Chapter 9: Chapter 9

Alexis looked around the club. It was packed and the line outside went as far as two blocks down. Marjorie whispered had been in New York for only a few days already knew all the cool new clubs. As if that wasn't shocking enough, she led them straight to the front of the line, where she spoke to a bouncer who after a few seconds, smiled and let them through. The people on the line groaned, complaining to the bouncer but Marj turned around, stuck her tongue out at them, then proceeded into the club.

They followed her and Alexis didn't miss the way Ray paved the way for her pushing guys aside. He seriously acted like her bodyguard making her wonder why he did it. She also didn't know whether to like it or not. All through dinner she'd caught him watching her a few times and the look in his eyes unsettled her. Since she didn't want to dwell on it, she pretended not to notice. Her mother's prodding hadn't helped either. It's not like she had meant to fall asleep in his car. He could have woken her up when they got home but he had to go and carry her. The flowers Marj was talking about had appeared outside her door early the next day. They had a card that said Have a nice day beautiful and she believed Connor had sent them because they weren't signed. But Marjorie had taken one look at them and decided they'd come from Ray.

She wanted to call Connor and ask him if he was the one who'd sent them, but realized that if it wasn't him then he'd be suspicious and she would have to explain why someone was sending her flowers. Asking Ray if they'd come from him was out of the question. She couldn't handle any more bombs from him, seeing as she was yet to recover from the one he'd dropped two days ago. How Alexis wanted to go back and change that day. Running only worked when she was in another state or country or even continent. As much as she wanted to ignore Ray, she couldn't. Not when he showed up at her house after his work out in shorts and a tank top that clung to his body from sweat, molding his muscles deliciously, every day. Marjorie hadn't passed up on a chance to point out how edible he looked. In fact, it was her fault that now Alexis couldn't stop looking.

"I got us seats at the VIP area" Marjorie yelled over the loud music. If it wasn't for Ray, Alexis was sure she'd be smelling of liquor and sweat before they made it to their seats.

"How did you find this place anyway?"

"I Googled it" she shrugged dropping on the leather seats that created a circle with a glass table in the middle, with a huge smile on her face.

"Of course you did" Alexis mumbled to herself then remembered the bouncer. "What about the guy at the door?"

"I gave him a dose of the Sullivan charm"

"And he fell for it?" Marjorie shoved her shoulder jokingly and Alexis found herself in Ray's arms. She hadn't realized he'd sat beside her. She was so busy trying to ignore him and what good was that doing if she went and fell into his arms? She lifted her head to peer at him and he smiled down at her then let her go. Alexis sat up straighter, cursing Marjorie to hell and back. For someone so tiny she sure was strong.

"Sorry not sorry" Marj moved until they were sitting hip to hip. She kept craning her neck as if looking for someone.

"Are you looking for somebody?"

"No. But I spotted a cute guy when we came in. Could you move so I can see him?"

"Move to where? Stop it Marj" Alexis tried to push her aside but damn she was strong. All of a sudden she was sandwiched between her and Ray. She expected him to move but he was like a rock maintaining his position.

"He's not that cute" Marjorie sighed then leaned over her to talk to Ray. "Shouldn't you be ordering drinks for us?"

"Do I look like your help?"

"No. But if I had a help like you, we wouldn't be here. I can think of a dozen ways he could be helping me. At home." she added as an afterthought.

Shaking his head, Ray asked, "What would you like to drink?"

"Margarita" then they both looked up at her. She'd heard their conversation since they were yelling over her but she had a hard time thinking past how warm Ray's leg was against hers. It was like his confession had opened a whole can of worms. One she wanted to put the lid back on so she could go back to hating him. When she didn't answer, he bent his head until he was inches away from her. His warm breath fanned her cheek while she heard his voice in her ear asking what she wanted to drink.

Alexis swallowed then blurted out the first thing that came to mind "Gimlet" they both gave her weird looks and she stood up pushing them aside. "I'll just go to the bathroom" she was gone before anyone could stop her. Bracing herself on the sink she stared at her face in the mirror. "What is wrong with you?" she asked her reflection. This wasn't her at all. What had gotten into her to make her act that way? She knew the answer to that. She just didn't want to acknowledge it. And the more she tried to deny it, the more she reacted to him, to what he did, how he talked and moved. He was messing with her and she had to find a way to stop it or she would lose her mind. Sighing she made up her mind. "Get drunk and forget everything" splashing some water on her face, she dried it with the paper towels hanging beside the mirror then reapplied her lipstick. Confident she could ignore Ray and his stupid confessions, she left the bathroom.

As she was walking back to their seats, she looked from left to right, at the people getting drunk while dancing or making out. Some guy winked at her but she rolled her eyes and kept walking. For some reason, she made the mistake of looking back at the guy who had winked at her and that's when she saw it.

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Ray watched Alexis scurry to the bathroom. He'd studied her for years and he knew her like the back of his hand. He would go as far as to say that he knew her better than his hand. Her moods when she was sad, happy, angry, manipulative -especially when she wanted something from her parents- she knew what to do or say to get whatever it was she wanted. But today? Today she was edgy. Dare he hope it was because of his confession? Otherwise, why would she be all nervous around him if what he said hadn't affected her? And to think he was going to take it back.

For the past two days, he had been trying to come up with a plausible explanation as to why he'd said what he had. His excuses included saying that he was in love, but with someone else. Someone she didn't know. Or he could have said that he only told her that to annoy her. He was still in the process of concocting some believable lies but now that he had seen her reaction, there was no way he was going to take it back. He'd felt her shiver when Marjorie had trapped her between them. That was also another thing he was trying to understand. It was like Marjorie was doing those things on purpose. Telling her about the flowers, pushing her into his arms, tripping her so that she'd fall on him. That last one was good.

Alexis was coming from the bathroom and from what he could see she was angry about something. So distracted she didn't see her friend poke her leg out making her trip and fall on to his lap. Ray would have admonished Marjorie if he wasn't so caught up in all things Alexis. She smelled divine and from that angle, he had an eyeful of cleavage that sent his libido into overdrive. He wanted to hold on and never let go but all too soon she pushed away from him. Settling beside him, she saw her drink and lifting the glass, she threw her head back swallowing it all in one go. Okay, something was definitely wrong. Should he ask what it was?

Over the years he'd dealt with annoying/angry Alexis. Every time she saw him, her demeanor would change morphing into that of annoyance. When she was like that, he knew there was nothing he could say to her. Most of the time he even enjoyed provoking her just to see her reaction. Getting the anger treatment allowed him to see the other sides of her without being biased. There was sweet/ manipulative Alexis. When she wanted something, there was no stopping her. Then sneaky Alexis who did things behind your back but always had a good reason to justify her actions. Flighty Alexis was his favorite. If she didn't want to deal with something, she'd ignore it until it went away or she herself would run from it. So being on the sidelines had it's benefits because now she wouldn't be able to blindside him.

That was also a problem because he knew the Alexis who just came back from the bathroom was the worst of all. Pissed. Already she'd drank all of his and Marjorie's drinks and ordered some more to be brought to them, in bottles to be precise. On her way in or out, something must have happened to get her so mad. He wanted to know what it was so he'd calm her down but he was scared of even asking. When she got like this, she always ended up making stupid decisions. She wouldn't believe the kind of messes he'd bailed her out of without her knowledge. And as of that moment, he'd just gone from bodyguard to babysitter. This was going to be a long night.

"What is wrong with her?" Marjorie asked moving to sit beside him so she wouldn't shout.

"I don't know but she's angry about something"

"Argh. Angry Alexis is no fun."

"No fun? She's like a ticking time bomb waiting for the right time to blow up. Can you try talking to her and see if we can head home early?" Ray asked running his hand through his hair.

"No promises" she stood up going to where Alexis was standing, by the railing, with a bottle of gin. He watched them talk, hoping to at least get a clue as to why she was so mad but she only spoke once and went back to her drinking. Marjorie tried for a few more minutes then she went back to her seat, shaking her head. "She won't tell me what's going on"

"Not even a clue as to why she's so mad?"

"Nope. What you saw was her telling me to leave her alone"

"I don't like this Marjorie." Ray sighed turning to look at Alexis but she wasn't there anymore. "Shit where is she?" they both shot up from their seats.

"Do you see her?"

"No," he said panicking. Already his heart was beating a wild frantic rhythm thinking of what could happen to her. The place was packed, especially downstairs and who knew what kind of creeps lurked around waiting for someone vulnerable like her so they could take advantage? Dammit. "Come on let's go look for her"

"I'll go the other way....."

"No." he growled grabbing her hand "I'm not letting you out of my sight" they started with the VIP area, combing the place and when they didn't find her, they went downstairs all the while Ray held on to Marjorie's hand. If something happened to Alexis on his watch, Hayley would kill him if JR didn't do it first. Keeping them safe was the sole reason her parents let him go with them. Before leaving the house JR had cornered him at the door and described what he would do to him if something happened to his little girl.

Frustration and desperation led him to shove people aside not caring where they landed. Searching for her blonde hair among the crowd, he grabbed every woman with same hair color to see if it was her. The sober ones gave him a piece of their minds while the drunk ones tried to drape themselves over him causing his anger to flare. He pushed one particular lady so hard she fell to the floor. Ray cursed bending down to help her up but then he saw Alexis with some guy heading towards the exit. Without meaning to, he let go of the drunk woman whose ass ended back at the floor and practically ran towards the exit making sure to keep Alexis in his line of vision. By the time they got to her, they were already outside the club. Ray let go of Marjorie's hand and pushed the guy next to Alexis aside.

"Alexis are you okay?"

"Hey man, she's mine. I saw her first" the guy said trying to push Ray. Needing a way to get rid of the pent-up anger he felt, Ray spun around and punched him.

"Walk away while you still can" he snarled. The guy scrambled away and in his haste to leave, tripped and fell. Ray turned back to Alexis who was now leaning heavily on Marjorie. "Let's go," he told them. Bending down he lifted Alexis into his arms. She sighed, murmured "He's going to pay" then blacked out. He had an idea of who 'he' was and Ray decided he was done playing nice.

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