“Camilla remodeled, and I’m here to help your new roommate get his room set up.”
Alex’s eyes narrowed, and then he smiled.
“That little shit. David is my roommate?”
“He wanted to surprise you.”
“Is that why there’s a sign on the door about video surveillance?” Alex asked.
“Yeah. David’s security people talked to your dad, and he agreed it was needed.”
Alex took that in. Lexi had a feeling he would be talking to his father, but once David’s security had explained how it helped prevent the ‘he said/she said’ stuff, Umberto was a convert. Alex would have great difficulty changing his dad’s mind.
“Once you’re done with his room, I’m not going to see you hanging around, am I?” Alex asked.
“I wanted to talk to you about that,” Lexi said.
“If I have anything to say about it, you won’t be. You and your fucktard boyfriend, Nick, caused me no end of trouble. I had no idea the girl had been drugged, for Christ’s sake. From what I saw, I just thought she was into it. I never would have taken advantage of her if I’d known. That was messed up,” Alex said, glaring at her.
“I’m sorry about that. You must believe I had no idea what Nick was up to. I told you what he told me,” Lexi said.
“Between what happened to that poor girl and what I saw you do with my dad, I’m not sure I want you around. I still don’t get my dad. What was that all about, anyway? Were you just trying to get a payday?” Alex asked.
She suddenly had tears in her eyes. Sometimes, the need to cry when she got upset made her hate being a girl.
“That was a colossal mistake,” was all she said.
Alex looked like he wanted to yell some more, but her tears were affecting him. Finally, he sighed.
“What is it you want?” he finally asked.
“I told David I loved him, and he didn’t take it very well.”
Alex snorted out a laugh.
“He’s smarter than I thought.”
Lexi bit her bottom lip.
“I have a lot of work to do to win him back. What I don’t need is for you to work against me,” Lexi admitted.
“Like tell him what you and Nick did to that poor girl?” Alex asked.
The waterworks were back.
“I’ve said it a million times. I had no idea...”
Alex rolled his eyes.
“What do I get out of this?” Alex asked.
“Honestly, nothing but seeing us happy. Since that day, I’ve tried to turn a new leaf. It hasn’t been lost on me that I was a horrible person. Could you see your way to giving me a chance because he’s your friend?”
Alex snorted out another laugh.
“As a friend, I would hope he would warn me if the girl chasing me was someone like you.”
“I’ve changed,” Lexi said.
“You mean you’ve become a better actor, one good enough to hide the evil ice queen that’s buried inside you,” Alex said.
Lexi shook her head in defeat. Her past had finally come back to bite her in the butt.
“I’ll make you a promise. If you hear from David that he wants me gone, I’ll leave. Please let him decide what’s best for him.”
Alex gave her a hard look.
“You mean that, don’t you?”
“I do. Just give me a chance to prove to you that I’ve changed.
He nodded.
“I’ll give you your chance. But I’ll hold you to your promise if you make him unhappy,” Alex said.
“Thank you,” she said and then looked him in the eye. “I am sorry about what happened with your dad.”
“I can’t really put all that on you. He did end up marrying my babysitter,” Alex said, and they both relaxed. “You promise you had no idea about what was up at the party?”
“Even as bad as I was, I would never do that to an innocent girl,” she said earnestly.
Thinking about it for a second, she closed her eyes for a moment and then looked at Alex.
“I do have a list of not-innocent girls who are real bitches, though. It wouldn’t bother me to put them in their place, but even then, I wouldn’t do anything like that,” she said with a straight face.
“I hear you. I’m sure we all have a list,” Alex admitted as he gave her a sideways look.
“Are we good?” Lexi asked.
“We’re good.”
Chapter 6
David
David was excited. Today was move-in day at his dorm. He was looking forward to seeing Alex and also to discover what Lexi had done to his room. At first, David had felt guilty for turning that task over to her, but honestly, he’d needed time with his family. David had spent the last several days catching up on his sleep, spending time with his kids, and doing a bunch of nothing. Knowing that he’d gotten his priorities straight, his guilt disappeared.
David also recognized that for the past seven months, Lexi had been with him almost 24/7. By now, she had a good idea of what he would want for his dorm room.
As excited as he was, David was a bit wary of revealing his identity to his fellow students. He wanted to keep the sycophants, leeches, and wannabes at bay for as long as possible. The last thing he needed was to collect his own ‘entourage.’ He’d rather have real friends.
When David arrived, the parking security guard exchanged his parking pass for a sticker for his car to be placed on his windshield. It had an electronic chip that would provide him with access to the parking lot after hours.
David found a spot in the back corner that he hoped would keep his new car from being dinged up. Making his way inside, he was greeted by a clamor of excited voices coming from a mixture of new residents and students returning from Christmas break. David was glad that he didn’t have to fight the crowd to move in today.
The line for the elevators was a nonstarter, so he took the stairs. On the third-floor landing, he found a girl sitting down, breathing heavily. Even with a sweat mustache, the girl was cute. She had a case of wine next to her.
“Want some help?” he asked.
She looked up and took David in. He’d worn his nerd-farmer gear, and he could tell she wasn’t impressed.
“Maybe just up the next flight of stairs,” she finally said.
David bit his tongue because it was evident that she didn’t want to be seen with him. That didn’t mean he couldn’t be put to work, though. He picked the case up and took it upstairs.
“You can put it there,” she said as she pointed. “Are you visiting someone?”
“No, I’m new here.”
Time for the subterfuge to begin.
“Allen,” he said as he offered her his hand to shake.
“Oh,” was all she said as she ignored his outstretched hand.
“You sure you don’t want me to carry that to your room?” he asked.
From the look she threw him, she would prefer to be dipped in honey and tossed onto a hill of fire ants rather than be seen with him. David thought for a moment about just standing there to see how uncomfortable he could make her, but he had better ways to spend his time.
He walked out into the common room, and the first thing he noticed was that the security doors for both the women’s and men’s sides of the hall were propped open. David looked down the hall toward his suite, and that door was open as well. The kicker was that Alex and Lexi were nowhere to be found.
David took a deep breath to calm his irritation and wandered into his suite to look around. Lexi and Camilla had done an excellent job of improving the looks of the place. They’d replaced all the mismatched furniture with pieces that belonged together. He was pleased that it looked like stuff that would hold up.
In place of the cloth couch that looked like it came from a doctor’s waiting room, there was now a leather one. They’d also picked up four gaming recliners that had cup holders. The chairs were arranged in front of what had to be an 80-inch TV. What would really incite his friends’ envy was the gaming system hooked to it. David snapped a couple of quick pictures and sent them to his buddies Tim and Wolf.