Page 105 of Let Me Love You Anyway
Lexi slips in behind him and sits on the edge of the bed, holding my hand while Morgan goes over more of the details and his plans moving forward. It’s a lot to take in, especially right now, with everything so raw for both of us. Lexi is blaming herself for all of it. I’m blaming myself for all of it, and neither of us is ready to have the conversation we need to have about the situation. We sign some forms to get things rolling after Sam insists on paying for all of our legal fees. He said we could pay him back after we sue the living hell out of that mega church Lexi’s stepdad was running.
He’s packing things up when Lexi finally asks her burning question, but I also know she’s afraid to hear the answer. “Did the police say anything about my mother?”
“They brought Catherine Strauss-Miller in for questioning. There’s a chance the prosecutor will offer her some leniency if she testifies against them, assuming she has anything to offer. It looks like her lawyer is going to take the battered wife defense.”
When he leaves, Lexi climbs into the bed next to me. “How was therapy?” I ask as I kiss her forehead and put my good arm around her. We’ve found the one or two positions I can hold her in without getting her tangled in medical equipment or me doubling over in pain. We’re making it work, which is kind of our thing anyhow.
“Fine.”
Before I can ask her more, the spitting image of her—except with brown hair and a tan—bursts through the door.
“Lex?!” That has to be Bex. She strides over and the pair embrace.
“I got here as fast as I could. Dani called me, but I didn’t have my phone on and I’m so sorry! I got the first flight I could and then a bunch of other flights after it,” Bex mumbles into Lex’s sweater as they rock back and forth, crying together. After a few minutes, Lex pulls away and turns back to me. “Uhm, Bex, this is Jamie. Jamie, this is my sister, Bex.”
“Holy shit, who did a number on you?!”
I smile, then wince. I forget that smiling still hurts like a bitch.
“Ronnie,” Lex answers, then looks at the floor. “Ronnie and another guy, Noah. Then they came to the house. They acted like nothing was going on. Like they hadn’t just beat someone to the brink of death because of me.”
“NOPE! This isnotyour fault. Where is that son of a bitch?” Bex shouts. I like Bex already. “I’m going to shoot that fucking bastard in his goddamn dick.” Lexi grabs Bex’s arm as she tries to leave and pulls her back. “What? I’m serious! I’m not letting them get away with this shit. Where are they?”
“Jail. They arrested both of them for what they did to Jamie…and me.” Lexi looks so small. The therapy is helping her, but I’m not sure I’ll ever get the old Lexi back. “I’m sorry, Bex. I should have listened to you. You were right about mom, she knew what they were planning.”
“I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I should never have left you.”
“You were doing what was best for you.”
“But I should have been doing what was best for you, too!”
Over the next few hours, they shed more tears and hug each other tighter. Watching the two of them is like staring into the sun and the moon. Even as twins, Lexi still looks up to Bex. She is strong and independent, but there’s a softness in Lexi that Bex doesn’t have. They’re so alike, and so uniquely themselves. At some point, I doze off and when I wake up, they’re sitting across the room with Chase talking about superhero movies. I can see a bit of Lexi coming back with Bex around, and I hope it sticks.
“Dinner’s up!” Steve announces as he comes in with three bags of the most delicious smelling burgers ever. I have got to get some solid food soon or I’m going to lose it. “Sorry, pal.” He tosses a handful of Jell-O cups onto the tray next to me as I frown. I stare up at the ceiling as a fresh wave of depression hits. It seems so dumb, getting depressed over burgers, but it’s not the burgers. It’s the hospital, it’s meeting Lexi’s sister and I can’t even speak to her, it’s the pieces of Lexi littering the floor around me that I can’t do a fucking thing about.
“Open your eyes.”
She’s standing over me with her beautiful brown eyes and her half smile. Somewhere in my self-wallowing, everyone has left, and I didn’t even notice. She holds out a spoonful of toxic green gelatin and shrugs as I scrunch my face up.
“Come on. Eat this and then I’ll give you part of the burger I saved for you, but only a very small bite, mister.” She feeds me a few spoonfuls and fuck, this stuff is awful. She scrapes the bottom of the cup and shovels it into her own mouth and laughs as she chokes a little. “Eww, sugar free? That’s just rude. You want some company up there?”
I nod. She climbs up and carefully squeezes in next to me, then reaches back and fishes out a bite of her burger from the greasy bottomed bag. She holds it out for me, but I shake my head. There’s something else I want more, no matter how tempting burgers are.
“Thirsty?”
I smirk, “Only for you.” I sound like someone strangled a fucking frog.
“Nice to see you still have your cheesy pick up line game going strong, pretty boy,” she giggles. It sounds like angels, and I catch that tiny glimmer of hope blooming in her eyes.
She kisses me once, softly, on the lips. Twice a little harder to see if I can take it. Then my hand slides over her ass and her tongue into my mouth. She tastes better than a thousand burgers and is as sweet as all the sugar in the world. The beeping finally stops and the world slows down for us again.
“I like Bex.” I whisper.
“Yeah? She’s pretty great.”
“Now I know what you’d look like with dark hair.”
“And skinny,” she says with a frown.
