The results, however, were a bit earth-shaking. David was reminded of the first time he’d met Lexi at a party thrown by some teens who were the offspring of the Hollywood elite. She’d come across then, as she did now, as someone who would make sure there were dire consequences for anyone who messed with her.
It also confirmed what he’d suspected: Lexi had learned to read his mind. At first, he’d joked about it, but it happened way too often to not be true. Then again, being around him almost 24/7 for seven months might have had something to do with it. It might also be that she was too smart for her own good.
“I know you all. Veronica, you can forget about trying to steal David from me. You and your crew can also give up continuing to prank him and his friends,” Lexi said, staring her down. When Veronica blinked, Lexi continued. “David is one of the nicest guys I’ve ever met. And I’m not just saying that. His idea of escalation and mine are miles apart, and you all know it.”
“Like I could forget,” Christian said.
Turning to Christian, Lexi replied seriously, “I had no idea what he was up to. If I ever find him, I promise to tell you first.”
“Okay, deal,” Christian said.
“And the rest of you?” she asked.
They nodded and then left.
“What was that all about?” David asked.
“Remember when I told you something in my life made me change?”
“You didn’t want to talk about it.”
“I honestly still don’t, but Christian and Alex were involved. If you ever want me to tell you, I will,” Lexi said.
David knew it had to be something big for someone like Lexi to actually get a wake-up call and genuinely want to become a better person. When he was starting high school, he’d had his own ‘crucible’ experience, as his uncle had termed it. It was basically something that transformed you. His had happened nearly five years ago, but there were times it felt like it had just happened. If Lexi wasn’t ready to talk about it, he wouldn’t force her.
She somehow knew he was overthinking everything and put a stop to it by kissing him.
“What about you saying, ‘I love you’?” David asked.
“Do you really want to talk me to death, or take me to bed?” she asked.
When she put it that way...
Mr. Happy voted bed, and for once, the big brain got out of the way.
Chapter 18
Tracy
Tracy was exhausted. Last night, at 4:08 am, she’d awoken to the sound of Precious turning their living room into her own version of the Thunderdome. She could just imagine a bunch of drunken Aussies yelling, ’Two cats enter, one cat leaves!’
It hadn’t been the typical kind of catfight you heard out your window where they beat on each other and the winner chased off their rival. This fight had started in their kitchen and continued all over the downstairs.
Tracy was going to USC for sports journalism, intending to report live contests. She knew that all good stories started at the beginning, so as she got into the shower, she thought about how it had all begun.
“I give up,” Pam grumped as she all but dragged Precious through the back door. “I’m not walking this ... this ... cat from hell ever again!”
“But she loves her walks,” Cassidy said as she came to rescue Precious.
That was until Pam pointed to her calf, and it was bleeding.
“Pam’s right. We have to figure something out,” Tracy agreed.
When they’d been in high school, Precious had lived next door to David with her owner, Brit, one of David, Pam, and Cassidy’s classmates. David had given her the moniker ‘the cat from hell.’ That was because when Precious yowled, it sounded like you were about to be eaten by a bobcat. Plus, she scratched just about anyone who got near her.
As Brit was making her plans to head off to college, her parents had let her know that they wouldn’t keep Precious because of the cat’s ‘sunny disposition.’ (Note that the sarcasm meter was set at eleven on that one.) For some reason, Precious had befriended David’s dog, Duke, when he was a puppy. By extension, she’d warmed up to David a little.
Brit, faced with needing to rehome Precious and having limited options, had asked David if he would take her. Being a stupid boy, he’d told Brit that if she could talk his mom into taking Precious, they would take her. Somehow, Brit had worn Carol down, and in a moment of weakness, she’d agreed to take the cat.
That had lasted all of one summer. When Tracy, Pam, and Cassidy were moving into the townhouse, David’s mother had shown up with a housewarming gift. Seeing that it was Precious, Tracy and Pam had emphatically said ‘no.’ Cassidy had turned out to be the weak link.
Carol had reminded Cassidy that David had bought her tigers, which was a whole different story. Carol had also reminded the three of them that they were living in the townhouse rent-free, which caused Cassidy to fold. Looking back, they might have been better off paying rent than allowing Precious to move in.
A few things became painfully apparent once Precious took up residence. If you didn’t stand your ground with her, you became her willing slave. The surprise was that Pam, the most timid member of their group, stood up to Precious. It was Cassidy, the badass ninja, who had taken on the role of the cat’s caretaker.
One of Precious’s little foibles was that she hated men. Tracy had learned that when she’d brought a guy she was interested in over to meet her roommates. When he arrived, Precious disappeared. That was until he went to use the bathroom. The cat cornered him while the guy was relieving himself. The sound of her yowl had startled him, and he’d lost control of his flow and pissed down his leg. That effectively ended that promising relationship.
Another of her quirks was that Precious was used to being let out in the morning. When they were back home in Illinois, she would go to David’s and play with Duke. Each morning, she would go to the back door and cry to be let out. Cassidy had been worried that she might be stolen or hit by a car if they just opened the door for her, hence the leash.
Pam and Tracy argued that no one would be crazy enough to steal her, but the car angle made them accept the need to walk her. That had lasted until this week, when Pam had been clawed once again.
The solution had been to get David’s father to install a kitty door. That had made Precious happy. She would go out in the morning and terrorize the neighbors, then come back inside before the girls left for school in the morning.
This morning’s shit show had Tracy imagining how it had happened. Precious would have awoken in the middle of the night and decided she was bored and in a bad mood. Her solution was to stick her head out the kitty door and lure the biggest, baddest cat in the neighborhood into their home for a throw-down.
Once inside, they’d squared off, and all hell had broken loose. When Big-and-Bad figured out that Precious planned to off him, he’d decided to make a run for it. His only problem was that he’d forgotten how he’d entered the house.
That was when the destruction began, as Big-and-Bad tried to get away by jumping on end tables, countertops, and the like, and anything not nailed down ended up on the floor.
You learned a lot about people in a crisis. Pam’s solution had been to lock herself in her room—as if she were afraid that the cats had somehow grown opposable thumbs to open her door—and to call the police. Cassidy had rushed in to try to break it up, only to be clawed by both cats. Tracy had grabbed a large body towel from the bathroom to try to catch Precious. When she’d made it downstairs, Big-and-Bad had wedged himself under the couch, and Precious was pacing back and forth like a dog does when his ball has rolled under something.
Instead of ’Get the ball, get the ball,’ Precious was all about ’Kill the kitty!’