TENACITY

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Saturday, June 18, 2016
Aqua Resort
19 weeks...

An awkward silence reigned between them for a few seconds, as they stood side by side in the dimly lit exclusive garden maze at the back till he broke it.

"Dance with me?" he asked, looking ahead of him. He was expecting rejection so he tried not to look desperate.

She lifted a brow at the question, but agreed to it with an "Okay." They did need to work the tension out of the air.

Slowly, he turned to her and reached for her hands, placing them around his neck, not once taking his eyes off her. He set his on her waist, going a bit lower.

Alexandra tugged on his hair sharply, eliciting a groan. "Don't push it." She narrowed her eyes at him. 

"Sorry," he murmured when they began moving together to no music. Already off to a terrible start.

"Forget it," she replied quietly. He let out a breath, turning serious.

"What did he talk to you about?" There was no need to say who because she knew.

"Nothing," she said, remembering his warning. "He was just talking about random things, you know. . ."

"Lexi," Trey cut in, "you know I can tell when you lie to me, right? Tell me the truth, please." He looked genuinely concerned, so much that she almost felt bad for lying to him. Almost.

She looked down at their feet as they continued dancing. "I'm sorry, but. . . I can't tell you. It's between him and I." Trey gave a brief smile and looked away. He looked hurt, and Lexi wondered if he had the right to.

"The main reason why I brought you out here is because I wanted us to talk," he said, dropping the issue of what Ethan had said.

"You made it clear that you wanted to talk to me. But what exactly did you want to talk to me about?"

"There's no simple or easy way to say this," he began, returning his gaze to her, "so I'll say it straight up."

"What is it?" she asked, curious.

"I..." he trailed off, looking away again.

"Is something wrong?" she asked, stopping to look at him.

"Why are you even dancing with me?" he asked with self-loathing.

"I—I don't know. I guess I found out men talk about serious matters when they ask you to dance out of the blue," she responded with a shrug.

"Tonight? That's what happened with Ethan?"

Alexandra tensed up, looking away. "I don't want to talk about it, not with you. Stop changing the topic and tell me what you brought me out here for."

"I'm sorry I didn't believe you." She closed her eyes. He just had to rip the band-aid off the wound. He continued, "You were right when you said I should have looked into the issue before making any conclusions or judgements based on what I had heard.

"That day you came back for the rest of your things, I asked someone to look into it for me." He turned back to her. "You were right all along, and I am very, very sorry for not listening to you."

She huffed out a pained laugh. "Doesn't matter anymore, does it?" She crossed her hands under her breasts. "Why, really, did you want to talk?"

"Why didn't you tell me Ethan came to the house?" He watched her eyes go wide with surprise. "Why did you cover up that piece of information?"