Just The Way You Like It - Under Construction

Chapter Forty-Six

Chapter Forty-Six

Wallace threw Alice into his SUV, fuming as he stormed to the driver's side and slammed the door shut. Alice cringed slightly, knowing his wrath was going to be horrible if she couldn't calm him down. “What the fuck, Alice! What the God-damned fuck was that?” Wallace's chest heaved as he lifted his fist towards Alice's face. She turned her head quickly, expecting the blow to be hard and painful. His fist punched the head rest as a warning to her. “Don't ever make me mad like that again, Alice. I can't promise I'll control myself next time.”

“I'm sorry Wal, I never meant to hurt you. Blake kissed me, not the other way around.” It was true that Blake started the kiss, but Alice had reciprocated it back. Each of them were both equally at fault, and Alice knew she was now treading a fine line with Wallace.

Wallace's voice turned into a low growl as he glared at her. “I know Alice, I watched the whole thing. Believe me, Dr. Hansen and I are going to have a talk later, but it's still no excuse. It was pretty obvious you didn't try to stop him.” Sitting as still as possible, Alice felt like a child, not daring to look him in the eyes. She saw Wallace's body slump as he let out a moan. “I'm sorry Alice.” Wallace rubbed his face a few times, pushing his hair out of his eyes. He looked tired and defeated as he started up the engine. “Forget it, I must be fucking insane. I'm just glad as hell you got out of his house before things got too serious between the two of you. I love you Alice, but I need to know that you're mine, and only mine.”

Alice thought for a few moments, wondering if Wallace knew just how serious it had gotten between Blake and her. The only person she had told was Tess, and apparently she hadn't spread the news around to anyone else. Alice made a note to thank Tess later, and started to mend the rift between her and her boyfriend. “I'm sorry too Wal, I should have told him no. It was just so unexpected. Please believe me, there is nothing going on between us anymore. Not after what he said to me.”

Wallace must have taken her apology as sincere, because he pulled on his seat belt and drove the two of them back to his place for a quick jump in the sack before he brought Alice back to Tess' home. Tess and Hank weren't there, which was a small blessing as it gave Alice time to think. There had been something between Blake and her, they had proven it with their last kiss. But knowing the anger that Wallace held in his heart made Alice think twice about the idea of rekindling anything with Blake.

Alice couldn't stand the thought of hurting Wallace, mostly because she owed him so much for his skill as a psychologist. He had given her back her past, her family, her hopes and dreams, and she never wanted to let him down, like she had this night, ever again. Alice's mind drifted back to Blake, and she wondered if he had caught the same flak from Holly as she had from Wallace. Blake was a man though, and no matter how much Holly would scream, Alice knew Blake could handle it. Why he was with Holly now, was a question Alice couldn't answer, and it bugged her to think about Holly being in the one place on Earth that Alice wanted to be. If only she hadn't left Blake's house, if only she had stayed. Maybe then they could have talked it over, reconciled their differences. But if Alice hadn't left, she wouldn't now know just what she was missing.

Either way, Alice was unhappy with the choices she had made, and wished that somehow she could start over again. She knew she couldn't though, not now anyway, so Alice resigned herself to this life, the one she had picked, and crawled into bed. Alice lay awake most of the night, hearing Tess and Hank come home around three in the morning. They came in laughing and sounding well contented, only making Alice rue her decision to leave Blake even more. The sun was just coming up through the window as Alice felt her eyes close, drifting off to a restless sleep, dreaming of her Christmas kiss with Blake.

Holly said nothing on the car ride home with Blake, but the electrifying tension in the car told Blake that she had seen everything, and was not pleased. Blake never understood why women always either shut down or blew up when they got angry, but he tolerated her silence just the same. Once home, Holly went to her room, again in silence, and didn't come out again for almost two hours.

Blake had almost given up, thinking he should try to sleep a little, even if his dreams were going to be filled with Alice; as they usually were. Holly knocked lightly on his bedroom door just as Blake turned off his bed side lamp. She came in not waiting for an answer from her knock, which irritated him to no end. “I thought we had a deal.” Holly said, folding her arms tightly across her chest.

“One which I have have honored.” Blake knew where this conversation was going and he didn't like it.

“Oh, I don't think you have Blake. You promised me you would remain mine, and only mine. Remember? I don't think kissing your ex-bed mate was the best choice you made tonight on that matter.”

“I'm still yours Holly, the kiss meant nothing.” It stung Blake to say it, even when he knew it was a complete lie, one made only to keep Holly around.

“It didn't look like it meant nothing. In fact, I think you still have a thing for her. But, that's not the point. You want me to marry you, and I still will, but I'm adding a term to our contract.”

“And what would that be?” Blake mused that she would come up with some ridiculous idea like nightly sex, and thought he would at least bemuse her of the idea for a while. At least until he got the job that Willub would be soon departing from.

“You never see Alice again.” Blake's heart jumped up into his throat, and quickly he tried to come up with as many reasons to fling at Holly as to why that wouldn't be an option.

“I can't promise that Holly and you know it. She has doctor's appointments at the hospital, she works now, we could run into each other at lunch or something. This town is too small to think that we would never run into each other on the street, and besides that, she lives with my head nurse and is dating my best friend. I'm sorry Holly, but I can't guarantee I won't see Alice at some point in time in the future. I would if I could.” Blake ended his excuse with another lie, hoping Holly would fall for it.

“I see your point. Fine, accidental run-ins with her are one thing, but I'm watching you Blake. Any sign from you that I am not your one true love, and our deal is off.”

That damn deal! It was the last thing Blake had done while drunk from his loss of Alice. Finding himself in contention for Willub's job, Blake made one gigantic mess of things. He made a deal with the devil, and the devil was named Holly Hanfield. They agreed, under no uncertain terms that Blake would let Holly set a date for their wedding and Blake would meet her at the aisle with a smile on his face and a ring in his pocket. In return, Holly would use her status in the community to guarantee Blake the job that Willub had hung in front of his face like a carrot on a string. Holly's father was famous in the small town of New Coven, and even though he had passed on, his name still pulled strings where they needed to be.

Two of the five board members had been old golfing buddies of Holly's father, and Holly would make sure they cast their vote for Blake. Those two, plus Willub making three, and Blake would have the majority of the vote. It was a dirty deal, one that Blake was not proud of, but the plans had already been set in motion, and there was nothing he could do about it.

“Fine, so long as random meetings are excusable, then I see no problem with it.”

“Fine.” Holly stormed back out, leaving Blake to ponder for a while before falling asleep. Now he was going to have to avoid Alice like the plague if he wanted Willub's job, and as much as he hated to admit it, he did. Thinking on it now though, it probably wasn't going to be that hard to avoid Alice. Already they had gone a week, and never their paths crossed. He just had to make it through the next couple of months, then once he got the promotion, he could dump Holly for good and work on getting his one-true-love back into his arms.