Corrupted Queen - Nicole Fox Page 0,28
like the playful ocean waves under the bright sun, are dull. Lifeless. Her brown curls fall limp against her cheeks.
“I guess so,” Alexis answers.
I don’t know why the impulse grips me. I only know that I cannot stand her sadness anymore.
“Will you have dinner with me?” I ask.
Alexis takes a slow breath and nods. “Yeah. Sure.”
She lifts from the bed and walks to meet me at the doorway. I suppress the urge to hold her heart-shaped face in my hands and run my thumbs down her tear-stained cheeks. Her eyes are rimmed with red, her lips dry. Even so, she’s still the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.
“We should put Harry to bed,” Alexis suggests.
We walk into the nursery and Alexis lifts Harry to her, closing her eyes as she holds him tight to her chest. She rocks him slowly. He puckers his lips, eyelids fluttering closed, and I watch as the two of them get lost in their own little moment.
Alexis and I slip into a familiar routine as we get Harry ready for bed—bathing him, drying him, putting on a fresh diaper and wrangling him into a soft jersey onesie. We don’t speak. We don’t need to. We have done this enough times before that I know when to pass her the towel, and she knows when to turn on the mobile, and both of us know that the best part of the whole process is standing in the darkened room over Harry’s bed as he settles and drifts off to sleep.
“What do you want to eat?” I ask once we are in the hall. “I thought we could get something delivered.”
Alexis shrugs. “Whatever.”
We go to the living room, where we sit on the couch, and I pull out my phone and order. When I am done, I look up and see Alexis staring at me. Her cupid’s bow lips are pressed together in concentration, like she is trying to gain access to my mind.
“What are you doing?” I ask, cocking a brow.
“I want to see it again.”
I shake my head, knowing exactly what she means. “That’s not a good idea.”
Alexis scoots closer, desperation swimming in her eyes. “Please,” she says. “Just one more time.”
“Watching that video won’t help you understand,” I insist, brow furrowing. “There is no magic switch that you can flip where you will suddenly be able to accept what he did.”
“He laughed.” Alexis looks down at her fingers, where I see she has bitten the nails down to the quick. “He and your father laughed while they tortured that man, like it was a game to them.”
I lift her hands from her lap and clasp them in mine. They are ice-cold.
“You need to stop obsessing about it, Alexis. It won’t do you any good.”
She rips her hands away and fixes me with an accusing stare. “You just expect me to forget about it? You can’t turn my world on its head and then tell me to let it go. It’s not that easy.”
“I know.” I sigh. “This is why I didn’t want to tell you about it in the first place. I never intended for you to find out about any of it.”
“It’s always better to know than to not know,” she says in a flat voice. “I just wish I could understand.”
“You never will. You need to accept that.”
Her shoulders slump. “He laughed, Gabriel. He laughed.”
“I know.”
“Just let me see it again,” she pleads.
I shake my head. “No.”
“Please.”
“No, Alexis.”
She sighs and collapses on the sofa, her head falling back against the cushions. My fingers itch to reach for her, to pull her to my chest and kiss her forehead, but I won’t allow myself. So I get up and walk to the drinks cabinet, pouring myself a whiskey.
“Do you want one?” I ask, glancing over my shoulder at Alexis.
She doesn’t move. “Sure.”
I bring her drink over and press it into her palm. Alexis lifts her head and drains the glass, setting it onto the coffee table before slouching back again.
We sit in silence while we wait for the food. I figure from what I know about Alexis, trying to speak to her before she gets some food would be pointless.
I get word from my men that the food has arrived and been set up in the dining room for me, and I stand and offer Alexis my hand. She takes it and I drag her to her feet.
“What did you order?” she asks, a little more interested now that the prospect of dinner