The Light in the Wound (23 page)

He carried me out to his car, whispering words in my ear that I can’t even remember. And as he bent down to fasten my seat belt around me, I pulled his face close to mine. “You always save me. Why?”

He looked into my eyes like he was about to say something but ended up shaking his head and shutting the car door. I was a non-stop chatterbox all the way home.

“Do you know that my mom forced my dad to marry her? What a manipulative bitch.” And “A, how come you don’t have a girlfriend?” Plus “Hey, when’s your next oil change due?” To that last question, he finally let out a great big laugh and took my hand.

By the time Alex walked me upstairs to my bedroom, I was a drunken mess. He called Mellie upstairs to help me change into my pajamas and then came back inside the bedroom once I was all dressed and tucked in under the blanket.

“Alex, don’t leave. Let’s watch a movie or something.”

He laughed once again. This time, it was a nervous laugh but a laugh nonetheless. “Okay, Isa, I’ll stay with you until you fall asleep.”

“No, A, stay until tomorrow. I really don’t want to be alone. Please.”

I grinned and patted the empty side of the bed next to me. He relented and jumped on it — he was on top of the blanket and I was underneath it.

“Night, Alex. This is why I don’t drink. It makes me so tired.” I leaned my head on his shoulder and fell into a deep sleep.

I woke up to the lightest sound of snoring and found myself with my head still on Alex’s shoulder. His right arm was underneath my neck and his left arm was draped across his chest. He was still in his jeans and socks. I glanced over to the clock by my side of the bed. 3:00 A.M. I tried to move his arm to a more comfortable position, but he woke up with a jolt and sat upright on the bed.

“Are you okay, Isa?”

“Shhh. Sorry, A. I didn’t mean to wake you. I’m fine. Go back to sleep. I’m going to wash up a bit and will be right back.”

He nodded at me and relaxed against the headboard. I went to the bathroom, removed my makeup and brushed my teeth. He stared at me as I reentered the bedroom. I smiled warmly at him.

“Thank you for bringing me home. Sorry I’m always such a pain in the ass.”

“You’re not.”

“I am. And I know it. I’m getting better, though.”

“Glad to hear that,” he said as I got back into bed.

“That guy you saved me from … he was cute!”

He nudged my arm playfully. Suddenly, his look turned serious as he straightened himself up to leave.

“Please don’t go, A,” I whispered.

“Isa, if I don’t leave now, I might regret what I’m about to do. I don’t want to take advantage of your vulnerability, and yet, I’m dying to be the one for you.”

“How do you know that you’re not? I want you to be, A. I want you to be the one for me.”

I pushed him back on the bed and kissed him. He was in such shock that it took him a while to register what was happening. Once it did, he started to take charge. He sucked on my top lip and opened me up with his tongue, tasting me, and taking his time to discover me. Our kiss was passionate, yet tentative. I could tell he was trying to savor every minute. He stopped after a while and pushed my face back a few inches from his. His thumb traced my eyes, my nose and my lips.

“Isabel, let me look at you. I’ve been wanting to do this for so long.”

If there was anyone who deserved my love, it was Alex. I wanted to focus on showing him that. He sat up and lay me back on the bed. He took a deep breath and watched intently as I unbuttoned my pajama top and threw it on the floor. He cupped my breasts and thumbed my already aroused nipples.

“More beautiful than I could’ve ever imagined,” he whispered into my neck.

He took his time as he licked between my breasts and slowly guided his mouth to one nipple and then the other. He continued to lick a trail down my stomach until he reached my pajama bottoms and slowly pulled them down. He inserted one finger inside me and pulled out a wet trail that ended up in his mouth.

“You don’t know what this means to me, you wanting me like this.”

“Let me show you, Alex.” I pulled his face up and kissed him while I undid the zipper of his jeans. He helped me undress him and sat on his knees in front of me, naked and gloriously beautiful. I pushed his shoulders down on the bed and straddled him.

“Isa, let’s go slow. I want to take our time. I want to cherish this moment. You don’t know how long I’ve waited for this.”

He groaned as I lowered myself onto him and rocked slowly back and forth.

“This won’t be the last time, Alex. I want to have many more moments like this. Please, I really need you now.”

He took this as his cue to lift me up and lay me on my back. We never broke contact as he lifted my legs over his shoulders and thrust deeply into me with such ferocity I screamed out his name while his mouth covered mine.

“I love you, Isabel. I love you so much.” And with that he shuddered and released himself into me, as I tightened my hold on him and took everything that he had to give.

By the time I woke up, it was 10:00 A.M. and Alex’s fingers were expertly giving me the best wakeup call ever.

“Hmmm,” I moaned. “How long have you been up?”

“About an hour. Just thinking and watching you sleep.”

“What were you thinking about?” My eyes were closed. I was breathing heavily and his hands were moving faster.

“Let’s talk later,” he groaned in my ear. “I didn’t get to make you come last night. I want to make it happen now. I want to hear you say my name again.” He didn’t need to keep it up that much longer.

“You feel so good, baby. I’m so close. I need you inside me now.” I was facing away from him so I reached over to pull his underwear down and guided him into me from behind. He continued to push himself into me until I couldn’t contain myself any longer.

“Alex! Oh! Alex!” Those three words were all he needed to empty himself inside me once again. We both didn’t move and he stayed the way he was for quite a while. There was such a comfortable silence between us, I didn’t struggle to make conversation or pretend that what happened between us was anything more than what it was. When we finally shifted, he spoke.

“Isabel, do you remember the first day we met? When Leigh and I went over to Jesse’s baseball game to pick you and Betty up? After we had dinner that night, I told Leigh that I was going to marry you.”

“You didn’t even know me then. What if I turned out to be some crazy psycho? Oh wait. I
am
a crazy psycho.” I laughed out loud and turned around to face him.

“I’m serious! Let’s get married. I’ve got a great job in my family’s company, I’m stable, I’m a good catch and I’m head over heels in love with you.”

“Alex, you’re so sweet! But I hope you’re kidding. We just got together!”

“That’s not necessarily true. We’ve been together for years. You just didn’t know you loved me until now.”

I didn’t know what to say to that.

“You do love me, don’t you?” he asked nervously.

“I love you as a friend. And I know I will fall in love with you. How could I not?”

He sat straight up, slid off the bed and started to put his clothes back on. “I’m so sorry, Isa. I was out of line there. I just remembered that I have a 2:00 P.M. meeting that I can’t miss. I’m gonna run. I’ll call you later.” He was out the door before I even had a chance to respond.

I spent most of the day in bed with a throbbing headache. I knew I had to reach out to Alex, but I wanted to give him some time. I ended up being on the phone with Evie and Alicia telling them about the story I had read the day before. Surprisingly, they both took it better than I did. They said it was because my father had already explained things to them years ago. That made sense since they did grow up with his side of the family. I was awakened from a short nap by being bounced off the bed by someone jumping on it. It was Betty.

“Geez, B, you scared me!” I shrieked.

“Nice to see you too, Princess Isabel. Must be nice to be able to stay in bed and sleep all day.”

“Hey, I start my new job tomorrow. I was just trying to get some rest.”

“For your new job or from all that action last night?” She wiggled her eyes and smirked at me.

“Ugh. You spoke with Alex?”

“Yup. He doesn’t know what to think about what happened between you. By the way, I would have been there had he not told me that he would take care of rescuing you and taking you home.”

“I know that, B. I really need to speak with Alex. I didn’t mean to hurt him,” I muttered, my voice full of remorse.

“Wanna know what I think?”

“Please tell me what to do.” I searched her eyes for answers.

“I think you need to figure things out with yourself before you move forward with him.”

I nodded my head in agreement.

“Okay, now get up off your lazy butt and show me what you’re wearing tomorrow.”

Betty didn’t leave until after three movies, a late dinner and two weeks’ worth of wardrobe planning. I was exhausted, but I knew I had to call Alex. A text message wouldn’t do. I needed to speak to him directly. I dialed his phone number and he answered on the first ring.

“Alex.”

“Wow, you know your name.”

“Funny, Isa. What can I do for you?”

“Alex, we need to talk. Did you want to meet somewhere tonight? I know it’s late, but I start working tomorrow and I know that we need to iron this out between us.”

“Actually, I’m packing to leave for an overseas meeting with my dad. I’ll be back by the end of this week. I’ll call you and we’ll plan something then. Is that okay?”

“But you’re going to leave tomorrow like this? Being mad at me?”

“I’m not mad, Isabel. I can never be mad at you. I’m okay. I’ll be okay. I’ll see you in a few days.”

“Alex?”

“Yes?” His voice lilted as if he was excited to hear what I was about to say.

“I don’t want to lose you as my friend.”

He let out a deep sigh. Did I just disappoint him?

“Don’t worry about it, Isabel. All good.”

“Have a safe trip, Alex. Call me when you get back. And thank you again for bringing me home last night.”

“Anytime, Isabel. Goodbye.”