Living A Lie

Chapter 10 - Too Perfect

I was sitting in the chair, on the verge of falling asleep when I saw his hand twitch. "Alexander?" I sat up and looked at his broken face. His eyelids were twitching. "You can wake up now." His eyes opened and I was met with his beautiful blue eyes. "Which car did you wreck?" He cracked a half smile. "The Audi." "How fast?" "Only eighty." I sighed. "Who hit who?" "He hit me." He smiled. "It's not that bad." I glared at him. "You almost died Alexander. They were doing CPR on you for fifteen minutes." "I was going to the light Kate. I was ready to die. My body hurt and I didn't want to deal with life anymore. You were what stopped me. I followed your voice. I came back to you."   

I rolled my eyes. "It's true. It was so warm, nothing hurt, it was peaceful. I was ready, then I heard your voice. You said you'd never forgive me if I died, so I had to come back." I didn't think he'd actually heard me. "You dyed your hair back to blonde." I was wondering when he'd notice. "Your hair is the longest I've ever seen it." He laughed. "No motivation for a haircut. I don't need to look good for anyone but you, and I haven't seen you in eleven months and four days." He counted? "How's Kaleb?" "It's our year anniversary today. He, uh, bought me a house." "Do you like it?" he asked. I could see the hurt in his eyes, though I did my best to ignore it. "Yeah, it's beautiful." "Have you broke it in yet?" "I'm sorry, how is that your business?" He smiled. "That's a no. How come?" "I, we, I took a nap! Then he made dinner, and we were just about to eat when you tried to die on me!" "Oh so after dinner?" "Shut up." He smiled. "Yeah, that was your plan." "Why do you care Alexander?" "Oh, quit calling me Alexander. You're only doing that to distance yourself from me and it's annoying. If you haven't stopped loving me now, you never will." I froze. I hated how well he knew me. I wanted so badly to stop loving him, so I could give myself fully to Kaleb. He deserved it. I knew he knew that I still loved Alex and I tried so hard to force myself not to.

"Kitten?" "Don't call me that." "You were spacing out, I tried all your nicknames and even your full name. Now I know what gets your attention."  I scowled at him. "Why am I still your emergency contact? It's been three years." "Because I know you're the only person who wouldn't give up on me if I were to go on life support." he paused. "My dad would only wait a few days before pulling the plug because I would be wasting money. My mom, maybe a month or so. But you? You would never pull the plug. You'd wait for me to wake up." I sighed. "That was then Alex.  A very long time ago. I've moved on." He grabbed my hand. "You called me Alex. I love hearing my name on your lips." 

Fire started licking up my arm. It had reached my shoulder by the time I pulled my hand from his. "I miss you, Kitten." "Why did you disappear from the press?" This time, he sighed. "I didn't want to hurt you. You said it hurt to see me with other women, so I just disappeared so you wouldn't hurt. I'm tired of hurting you." My phone rang. It was Kaleb. "I gotta go. I told him I wouldn't be that long." He closed his eyes. "I love you. Come to see me tomorrow, I have a feeling I'll be here for a while." 

I left. The whole drive back to our house my arm was on fire. I couldn't get it to stop. When I walked inside I could still smell spaghetti. "I'm so sorry. I only meant to sign the paperwork and leave but-" I turned the corner and stopped in my tracks. There was a woman in my kitchen. And she was dangerously close to my man. She had her hand on his forearm and was giving him the flirty eyes. "Kaleb?" He spun around his face bright red. "Hey baby, this is our neighbor, Natalia. She stopped by to welcome us to the neighborhood." "Uh huh, I see." He ran over to me and hugged me, whispering in my ear as he did. "How's Alex? Is everything alright?" "He'll be fine." I couldn't take my eyes off Natalia. She had long black hair, green eyes, olive skin and was thin but curvy in the right places. She was beautiful. And I did not like how close she was to Kaleb. 

"Hello, you must be Kathryn. So lovely to meet you." She reached for my hand. I kept my arm at my side. I didn't like her. "Kate, be nice." I held my hand out. She grabbed it with her long thin fingers. Her nails were manicured perfectly. Everything about her seemed to be perfect. Even the tight, thigh length black dress she was wearing. Who wears something like that to greet their new neighbors? I couldn't help but look down at my tank top and shorts. I looked like a bum. She was too perfect. Way too perfect. "Kaleb, honey, it's been a long day and it's getting late. Why don't you show our guest out?" He looked at me questioningly but did as I asked. I watched as she walked next to him. Way to close to him.