Lexi, Baby (13 page)

No,
my tattoo
.

Somehow, the weeks passed quickly. Landyn
became a permanent fixture in our lives. He spent every possible
second he could with Layla and me. He managed to visit me regularly
at work while still making it to my apartment to spend time with
Layla. He even spent nearly every night with us; in my bed.

Fighting him on this was impossible and he
used our little girl to his advantage at every opportunity. They
were a team.

He was also persistently affectionate with
me in front of Layla and he ignored all of my efforts to resist.
Before I knew it, a month had passed and I was madly in love with
him all over again, but no way in hell would I let him in on that
secret.

Right now we were in bed and Landyn was
caressing my hip; his lips were brushing against my neck. I felt
his breath when he spoke. “I can’t stay tonight, baby. I have a six
a.m. meeting with a vendor. I really wish you would just move in
with me. Layla’s going to be upset when I tell her I won’t be here
later and you know the last thing I ever want to do is upset her.”
I twisted my neck to look at him. He always looked delicious in the
morning with his sexy bedroom hair, dreamy eyes and scruffy,
unshaven face.

No matter how much I wanted to, one month
was still way too soon to make any decisions about moving in. “Lan,
it’s too soon to decide on moving in and I have to work tonight.
This will give Layla a chance to spend some time with Trish. She’ll
be okay.”

“Baby, I want us living together by the time
she goes back to school and that’s only another month away. If
you’re worried about leaving Trish, she can move into my garage
apartment.”

Ugh
! The man was unbearably
persuasive when he was trying to get his way. He continued, “She’s
always out with Tony anyway.”

“I’ll think about it,” I responded sharply
and turned my face away from him.

His hand suddenly slid off my hip, down my
belly and into my panties. “What are you doing?” I whispered.

“Helping you make your decision.” He found
my sweet spot and swirled a finger lightly against my clit. A
steady pace began. “Dripping.” He breathed in my ear. I moaned and
wiggled my hips back into his. He pulled his hand away and ordered,
“Turn on your stomach.” I quickly did what he asked. He lifted up
over me and pulled my panties off. He spread my legs wide with his
knees as he crawled up my back.

His arm wrapped around my waist and a hand
hit my core. He worked magic on me until I was begging him to take
me. He bit my shoulder. “Get on your knees,” he ordered, his voice
rough. I rose up until my ass met his erection. It glided between
my cheeks as I rocked back and forth. A hand started massaging my
breasts, tugging on my nipples. I pressed back against him and he
guided his erection inside. I moaned.

“Give me your hands,” he demanded. I quickly
considered my options and decided to lean my chest down on the bed.
I turned my head to the side and gave him what he wanted. He pinned
my hands behind my back with one of his and the other wrapped
around my waist to rub the ache between my legs.

“I want you in my house, baby. Say yes.” I
whimpered. I couldn’t say yes.

“Just move,” I begged.

He pulled his hips back slowly then pressed
forward. “I need you Lexi,” he continued to torture me with this
pace. “Faster,” I breathed, squeezing my fists tightly behind my
back.

“Feel all of me Lexi. Can’t you feel how
much I need you. How much I love you. Say yes.”

His words and achingly slow movements were
causing too many emotions to flow through me. I hadn’t heard him
say I love you since we broke up. I loved him too, but I was
scared.

“I can’t,” I whispered feeling a tear slide
from the corner of my eye. Abruptly, he let go of my wrists, pulled
out and flipped me to my back. He slipped back inside me in one
smooth motion.

His hands lifted to frame my face. “I love
you Lexi. You’re going to be mine for the rest of your life. You’ve
always been mine.” His voice was firm. “I’m not afraid to admit how
much I need you, baby. I was afraid before, but I’m not now. I
won’t hurt you again.
Ever,
” he stated confidently. Another
lonely tear escaped, but Lan kissed it away.

“I’ve always loved you,” I admitted in a
barely there whisper. “I’m scared.”

His mouth crashed down on mine in
desperation. He continued with unhurried, torturously slow
movements until I came so hard I was near sobbing. “I love you,” I
heard Lan groan as he finished inside me.

When he was completely sated, he rested his
forehead on my shoulder.

“Marry me,” he said. I stopped breathing. He
lifted his head and stared in my eyes. “Marry me, Lexi. I should
have married you the day you turned eighteen, but I was stupid. I’m
not as stupid as I was back then. I won’t let you leave me.”

My heart was beating frantically. “It’s too
soon,” I said.

“No it’s not and you know it. We love each
other. I’ve loved you since I first saw you. I want to see you
pregnant with Layla’s little brother or sister soon. I want to
watch your belly grow and go to doctor’s appointments. I want to
touch you every day for the rest of my life. Marry me.”

Breathing was starting to hurt. “What if
something goes wrong?” I asked through the tightening in my throat.
“I loved you so much before Landyn and it still didn’t matter. You
were my life and you cheated at the first opportunity. I can’t go
through that again. I won’t put Layla through that.”

“Are you kidding me right now?” His voice
was low and scary. His eyes narrowed and he climbed off me and
stood up.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

He started dressing. He didn’t answer and
his face was hard, lips tight. “I’ve explained to you what was
going on in my head that night, but you refuse to accept it. I
practically beg you to marry me, and you bring up the shit that
I’ve lived to regret every day since the night it happened
six
years ago
!”

He shook his head in defeat and finished
dressing. “I know you already know about Tiffany, but what you
don’t know is that I’ve only been with a handful of women since you
left me, if that. Only one turned into an actual relationship and
it doesn’t even count since I was just using her to get over you. I
thought about you every fucking day since the day you left!”

He opened the door. “Just forget I asked.
I’m going to say bye to Layla. I’ll pick her up tomorrow.” The door
slammed behind him.

An hour of crying later, Trish came to check
on me. “Hey bitch!” she said loudly when she walked in, but she
immediately turned confused when she saw my face. “What’s wrong
with you?”

I told her everything while she hugged
me.

“Lex, I’ve never told you this before, but
you were both so young, babe. Don’t get me wrong, I hated him right
along with you and I still hate him for what he did, but maybe that
was his one big mistake in life. The way he was with you back then
and the way he is now isn’t any different. He’s still obsessed with
you. I honestly don’t think he’d hurt you again even if his life
depended on it, babe.”

I was bawling now. “I can’t seem to do
anything right,” I whined. She hugged me tighter.

Could I honestly get over what happened six
years ago? Everyone else seemed to think I should. Sometimes I even
got annoyed with myself, but thinking about that night made my
heart bleed.

I was sick throughout the rest of the day;
literally sick to my stomach with fear; fear of Landyn not wanting
me anymore.

By the time I made it to work Landyn only
texted me to say he was picking up Layla tomorrow at eleven to take
her to lunch and the park. I wanted to call him and apologize, but
I needed to know for sure that I could forgive him for the past. I
couldn’t concentrate on anything else while working.

I warned him that I didn’t trust easily, but
I wasn’t sure that was true anymore. What if I’ve completely ruined
things between us?

The thought made me nauseous
.

It was nearly three o’clock in the morning
by the time I got home. I had just cracked open the front door open
when I was shoved inside from behind.

“You bitch.” I heard a man sneer. It was
Ryan. When I tried to face him, he grabbed me by the hair and
jerked; my back slammed into his front. “Unless you want Layla to
hear, I suggest you keep your mouth shut,” he hissed.

“Ryan, what the hell are you doing?” I
asked, so scared my voice was shaking. He pulled my hair so hard my
head snapped back painfully and he wrapped a hand around my
throat.

“Do you fuck him?”

Tears were stinging my eyes. “I don’t know
what you’re talking about,” I lied.

“I fucking see the way he touches you. The
way he kisses you,” he boomed in my ear. Without warning he swung
me around and slammed me against the frame of the front door; pain
exploded throughout the side of my face. “You treated me like a
fucking dog because of him. You never loved me, did you?”

When I didn’t respond he pressed my face in
harder. “Answer me,” he demanded.

“No. I loved you.” I said as loud as I could
manage. He whirled me around to face him and before I could catch
my footing he backhanded me across the cheek on the same side that
hit the wall; I was seeing spots.

“Liar,” he spat in my face.

I dropped to my hands and knees. I was
vaguely aware of him dropping next to me. I felt his hands at the
waistband of my jeans. “I’ll give you what you want, you fucking
whore.” I tried to dizzily to crawl away from him, but when he
pulled at me, I fell to my side. He rolled me over and unbuttoned
my jeans. Finally I managed to scream “No!”

As soon as the spots started fading away I
started struggling against him, but he wrapped a hand around my
throat again. He was choking me. “I tried so fucking hard to make
you happy.” I heard the agony in his voice.

I wrapped my hands around his wrist and
scratched at him; desperate to get air. “Please. Don’t. Do. This,”
I was barely able to breathe out the words. In the distance, I
heard the phone ringing. Ryan ignored it.

He struggled to get my pants down
one-handed, but he did. I was kicking wildly at him with my legs,
but I was also concentrating so hard on not passing out that I
wasn’t doing a very good job. When I felt his hand touch me between
my legs I reached up and clawed at his face.

“You bitch!” he yelled, let go of my throat
and raised his hand.

I screamed “No!” just before he hit me and
everything went black.

As I came to, I heard buzzing and commotion
and shuffling around me; people were close by. “Tell me her name?”
I heard a male voice order in a clipped tone.

“Alexis,” someone answered. It might have
been Trish, but I couldn’t tell.

“Alexis, can you hear me?” the same man
asked.

“Yes,” I said and prayed my voice was loud
enough for him to hear. I tried to open my eyes, but everything was
too bright and my head was pounding. I lifted a hand to shield my
eyes.

“Good Alexis. Try not to move too much. You
have a pretty bad bruise on the right side of your face and a
possible concussion. Sudden movements will only cause you pain.” I
felt my arm being moved around. “My name is Jason. My partner here
is Tameka. We’re paramedics and we’re going to make quick work of
checking out your vitals then we’ll get you set-up on the gurney
and over to the hospital, okay?” He spoke in a soothing voice.

“Where’s my daughter? Has she seen me? Is
she okay?” My voice was raspy.

“I’m not sure Alexis,” he responded sounding
unconcerned.

“Can you find out? Please. I need to know
she’s alright.” I was going to start panicking soon.

“I’ll go find out honey. Don’t get yourself
too worked up. Jason you got this?” the woman who I assumed was
Tameka asked.

“Hurry,” he ordered with attitude. I managed
to glare at him with my eyes closed. “Chill out, Jason. The woman’s
just been through hell and she wants to make sure her daughter’s
alright.”

“Tameka, we don’t have time this, just hurry
up,” Jason ordered, having lost all patience.

“You really need to get laid. I told you I’d
handle that little problem for you.”

“Tameka!” he said, exasperated.

“I’m going, calm down.”

I can’t believe she just said that
!
As funny as it was, I was still in shock.

Jason went back to work. “What happened? Was
I raped?” I asked in a whisper, staring at his face. He was
fuzzy.

“No. At least I’m almost certain it didn’t
get that far.” Anger resonated in his voice. “The police got here
just before we showed up. I believe your friend said it was close,
but she scared the guy. She had you covered up by the time we got
here.” That didn’t sound good, but it made me feel a little
better.

Just then, I heard arguing and shouting
outside. “Where is she? Let me see her!”

It was Landyn.

“Sir, you have to calm down. You can see her
as soon as the medics bring her down. You can’t enter a crime
scene,” someone replied.

“What the fuck does that mean? What crime
scene? What happened?” Lan shouted back. “Sir...”

At that moment, Tameka came inside the door,
her eyes wide.

“What? Is Layla alright?” I tried to lift
up, but Jason stopped me.

“Don’t worry honey,” she said. “There’s a
very cute, black-haired little girl standing with the woman who I
think is your roommate. She looked fine, maybe a little shaken up,
but that’s understandable seeing as how there’s this fine ass
mountain of a man outside shouting at the officers to let him see
you. Is that your man, honey?”