Page 35 of Fight for Me
“That’s wonderful, sweetheart,” she said, more because she knew it was expected than anything else. She wasn’t completely certain what his job as a pharmaceutical sales rep entailed, but to hear him talk, you’d think he personally invented the lifesaving drugs he sold.
Colt kept talking, but Lexie’s mind was still on the party they’d just left and the endless line of similar events that waited in her future. Did she really want to spend the rest of her life as an accessory to his success, pretending to listen and trying to forget she’d ever had dreams of her own? Her mother had done that tirelessly for years, and look where she was now—in an early grave at a fancy cemetery that no one ever visited.
A soft curse from Colt caught Lexie’s attention, and she turned to him.
“I’ve got to stop for gas,” he muttered, suddenly changing lanes. He made a sharp turn into a station at the southern edge of Cypress Valley, and Lexie’s clutch slipped off her lap and clattered into the space beside the center console. Colt pulled into the closest gas pump before shutting off the engine. “I’ll be right back,” he said, and he unfastened his seat belt and climbed from the car.
Lexie twisted sideways, peering into the thin crevice where her purse had fallen. Catching a glint of the case’s metallic exterior, she wedged her hand into the gap, but instead of her cold, hard wallet, the tips of her fingers brushed something soft.She automatically grabbed whatever it was and pulled it out, surprised when a wad of lacy black fabric pooled in her hand.
Unfolding it, she found an expensive pair of women’s underwear.
Lexie’s breath caught in her chest, and her surroundings seemed to fade until all she could see was the material in her hand. Her breathing slowed until it was just white noise in her own ears, as if all other sounds had ceased.
There was underwear shoved under the seat of Colt’s car.
Sexy, silky women’s underwear.
There had to be an explanation.
Maybe he’d bought them for her and they’d fallen out of his shopping bag. Maybe he’d driven a friend home from the airport and her carry-on had come open. Maybe—
The gas pump shut off with a dull thunk, jolting Lexie into action, and she shoved the panties back where she’d found them. She snatched her clutch from the crevice in the same movement and straightened just as Colt’s door opened.
He slid behind the wheel and ran one hand through his hair.
“I can’t believe we still have to pump our own gas. What do the attendants do all day?” he complained, oblivious to the way Lexie kept her eyes trained straight ahead, unable to look at him.
There wasn’t enough air in the car. Lexie took one shallow breath after another, counting slowly to one hundred in her mind. She didn’t know if she was angry or in shock or embarrassed—or maybe all three at once—but she was afraid that if she opened her mouth, she would scream.
She was becoming her mother after all.
7
Jake:You look tired.
The text messagecame as Lexie crossed the quad alone, stopping her in her tracks. She looked wildly in all directions, but Jake was nowhere to be seen.
Lexie:Where are you?
Jake:Wouldn’t you like to know?
Lexie smiled for the first time in two days and resumed her path toward the bell tower. It was her favorite outdoor study spot, and she sank onto one of the wrought iron benches at its base before scanning the sidewalks in all directions. Jake was always behind a camera, and with a telephoto lens to his eye, he could be almost anywhere.
Lexie:Why do I feel like I’m being stalked?
Jake:Because you are.
She laughed weakly. This almost felt like flirting.
But, of course, it wasn’t. Because they didn’t do that anymore.
Lexie rolled her neck, trying to relieve the tension in her muscles. Jake was right; shewastired. Every time she closed her eyes, she saw Colt with another beautiful woman—dancing, kissing, touching. The highlight reel was endless. She dreamed about life as Mrs. Colton Derricks, finding unfamiliar lingerie under the bed and between the sofa cushions, and she woke drenched in sweat and jittery with anxiety.
Her phone vibrated again.
Jake:Look up.
She did, and at first she saw nothing. But then something high in the bell tower shifted, and she saw the long lens of a camera peek from an opening in the belfry.
