Love didn’t have anything to do with it.
Curtis slammed his phone down on his desk. He was at work, of all places. The worst place to go fuck full on tornado and wreck everything like he wanted to. He didn’t, and not because there were people there to witness it. He didn’t give a shit about that. He didn’t, because the stuff in the office belonged to his grandfather and there was no way he’d wreck it.
Thinking about his grandfather made him think about the cabin, which made him think about Lexi and what they’d done there. They might have been falling in lust with each other for three years, maybe a little more, but they’d made it official that weekend. They’d never said they felt anything close to the big L or even a little l, but god. Every single touch. Every glance. Every taste. Every kiss and caress and tender glance spoke volumes.
Something had happened.
Lexi hadn’t just disappeared without a reason. He hadn’t given her one that he knew of.
Not a good enough one to just vanish.
The more he thought about it, the more he realized that it wasn’t like Lexi at all. She didn’t run from her problems. She faced them head on. She’d never actually been running from him. She was just trying to spare them both the pain that she probably thought would come of starting anything she wasn’t quite sure that they could finish in a way that wouldn’t shatter both of them.
He’d pressed. He’d pressed and pressed until she couldn’t resist anymore.
Something was wrong. It didn’t make sense. Lexi just leaving, lying to him, disconnecting her number, vanishing… it wasn’t her. It wasn’t… it didn’t add up and he was excellent at math.
Curtis picked up his phone again. He hesitated for just a second before his fingers flew over the screen.
He might not know where Lexi was, but that didn’t change the fact that she was still out there. He was going to find her. Even if it cost him every single cent, he’d find her. And then he’d do everything he could to convince her that she wanted to be found.
CHAPTER 21
Lexi
“Don’t worry, babe. You’ve got this.”
Lexi flashed Sam a watery smile. Sam whirled, popped her slices of toast out of the toaster, and proceeded to hum and dance as she slathered peanut butter and raspberry jam all over them. Lexi’s stomach lurched but she didn’t say anything. It was pretty freaking bad when even the smell of toast made you want to throw up. Mornings were just like that. Sometimes afternoons, evenings, and all night too.
“It will be a miracle if I don’t barf all over my new desk,” Lexi moaned. “God. Do you think if someone hears me puking in the bathroom I’ll get fired?”
“Considering you chose to disclose that you’re pregnant at the interview and it’s a six-month term, I’d say no.” Sam grinned at her before taking a huge bite out of the gooey toast. Saliva flooded Lexi’s mouth and she tried not to gag.
“I know I just…” She trailed off since there was nothing that she could say that they hadn’t already discussed. Nothing she could say out loud.
Time didn’t heal all things, but it was a good starter. In just over a month she’d moved in with Sam, with the help of her family, who were all behind her. Sam was right. She was loved. Very loved. Loved by her family and all her friends. They’d all pitched in to help out how they could. Her brother and sister packed up her entire apartment. Her parents paid for movers to come and move what was left after Lexi sold off the furniture. Sam pulled some strings and helped get Lexi an interview with an accounting firm that she had a few friends working at. It wasn’t Lexi’s dream job and it was just basic frontline reception, but the temp term suited her just fine. After six months, she’d be ready to pop, so it was the perfect arrangement.
She’d settled in with Sam, taking the small second bedroom in the apartment. It was more of a storage closet, but that was just fine with Lexi. She was going to move back in with her parents after her temp term ended. Her mom and dad were shocked about the pregnancy, but in the next breath, they were assuring her she could move back home. They were going to get the basement cleaned up and her dad was going to put in the suite he’d always been talking about. He said it was the perfect kick in the pants he needed. He’d renovate and she could live there until the baby was old enough to go to daycare or whatever she decided, and if she wanted to move out after, her parents would rent out the suite.