Love Me: Oakville Series:Book 5 (28 page)

“Want to go over and play with Cody for a while? I think I need to go talk to Lexi.” Chase jumps up and down on the bed, pumping his fists in the air.

After dropping Chase off at Kyle’s, I head straight to Lexi’s apartment. Her car isn’t in the parking lot, so I drive downtown. It should be easy to find her. Downtown Oakville consists of one stop light and a handful of businesses, most of which close down on Sundays. The only place she may be is Kelly’s Café. I know she has a weakness for the cake pops Kelly makes.

Pulling into the gravel parking, I spot her car and park my truck right beside her. Sweat coasts my palms and my heart rate goes into over drive. I feel like a teenager getting up the nerve to tell his crush he likes her. I stumble out of my truck, my legs shaky from my nerves, and place my keys in my front pocket. As I walk to the front of the café, I take a deep breath and wipe my sweaty palms down my jeans.

My heart stops when I see Lexi sitting at a table in the front window and a man sitting across from her, holding her hands in his. He’s leaning over the table, his face just inches from hers. The two of them look awful cozy together—so cozy, it has my blood boiling.
Who the fuck is he?
My head spins from all the thoughts racing through it and I watch in horror as he slowly leans in further, touching his lips to hers.

Red blurs my vision and I turn to walk back to my truck. Before I know what’s happening, my fist slams into the driver’s side window, instantly shattering it. When I pull my hand back, it’s covered in blood and throbbing like a bitch. Ignoring the pain, I slam it down again, leaving a large dent on the top of the bed. Someone grabs me from behind and I swing, hearing a sickening crack against my knuckles.

“Son of a bitch!” Angel screams, and my anger immediately dissipates.

“Shit!” I exclaim, partially because I just hit my best friend and partially because my fucking hand hurts. “Man, I’m sorry. I had no idea it was you,” I apologize. My friend stands before me, blood pouring from his nose. He looks at my truck, then down at my hand.

“What the hell has got you going all Rambo on your truck and friends?” he asks, a slight laugh in his voice. I slide down the side of my truck until my ass rests on the gravel and proceed to tell Angel about coming to find Lexi to let her to know I was finally ready to move on with her. When I tell him what I saw, he lets out a string of curses and turns, walking toward the café. Jumping up from the ground, I grab his shoulders to stop him.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“I’m going to kill the motherfucker kissing your woman. Then I’m going to read the bitch the riot act,” Angel fumes, and I shake my head. This kind of bullshit isn’t worth it. When I married Taryn, all my drama ended. This is not the way life should be at my age. I’m too damn old to be smashing shit with my fists when I’m a little pissed—or a lot pissed, but that’s neither here nor there.

“Come on. It’s not worth it. She obviously isn’t worth it,” I tell him. I sure thought Lexi was the right girl for me, and I can’t believe I could be so wrong about someone. Hell, she had all of us fooled.

“Fine, but follow me to my house so Chelsie can clean us up. I don’t think you need stitches,” Angel says as he turns away from the café. Nodding, I follow him and taking one last glance toward the window, wishing I never met Lexi.

As we are pulling out of the parking lot, two police cars come racing in past us, sirens blaring. For a moment, fear courses through me. Thoughts of something happening to Lexi cause a slight panic in my gut, but then I see that asshole kissing her, and suddenly, I don’t give a fuck.

W
hat in the hell just happened?
All I wanted was to sip on my cup of coffee and eat a Raspberry Cheesecake Cake Pop while hoping Marcus might have some revelation after seeing the scrapbook. I hoped he’d come find me, tell me he’s ready to move on and that he loves me. I was picturing some romantic scene you’d see in a Nicholas Sparks movie. None of that happened. Instead, the person who found me was the last person I ever wanted to see again. To say the last hour has been a nightmare of epic proportions is an understatement.

Just after Kelly set my order down in front of me and I was about to take that first delicious bite, a man sat in the seat across from me. Lifting my eyes, I froze.

“Good to see you, Lexi,”
Steven said, his tone tight. It’s the one he used when he was angry, but trying to hide it. My body stiffened and I glanced over to Kelly, trying to convey my unease. She walked over to the table, order pad and pen in hand. When she stepped up to the table, she looked straight at Steven.

“Hey, there. Can I get you anything?”
she asked sweetly. He plastered a fake smile on his face.

“No, thank you,”
he said roughly, but Kelly didn’t give up.

“So, who’s your handsome friend, Lex?”
she asked, batting her lashes in Steven’s direction.

“This is an old—”

“I’m her boyfriend. Could you run along now and give us some privacy,”
Steven snapped, interrupting me. Kelly’s eyes widened in shock. Her expression was hard to read, but for a split second, she looked disappointed, obviously thinking I was screwing over her friend. That look quickly faded, turning into concern. Slowly, she turned around and began to walk back to the counter. She turned back and looked me in the eyes. Again, I tried to let her see the fear in my face. She tilted hers down in an almost imperceptible nod and stepped behind the counter, her eyes never leaving our table.

He grabbed my hands, startling me and pulling my attention back to him. The feel of his skin touching mine made my stomach turn. Why the hell would he tell Kelly he was my boyfriend? Could he really be that dense? I’d been gone for almost a year. I knew he wasn’t that stupid.

“You are no longer my boyfriend. Didn’t you get that memo when I left and never came back?”
I asked him, trying to pull my hands from his, but he gripped them tighter, holding me in my place. I winced in pain. Narrowing his eyes, he moved his face closer to mine.

“Did you really think I would let you go? That I wouldn’t find you?”
he sneered, and the evil look in his eyes sent a chill down my back. Tears began to fill my eyes. I wouldn’t let this man take me back to the unhappy weak woman I was. I loved my life here. I loved Chase and Marcus. Steven would not take this away from me. I started to open my mouth, but he stopped my protest by pressing his lips to mine. I could feel his tongue sliding against my lips, trying to push mine open, but I refused to let it happen. Just his lips touching me made me want to vomit. He growled, aggravated I wouldn’t let him have his way. Dropping my hands, he placed his hands on my face and gripped tightly, trying to force me to open.

Unable to stomach him touching me for one more second, I lifted my hand and slapped his cheek as hard as I could. A loud crack had the few people in the café turning our way. He pulled his head back, stunned. He expected to find the same girl he used to push around and bully.
Well, surprise, asshole, that girl is long gone.
He stood at the same time I did, rounded the table, and grabbed me by the shoulders.

“I think you’ve forgotten what happens to you when you misbehave,”
he growled. Without worrying about the other people in the café, he took a handful of my hair and slammed my head down onto the cold hard table. I screamed out in pain as my eye and cheek began to throb. Tears flowed down my face, but I wasn’t crying from the pain; it was more from the embarrassment of all those people seeing me allow this man to do this to me. Before I could figure out what to do, I heard a familiar voice and breathed a sigh of relief.

“Put your hands in the air and step away from the lady,” Beasley commands, his tone so authoritative that it brings me back to what’s happening right now. Still holding onto my hair, Steven throws me down. I land hard on the tile floor on my knees and glance up to see Beasley tackling Steven to the ground and cuffing him. A small smile crosses my face at how rough Beasley is being with him. Kelly quickly comes to my aide and places a cool ice pack against my throbbing cheek before pulling me to her. I sob into her chest as she wraps her arms around, allowing Kelly to soothe me.

I’m startled when I hear Beasley’s gentle voice next to me. “Lexi, he’s gone. I need to get a statement from you darling.” I look up at him through my blurry, tear-filled eyes. His sweet, caring smile is contagious and I can’t help but return it. Taking his offered hand, I follow him over to a booth in the corner and place the ice back over my face. “Before you tell me what happened, I want to let you know when I ran Mr. Archer’s name through the system, I found several outstanding warrants for him. The worst of them are in Georgia from about a month ago. He is wanted for the brutal rape and battery of a young woman he was dating. Now, I can arrest him for the battery on you, or I can turn him over to Georgia and just get him the hell away from you.” I take a moment to think about it. As much as I want to be the one to send him to jail, I think I’d much rather just get him the hell out of here. Besides, the poor girl he raped and beat deserves justice more than I do.

“Let Georgia deal with him. I’d be happy to never see him again,” I tell him.

“You’ve got it. Now, tell me who he is to you and why he did this,” I proceed to tell Beasley everything about Steven, starting from the beginning. Patiently, he listens until I finish without an ounce of judgment on his face. It’s just as well. I pass enough judgment on myself to last a lifetime.
How could I ever have thought he was a good guy?
I had to be the stupidest woman ever to be fooled by him.

“Stop that,” Beasley demands, and I raise my eyebrow at him in question. “Stop blaming yourself for that piece of shit’s actions.”

“But I thought he was a nice guy,” I try to explain, but he shakes his head.

“That’s how they suck you in. No one could know what men like him are capable of until they decide to show their true colors. He thought he was preying on a weak woman, but you proved you are anything but weak. You left his ass the first time he laid a hand on you. And from what some of the customers tell me, you put up a fight today, too. If more women were like you, these guys wouldn’t get away with their abuse. In my line of work, I’ve seen it far too often. I’m very proud of you, Lexi.” Fresh tears fill my eyes. He sounds like a father talking to his daughter, like I would imagine my father talking to me. As if he can read my thoughts, he comes over to my side of the booth and scoots in next to me.

“I look after all of you like you are my kids. If you ever need anything, I’m here. I’ve been told I’m a really good listener,” he says with a wink. Gently, he pulls me close so my head is resting on his shoulder and holds me while I cry.

School is closed today due to an air conditioning repair and I’ve been moping around, laying on the couch in my yoga pants and old ratty t-shirt with an ice pack on my face. Besides the obvious issue of Steven blowing into town like a fucking tornado, I really thought I would have heard from Marcus by now—a phone call to at least say thank you.

A knock on my door has me jumping out of my skin. Tiptoeing over to the front door, I look through the peephole, surprised and relieved to see Angel standing there. I open the door with a smile on my face.

“Hey, Angel...” My smile quickly fades and I gasp. “What happened to your face?” I ask. He has two black eyes and his nose is black and blue. Jeez. His looks worse than me. He glances at my swollen and bruised face, then angrily pushes past me into my apartment.