Chapter 11 – Lexi #2
“You’re beautiful.” I hear his voice but then at the same time I hear Trent. “She should be lucky she has me.” I close my eyes to not hear the words. “You deserve better.” That is the last thing I hear before I open my eyes and I grab my phone.
Pulling it up and not even thinking about what time it is, I call him.
It takes him four rings to answer the phone, and when he does, his voice is filled with sleep.
“Lexi,” he says and I can’t help it; instead of saying anything, all I do is silently cry.
“Lexi, honey.” The worry is filling in voice.
“Daddy,” I say, the tears rolling down my cheeks, one after another. “Daddy.”
“Lexi, baby, where are you?” His voice that was worried is now filled with a more frantic tone.
“I’m home.” I look around the room. “Dad, I need your help.” My hands shake as I say the words. “Dad, I need help.”
“Baby,” he says tightly, “where is Trent?” He’s probably fucking some girl in his apartment I almost say, but I stop myself.
“Daddy,” I repeat and I can feel the panic starting to come as my breathing is starting to get a bit harder. “Daddy, I need to—”
“Lexi,” he says, snapping my name, “where the fuck are you?”
“I want to leave him, Dad,” I tell him and close my eyes. “He—”
“Did he touch you?” he asks and I can hear the fear and anger in his voice.
“He says I’m not good enough. That I need him.”
“He’s lying to you.”
“That without him, I’m nothing.” The words come out. “I don’t dress good enough. I don’t smile enough. I am not skinny enough.” My body shakes uncontrollably, my teeth clattering as if I’m in ice-cold water.
“Baby,” he soothes. “I’m calling Uncle Matthew and the two of us are coming to get you.”
“I won’t be anything without him.” I feel like I’m in a trance. “But I don’t want to be with him. I’ll be nothing, but I’ll be without him.”
“I’m going to be there in five hours, in five hours.”
“Okay.”
“Can you wait in the house or do you want to go to a hotel?” I lie down on the floor in my room.
The card in one hand, the phone in the other as I just stare out. “Okay.”
“Lexi,” he says my name, “I’m going to hang up on you now, and I’ll call you back.”
“Okay, Daddy,” I reply and then he waits for me to say something. “I love you, Daddy.”
“I love you too, angel”—I can hear the softness of his voice—“more than my life.”
“I’m sorry.” I close my eyes. “I’m so sorry I wasn’t strong like you taught me to be.”
“I’m coming. I want you to do something for me. Can you do something for me?”
“Yeah,” I say, not sure I can even move.
“I need you to lock the door of your bedroom and not open it until I get there.”
“He’s not coming home,” I tell him.
“I’m coming. I promise you I’m coming.” I nod my head. “I’ll call you back.”
“Okay.” He hangs up as I close my eyes. He calls me back every single thirty minutes to check on me, and I vow each time I’ll get up and change. But I just close my eyes and drift off to sleep.
The pounding makes me open my eyes, and I look around the room before getting up on my side. “Lexi.” I hear his voice and then I get up, walking toward the front door. I unlock it, and when I pull it open, I’m in his arms. “Lexi.” He breathes me in. “I’m here.”
“Daddy,” I cry just like I did when I fell off the bike the first time I rode on two wheels. Just like when I busted open my chin skating and he took me in his arms, protecting me the whole time.
“Lexi,” I hear softly and then look over to see my mother standing there. She’s wearing jeans and a white top, a baseball hat on her head. “Lexi.” She brings her hand to her mouth and I can see she’s shaking.
“Why don’t we get her in the living room where there is more space and talk?
” My uncle Matthew puts his arm around her shoulders.
My mother nods as my father carries me into the living room.
I almost turn around and tell them to take off their shoes, but I just shake my head as he guides me to the living room and sets me on the couch.
My mother and Matthew sit in front of us.
“Okay, talk,” Matthew demands and I can see his jaw is tight as he looks around and then back at me.
“Matthew,” my father warns tightly.
“Lexi,” my mother urges, “we need to get you out of that dress and get your clothes packed.” She stands up. “Then we are taking you away from here and the hold he has on you.”
She holds out her hand. “Come and choose what you want to take with you.” I put my hand in hers and we slowly walk to the bedroom.
“Mom,” I say softly as she unzips the dress, “I should have been stronger, like you.”
“My beautiful girl.” She puts one hand to her stomach and I see that she’s about to completely lose it.
“You are not strong like me. You are stronger than me. Picking up that phone and making that phone call you are in a category of your own. Don’t you dare,” she snaps and grabs ahold of my face.
“Don’t you dare let him have one more fucking minute of you.
” Her tears roll down her face. “Now, my beautiful girl”—she smiles—“let’s get you packed. ”
I nod my head and look at her. “Do you think I’ll be okay without him?”
“I think you’ll thrive without him,” she assures me, going over and grabbing one of my suitcases. “I think he’s the one who isn’t going to be okay without you.”
“But he’s a doctor,” I retort and I giggle at the stupidity of it as she laughs with me. “He told me so many things, Mom,” I say as I slip on a pair of yoga pants. “He made me believe so many things.”
“Viktor!” my mother shouts his name as I slip a T-shirt over myself and he comes jogging into the room.
“I need those boxes we just hang the clothes in,” she says, then looks at my uncle Matthew. “I need you to pack her office.”
“It’s four thirty in the morning,” my father replies. “Where do you want me to get those types of things?”
“Don’t you know people?” she snaps, looking over her shoulder as she pulls open one of my closet doors.
“In Arizona?” He shakes his head.
“I can call someone,” Matthew offers, and just like that I giggle again.
“You’re the best, Uncle Matthew,” I declare, feeling like I haven’t in a while. Most likely in shock, but I’ll take this feeling.
“We’ll get you out of here,” he assures me and I can see him swallow.
By ten thirty, I’m walking out of my house with my hand in my father’s. The emergency movers my uncle got are pulling out of the driveway with all of my clothes in it, along with all my office stuff. I left everything else, not wanting to take anything.
“Where is he?” Dad finally asks me once I’m sitting on the private plane and the doors close.
“At his apartment in the city,” I tell him, looking out of the window.
“I need a drink,” my mother announces from beside me and the phone rings from my purse.
“Put it on speaker,” Uncle Matthew urges once I pull it out and see it’s him.
I close my eyes before I press the connect button and place it on speaker. “Hello.”
“Morning,” he greets, “how did you sleep?”
“I didn’t,” I answer him honestly.
“Well, that’s because you had a lot to think about. I hate fighting with you, Lexi, but you left me no choice.” I hang my head and feel my mother put her hand in mine. “Don’t you think you could have acted better?”
I hear hissing and look over to see Uncle Matthew holding on to the armrests with his head back as he looks up at the ceiling of the plane. “I don’t,” I finally reply.
“I can see that you are upset. You have to admit, Lexi, you have no one to blame for this besides yourself.”
I close my eyes. “I’m leaving you, Trent.”
He laughs as if I just told him the funniest joke he’s ever heard. “Yeah, right.” I wait for him to get over his stint of laughter. “What’s gotten into you?”
“Nothing has gotten into me,” I refute. “I finally saw what was right in front of my face.”
“Lexi, I’m going to take a shower and then I’m going to come home and we are going to talk about things. And you are going to see how much different things would have gone if only you—”
“I’m done.” My voice cuts him off. “I’m done letting you darken my light, and I’m not coming back, not now, not ever, Trent.”
“You can’t leave me!” he roars.
“Yes, I can.” I finally inhale deeply. “And I did. Goodbye, Trent.”