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"Miss Lexi, are you alright?" a concerned Bernard asked her.
"Fine, just ran here from across town. Chyna said it was 911," she managed to get out through gasping breathes. "You know anything about this Mr. B?"
Bernard averted his eyes to the ground and gulped. "I can't really say," he mumbled.
The two years Lexi had known Chyna, Bernard had always given her a straight answer. Yes, he sometimes answered her in a goofy even sarcastic manner, but he still answered her. She had never been blown off by him of all people. He had never had a reason to. His reaction pumped a fresh wave of adrenaline into her system, and she bolted through the open door. The elevator felt as if it was taking a century to reach the top floor of the building. The classical music was more grating than normal. Lexi could feel her heart beating in her ears as the elevator stopped and deposited her on the floor. She pushed hard against the opening door forcing it to move just a fraction of an inch faster.
Hopping onto the cream carpet, Lexi bolted down the hallway. She fumbled with her key too anxious to get the thing properly out of her bag. The keychain slipped out of her hand and onto the floor. She cursed under her breath as she reached down to pick up the thing. Inserting the gold key into the lock, she twisted the handle and burst through the open door.
"Chyna?" she called racing into the immaculately decorated living room.
Lexi skidded to a halt at the end of foyer her blood turning cold as ice at the scene before her. Chyna was seated on her leather sofa, legs crossed, in a demure, black, pant suit. Lexi wasn't certain Chyna even owned clothes in this fashion. Her beautiful Italian skin was sheet white with just the lightest twinge of green as if she might be sick at any moment. Her bright green eyes were glassy as she looked near to tears, but her head was held strong. She was stubborn and refused to let the hardness leave her features for fear of breaking down. Lexi had never seen her friend look quite so distraught over anything, but she could understand why.
Standing directly in front of Chyna in a very expensive, charcoal suit was a man who was everything Lexi imagined him to be. She had only seen the man once in a photograph, never in person. She gulped hard feeling a knot form in her stomach and making it hard for her to swallow.
The man turned at Lexi's approach and made her body quaver even more at the incredibly threatening and overpowering aura that radiated from his very being. He was well over six feet tall with sharp, all-knowing brown eyes and cropped brown hair. With just one look, it was obvious he commanded attention, not unlike the woman sitting before him.
"Hello Mr. Van Der Wal," Lexi stammered out standing uncomfortably before Chyna's father.
His eyes traveled the length of her body seemingly taking in every detail while at the same time remaining strictly professional. He was observing her as if she were cattle ready for slaughter. No emotion marred his face as he continued his inspection.
Lexi was distinctly aware, in that moment, of her tight, black, Yoga pants that hugged every inch of her lower half and the flimsy white tank damp with sweat from her class. Her hair was in a messy bun stuffed haphazardly onto the top of her head. Wisps were loose from her brisk jog to the apartment and the back of her neck was still slick. She shifted awkwardly onto one hip and waited for him to finish staring at her and actually say something.
"She'll do," he commented indifferently as he glanced back at Chyna briefly. Lexi had no idea what that meant, but she was sure that she didn't want to find out.
"Are you sure?" Chyna asked sarcasm dripping from her voice as she cocked one perfectly waxed eyebrow to the ceiling.
"Don't get smart with me young lady," he snapped, his face hardening ever so slightly into a look that could make anyone shake in their boots.
Chyna didn't even flinch. Lexi was proud of her for that at least. Instead she just swept her long black hair over to one shoulder and smiled as sweetly as she could. A little bit of color had crept back into her cheeks when his attention had been briefly diverted and given her the courage to speak up.
"Never daddy," she purred lowering her long black lashes.
He growled something incoherent and tore his eyes from Chyna. "Just do what you're told," he grumbled just before brushing past Lexi and existing out the front door.
The wave of relief that followed his exit crashed into the room. Chyna slumped back against the sofa and heaved her chest up and down. She placed her hands over her eyes hoping to keep from collapsing into herself. Lexi had no idea what to do. She had never been in this kind of situation, and she didn't even know what was going on. She instantly went to her side and wrapped a comforting arm around Chyna's petite shoulders. It didn't matter what had just happened. All that mattered was that she was here now to comfort her.
"Are you okay?" Lexi asked pulling Chyna close. She knew it was a stupid question. Obviously, Chyna was not alright in that moment, but what else was there to ask. She had just witnessed something that she was certain very few other people had been able to see: Chyna in a vulnerable state.
Chyna pushed her hands up through her silky hair and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself. "I'll be fine," she mumbled.
"I know you will eventually, but what the hell was all that about?" Lexi couldn't help asking. "When I walked in, you looked like a ghost. What is your dad even doing here? I thought you two had nothing to do with each other."
"We don't," Chyna said standing from her spot and pacing the living room. "That's the way we like to keep it. Didn't you hear what he said?"
"About what?" Lexi asked confused.
"He told me not to act like my f**king whore of a mother," she cried slapping her hands down against her thighs angrily.
Lexi's mouth dropped open. She knew the history between Chyna and her parents. They had divorced when Chyna was in high school because they were both sleeping around. Then after giving her the apartment Chyna was now living in, they had equally decided they wanted nothing to do with her. Chyna was too much like her father in personality and her mother in appearance for either of them to be able to handle their daughter.
"I can't believe that," Lexi mumbled in shock.
"He can't even look at me without thinking of her. I can't believe he had the gall to come here and speak to me like that in my own home. I don't give a f**k if he paid for the place ten fold. He has no right to barge in on me and boss me around. Then spring a f**king bomb on me."
