Authors: T.K. Leigh
For the first time, he didn’t know what to do. The girl he had grown to care for seemed so empty and broken. Instead of trying to rectify the situation, he turned and left the house, his shoulders slumped forward, wondering what had come over him. He had sworn that he would not enable her to use sex as a coping mechanism, but he completely lost his head when he heard the pain in her voice. Then she kissed him, and it all escalated so quickly.
He drove away from the beach house, hoping to find some clarity in the light of day, but he had a feeling that clarity would never come.
When Olivia finally heard the front door open and close, she left the bathroom and ran up to her bedroom, stripping off her clothes and changing into a pair of gym shorts and tank top. She ruffled through her belongings and finally found what she was looking for…her laptop.
She found the power cable and turned on her MacBook. She knew the answer would destroy her, but she needed to know. She ignored her thousands of unread e-mails, went straight to the Google search page and typed in Alexander’s name.
Her search returned several recent news articles, if you could call gossip websites news. She clicked on the first link and let out a small gasp, willing herself not to cry. Alexander was at a formal function, dressed in a tuxedo. On his arm was a very beautiful woman with red hair and small brown eyes. Olivia scrolled down and read the article.
Alexander Burnham was spotted during a charity dinner at the Four Seasons in Boston on Saturday evening, accompanied by his new flame, Chelsea Wellington. Chelsea, the daughter of a wealthy architect, has been seen on Alexander’s arm for the past several weeks although, apparently, their relationship goes back almost ten years.
Olivia scrolled down even further and let out a small cry. It was Alexander kissing the red-haired woman. That was supposed to be
her
kiss. She could feel the passion between the two. Why did she push him away when he found her? Why couldn’t she take a leap?
“I can’t believe he moved on,” Olivia whispered. “What did I do?” she cried out to no one in particular, flopping onto her bed, grabbing a pillow and bringing it into her chest, clutching at it as if her life depended on it.
All of her walls came crumbling down as her body convulsed. It was a silent cry. Her eyes became blurry from all the unshed tears that immediately rushed forward. She stared at the laptop still open to that awful website, and wanted to scream. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t talk. She couldn’t even make a sound. She finally realized that she pushed away the one person who meant the world to her. She said that she let go of him, but had she really? It wasn’t until he had let go of her that she realized Alexander was really gone.
“A
NY
WORD
, C
HERYL
?” D
ONOVAN
spat into the phone. He was losing control. He hated losing control.
“I’m sorry, sir. Nothing. The trail has gone cold. I think he’s given up on ever finding her. The last trace was a large cash withdrawal the day she left town. After that, nothing other than a stolen credit card that turned up to be a dead end.”
“What about that suspicious trip he took back in October? Make any headway on that?”
Cheryl sighed. “I’ve tried to get flight records, but those are sealed tight. I didn’t want to arouse suspicion by asking Martin about the trip.”
“Well, stay on it, if you can. Proceed discreetly. The second anything turns up, let me know.”
Cheryl exhaled loudly. “I honestly believe he’s moved on. He seems happy now. At least, I think he does. Maybe it’s for the best, sir.”
He banged his fist on his desk. “No, damn it! Those documents are still out there. I know they are! I won’t be happy until they are destroyed. Neither will my client and I don’t need to remind you what is at risk if we fail to turn those documents over in a timely fashion. Until we find that box, everyone is at risk of being exposed.”
“Yes, sir. I understand. I’ll remain vigilant in finding the girl. How should we proceed when I do?”
“Let me worry about that.” Donovan hung up and ran his fingers through where his hair once was.
~~~~~~~~~~
“Hey, Mo!” Alexander said upon arriving at Johnny D’s and seeing Mo sitting at a table alone. He couldn’t pull himself away from the bar. Not yet, anyway. Even though Olivia was gone, Mo and Kiera still showed up every Thursday night for Open Mic. Alexander had moved on like Olivia wanted him to, but it was still comforting to see people that had a connection to her.
“Hey, man. Good to see you. How’s Chelsea?” Mo asked, taking a sip from his beer.
“She’s great. Thanks for asking,” he replied, his eyes dropping.
“Hey,” Mo said, placing his hand on Alexander’s arm. “It’s okay to move on. It’s what she wanted you to do.”
“I know, but she’s still on my mind.” He looked down, trying to cope with his mixed feelings.
“And she will be, at least for a while,” Mo said, remembering how he felt the first time Olivia ran. “But you just wake up in the morning and get through the day and, eventually, it will get easier. Then you’ll move on. She’ll always be there in the back of your mind but, soon, it won’t hurt as much.”
Alexander simply nodded. “I guess I’m officially a member of the Olivia Adler Survival Club, aren’t I?” he laughed, clearing the air a bit.
“Yeah, and it’s quite a club, isn’t it?” Kiera said, sitting down at the table.
“Hey, Kiera. Any word?” Alexander asked the short redhead hopefully, wondering if Olivia had contacted her friends for the holidays. He never told them that he had found her, the pain of her rejection still too raw.
“No. Nothing. It’s been a few months and nothing.” Kiera looked into Alexander’s eyes and could see the hurt there. She knew exactly how he felt. She had been there all those years ago, too. She couldn’t understand why someone would just leave, not saying anything to anyone. Over the years, she had begun to accept it. The more she learned about Olivia, the more she understood why she ran. It didn’t make it right, but she knew why she did it, at least.
“I know it’s stupid, but I even made her a tofu turkey for tomorrow. I guess I’m just still hoping she’ll show up. No one should be alone on Christmas Eve.” Kiera looked away, trying to hide her tears.
Mo wrapped his arms around her petite frame, comforting her.
“We’re quite the fun bunch, aren’t we?” Alexander said, lightening the mood.
“You doing anything tonight?” Mo asked, trying to change the subject.
When Alexander arrived home after finding Olivia in Florida, he knew he needed to try to get over her. He was still angry. He wasn’t coping very well without her in his life. That’s when he turned to music, just as Olivia had done all those years ago. He found that it helped to have an outlet for his emotions, instead of keeping them all bottled up.
“Yeah, and I think it’ll be the last time. It’s time to let go.”
Mo simply nodded his head. “You do what you gotta do.”
They all turned their heads when the M.C. jumped back on the stage. “Okay, next up, Alex! Get on up here!”
Alexander took a deep breath and made his way to the stage for the last time. He sat down at the piano and adjusted the microphone. “Thanks everyone, and thanks for letting me play a little bit these past few weeks. For those of you who don’t know, I went through a pretty nasty break-up a few months ago. It felt as if my entire world was ripped out from underneath me when this girl left. I tried to figure out where it all went wrong, but now I know I need to let her go and move on because finally, there is someone in my life who I think could make me happy. But before I can move on, I just need to do one last song. For me. And for the girl I lost. This is
Eve, the Apple of My Eye
by BellX1.”
Alexander placed his hands on the piano and began to play the slow melody. As he sang the words, all he thought about was his Olivia, how he was certain she still cared about him. But when he confronted her in Florida, she turned him away, desperate to protect herself. He didn’t care about that. He still loved her with every fiber of his being, and he knew he would probably always love her. But, at the same time, he needed to move on. He hadn’t been living those past few months. He’d simply been existing.
He still didn’t understand why Olivia ran. Maybe things moved too quickly. She was a girl who was dealt such a shit life. She had never really coped with anything. Over the past several months, he had become angrier with his father over everything that had happened in Olivia’s life. He wanted to think that it was all his father’s fault. He covered up her very existence, ripping her from the only friends and family that she had. Now, twenty-one years later, she couldn’t form any meaningful relationships because of her fear that she’d lose those very people. It was tragic, in a way, how empty she was.
“Do you think he’ll ever be over her?” Mo asked, leaning in close to Kiera, listening to Alexander’s passionate plea.
She simply shook her head, not wanting to think about the fact that her best friend was gone and she didn’t know where she was. Alexander wasn’t the only one hurting.
“I just want her to come back home,” Kiera cried, Mo placing his arm around her. “This is where she belongs. Not out in the world somewhere, trying to run away from the people who care about her. I just don’t understand why she does it.”
“Yes, you do,” Mo responded, glancing back to the stage.
Alexander sang the chorus, thinking about how empty he felt since Olivia had walked out of his life. A part of him died that day. Then he found her and felt something he hadn’t felt since she left…hope. But the look of pain on her face after he tried to convince her to come back with him was so much worse than he imagined. And he did that to her. Now that he was singing the words to the emotional song, he realized that maybe he and Olivia were never heading in the same direction. He had waited most of his life to find the girl that stole his heart all those years ago, but maybe there was a bigger reason that she was taken from him.
He knew it was time to accept what had happened between them. It was time to move on. Why put in any more thought and effort into a bad situation? It will only make it worse. As he neared the end of the song, he thought about all the dreams he had where Olivia appeared on his doorstep, begging him to take her back. But, with Olivia, she could make any relationship sink or swim at the turn of a dime, and he didn’t know if he could put himself through that again.
After he played the last few notes, Alexander stepped off the stage to thunderous applause. He walked toward Mo and Kiera’s table, almost breaking down upon seeing Kiera’s tear-stained eyes. “I need to take off guys,” he said, a lump in his throat.
“Well, have a Merry Christmas, Alex,” Mo said, shaking his hand.
“Thanks. You, too.” He turned to leave the bar and was met by fierce brown eyes standing near the door.
“Who’s your Eve, Alex?” Chelsea asked quietly, the hurt in her voice evident after hearing Alexander sing the song, clearly thinking about Olivia and calling her the apple of his eye.
“Chelsea…” he said, taking a step toward her. “How did you…”
“What? Know that you’d be here?” she spat out, her eyes wide with fury. “I followed you here, Alex. You don’t tell me anything. You say that you love me, yet you lie about some bullshit meeting. Did you not think I would figure it out when you make up the same excuse every Thursday night?”
Alexander looked down.
“Please, Alex,” she begged, her voice soft. “Just answer me. Who’s your Eve?”
He shook his head, running his hands through his hair. “I’m sorry, Chelsea,” he said, grabbing onto her arms, his eyes blazing into hers. “I really am. I just needed to do that for me. So I can move on. Olivia was my past. You’re my future. I know that now. I do.” He was surprised at the words coming out of his mouth. He had never given too much thought to his future with Chelsea before, but the more he thought about it, the more sense it made.
A smile crept across his face and he dragged her body flush with his, calming her fears before continuing, “I guess, in a way, she’ll always be my Eve. She’ll always be the one girl who got away. That’s why I had to do that song. To remind myself that she isn’t the girl for me. She only brings me down.” He pulled back, staring into Chelsea’s eyes. “Being with you has made me realize that the entire time I was with her, I was sinking. I’m so sorry you had to see that,” he whispered, his voice soft and pleading for forgiveness.
Chelsea wrapped her arms around him, sighing as she took in the warmth of his body. “No. I’m sorry,” she said quietly. “I should never have doubted you. I just get nervous sometimes that you’re slipping away from me. I know these past few months haven’t been easy on you, but you have to know that I’ll never leave you. I love you, Alex.” She looked into his eyes, desperate for him to see how much she truly cared for him.
He planted a deep kiss on her lips. “I love you, too, Miss Wellington. Now, let’s get out of here.” He winked, grabbing her hand and leading her out of the bar. He knew he had strong feelings for Chelsea, but was it love? He couldn’t be sure. But, at the same time, he didn’t want to lose her. He cared about her quite a bit. He was surprised how quickly he fell for her once he realized she wanted something more than just an occasional hook-up. He enjoyed her company, but that feeling of electricity running through his body anytime she touched him was missing. She wasn’t Olivia.
Olivia would always be the one he cherished above all others, the apple of his eye, but she pushed him away. Chelsea was the type of girl he could see himself spending the rest of his life with. Even though they had only been dating for a few months, he had known Chelsea for nearly a decade. She was ready for the next step.