Endless Love

Alex was content with himself as he walked into Lyla’s room; it was still dark inside, so he guided himself over to Lyla’s bed with the light from his phone. He walked quietly so as not to wake her up. When he reached the bed, he slid into it effortlessly and curled up next to Lyla; he had been giddy with excitement about the good news he had for Lyla, and caused Lyla to wake from her sleep.

She rolled over, and groggily laid a kiss on Alex’s cheek, then whispered, “Alex, did you go somewhere?” A moment passed before she noticed his excitement, “is everything okay? You look like you just won the lottery,” a smile slowly crept onto her face. She could no longer contain herself and began beaming at Alex without knowing why.

Alex placed a palm on her cheek and amorously gazed at Lyla. He then beamed at her, “Lyla, I have the best news,” without thinking about how it would sound to Lyla, he continued, “Clark was only trying to get back at your dad, you’re not actually pregnant. The condom was planted to only make it look like you were.” Lyla’s smile began to slowly fade, which then made Alex’s smile fade.

“Alex, how is that good news? I’m glad I’m not pregnant, but I was just used as a pawn in a sadistic game. You just made that sound like a party… and it’s not,” her voice rose. Alex now realized what he had said to Lyla, and the last of the smile that was on his face slipped away. His heart sank for her, so he wrapped her into a hug.

He lowered his voice and nuzzled her ear, “Lyla, Lyla, I’m so sorry, I wasn’t thinking. That is terrible news,” he whispered. He squeezed her tighter and tangled his hands into Lyla’s hair and kissed the top of her head, then began kissing down to her face and all over her face. It helped Lyla forget about the news she had just received as she began giggling. She kissed Alex back on his last kiss and then rolled back over to go back to sleep.

~~~~~~

Lyla climbed out of the bed before Alex had, making sure not to wake him up as she crept over him. He had such a long night interrogating Clark and being pestered by her father’s girlfriend that she didn’t want him to be tired. The night before Alex had told Lyla EVERYTHING that had occurred with not only Clark but with her dad’s girlfriend, so she wanted to be the one to confront them both.

She headed down the stairs and heard her mom making pleasantries with her dad—his girlfriend nowhere to be seen. Lyla took a second to collect herself then skipped down the steps to her parents, chipper, and hugged them both. She didn’t want to admit to herself that she was happy at the scene she had just walked into with both of her parents together and enjoying each other’s company, but she was, and she was going to soak it up as long as she could.

From the counter they were all standing at, Lyla could see that her fathers counterpart was swimming laps in their pool, and she shook it off and ignored the scene. “Hey, so, I have some news. Dad, some of the news pertains to your company and your little pet, so which one do you want first,” she smugly uttered. Her father raised a concerned eyebrow at her.

“You’re talking about Jaxon?” he asked, puzzled. Lyla nodded, and her father made a quick glance out of the window. “Alright, tell me,” Alan retorted, his brow furrowing down his forehead.

Lyla began telling her parents about the previous evening, starting with both of Alex’s encounters with Jaxon, and Lyla’s father began seething through his nose with anger and annoyance. She then continued onto the part about what Clark has said to Alex, starting with the false pregnancy scare, which pulled her father out of his angry trance so that he could be happy for her. She finished with the reason he had done it, and it sent her father into a spiral, but he didn’t know what to do with the information so he walked away to think about things and weigh his options.

Lyla’s mother was amused with the fact that her ex’s business was taking a hit by one worker trying to sabotage the boss’s family members. She began socializing with her Lyla about all the information that was just presented to her, and then hugged Lyla again about the fact that she was not pregnant. She then pulled out her phone and texted two different people but Lyla couldn’t see the names on the screen.

Moments later there was a knock, and Lyla’s father had been the one to answer the door; Clark was standing on the other end of it. Everything got quiet, and no one had been talking when a loud sound filled the air, it was like the sound of a smack but with more force behind it. The ladies spun around and they heard it again, this time they could see what had caused it.

Lyla’s father had been punching Clark, and Clark was now on the ground. Three more punches flew when the ladies ran over to pull Alan off of Clark, and he was now bloody and looked as though his nose had been broken as well as a few teeth being knocked out. Lyla could hear a shallow, wheezing breath coming from Clark, so she knew he was okay, just beat up a little. She gave him a forceful kick to the arm, but it disappointed her that she didn’t have the force to break it; she then dragged him into the house, so that he wasn’t bleeding out on the driveway.

A piercing scream whistled through the house, and everyone whipped around to see a dripping Jaxon standing in the back doorway, covering her mouth. Lyla’s mother pushed her out the back door and had been telling her what occurred in the house, leaving out the part about Lyla’s dad knowing about Jaxon trying to seduce Alex. Her mother then appeared again for a moment, then scurried away to the pool holding a towel.

The commotion downstairs had caused Alex to wake up, and he groggily came down the stairs when he laid eyes on a bruised and bloodied Clark on the living floor. His eyes widened in surprise, he wasn’t sure if an angry Lyla had done that or her father. Lyla looked at him and then flashed an innocent smile and nodded her head over in her father’s direction; he had been in the kitchen cleaning and icing his hand with a bag of peas.

They couldn’t hear what he was saying but they could see that he was mumbling something over by the sink. Alex made a face at Lyla, then began helping her clean up Clark on the floor; Lyla disappeared only for a moment to grab her house’s first aid kit, then met Alex on the floor so she could fix up Clark’s injuries.

They could tell that it was going to be a long day, with a lot of explaining to do on everyone’s part. They put their heads down and began working at fixing and cleaning up Clark, both content with how he had gotten his retribution—even if Lyla’s father didn’t end up firing him. Alex was only a little disappointed that he wasn’t the one to do it to him.