The Wrong Side Of The Tracks (Leighton) (12 page)

Within a few
minutes she felt Karter's body against hers; he squeezed her tight against him to prevent her from shaking.  It seemed like it took forever for her to catch her breath and stop the sobs from escaping.  Her chest heaved up and down with every deep shaky breath she took.  He kept his strong arms around her and tilted his head back so he could look at her.

"What happened to you?" he asked as he picked a dried leaf out of her hair.

Alex sniffled, "I ran here."

"Why?  Were the police chasing you?"  He smirked at his own joke, but h
is face grew serious again when he realized she didn't even crack a tiny smile.

She stared past him and spoke quietly, "I found out this morning...my Mom..." the sobs crept back up on her and she couldn't finish what she was saying.

Karter pulled away from her creating some space between them, "So we are related?"

Alex shook her head, "No. That's not it," she managed to say in between gulps for air.

Karter took her by her hand and led her to his bed, gesturing for her to sit.  She sunk down without any argument, with her feet still on the floor.  He knelt down in front of her on the carpet and pulled her muddy boots off, tossing them to the side.  She struggled to get her sweatshirt over her head.  He pulled it the rest of the way off from her, revealing the wrinkled tank top she had worn to bed the night before.  The bottoms of her jeans were soaked from running along the creek.  He put a tan hand on each one of her hips and started working them down from her waist.  She lifted her bottom to make it easier for him, not even feeling the least bit turned on.  She just wanted her wet clothes off so she could curl up under his down comforter.  Thank God she was wearing a cute simple pair of black boy-shorts and not a thong, or old stretched out Granny panties.  She curled up onto the mattress and pulled the blanket up and over her head.  She felt him climbing over her, and lying down next to her.  He propped himself up on his side and placed his one hand on her stomach like he had the first night she slept there.

“
I’m sorry I was such an asshole to you that day in the woods.  I was wrong about you.   I just thought you were this spoiled little prep-school girl with a perfect life.  And that you were snooping around The Boxes looking for some entertainment.”

Alex s
norted, “Yeah, my life is far from perfect.”

“
I see that now.  What happened today?”

“
My Grandma had this doctor come over, to prove that Aunt Sandra wasn’t my mom.  And he did.  Then he proved that my Dad wasn’t my Dad.”

“
What do you mean?”

“
I mean, he had blood work results from when Donavon and I were born.  And my Mom definitely gave birth to both of us, but the male DNA is different.  One of us isn’t my Dad’s kid.”

Karter brushed her hair back out of eyes and comforted her, “
Alex there’s a reason my Mom thought you were Sandra’s daughter.  You could be her twin.  If either of you aren’t a Raker, it’s your brother.  You need to talk to your parents before you get all crazy about this.  There could be a logical explanation, or maybe the doctor you talked to this morning could be wrong.  And if your Mom did have an affair, your Dad could already know, they may have worked through it. ”

Alex shook her head, he didn
’t get it.  There was never any doubt in her mind she was a Raker, she didn’t need a doctor or tests to confirm that.  The issue was her Mom and possibly her Dad had been lying to her basically her whole life, they had deceived her.  And a week ago she had a perfect family. Her Dad was the mayor, her Mom was an annoying soccer-mom, and they lived in their perfect house and had perfect Sunday dinners.  Now, her Mom was a lying cheater, and her brother wasn’t even really her brother.  And how could her Mom punish her and judge her, when she was running around having affairs and children out of wedlock?

Alex tried to roll away from him, but he was on top of the blanket and she couldn
’t get away. “Look, Kenzie and I have different dads; I don’t even know my Dad.  It’s not about who brought you into the world, it’s about how you live once you get here.  I know it seems like the end of the world right now, but trust me it’s not.”

Alex rolled her eyes, “
You don’t get it!  You never had a real family; you don’t know what you’re missing.  I did, and now it’s gone.”

Karter climbed over her and pulled a pair of
jeans on over his basketball shorts. 

“
Wait.  I didn’t mean it like that.”

“
Just shut up!  I was wrong; you are exactly what I thought you were when I met you, a spoiled little bitch!”  He slammed the bedroom door shut behind him.  Alex flopped back down on the pillows.  She was too drained to chase after him.  She knew she was wrong, but she didn’t care.

Alex blinked several times waiting for her eyes to adjust.  She felt like she had just slept off a wild night.  It took her a few moments to remember wh
ere she was, she must have fell asleep after Karter stormed out.  She had meant to just rest for a couple minutes and get herself together, then she had had every intention of getting up and going to apologize to him.

“
Hey baby,” giggled Kenzie as she wrapped her legs around Alex’s and pretended to spoon her.

“
What time is it,” she grumbled as she rubbed her eyes.

“
Like four.  Are you naked?”

“
No,” she giggled.

“
Karter told me what happened, are you okay?”

“
Yeah.  I won’t be though if I don’t get back to my Grandma’s.”

“
She just called.”

“
WHAT?!”

“
She just wanted to make sure you were here.  I told her you were sleeping and she said to get you up and have you call her.”

Alex fumbled around the blankets looking for her phone, and then remembere
d she didn’t have it anymore. 

“
Let me use your phone, before she sends over the SWAT team.”

Kenzie held out her phone and she snatched it and frantically dialed her Grandma
’s phone number.  After two short rings she picked up, she must have been sitting by the phone waiting.

“
Hello?”

“
Grandma, it’s me.  I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to fall asleep.  I just laid down and...”

She cut Alex off while she stumbled through her apology, “
Alex I’m not angry.  I was just worried.  You need to get back here though, your father just called and he is coming to pick you up in a few hours.”  Then she added in a hushed voice, “and we need to talk to before you leave.”

“
I’m on my way.  How’d you get this number though?”

Her Grandma chuckled, “
Honey you need to stop underestimating me.  I may have been born at night, but it wasn’t last night.  All I had to do was hit redial on the phone in the kitchen.”

Alex hung up and scanned the bedroom floor for
her dirty clothes.

Kenzie pouted, “
You’re leaving me?  You never play with me anymore!”

“
I have to.”

Kenzie stopped joking around and her face grew serious,
“What are you going do to do about, you know everything?”

Alex shook her head while she pulled on her boots, “
I don’t know.  Something.”

OMAR JAMES

Even the blue sky and c
hirping birds didn’t change the depressing atmosphere of the cemetery.  The list of places Alex could hide at while she skipped school was pretty limited though.  She didn’t want her Grandma to be disappointed in her so she couldn’t hide there, her own house was definitely off limits, Karter and Kenzie were both at school, and if she went anywhere in town she was positive word would get back to her Mom. 

Since her Dad picked her up from her Grandma
’s house, she hadn’t spoken a single word to him or her Mom.  They assumed her silence and somber attitude was the result of them going on a family trip without her.  Little did they know she could care less they left her behind, it wasn’t a “family-trip” if the people on the trip weren’t really a family.  It took every ounce of her being not to throw her Grandma under the bus and tell her fake family what she had learned while they were away.  She woke up every day and went to school and came home and retreated to her room like a zombie for the whole week.  Last night she called her Grandma and begged her to come get her for the weekend, and to her shock her Mom told her when she dropped her off at Leighton Prep that her Grandma would be picking her up.  During her lunch period she walked outside, and just kept walking, and this was where she ended up.  Even though she was pretty satisfied with the proof the doctor showed her that she was indeed Keri Raker’s daughter, she couldn’t let go of her fascination with Alessandra. 

She sat with her legs crossed in the thic
k green grass in front of her Aunt Sandra’s head stone.  This was only the second time she had ever visited her grave.  A few summers ago her Grandma had brought her to the cemetery; they spent the afternoon planting flowers around her Grandpa and Sandra’s head stones.  The flowers they planted had died off long ago, and her head-stone was surrounded with thick grass and weeds.  Alex looked a few rows over at her Grandpa’s huge headstone, which was well taken care of and surrounded by fresh flowers and shook her head to herself. 

“
Jesus,” someone whispered from behind her, snapping her back to reality.  Alex jumped and spun around to see where the voice came from.  It was two o’clock in the afternoon, she had no reason to be jumpy, but cemeteries have that effect on people.

A tall man stood behind her, he had to be around her
parents’ age, but he was dressed like a grungy teenager.  His hair was shaved short, and his shirt sleeves were pushed up revealing his collection of tattoos.  He had on ripped, grease stained jeans, and a black hoodie with some band’s logo that Alex had never heard of across the front.  He had the same broad nose and chiseled cheek-bones Karter flaunted, and the James’ trademark green eyes. 

Alex shifted her weight nervously from one f
oot to another and twisted the ends of her hair.  She finally spoke since he obviously wasn’t going to.  “Hi, I’m Alex.  Sandra was my Aunt.”  He stared at her coldly, his expression not changing.  He turned to leave and Alex called out to him, “I’m friends with Kenzie and Karter.”

He called over his shoulder, irritated, “
I know who you are.  I’ll just come back another time.”

Alex rushed after him, “
Wait! Please, I want to talk to you.”

Omar turned back around and took a step towards her; instinctively she
took a tiny step back.  If he beat up a pregnant girl he supposedly loved, who knows what he was capable of doing to her. 

“
We don’t have anything to talk about.”

Alex tried to bargain with him, “
I know you probably don’t like my family, but don’t take that out on me.  I just want to know about her life, and what she was really like.  Not the diluted Raker version, the real version.”

After a long awkward silence Omar nodded without making eye contact and walked past her to Sandra
’s headstone.  He sat down in the grass, and gestured for her to join him.  Alex sat back down on the grass she had flattened earlier careful to keep an arm’s length distance between them.  If she had learned anything in the last few weeks it was that adults were amazing at appearing to be something they weren’t.  Even though he didn’t appear to be dangerous, she wasn’t taking any chances.

She waited a long time waiting for him to start, but he didn
’t speak.  He just stared at the headstone, as if he were in a trance and had forgotten she was there.  Finally she cleared her throat and decided she was going to have to take the initiative.

“
So, how did you meet Sandra?”

“
She was friends with my sister.  They were taking some art class together at the community building.  Since the day they met each other they were inseparable, she was always at my house.” He chuckled a little, “At first I couldn’t stand her, you know the whole prep-school girl with a rich daddy thing.  But, she kind of grew on me.  She was so alive and free, she did whatever she wanted.  If she wanted to have peanut butter and fluff for dinner, she did.  If she wanted to go swimming without any clothes on, she did.  If she wanted to walk out of school and get drunk instead, she did.  Then, one night we were all drinking, and I let my guard down.  I kissed her, and she kissed me back, and she was my girl from that day on.”