Alexander (10 page)

“
You don’t have a girlfriend, Jacky boy? Why, when I was your age, I had a dozen on each arm.” The older man winked. “Time was I could have had my choice of women. All wanting to get a piece of your great grandda.”

“
Girls are weird,” Jack groused. “Don’t you think so, Mr. Alex?”

“
They have their uses.” He pulled up in front of the bakery as he answered. He slipped out of the car, asking the two of them to wait. Lisa was just locking up.

“
Hey, Alex. Mom is in the back. She was cleaning up.” He started back when she stopped him with her next statement. “She said Heather left.”

“
Left? Left where, when?” At her shrug, he went into the kitchen. “Caroline?” She’d been crying, he noticed. Her nose was red and her cheeks were blotchy. She looked as if she was upset or angry. Alex couldn’t tell which.

“
Please tell me she’s with you. I don’t know how to get in touch with her and I’m worried. She just left.” Caroline continued to sob. “After you left, I came back to talk to her and she was simply gone. She didn’t even have a coat.”

“
I’ll find her.” He was at once worried then furious with Heather. She’d upset his friend with her behavior. “I don’t suppose you know if she has any friends? Someone she might have called?”

“
She didn’t have time for anyone. Not even herself.” Alex turned to the doorway to see Mr. Laird and Jack. “She was working a lot to keep a roof over our heads.”

~Chapter
10~

Heather was freezing. And she ached. Not just her arm, though she could feel the pains shooting up her arm to her head like a jack hammer. Somewhere in her body she felt a coldness that seeped into her and started to fill her. She was sure it had nothing to do with the cold and more to do with what had happened. Twice she’d had to stop and rest and twice she’d fallen asleep standing up. She wasn’t sure how much longer she could go on.

The all night diner was like a beacon to her. She went to it and its promise of warmth like a woman on a chocolate binge. She could barely open the door her hands were so cold. She ended up waiting until someone came out before she managed to slip inside. The heat was overwhelming at first and had her nearly go back out again. But someone was touching her, pulling her along until she was seated.

“…
you hear me, Heather? Please, honey, answer me. Come on, you’re scaring me.”

Heather tuned to look at the person. It took her several seconds to realize who was speaking to her. Then a few more before she could focus on what was being said.

“
Lisa…Miss Lisa? What are you doing here?” Heather looked around the tiny dining room. “Where are we?”

“
The Trolley Café. I’ve called my mom. She’s been so worried. We all have. She said for you to stay here until someone comes to get you.” Lisa sounded so far away. Her voice was garbled and hard to understand. Heather looked at the cup someone put into her hands.

She couldn’t hold it. It burned her fingers and felt too heavy in her hands. She wanted to sleep suddenly, curl up on the wide bench she was sitting on and go to sleep. But she needed to…something she needed to do. Then she realized Lisa was speaking again.

“…
keep up your strength maybe. You need to get warm. You’re a block of ice.”

Heather doubted that ice felt like it was on fire much less tingle like she was. The shivering started then and she couldn’t stop it. Her teeth banged hard together so many times they were beginning to hurt. When she thought about lifting a napkin from the table and stuffing it in her mouth to stop it, she closed her eyes against the pain when she’d lifted her arm. That was a mistake.

Her belly rolled and her head felt as if her neck didn’t have the strength to hold up her head a minute longer. She felt herself sliding and rolling to the floor. The cool tile hurt her skin, but she couldn’t move her mouth to speak. Her eyes wouldn’t stay open.

As she drifted out, everything fading, she let the blackness take her away. She heard a voice then, loud, demanding, and male. It was the hard timbre of Alex.

Heather woke slowly, degree by degree coming awake as though she’d been asleep for days. She didn’t open her eyes for a long while—just felt, listened, and absorbed.

It was quiet. Very quiet, actually. She could hear a soft creak, a sigh of something giving in protest. There was music; this too was soft and she thought it was something classical, but couldn’t be sure. A whisper of sound was far away, or so it seemed to her.

There was light in her room. Almost bright, but she wasn’t entirely sure with her eyes closed. She didn’t remember leaving a light on, but she’d been so tired lately there would be no telling what she’d do to get to sleep. Something had…when the pain pierced her head, she moved away from the thought that was just there then gone.

Things smelled floral, almost too sweet. She didn’t have time for flowers, or money for that matter, but she thought that’s what she smelled. The scented thingy she’d had in her room was very nice, she finally thought, and decided to remember the brand to purchase again. She frowned when she rolled to her side. She opened her eyes to see what she was caught on.

It came crashing back on her like a live wire racing along her mind. The fire, the burn, the finality of it all.

She had no home and she didn’t know where her son was. She started to sit up when a voice from the corner made her jerk around. She couldn’t stop the moan of pain or the spill of tears.

“
Shhhh. Everyone is all right. Shhhh, now, you’re safe.” Heather heard the soft murmured words and the soft, comforting tone of the voice.

“
Jack? My son?” Heather couldn’t swallow, much less talk very well. Her body ached and her throat felt as if acid had been poured down it.

“
They’re fine. Alex took them to his house. He only…Alex just went home to check on them.” The voice moved closer; the woman spoke again. “They’ve been so worried about you.”

Hospital. She was in a hospital room and there was an IV in her hand. Heather looked around the bright walls and polished wood. The television was flashing pictures of flowers and animals across it as music sounded from it. She looked at the woman with her.

“
Who?” Her throat ached to speak. She wanted a drink in the worst way. “Who are you?”

“
Candace James, I’m Alexander’s mother. We met the other day.” Candace sat on the bed. “We sort of met the other day at my house. Alex had brought you there after you were burned. My husband, Edgar, took you back to the bakery.”

Heather closed her eyes at the memory. Alex had kissed her and taken her to—“I need to go.”

Candace laughed. “Alexander said you were stubborn. I don’t think you have the strength just yet for that, dear. You were close to hypothermia by the time they got you here. I don’t know what made you run around like that without proper attire, but you should know better. Alexander has been worried sick.”

Heather doubted that, but said nothing. She remembered walking. It had been cold and the fight…he knew now and she didn’t want to be around when he started asking questions. And he would too.

“
I lost my job. I need to find another one.” She found that her throat hurt less now that she was using it. “I can’t afford this.”

Heather noticed that the flowers on the table were violets. She loved the tiny purple and white flowers and wondered who they belonged to. She closed her eyes, exhausted.

“
I’m sure arrangements can be made about your bill,” Mrs. James said, breaking though her haze. “But for now, you must rest. Alexander will be glad to know you’re awake. He wanted to speak to you.”

Heather was sure he would. Though why he was concerned was beyond her. She nodded to the older woman and closed her eyes. She couldn’t stop the tears that fell and wasn’t really sure who or what they were for. Herself or Jack.

When she woke the next time, it was dark. She didn’t need to open her eyes to know that she was alone in the room this time. The room didn’t have the small sounds that it had before, the sounds of the rocker Mrs. James had been in, the sounds she knew now were the whisper of crepe-soled shoes over tiled floor.

She was alone, she figured, in every since of the word. The welfare people would come now and take Jack from her. Without a job, house, or any prospects of getting any of them for a while, she knew that they would find her unfit. Her mother had turned her in to them so many times over the years that Heather couldn’t begin to count them. Now that she had mounting hospital bills and no way to pay them…well, she wasn’t sure what to do now. It seemed her mother was finally going to get her wish.

Then there was Mr. James, Alexander. He’d want answers. Though she still hadn’t figured out why he cared. He didn’t like her overly much, she thought. She wondered fleetingly if he’d talked to her mother and knew that he had. He wouldn’t be the type of man to leave anything to chance if he wanted to have sex with someone.

She wasn’t stupid. She knew that he wanted her. Why, she didn’t know, but he did. She was completely out of his league. He was rich and had everything while she wasn’t and didn’t. She had less than nothing. She was in the hole as far as she could see.

She rolled to her side and looked at the pretty flowers again. She knew little to absolutely nothing about men. They baffled her more than her math homework ever had. Why someone as beautiful as Mr. James would want her was insane.

He was beautiful too. Dark golden hair that was just a little too long in the back. It curled just enough to give him an appealing unkempt look. He was tall too, towering over her by nearly eight inches. His face was all angles and lines, hard jaw, masculine nose that reminded her of the painting she’d seen in the museum when she and Jack had gone on one of their free days.

Mr. James…Alex, his mouth looked hard and his lips seemed almost too full for a man, but sexy at the same time. When he’d brushed them over hers or kissed them along her skin, she felt needed, sexy, and very needy.

His hands fascinated her. They were large like he was, yet tender on her body. His long fingers had plucked at her nipples and heated her skin with their touch, bringing her to a fevered pitch. Sighing, she rolled to her back and looked up to see the man she’d just been thinking about.

~~~

Alex thought she was asleep, she’d been so still. He had hoped to see her awake and now that she was, he didn’t have a clue what to say to her. He let the door go so that it would drift quietly closed before he spoke.

“
I didn’t think you were awake. I hope I didn’t wake you up.” He felt stupid. “I wanted to come by and see you.”

“
No.” Her answer sounded husky and Alex felt his body respond.

“
Mom said you woke when she was here yesterday morning. I’ve been out of town.” He wondered what he was saying then decided to stick to what he wanted from here on before he made a bigger fool of himself. “Your family is safe. I have them at my house. Jack hasn’t been to school the last few days until today. I made sure they were aware of your circumstances.”

“
You mean that we’re homeless? I’m sure they were glad to know that bit of information,” she snapped at him.

He could hear the bitterness in her voice. He would have to be stupid or deaf not to. For some reason, that pissed him off.

“
No, I told them you were ill and that until arrangements could be made between you and I, they would be staying with me. I didn’t tell them anything more than that.”

She looked at him sharply. “Arrangements? What sort of…you’ll hold my family hostage until I sleep with you? Then what happens after you’re finished? We’re back on the streets? Well that sounds just like every man I know.”

He staggered back. He couldn’t believe she thought so little of him or of herself for that matter. To think he’d only kept them safe to blackmail her into…sex?

“
Is that what you think, Heather? That I’m the type of man who would hold a child and an old man just so I can fuck you?” She flinched. “That’s right. That’s what you think, isn’t it?”

“
You’re a man, aren’t you? Don’t men, all men, want to fuck someone even if it has nothing to do with sex?”

Alex thought about what her mother had told him about her and her stepfather. “Is that what Baxter wanted. Did he want to fuck you too and when he got what he wanted, you told on him?”

Alex knew the moment the words were out of his mouth they weren’t true. He was ready to tell her how sorry he was, that he hadn’t meant them, that he was angry when the door behind him burst open. A small streak flew across the room and was in her bed before Alex realized what or who it was. It wasn’t until Mr. Laird, Tom as he’d asked Alex to call him, patted him on the back that he realized that the small missile was Jack.

“
Looks good, don’t she?” Tom asked as he skirted around the chair. “How you feeling, girl? Scared us, you did.”

Alex watched her with her son. She loved him, that much was evident. He could see his mom doing the same, holding back her aches and pains to love on him or Wills. Heather soothed her son when he asked why she was crying by explaining how she was so happy to see him. Alex could see the pain in her eyes and not from being ill, but the pain of what he’d said. He glanced over at Tom when he felt the man staring at him. Alex knew he could see the pain too.

Alex knew that Tom may not know what they’d been fighting about, but he knew that his granddaughter was in pain. Alex tried not to squirm under the man’s gaze, but he was uncomfortable. It wasn’t until he looked away that Alex let out the breath he’d been holding.