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Eighteen: Uninvited Guest
Lex
Ever since they’d consummated their relationship several weeks ago, things had been perfect. As Lex had predicted, while they stayed busy, they had plenty of time for each other since they were living together. And now they were even sleeping and woke in the same bedeveryday. Just like when he’d decided to take on the challenge of convincing her, he wasn’t the type of guy she’d concluded he was two years ago, and it worked so much better and faster than he’d imagined, so was this relationship thing. He’d worried he’d screw it up before it even got started, but he couldn’t have asked for things to work out better than they had so far. The irony was that his biggest concern going into this, given her apprehension about giving into the relationship, and reasons behind it, he was certainhe’dbe the cause of any issues in this relationship. Yet so far, theonlyissue they’d encountered from the moment they’d decided to do this—at least Lex had confronted—was that she was still very much in contact with her ex. Apparently, it’s how things had always been between them. Because they’d been friends for so long before anything happened between them, they’d always vowed they’d remain friends if things didn’t work out romantically. Though Lex couldn’t quite forget Izel’s annoying take on that.
Any time those two have broken up over the years they’ve never been able to stay away from each other for long.
Lex was trying to be understanding of the fact that they were lifelong friends. But the fact remained, Cade wasn’t just her longtime friend. He was her ex-boyfriend. Someone she’d slept with for years and someone Lex now knew was still in love with her, for fuck’s sake! No boyfriend, no matterhowunderstanding, would be okay with that. Each time she mentioned having talked to or texted the dude, Lex had to bite his tongue to not soundtooannoyed by it. But it was getting harder and harder to do so. So hard, he knew she’d picked up on his irritation and the number of times he’d had to hear about her being in contact with Cade had decreased significantly in the last several weeks. Which would be a good thing.IfLex could be sure that the reason for that was because shehadcut down significantly on staying in contact with him. Not that she was still going back and forth with the guy and keeping it from Lex to avoid any tension. Nothing would piss him off more than if she’d lie to him even by omission. Here Lex had something to prove when it came to her believing he wasn’t that guy she thought him once. Yet, he wouldn’t keep anything from her, for the sake of avoiding tension. The only person that knew now about their relationship was Annette. Lex had gone ahead and told precisely for this reason. She was so pushy, and he hadn’t wanted any issues with Xochitl. Despite that, she still showed up at his games and admitted she was there just to see him. But there was no law against her watching him play. Even so, Lex had been perfectly honest with Xochitl about it. Those conversations hadn’t been comfortable ones, but he’d put them out there just the same because it was the right thing to do. So, he’d be calling BS if she was still staying in touch with this guy and not telling him to avoid any friction. They’d finally had a weekend that wasn’t too overwrought with a load of homework, internships, or any soccer games. Lex had been in town all weekend and the only paper either of them had to turn in was one Xochitl had for her public relations class that had been due Friday night and unlike other weekends when she sometimes had two internships, she had none this time. So, the rest of the weekend had so far been surprisingly laid back.
Saturday had been as romantic as it’d been deliciously exhausting. They’d gone out for a romantic dinner, spent hours people watching and taking in the sights at Universal City Walk. They’d had one moment that nearly got heated about Cade but not on Lex’s part. As they walked the City Walk, Lex checked his phone and came across another stupid clickbait headline about his aunt and Beast. Same story, just another website milking it. Xochitl had openly admitted to telling Cade about their night at the wedding that hadn’t ended well. She’d since mentioned more than once how there was nothing she didn’t share with the guy, and he wondered now if maybe she’d shared the story about Beast and his aunt. Lex had wondered if maybe Cade had possibly been the leak. With everything going on now, and the scandal behind them, he hadn’t bothered asking her about it. But the reminder of the story had him wondering again and he had to ask. He skimmed the story on his phone with a frown, as he waited outside of the ladies’ room for her. When she got out, he stupidly blurted it out without thought. “When you told Cade about what happened at my sister’s wedding, did you also tell him the story I shared with you about my aunt and Beast?”
Instantly, he regretted asking. The disgusted expression was not in any way a playful one. “Of course not.”
“I’m just asking because you said you shared everything with—”
“Not something like that.” He reached for her hand, but she balked pretending to need to look for something in her purse.
“Babe, I was just wondering—”
“Wondering if my big mouth was the reason your sister andentirefamily were so upset for months about the scandal?” She clutched the strap of her purse in one hand and the phone in the other so there was no way he could reach for either of her hands. “Really?”
Unwilling to not have his hands on her in some way, he pulled her to him by the waist. No way was he admitting to her, especially now, that he’d ever thought even if only for a short time that maybe she’d leaked the story herself out of spite. “It was just a question, mamas,” he said, searching her undeniably riled eyes. “I hadn’t even thought of the scandal in a long time, until just now when it popped up on my phone. Since you’ve told me more than once now there was nothing you didn’t share, it just made me wonder if you had.” He pecked her even as she pulled away gently. “Don’t do that,” he said more seriously now holding her to him firmly. “It was a reasonable inquiry, and I wasn’t accusing you of anything. Wouldn’t be unheard of, if you mentioned it to him and maybe he let it slip to someone else—”
“First of all, even if I had, which Ididn’t.” She pointed at him brow sharply arched. He took advantage of her letting go of the strap of her purse to do so and took her hand in his. “If I had and asked him not to tell a soul, he never would. Just like I would never do that to Vannah oryou. Even if I was upset with you back then.”
“Fair enough.” He smiled, kissing his little spitfire softly. “Sorry I asked.”
She finally smirked and kissed him back. “Sorry for snapping. I’m working on that, but if I’m being honest, I worried when that whole thing broke out that you might think I had something to do with it just because I was mad at you. But I wouldnever.”
“Well, ifI’mbeing honest.” He pulled her to him even tighter because what he was about to say was a risk, but he was all about honesty. “For a minute there Ididwonder if maybe you hadn’t leaked it yourself because you were pissed at me.” She stiffened so he kissed her before she could try to pull away. “But then I thought better of it and knew you wouldn’t do that to me but especially not to Vannah. Only it did stand to reason thatmaybeyou’d told him, and he’dunintentionallyleaked it.”
“I know.” She shook her head with a frown. “The story was so close to what you’d told me I worried my mom might’veunintentionallybeen to blame since she’s theonlyone I shared with about it. But only because I trust my life to her and when I asked her about it, she said she hadn’t even told my dad. Not because she didn’t trust him, but she’d been so busy as usual she’d forgotten all about it.” That tense moment was over just like that, and Lex loved how easily they’d worked through it. They had a romantic dinner at the City Walk and then they’d gone back to their dorm for alongnight of amazing sex. It was Sunday now and they’d spent most of the morning in bed. It was almost noon, and they hadn’t even had breakfast. “Let’s have naked day.” Lex smiled looking down at her from where he lay atop her. Xochitl’s beautiful eyes twinkled as she smiled big. “You really wanna walk around all commando the whole day?”
“Who said anything about walking around?” He smirked. “We can stay in bed all day and order food. With all those apps they have now we can order anything and have it delivered.”
“I think there’s laws that don’t allow you to answer your door naked.”
Lex tilted his head rolling his eyes returning the playful smirk. “You know what I mean. I’d throw on a pair of shorts to grab the food, then jump right back in bed without them.”
She arched that sexy little brow. “Shortsanda shirt.” She touched his bare chest. “Could be a girl, and I don’t want you indulging her with all this.” Laughing, Lex shook his head. “Really? You won’t even share a visual?”
The arch in her brow went even sharper. “Willyou?”
Feeling his smile instantly flatten, he spanked the side of her naked thigh. “Hell, no.”
Nowshelaughed. “Oh, the double standards are rich with you.”
“That’s not true.”
Her phone dinged interrupting their conversation. It was the fifth or sixth time it’d dinged since they’d woken, he’d lost count and she’d yet to check her phone even once. Of course, several of those times it’d dinged, they were too busy to stop what they were doing. But it was still annoying as fuck.
“Don’t you wanna check your phone?” The unease in her eyes was as instant as the heat inside Lex and he got off her. “Sounds like someone’s really trying to get a hold of you. You should check it.”
Xochitl reached for her phone on the nightstand as Lex watched her closely. The heating knot in Lex’s stomach was a living thing. He felt ready to blow already. If even one of those was from Cade it’d prove his infuriating theory was true. They were still in touch, and she’d been keeping it from him. She smiled and even that he wasn’t sure what to make of. Was he sending her silly shit? “My parents went car shopping this morning. I’d forgotten about that.” She glanced up and smiled at Lex, though he’d gazed into those beautiful eyes too many times now to see she wasn’t completely at ease yet. “They sent a couple pictures of the car they bought. A Jeep. My dad’s always wanted one.”
Lex nodded trying not to be a dick, but he could feel something was up. He sat up now. “There were a lot more notification dings than two, Etzli.” She pressed her lips and nodded looking down and tapped her phone screen. Lex hadn’t clarified it, but he was certain she’d already picked up on the fact that he only ever referred to her by her last name when he was getting irritated. Which wasn’t often, but enough that he knew she’d since caught on.
“Another one from them saying they’re going for a drive on the beach, getting lunch, then catching a matinee.” This time Lex didn’t say anything but nodded, silently nudging her to keep going so she did. “My brother,” she said holding up the phone to show him the photo of Izel and Josh on a beach holding tropical looking drinks with umbrellas and wearing sun hats. “They’re in Ensenada for the weekend.”
