Outside the Box (27 page)

“Derrick you don’t love me, you love the idea of me.  What you feel for me is lust, what Spencer feels for me and what I feel for him is love.”

“Whatever Lexi, things change, don’t come crying to me when he gets bored with you and toss’s you away like he does every other woman.”

“Fuck you,
I’m sorry okay.  Even if I would have found out before today that you are her little god damn cuddle buddy, friend with benefits, whatever you two were doing.  I would have put a stop to it, the thing you two had going on I mean.”

He shook his head, “I guarantee you, you would have had to put up a hell of a lot better fight than what you did earlier.  Can I talk to her alone?”  We both looked at Alexia, she gave us a single head nod so I walked out of the room and back out to where everybody else was. 

Peaches was the first person to stop me, “Did you seriously get your ass whooped by your baby brother?  I would have put my money on you, but I think he…”  She laughed. 

“
I’m giving them five minutes in there, tell everybody that I said it’s time to leave.  I want time alone with Alexia this evening.  By the way, had I been ready for him it would have been a little more even of a fight.”  I walked past her to the cooler and got me another beer.  Peaches announced that it was time for everybody to start leaving, so people gathered their stuff and left stopping and wishing me a Happy Birthday. 

Dad came and sat down
beside me, “Have you ever heard the saying Blood is thicker than water?”

I glared at him as I took a drink of beer, “Ever heard the saying practice what you fucking preach?” I countered back. 

“Don’t try to turn this on me, I just want you to make sure that you know what you’re getting yourself in to.  I’m guessing your brother is going to be pissed for a while, is she really worth ruining a brotherly friendship over?”

“You’re the one that said Blood is thicker than water, you’re the one that couldn’t stay around your own family.  Things will settle down in time, we’ve been through too much in our life.  We’ll get past this.”

“Damn it Spencer, I’m sorry…” He was going to say more but Derrick walked out so I stood and walked towards him. 

He clenched his jaw muscles, “I swear to god if you fucking hurt her, I will finish what I started.  I don’t know how she could fall in love with an arrogant rich bastard like you, but she did.  Just a little FYI though, I’m still coming over on Sundays to hang out with
her
, not you,
her
.”

I laughed, “She doesn’t live here, hell, I don’t even know where she lives.”

His eyebrows shot up, “Good, we’ll just keep it our little secret.” He told me.

I shook my head at him, “I don’t think so, I’m going to go see if she’ll even talk to me.”

I walked in to the house she was standing at the sink with a glass of water in her hand, our eyes locked on each other’s.  I slowly stalked towards her, my heart was thundering in my chest, I would lose my mind if she told me that we were done with each other.  I took the glass out of her hand and placed in the sink, with my hands resting on the edge of the granite counter top I caged her in.  Her breathing was getting fast and her eyes growing darker. 

“Alexia…” I was cut off by her jumping against me and crashing our mouths together. 
I smiled and so did she, then I slipped my tongue into her mouth.  She sighed when our tongues touched, I lifted her by the back of her thighs and she tightly wrapped her legs around me.  And that’s how I carried her up the staircase to my bedroom, where I was going to take my own sweet time exploring every single inch of her body and making love to her.

Derrick

****

The very second I laid eyes on Lexi, I knew I had to get to know her.  There was just something about her, she was always smiling, she didn’t have to wear makeup or wear skimpy clothes.  She was naturally a beautiful woman.  I had overheard Destiney say somethin
g to Lexi about being a virgin the day that we crossed paths in the park.  The night that we all went clubbing together, I knew that I was in trouble, her sweet smell, laugh, touch, and that fucking kiss.  Normally I never second guessed myself with a woman, if the woman wanted to fuck that’s what we would do.  I’d take her to a hotel, fuck her, then leave.  I hadn’t always been like that but the last girlfriend blindsided me when she cheated on me, after that I concentrated on school and soccer. 

When I told Lexi my reason for not wanting to have sex with her until she lost her virginity the look on her face told me she thought I was crazy.  It was just something that I couldn’t do, most guys would do it and not think twice then beat on their chest like Tarzan
.  After my ex cheated on me to “try different things” I told myself that I couldn’t fuck another virgin, because in my mind I wasn’t good enough for her so more than likely I wouldn’t be good enough for any woman. 

Lexi and I started spending time together, I loved it, I loved having her in my bed, in my arms.  Her soft skin against mine, her lips against mine, I loved feeling her body tremble as she come undone with me inside of her.  And that scared the hell out of me, she had made it very clear that she wasn’t ready for a relationship since she had just moved and was in school for cosmetology and had a job babysitting in the evenings.  My schedule for the soccer team would send me out of town for sometimes an entire week, she said that we were both too busy to have a real relationship.  So I settled for having her on Sundays, sometimes we would stay in my bed most of the day and sometimes we would go explore the city so she could see
the sites and get more acquainted with the city life. 

The weekend her ex-boyfriend Carter come to visit, I was pissed that she had failed to tell me she would be spending time with him. 
I was walking through the lobby to leave and go run some errands when I overheard a guy say that he was there to see Lexi Davenport.  The front desk buzzed her apartment but she didn’t answer so I offered to take him up with me, I wanted to know who he was and why he was here.  I should have known something was going on when Lexi confronted me in her room after I called myself her boyfriend in front of the guy.  I didn’t know the guy, therefore I didn’t trust him to be alone with her, Lexi said I could go out with them that night so…I did.  We weren’t even at the club thirty minutes before they were on the dance floor together.  I watched them from the bar as they danced and talked, when the song ended I figured they would go back to our table.  I turned to walk back upstairs with our drinks, but Carter was the only one that came back.  He told me Lexi had gone to use the restroom.  He and I talked and he reassured me that even though he did love her, he knew she didn’t have the same feelings for him.  We talked for a while about their relationship their senior year of high school, he told me how he had cheated on her.  I shook my head and called him and idiot.  “I know that now, I regret it every day trust me.  I’d rather have Lexi in my life as a friend than nothing at all.” He told me.  Another thirty minutes had passed by and she hadn’t come back so I excused myself to go find her.  Carter jumped up from the table and followed me, I was interrupted by a group of guys from school so I asked Carter to see if he could find her.  I was just going to see if he had found her when I spotted them, Lexi looked flush and like she was about to be sick.  I knew she had been busy and was wearing herself out, when she said she was ready to leave, we all left.  I wanted to stay the night with her but she told me that she really just wanted to sleep.  That struck me as odd because I had no problem laying in bed with her while she slept, but I didn’t argue with her instead I kissed her before I got off the elevator. 

I was hoping that once she was admitted to the Accounting department and would be going to school in the evenings for cosmetology that we would get more time together but it didn’t work out that way.  I still only got to see her on Sundays.

Dad had called to tell me he wanted to go out for lunch on the Sunday of Spencer’s birthday party. I decided to let Lexi have a little more time to get more rest instead of dragging her out with me.  Lunch with dad and his girlfriend Camille dragged on, he was just now trying to be a dad by asking how school, sports, and my life was going.  I thought about telling him if he would take the time to answer my phone calls he would know, or that if he hadn’t left mom for a younger woman he would know more about me.  I chose to be nice and told him everything was going great. 

On the drive to Spencer’s house I place
d my hand on Lexi’s thigh, she didn’t hold my hand and she seemed nervous.  Probably because she was going to be meeting my brother and my dad, I told her she could relax, they knew I was bringing a friend with me.  The look on her face when we pulled up to Spencer’s house was complete shock.  I never did understand why he didn’t downsize after his divorce but he said he had invested too much time and labor into the house, so he was making changes to the inside to get rid of any trace of his ex-wife.  There were cars lining both sides of his driveway but I found a spot closer to the house to park so we wouldn’t have to walk a mile.  When we walked through the gate to the backyard the first person Lexi seen was Destiney so she went over to talk to her.  I said hi to a few of the people I recognized from the weekend that Spencer and I had went clubbing together with Josh. 

Spencer found me shortly after I had found Lexi and Destiney, he looked less than pleased when he stared Lexi down but she didn’
t flinch, most women would have cowered to the glare he gave her.  She didn’t though, she stared him down until he walked away.  I found dad and Spencer talking so I took Lexi over to meet dad, he didn’t believe me when I told him we were just friends.  “Shit son I’m not stupid I know that look, it’s more than friends.”  He had said, I sure as hell wasn’t going to tell him that he was right.  She was gone for about twenty minutes so I wanted to go find her, hopefully she hadn’t got lost in his mansion of a house.  I found her just as she was getting ready to come out of the bathroom, I laughed when she told me she had been standing in the bathroom admiring the massive sunken two-seater Jacuzzi bathtub. For the next couple of hours she and Destiney laid in the chaise lounge chairs and visited while tanning.  I couldn’t stop staring at her body in that red bikini, I could see her skin getting pink from the sun so I climbed out of the pool and quietly walked over to her.  Once the water from my hair landed against her skin she gasped and quickly sat up. 

“That’s COLD!” she gasped and wiped her hand across her tone
d stomach. 

I braced my hands on the arms of the chair, “You’re getting burnt from the sun, I think you should climb in the pool with me.” I wiggled my eyebrows at her. 

“I’m comfy right here though, I’ll get in after bit.” She said and smiled. 

I lowered my face so that our lips were almost touching, “I’m holding you to that, this is my Sunday and I haven’t gotten my cuddle time yet.”

“Sorry, I promise.” She smiled again.  I lowered my lips to her and kissed her, my tongue swept across her bottom lip but she held her lips closed not meeting me.  Our lips stayed pressed together for a few more seconds until I pulled away.  She swallowed hard and sat up straighter in the chair like she was nervous, I figured it was probably because I had just kissed her in front of everybody including some of my family.  I ran my hand through my hair then walked away.

Jocee one of my brother’s house employees was cooking the hamburgers, hot dogs, and
vegetable shish kabobs.  I was visiting with her since she had such a great sense of humor, I tried to grab a veggie but she slapped my hand away and started talking to me about Lexi. 

“
Very pretty, I like how she has no fakeness to her.” She told me with a grin.

“She is beautiful.” I said while staring at Lexi.  I looked closer and Lexi was staring across the pool at somebody, I followed her line of vision to where Spencer was glaring at her.  He was talking to a lady that had her hand resting on his forearm and was whispering something to him.  I looked back at Lexi, she stood quickly, walked through a small crowd of people and into the house.  Spencer watched her then turned to the lady that was standing beside him and had what appeared to be a small argument. 

“Who is that Spencer is talking to?” I asked Jocee.

“I’m not sure, there are a few people I don’t recognize here.  She’s very pretty too, maybe he’s found a nice lady to settle down with.”

“HA, that’s funny, I don’t see that happening anytime soon.” I told her.

“See what happening anytime soon?” Josh walked up to the grill and tried to take one of the shish kabobs, Jocee’s sister
Victoria slapped his hand away and mutter something in Spanish at him. 

“I was just wondering who that is with Spencer, he was just giving Lexi the evil eye.”

The drink of beer that Josh took spewed out of his mouth then he coughed until he cleared his throat, “Lexi is here?”

I looked at him, “Well yeah, where the fuck have you been?”

“Uhm…I haven’t been here long.  Where’d she go?” he asked looking around the crowded area. 

Dad’s
girlfriend Camille walked up to us and started talking to Josh about the house he had bought in Los Angeles.  I wasn’t paying attention though I was looking for Lexi but she still hadn’t come back outside.  I excused myself from Josh and Camille to go inside and see what Lexi was doing.

I walked through the kitchen and started to walk up the stairs when I looked in the living room, there sat Lexi on the couch and Spencer on the ottoman.  Neither of them noticed that I had walked in so I took another step closer to hear what they were saying.  Spencer’s voice was so deep I couldn’t hear what he was saying, whatever he had said to Lexi caused her to look up at him quickly.  “I’m not telling him here.”  She hissed out at him.  Spencer said something else, she shook her head, “I’m not going to do that with him and I’m not telling him…”  Lexi looked like she was scared to death because of the death glare
Spencer was giving her. 

“Tell
ing me what?”  I asked then walked into the living room.  Lexi jumped when she heard my voice then looked up at me.  She looked nervous and like she was about to start crying.  I told her we could leave since she was obviously not comfortable with Spencer and he was being a total asshole.  He told me we weren’t leaving but I sure as hell wasn’t going to stand back and let him treat my girlfriend like shit.  When I called Lexi my girlfriend she quickly corrected me, it was like I had been kicked in the ribs and the wind knocked out of me. 

“You or me take your pick.” Spencer said
to her. 

I wasn’t sure what his problem was but I knew he could tell that she wasn’t comfortable with the conversation he was trying to have with her or the looks he was shooting at her. 

The conversation that followed after that turned into a blur and my vision went red when I punched Spencer then tackled him to the ground and punch him again.  I pounded my knee into his ribs twice before he flipped me off of him then punched me no doubt breaking my nose.  I knew that his ribs were probably broke so I tried to roll him again but my dad’s booming voice echoed through the room then I was being pulled away.  We both had blood running down our faces, each time Spencer tried to breath he winced from the pain, yep, I had definitely broke a rib or two.  My blood was still boiling as I listened to Josh defend himself against Spencer that was yelling at him for even giving Lexi the postcards…the same postcards I had given to women to work at my brothers sex club.  I was beyond pissed, with my head tilted back I stared at the ceiling waiting for my nose to quit bleeding.  My blood thundered through my ears as I listened to Lexi ask Josh questions.  But when Spencer said that he loves her, and that she loves him, I lunged for him again but was quickly stopped by William.  Hearing her say she wasn’t my girlfriend was nothing compared to hearing Spencer tell me she loves
him
…not me…
him
.

It took a few minutes for Spencer to agree to let me talk to her without him being in the same room, but he finally went back outside. 

“What the fuck just happened?” I asked with my back turned to Lexi.  I turned around and looked at her, she had tears in her eyes so she quickly wiped them away. 

“I’m so sorry Derrick, this is all my fault, I should have told you.  I was going to today, I was going to tell you that we could still be friends but the benefits wouldn’t be the added bonus anymore.”  She
wiped a tear from her face. 

I shook my head, sat down on the ottoman and watched her as she paced, “Lexi sit the fuck down.” I told her. 

She walked over to the couch and sat down, “I’m so sorry, I swear Derrick I didn’t do anything to purposely hurt you.”

“Did you ever have feelings for me?  Or was I really just a friend with benefits to you?”

“You were a friend first, the benefits were as you put it, an added bonus.”

I shook my head and laughed, “You can honestly tell me that we would have never been more than friends?  Until, as you put it, one of us met somebody else, then we would have no choice but to be friends?  Has this been going on since I was in Texas for that tournament?”