Page 9 of Chance Happenings
Alex
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I then attempt to tie all the loose ends up on all of our current contracts before I proceed to clear my calendar for Thursday, Friday, and the first half of the following week.
* * *
After an exhausting week, I finally had everything in order. Reviewing some last-minute changes, I’m in my office with all my luggage, waiting for Chance to make his appearance. The bastard hadn’t bothered to come to the office all day, even though he insisted we ride to the airport together. On a positive note, I haven’t gotten any further communication or deliveries from Pearce since Friday night.
Chance
Sitting in my truck, I decide how to navigate the next four to five days, working so closely with Alexa. The adult version of her is definitely wearing me down quicker than the adolescent one. After talking to Cacey about Alexa's troubled relationship with Pearce, I’m slowly trying to contain my anger. The whole situation makes me uneasy, and I can’t believe she hasn’t called the police by now. As a precaution, I call Miranda to have her cancel our separate rooms and book us a two-room suite. This way I can make sure that Alexa is in my presence at all times while we’re in New York. At least this explains all those damn flower deliveries and weird vibes Alexa gives off every time she gets them. Betweenthe two of us, I could not decide if it was her or me going crazier. Her for her extremely weird behavior, or me for lusting after her in those boring ass pantsuits. Wishing that the mysterious flower deliveries would disappear, but happy that she seemingly did not appreciate the show of affection from whoever sent them.
Ready to face her, I fire off a text, letting her know I’m waiting downstairs. Being the asshole that I am, I decide against going to help her with her bags. I know if Cacey was involved in the packing situation, Alexa would be carrying twice as much as necessary. I see her approaching and pretend to be working on my phone as she rounds the truck, glaring at me. It’s not a gentlemanly thing to do, but I love pushing her buttons. Of course, she has on yet another pantsuit that is proving to be problematic for dragging around two pieces of luggage and a satchel. She climbs in the truck, it takes everything in me not to burst into laughter as I see the beads of sweat forming on her forehead.
“You’re an asshole,” she says, with no amusement in her voice. I can’t even bring myself to respond without completely losing it, so I let the comment slide, trying to keep a straight face as I pull off. On the way to the airport and as we trek through the terminal, we have a surprisingly quiet existence until it’s time to board the plane and I refuse to let her have the window seat. I know her reasons for wanting it and they’re the exact reasons I wasn’t giving it up. Eventually, with a little help from the flight attendant, we finally get seated, and it takes exactly fifteen minutes into our flight for Alexa to fall asleep. Like a stalker… I expected this, with all the running around she had been doing all week, to prepare for this trip. And like the gentleman I can be, I unbuckle her seat belt to get her neck out of that awkward position and pull out a pillow.
Alex
Before I’m fully awake, I catch a whiff of a warm, woodsy scent that is exclusive to one man. I realize several things at once. One… we’re getting ready to land. Two… I apparently fell asleep with my head laying damn near in Chance’s lap. And three… Chance is still very much awake, stroking my hair sporadically.
Trying to make thisleast awkward as possible, I rack my brain for any subtle way to get out of this predicament when all of a sudden, his hand stops mid stroke, alerting me he knows I’m awake. I prepare to face whatever humiliation there is to come when the flight attendant comes over the intercom instructing everyone to buckle their seat belts before the landing. I’m pretty sure I fell asleep before I got the chance to take mine off. But somehow, I wake up with no seat belt, laying on a pillow in the middle of Chance’s lap.
I quickly move to the upright position and buckle up, ignoring the weirdness we have going on. I’ve known Chance most of my life and this last turn of events is totally freaking me out. A little too reminiscent of our senior year when he went from hot to cold at the drop of a dime. My thoughts bounce around to what Cacey had been hinting at on several occasions earlier, but I disregard it. I know Chance has some type of agenda going on with this recent behavior. I just have to figure out what it is before the other shoe drops.
Alex
We arrive at the hotel,and I make quick work of getting my bags together to go check in. Chance obviously has the same plans, because he beats me to the front desk, telling me he’ll take care of it. I’m ready to relax for the evening so I don’t bother putting up a fight, appreciating the gesture. Chance comes back, saying nothing, handing me a room key with a smirk on his face. Because I’m used to this look on him, I think nothing of it until he follows me to my door as I go to enter the room. Before I fully open the door, I turn around to give him a questioning look.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“Going to my room, keep up, Alexa. I gave you the second key card to OUR room.” Not wanting to argue in the hallway, Ihead into the room, slightly relieved when I see it’s a two-bedroom suite. But I still can’t believe what’s happening right now.
“You want toexplain why our room reservations were changed from two separate rooms to this?” I ask, waiting on his answer that can’t come fast enough.
“Because I had Miranda change the reservations after I talked to Cacey last night.” The look he gives me is withering. Shit, after days of Cacey’s threat to tell Chance about Pearce going nowhere, I thought she was bluffing or had changed her mind. I guess she just hadn’t gotten around to it. Not knowing exactly how much she told him was problematic, though. I decide to keep my mouth shut and go to the first bedroom I see. Chance doesn’t follow me, thankfully. There’s only so much of him I can take in one day. As soon as I’m safely locked away in my room, I send Cacey a text.
Alex: wtf I can’t believe you told Chance
Cacey: sorry but you gave me no choice ;)
Alex: Don’t wink at me I had everything under control now you got your brother up here sharing rooms and stroking my hair
Cacey: I doubt I can take credit for all of that... have fun :)
Before I can respond to Cacey, there’s a knock on the door, then the doorknob jiggles. The last thing I want is Chance’s pity. That has to be what this is about. Hesitantly, I get up to see what he wants. When I open the door, he almost falls into the room as if he was leaning on it.
“What do you want?” I was trying to keep this business trip strictly professional, but he’s killingall chances of that happening.
“I wanted to see if you were ready to go to dinner. Why is your door locked?” Rolling my eyes, I move away from the door, allowing him to come in.
“Why are you assuming that we’re going to dinner together? And apparently I need to lock my door since you werejust going to come in without permission.”
“Hey, I knocked to announce myself. If you would’ve looked at the updated itinerary Miranda sent today, you would know we have plans to go to The Pearl Oyster Bar. I know you like seafood, so I asked Miranda to hook us up.” I do love seafood, so it’s hard to be mad at the offer and turn it down. He’s trying to cheer me up, I guess.
Instead of giving attitude like I want, I respond. “Since I’m obviously behind on my emails, when does the itinerary say we're supposed to eat?” This time, instead of getting a cynical smirk, I was on the receiving end of a genuine smile from Chance, which was nice for a change.
“The itinerary says 8:00 but they don’t take reservations and close at 11:00. We have a few hours, I think. You know about this New York City travel time thing better than I do. So just let me know when you're ready, and I’ll be ready.”
