Her Last Plea✨

Chapter 60

Mike stood in the shower for what seemed like forever. The never-ending stream of hot water poured down his skin, teetering the edge of scalding as he braced his hands against the wall. He cried silently, not able to differentiate between the tears that came from his eyes and the water that poured from the showerhead.

All I wanted was a divorce, he repeated to himself. He wanted an amicable divorce. He almost had an amicable divorce. But then, Mike poured his soul into trying to save the one person who has spent years trying to avoid him. But, in the end, he failed.

He couldn't save his children's mother any more than he could save his own.

He didn't blame himself for his mother's death. At least, he didn't anymore. After all, he wasn't the one who spent years beating her up. That was done at the hands of Charles, and while Mike blamed himself initially, he knew in the rational part of his mind that he did everything he could.

Mike didn't realize how much he missed his mother until Faith hugged him that day in her kitchen, giving him her condolences. If his mother had been alive, she would have given him the same sort of hug, the kind that touches a person's soul from their head to their toes.

Mike wished his mother was here so he could talk to her about Alexis. He wanted her perspective. He wanted her blessing. He wanted his mother to see how this woman was the one person other than her that he could drop his guard down in front of and not feel ashamed, or be made to feel as if he was weak. Mike wanted his mother to tell him it was okay for him to open the box in which he'd been keeping every thought and feeling about Alexis Miller - a box he'd kept a tight lid on for the past several years as their friendship evolved.…a tight lid until now, anyway.

Wrenching the handles of the shower to shut the water off, he stepped out and grabbed a towel, wrapping it tightly around his waist. He snatched another off of the shelf, vigorously toweling his hair to a damp-dry state. Donning a thin white undershirt and a pair of boxers, he slipped his woolen slippers onto his feet and left his room, quietly checking in on Marv and Ara, before knocking on Alexis's door.

"Come in," he heard her quietly call out.

He opened her door and found her sitting on the bed, looking to her side as she read a book while lathering lotion into her legs, her hands dragging from her thighs to her feet as her fingers slid between her toes as she rubbed the lotion into her skin. It smelled fruity, but not in an overwhelming sort of way.

"Care for some company?" he asked, closing the door behind him.

Alexis looked up at him and smiled, waving a hand over her book to turn the page. "Asking instead of skulking this time?" she teased.

"Don't act like us sharing a bed put you out," Mike mocked.

"It doesn't," Alexis nonchalantly replied, applying a dollop of lotion to her other leg, massaging it into her skin. She looked up at him, her damp hair tied up in a messy bun, wrinkling her nose as she itched it with the back of her lotion-covered hand. "Did you have a nice shower? I thought you'd drowned in there after a bit."

Mike snorted, walking over to the empty side of the bed and dropping with a plop. "If you were so concerned, why didn't you come in and rescue me."

"I said I thought," Alexis replied, rubbing the excess lotion into her hands and her arms. "I didn't say I was worried."

"Your concern - or lack thereof - is touching," Mike drawled, rolling onto his stomach, wrapping his arms around the pillow his head dropped down on. Sighing, he watched Alexis lean back against the headboard as she picked up her book, propping it up against her legs as she continued to read. "I see you're wearing real shorts tonight."

Alexis smirked. "I learned my lesson."

"I'm not opposed to you sleeping without pants," Mike said, plain as day. "In fact, I'm not opposed to you sleeping without any apparel - especially when you're in such close proximity to me."

"I'm sure you aren't," Alexis snarked, a hint of blush tinting her cheeks. Finishing up the page she was reading, she dog-eared the top corner of the thin paper and closed the book, setting it on the nightstand. Her attention turned back to Mike as she let her fingers lightly drag through his hair. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there today," she whispered.

Mike nodded, sighing at her touch.

"You know I would've went if I could."

"I know."

She slouched down in the bed, lying on her side as her face was parallel with his. She moved her fingers through his hair, gently sliding them down until the crossed over, her hand now resting lightly on his cheek.

"What are you thinking?" Alexis asked, her eyes boring into his.

He sighed, his eyelids fluttering shut for a moment before opening. "I didn't expect to feel this much," he said to her. "I was ready to divorce her and throw a party afterwards but when she told me she was sick I just.…"

"Reinvested yourself?"

"In a way," Mike replied with a heavy sigh. "I just wanted to save her. We still had our problems, and we still fought over the same things and I knew we would part ways once she…once she got better but I needed her to get better. My children needed her to get better, and so I did everything I could and it just wasn't enough. It wasn't enough for my mother and it wasn't enough for Delphina…"

Alexis brushed a tear away from his cheek the moment it escaped his eyelid. "It's not your fault," she whispered.

"I know," Mike replied. "I know it's not my fault. I just didn't think I'd feel this much, you know?"

She nodded. "I'm not sure anyone knew what to expect today."

He sighed again, rolling onto his back as he pressed his forearms into his forehead. "Remember that day when Gary and I forcefully took you out to dinner.....the weekend after Smith told you that he'd knocked up that annoying twit?"

Alexis awkwardly chuckled. "Not exactly an unforgettable year for me, Mike."

"Right, sorry," he apologized. "But about six shots in at the bar, you looked at me and said you felt like a piece of you had died, and I remember nodding, but not really understanding. But I understand now and you were right - it sucks."

She gave him a sweet smile. "I might have been a little drunk and a bit overdramatic. You can't compare what I went through with Drew and what you went through with Delphina."

"I disagree," Mike countered. "You did everything you could for him and it wasn't enough. The daft idiot still left the best thing that could have ever happened to his sorry ass. Just as how I did everything I could to save Delphina. But at the end of the day, whatever you and I did wasn't enough, and the outcome is hard to swallow."

"It is," Alexis agreed. "And it takes awhile, but it does get better."

"I know," Mike whispered, looking directly at her. He reached an arm out, gently pulling her closer to him. "You'll make it better, Miller. You make everything better. I don't know how.…and I sure as hell don't know how to explain it, but you do."

Alexis leaned in, pressing her forehead to his, shivering slightly as she felt him breathing against her skin. "You make things better too," she confessed. "After Drew....you made things better. You and the children."

They both leaned in at the same time, their lips meeting in a soft kiss. Sighing, they pulled away after a while as Mike lied down on the bed, pulling Alexis with him. He kissed the top of her head and hugged her close. Reaching for the switch on his nightstand, he turned the lights off, leaving them alone to their thoughts before the exhaustion of the day's events lulled them into sleep.