the other part of me hates it.

'So Alexis, Where are you from?'
My Father asks.

'London.' She answers, not even
fazed but the six pairs of eyes on her. I couldn't be more proud of
her than I am right now.

'What is it you do for a
living?' He questions.

'I took care of my Step-Father.'
She tells him as my blood boils at the mention of the prick. Nate
eyes me curiously but I give him a look that says 'Later'.

'Oh so your parents are
divorced?' My Mother butts in.

'No my dad died when I was a
baby.' She says and the sadness in her eyes makes me reach for her
hand and squeeze it. I can't believe I am finding this out at the
same time as them.

'And your Mother?' My Mother
asks not missing a beat.

'I don't see how that is any of
your concern.' I say through gritted teeth. What the hell is she
playing at?

'Did your Mother kill your
Father and now she is in prison?' Melissa taunts and Nate chokes on
his drink as everybody else gasps. I glare at her but she stares at
Lexi unfazed.

'How dare you?' I fume.

'It's okay Liam.... My Father
died when he tried to stop three teenage boys from beating an
elderly shopkeeper to death, for the contents of his till. They
stabbed him twice in the neck and left him there to bleed out on
the shop floor, alone.' She says with a blank expression and all I
can do is sit there in shock, along with everybody else.

'Excuse me, can I use your
bathroom please?' She asks softly and I give her directions.

I wait until she is out of
earshot, anger coursing through my veins.

'What the hell was that?!' I
snarl at Melissa, who looks pleased with herself.

'Excuse me for asking a
question. How was I supposed to know it was so tragic?' She retorts
so flippantly.

'You disgust me, not even one
ounce of remorse.' I snap at her.

'Watch your tone young man.' Mr
Reddington warns me and I laugh sardonically. The nerve of this
man, is there any wonder Melissa is a self absorbed bitch.

'Son Mellissa meant no harm...'
My Mother adds. 'Did you darling?'

'I think you should apologize to
our daughter.' Mrs Reddington demands and Melissa smirks.

'Like hell I will.' I growl
scowling at the overly made up older woman.

'Landon.' My Mother whines.
'Control your Son please.'

'Yes I think you need to teach
him some manners.' Mr Reddington glowers. I am just about ready to
explode when my Father speaks. Teach me about manners the fucking
nerve of these people.

'Actually, I believe Melissa
should apologize to Alexis.' He states and Melissa's smirk
vanishes. 'Son I think you should go and check on the poor girl.' I
smile at him and take off towards the bathroom, leaving yelling and
screeching in my wake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chapter Thirteen

Lexi

I wipe the stupid tears that
refuse to stop falling, I am so angry that I let her get to me. I
can't believe I blurted that out like that but I didn't want to
explain how my Mum got a new man and had a new baby, so she didn't
want me anymore. Well Done Lexi, I mentally clap myself
sarcastically.

'Lexi, are you okay baby?' Liam
asks softly through the door. I unlock it immediately and he comes
inside wrapping me up in a big hug, whispering to me how he is so
sorry in my ear over and over again. Finally when my tears stop he
releases me and kisses my last tears away, from cheek to cheek then
down to my lips. I deepen the kiss our tongues moving against each
other, stroking and twisting together as I melt deeper into him
enjoying the comfort he brings me. I never want this to end.

A knock on the door breaks us
apart and we look at each other our faces mirroring the same
confused expression. We fix our clothes and try to catch our
breaths, but the knock at the door comes again before we are
done.

'Come on guys, let me in I don't
care if you are bumping nasty's I will watch.......or join in.'

I laugh as Liam nearly rips the
door off its hinges revealing a smug looking Nate. He pushes past
him and drags me into a bear hug, I like Nate we could be really
good friends. Liam pulls me back close to him like Nate is a threat
to us, strange...

'What do you want Nate?' He
groans, not pleased with the interruption.

'Dude you left me in the middle
of world war three out there. How could you?' He accuses. He is the
complete opposite of Liam and has a air of cheekiness surrounding
him that is infectious.

I instantly feel terrible, I
caused all this and then bolted. I have to ruin everything all the
time.

'Don't, it wasn't your
fault....Don't you dare feel bad.' He says as he stares intently
into my eyes and brushes the back of his knuckles over my
cheek.

'Yeah Pretty Girl, if any one is
to blame it's that bitch, god I hate her. Incidentally she is
balling her eyes out in there.' He chuckles.

'Un-fucking-believable.' Liam
laughs. 'Do you want to leave?'

I hesitate a nod, I want to be
far away from here I just don't want to put Liam in a difficult
situation. He has spent a fortune so I don't embarrass him and yet
I still manage it. Great Work Lexi.

I walk back into the Dining Room
in between Liam and Nate. Liam is squeezing my hand, giving me some
much needed reassurance as I take in the scene before us.

Mr Coltan and Mr Reddington are
yelling something about respect and manners, whilst Mrs Coltan
tries in vain to calm her husband down. Mrs Reddington holds a
sobbing Melissa.....Wow. Liam clears his throat loudly to alert
them of our presence an they all freeze on the spot and turn
towards us. I step behind Liam, shielding myself from the angry
faces.

'We are leaving, thanks
for.......erm yeah, just thanks.' He muses and Nate chuckles.

'You caused all of this .' She
gestures around the room. 'And now you just want to leave!' Mrs
Coltan screeches.

'How exactly did I cause this,
please do tell?' If I didn't know any better I would swear he was
amused but the menace in his tone gives him away.

'You brought that.......that
tramp to our dinner to rub it in my daughters face that you are
being unfaithful.' Mrs Reddington is only to quick to accuse, still
cradling a sniffling Melissa. I go to step away from Liam ashamed,
not for myself because lets face it, I have been called worse but
for Liam. He grips my hand tightly daring me to move away with his
steely grey eyes. I stay rooted to my spot.