The Dirty Anthology (12 page)

15

“I am?”

The sweet way her breath hitches when she asks me that gets to me. I nod at her, because for some reason, my throats too tight for me to speak, and kiss her pouty lips one more time.

A sound reaches my ears. What sounds like someone moving.

A soft snicker.

I rear back away from Lexi, my head flying around in the direction of the door.

The open door.

No one is there. Not that I can see.

My heart races, senses prickling.

“Andrew?”

I shush her, silently placing my index finger on her lips, and stand. Walking softly, I head toward the door, straining to listen.

And I hear it. Footsteps. Scurrying away from the door.

I jog to the door, anger rising each millisecond it takes me to get there.

Someone’s here.

Someone heard my girl coming.

They probably fucking saw us!

Feeling like a wild animal, ready to tear into anyone and anything, I stop at the door, looking left and right.

No one.

No one on the left, heading toward the back door.

No one on the right, heading toward the main area of the gym.

I heard someone. I know I did.

“Baby, stay here.” Jogging, I make my way down the hall and into the large main sparring area. It’s dark, all the lights out. Seemingly empty.

Yeah right. This place is huge. A person can hide anywhere. It would take me forever to find them.

Still, the thought that someone heard and saw Lexi galvanizes me. I can’t rest easy without at least trying to find them.

As I walk quickly around the free-weights area, my eyes straining in the dark, it occurs to me that only two people knew I’d be here—Stephen and Barnard.

Had those assholes snuck in and watched me and Lexi?

I wouldn’t put it past those perverted motherfuckers.

Circling the sparring arena, I turn my heard left and right, still searching.

But I know it’s futile. I know that, if anyone is in here, I won’t find them that easily.

And I’m almost sure it had to be one of my best friends.

Then again, I left the back door open for Lexi and didn’t lock it after she walked in.

Shit, shit, shit.

I’m a fucking moron.

I need to get her out of here.

When I head back into the office, she’s still sitting on the couch, looking confused.

Adorable.

Her hands are palm-up on her lap and I see they’re still covered in my come.

Sexy.

Her eyes meet mine and I reach back to yank my t-shirt over my head. Her eyes widen, pupils snapping wide, eating up every inch of my upper body.

My dick twitches toward her. Kneeling before her, I grab her hands and start cleaning them up with my shirt.

Her cheeks go pink.

My heart beats loud and beat through my body, demanding
her, her, her!
The chant is almost too loud for me to ignore.

“Andrew, your shirt.”

“It’s okay, baby. I have another in the car.” I finish cleaning her up and bring her to her feet. Blood rushes hot and thick through my veins. I want more of her body. Her kisses. Her touch.

More time with her.

It feels like so much of it has already been wasted, even though we’re just eighteen.

“Lexi . . .” I swallow thickly. “Would you consider spending the rest of your birthday with me? I want to show my girl a good time.”

That blush deepens and I have to bite back a groan. “Andrew, Kaylee is your girlfriend. Not me.”

“No,” I snap, a little harsher than I should. “You’re my girl. The one I’ve always wanted.” The one I love. Cupping her chin, I hold her in place and bring my phone out of my shorts pocket. “As a matter of fact, I’m letting her know. Now.”

Lexi watches me as I bring up Kaylee’s number and start typing out a text.

Drew:
It’s over. I’m done. Not doing this anymore. Don’t feel you. I’m feeling someone else.

It’s harsh, and I’m a major dick for doing it over text, but whatever.

My girl watches me as I hit send. Then, I turn off my phone, because I don’t want Kaylee or anyone trying to contact me while I’m focused on Lexi.

“I’m your man. You’re my girl. Get me, baby?”

She nods, eyes sparkling.

Holy hell, can my heart calm the fuck down?

“Now, you down to ditch your friends so I can take you to do something fun?”

Biting her lips and smiling, Lexi gives me another nod.

I’m so high on her right now, triumph running through my veins. Finally.
Her
. The girl I’ve wanted for years.
Mine.

I’ll never let her go. Not now.

I smile at her, feeling how wide that smile is, knowing she can see I’m pathetically ecstatic. “Alright. Come on. Let’s get you out of here. There’s something I’ve been dying to show you.”

I can’t believe it! That sneaky fucker. I knew he’d been lying about why he wanted to use uncle Luther’s gym.

I knew it had to be about a girl, but fuck. Lexi Berkman. The hottest piece of ass in our school. Hottest tits, mouth. Shit, I’ll bet she has a hot pussy, too.

Andrew let me have fun with Kaylee once when they’d broken up, and hadn’t cared.

I contemplate asking him to let me have a piece of Lexi once he’s through with her.

Bullshit. He won’t. Motherfucker wants her for himself. I saw that.

Nah. He can’t have her. I deserve that ass, not him. I’m going to have her.

I always get what I want. My father taught me that.

“Holy shit!” Barnard hisses as we exit the gym.

Andrew and Lexi left a minute earlier. They left in their separate cars, but I know they’re going somewhere together. Because he wants to show “his girl” a good time.

Disgusting. Pussy-whipped already.

I smirk, thinking of the video on my phone. I can use this to my advantage. I know this. Just have to figure out the best way how.

My phone goes off. As soon as I see the name, I’m presented with the opportunity.

Fucking perfect.

Still smirking, I answer. “Hey Kaylee.”

“Stephen, where the fuck is Andrew? Is he with you?” she screeches into the phone. “He just fucking broke up with me over text!”

My smirk spreads into a wide smile. So perfect. “I know where he was, and with who. She’s the reason he’s breaking up with you. How fast can you meet up to talk?”

16

My hand trembles, sweating as I press it into the handprint scanner. It’s sweating too much. The scan fails.

My frustrated growl echoes down the hall. Eyeing the doors, I contemplate wrenching them open. The way I feel right now, I’ll rip them apart. Shred right through the steel and titanium.

She’s there. On the other side of those doors.

My girl.

My obsession.

The only fucking reason I’ve survived this long.

I swear to God, if the stupid scanner doesn’t read my print this time . . .

It does.

I bend at the waist long enough to let it read my eye, promising myself to get rid of the scanner immediately. Nothing will stand between Lexi and me. Never again.

The software division is on the other side of the doors. Maybe a hundred computer stations. Even more employees.

“Berkman’s office!” I bark out, loud enough that my voice echoes throughout the entire space.

No one answers. They all continue to stare at me, in shock. Many of them look scared.

“
NOW
!” I yell.

One girl points a shaking finger at a door toward the back.

I’m there in less than three seconds, practically flying, every limb shaking as the door automatically slides open.

And there she is.

Fuck.

There. She. Is.

That injury that never healed.

That infection that has been festering in my soul for almost a decade.

The wound that I pray never leaves me, even if the disease keeps on spreading.

Her.

Everything.

Her back faces me. Her body is different. More womanly, yet tighter at the same time. She’s wearing a tight, black, knee-length dress and her hair’s straight, held back in a long pony tail.

I’m immediately hit with a pang at the loss of her curls.

Even with the differences, my soul recognizes her, detonating a ruthless energy in my system.

I can’t breathe, shaking like a fucking leaf.

I’m lightheaded, and yet so focused. Nothing else exits. All I see is her.

She finally turns.

Black, large glasses. Different yet so similar.

Those eyes.

God. I clench my firsts, my jaw. I clench everything because I’m sure my legs are about to give out on me.

I waited years for this moment. Planned it. Mapped out what I would say. What I would do. How she’d react.

All for nothing. This isn’t how I imagined it. She wasn’t supposed to be glaring at me like that, pouty lips turned down in a frown.

She’s staring at me like . . .

She hates me.

I still love her. Every bit of her. More than before. More than I thought. More than I even imagined.

That hard, bitter expression on her face eases up for a second while her eyes rake me.

Analyzing.

For a moment, I lie to myself, telling myself that deep beyond the loathing I see, there’s a small glimpse of the hunger she once felt for me.

But when she looks back at my eyes, all I see is that hate.

Lie or not, I go hard for her. Painfully so. I’m a wreck. Destroyed. Stripped down to the core of my psyche. Ground zero of the annihilation she left behind.

Lexi’s brow scrunches, her expression morphing to confusion. Like she’s studying my reaction. Like it’s the last thing she expected.

How could it be? How can she be surprised? I know we only had one night together, but didn’t I show her back then how much she meant to me?

I’m so hungry for her. I want to
consume
her. I want her to fill the fucking gaping hole she left in me.

Her lips part and her voice, cold, impersonal, finally acknowledges me. “Mr. Drevlow.”

I nearly fall to my knees. That voice. Waited so long to hear it again. My breath hitches—then it’s gone. One word leaves my mouth. One rough, desperate word.

“
Lexi
.”

Andrew and Lexi’s story will continue in
SSPT #2
, the second episode in the

Systematic Siege: Provocative Tendencies

Short Story Series