The Lies That Save Us (The Broken Heart Series) (6 page)

Chapter Seven

“You had your gun out before that car ever got to the side of us.  You knew something was going to happen.  How did you know?”  The gun was still pointed at Cayman, her voice was filled with suppressed anger.

“Geez, Alexa!  It all happened so fast I’m not sure what I know.”

“DON’T LIE TO ME!” 
she screamed, her rage focused and intense.  She had reached the limit of her willingness to follow blindly.  She needed answers and she needed them now.

“I don’t remember!  I just saw this car coming up behind us kind of fast, and my gut instinct told me I needed to be ready.  What do you want me to say?  I don’t know what you want from me!” 

She stared into his eyes, frozen in time as the thoughts rolled around in her head.  With a hard sigh she finally released the trigger on the gun and dropped her hands to her sides.  She turned away from him and trudged across the road, looking over the dry plain that surrounded them.  She could feel the familiar sting of tears forming in her eyes, but refused to let them fall.  She only knew she would never be anyone’s stooge again, but she had no clue how to protect herself from that.  She was frustrated, angry and confused, right back where she was before Cayman ever came into her life. 

“Why did you come to my diner?”
she muttered to herself.  “Why couldn’t you and the rest of the world just leave me alone?”

Cayman was right behind her. 

“I was hungry, but I can’t speak for the rest of the world.”

The situation was so ridiculous it made her smile.  She turned and looked at him and saw the same confusion and uncertainty she felt, and for some stupid reason, that made her laugh.  Still holding the gun, she placed the back of her hand against her mouth and laughed.  Soon she was bent over, trying to suppress it, but it just felt so
good
to laugh.  She realized she hadn’t laughed this hard since before her father died.  How had she lived without laughter?

“First you’re going to shoot me, and now you think I’m funny?” 
he asked, incredulously. He ran his hands through his thick head of hair and said, “You are one strange woman…one beautiful, strange woman.”

She finally regained control of herself and took some deep breaths.

“Sorry…but
man
that felt good!”

They walked back to the car and he continued.

“Maybe you need some meds, I mean, who does that?  Really.”

They slid into their seats and Cayman started the car and looked at her.

“What?” she said defensively.

“What? That’s all you have to say is ‘what’?”

“Oh, I forgot this part, ‘shut up and drive.’” 

That made her laugh all over again and she spent the next few miles trying to explain what was so funny. 

It really did sound crazy, but somehow Alexa felt relieved.  It was like a million pounds of mistrust and fear had been erased.  For the first time in more than a year she felt in control of herself and her situation, free of the benefactor in her diner purchase, free of the death of her father, free of the loss of her fiancé, and free of the hatred of him.  She felt free, and as she rolled down the window and the wind rushed through her hair, for the first time, she felt she was going to find out the truth about the death of her father.

Cayman was still a piece in the puzzle.  There was a secret he was keeping and she knew it.  Knowing she was aware of that added to her feeling of peace, as she could watch him, be aware of him and figure out which side he was on.  She wondered what sides there were to be on, but now she knew she would figure it out and finally put all of this to rest.  Finally, it was her life again, and she was definitely the one in charge.

***

The remainder of the drive to Salt Lake City was spent discussing whether or not Alexa would continue on by herself.  Cayman was right, she knew he would follow her, and what was the point of driving two cars? 

“So, are you ever going to tell me what you really do for a living?”  she asked, gazing out her passenger window.  The landscape was flat with hills in the distance.  Though some might say it was boring, she thought it beautiful, like Arizona.

“Oh, I guess we never did quite get to that,” he said.  “I work with insurance companies, big insurance companies.  I’m an insurance investigator.  I have to investigate claims all over the world, which means I have to go on site to the different companies we insure and take a look at the problem.  Then I report my findings back to the company and they either pay or deny the claim.”

“Ah, I see.  So
you’re
the one I would blame for a rejected claim.”

“Yup.  Fortunately for me, no one knows I’m the bad guy, so I don’t get any flack.  That goes to the company.”

They were quiet for a few miles and finally Alexa asked, “What did your dad do for a living?”

“Farmer,” said Cayman.  “We have a ranch in Sultan.  We used to have livestock, we had horses, about
seventy head of cattle, if I remember correctly, and Dad grew hay and lots of wheat that he sold every year.  It was a fun place to grow up.”

“Sounds wonderful,” she replied with a smile.

“You never told me what your dad did for a living,” he said.

“My dad?” she began, “Oh, he was in the export business.  At least that’s how he explained it to me.  He’d find buyers overseas for people that had large items to sell here in the states, or big lots of items and then he’d hook the two of them up and they’d make the sale.  He traveled a lot with that because a lot of the items went to China or Africa.  Some of it went to the Middle East, but that wasn’t very often.  He didn’t like going there much.”

They chatted the rest of the way, stopping for lunch and enjoyed a walk in the sunshine for a bit before returning to the road.  It was a couple more hours before they reached Salt Lake City.  The perfect stopping place, they had to decide where they wanted to stay the night. 

“I don’t care where we stay, but no more main floor rooms!” 
she smiled at him.  A nice cheap two story motel would be fine with her.

“Well, now that I know you’re not a helpless innocent, I can feel a little better about agreeing to you staying in your own room.”

“Oh, like you’ve had to babysit me?  Is that what you’re saying?” she teased.

Cayman smiled and shook his head, knowing any answer at this point, would be the wrong one.

They pulled up in front of the Grand America Hotel in downtown Salt Lake.

“They must pay you pretty well to afford to stay here,” she laughed, “I’m a Motel 6 kinda girl.”

“Well, there’s more security at a hotel like this,” he said glancing up the side of the building.  “I definitely feel safer here.”

They entered the lobby, complete with marbled floors and giant columns.  Approaching the counter Cayman asked about a room.

The woman at the counter checked the availability for the night. 

“You need one night?”
she asked.

“Yes,” replied Cayman.

“Are you here for Conference?” she asked them.

“Conference?  No, we’re just passing through,” said Cayman.  “What conference is going on here?  You probably have a few.”

“Oh, no, just one this weekend, but we fill up pretty fast.  It’s the LDS Church General Conference.  On these weekends we fill up months in advance and rarely have anything available until Monday night.  But, I do have one suite with two bedrooms if that would work for you.  I’m sorry I don’t have anything smaller at this time.”

Cayman booked the room and they headed to the top floor.  It was an amazing view from the windows set around the outside of the room.  Mountains surrounded them with soft rolling sides and craggy tops.  They had very few trees, these mountains, but they were green and huge.  The gentle contours of the mountainside were somehow relaxing, comforting.  Alexa had to ask herself how a mountainside could be comforting, but it felt true. 

The room was amazing.  Very elegant, each room had its own bathroom with a central lounging area.  Alexa was impressed, though she looked a little sad.

“What’s with the sad face?” joked Cayman.

“Oh, nothing,” she lied, “it’s nothing.”

He crossed to where she stood and put his good arm around her waist and pulled her to him. 

“I’m assuming it’s still okay if I do this?” he said with a smile. 

She nodded and rested her head on his shoulder.

“So…why the sad face, then?”

She sighed and pulled away from him, walking to the window and looking out to those beautiful mountains.

“It’s just…” she began, “I’d always thought this was the type of room I’d have on my honeymoon.  Instead, I was home, alone.  More alone than I’d ever felt in my life.  Just seeing this room brings all that back to me.  I’d thought I was finally past it all.”

Cayman came up behind her and gently turned her to him.

“I’m sorry, Alexa.  I didn’t think about that.”  He lifted her chin and kissed her softly.  His hands moved to the small of her back and he pulled her into a kiss.  She melted at his touch, her mouth hungrily accepted his offering.  She could feel the muscles in his back, strong and firm.  The kisses became more passionate, more heated and he lifted her with his good arm and carried her to the bed.  She had both arms around his neck, the heat inside her made roiling and burning.  Their lips never parted as he laid her gently down and then moved in beside her.  She pulled him to her, wanting him, needing him, her body burning with a fire she’d thought had long died. 

There was a knock at the door and everything stopped. 

Cayman jumped to his feet and motioned for Alexa to go to the bathroom as he pulled his gun from the back of his jeans.  She smirked at him and pulled her own gun from her backpack.  He called to the door.

“Who is it?”

“Room service, sir,” came the reply.

“Sorry, wrong room,” said Cayman.  “I didn’t order room service.”

“It comes with the price of the room, sir.”

“Hang on, I’ll be right with you.”

Cayman quickly dialed the front desk.

“This is room 783,” he said softly, “have you sent room service up to my door?”

“Yes sir, we did,” came the perky reply.  “You have a complimentary fruit basket included in the price of the room.  The employee’s name is Anthony and he should be at your door now.”

“Thanks.”  Cayman hung up the phone.  “Would have been nice to know when I paid for the room.”

They both put their guns away and Cayman opened the door.  It was a beautiful basket, and the employee set it on the table and waited.

Cayman handed him a ten dollar bill and he smiled.

“Thank you sir,” he said as he exited the room, shutting the door behind him.

“Hmmm,” he said, inspecting the basket, “A complimentary, ten dollar fruit basket.  Really.  I sure had other things in mind.” He said flatly.

Alexa had already gone into her room.  She shut the door behind her, breathing hard, trying to calm the fire that still burned inside her.  She couldn’t go out there now, she couldn’t let this happen,
wouldn’t
let this happen. 

There was a soft knock at her door and she opened it to see Cayman, his good hand holding on to the top of the door jam, shirt pulled up, revealing a well muscled stomach.

“Killed the mood?” he asked with a half smile.

“Uh, ye
ah.  Just need to clear my head,” she said looking nervously around the room.

“Yeah, I think I need to clear more than that,” he said with a sigh.  “I’m sorry Alexa.  I won’t let that happen again.”

“I know, I’m sorry, too, and I won’t either.  Please, Cayman, I won’t get involved right now.  I won’t go there.  I have to think clearly.  It’s not your fault.  I shouldn’t even have let it start.”

“I know.  We’ll take care of business before we…take care of business.”  His charming grin widened and Alexa couldn’t help but smile.

“Sounds like a plan.”  She couldn’t bring herself to look at those eyes, not right now, not yet.  She hadn’t completely doused that fire and she knew it would take very little to start it raging again.  If he just didn’t smell so good. 

“I…I’m going to relax for a while before dinner, I…need--”

“I know, I won’t bother you.  Let me know when you’re ready to eat.”

Alexa shut the door and leaned against it with a sigh.  She felt like
she
needed that cold shower now.  Instead she reached for her backpack and pulled out her cell phone.  She dialed a number and waited for the other party to pick up.

“Hi, Keith, it’s me.  I need a favor.”

“Hey pretty lady!  How is the trip going?”

“It’s…it’s good.  I mean, it’s going.  But, about that favor…”

“Name it, Alexa.”  Keith was always there, he was her rock.  Someone she could always count on.