"Look in the mirror Alexis… Do you know what you'll see a lonely lady… A very lonely lady with nothing and no one in your life!"
"Damn you Dex…Damn you!"
The champagne stung his eyes as Dex lifted a hand to wipe it away wishing at the same moment it was as easy to push aside the guilt that swelled up and twisted in his stomach. Alexis hadn't deserved that, she hadn't provoked him it had been all him; his sick and twisted way of paying her back for dumping him without even a backward glance at the sheer memory of her past romance with Blake.
As he watched her vanish round the corner he felt his heart break, he had more than just lashed out at her for his own hurt feelings he had taken one of her closely guarded secrets and thrown it back in her face. Stabbing her in the back with a confidence she had once trusted him with, her fear of ending up old and alone, before twisting the knife for his own petty revenge.
His uncontrollable jealousy that she could actually prefer the company of a creep like Gavin, that even after his display during their dance she would actually go home with him…Sleep with him…The very idea of her with another man made his blood boil and left him lashing out at her when she couldn't see that he was doing it for her own good…Maurier was scum, couldn't she see she deserved better?
"Alexis wait." The words spilt from his lips before he could stop them, his feet moving to follow her, quickening to a run as he saw her slight form make a dash for a parked car. "Alexis wait, look I'm sorry."
Yet if anything Alexis only seemed to speed up at his words and Dex barely had a chance to pry open the back door of the car as she started it, pulling himself in to the backseat as it sped away even to the sound of the irate owners cry. "Hey lady…."
As the car lurched down the driveway Dex groped for the door pulling it shut finally and alerting Alexis to her unexpected passenger and she turned to glare at him in the mirror angry and hurt tears making their way down her cheeks.
"Get out!"
Taking one glance at her face and another at the rapidly passing countryside Dex bit back a comment about her speeding, and the likelihood of surviving unhurt after bailing out of a car at sixty miles an hour.
"Alexis stop the car…"
"Don't you dare tell me what to do Dex!" Alexis snapped back just as hotly, her intimidating glare more than little undermined by the constant flow of tears.
"I am not telling I am asking you are in no state to drive anywhere and dammit lady this isn't your car and believe me even Alexis Colby can get arrested for theft!"
"If you have a problem with my driving Dexter feel free to get out and hitch a ride!" Alexis retorted reaching up to brush the tears from her face, blinking as she reached across the front seat for a tissue just as they began to go over a bridge.
"God dammit Alexis look out!" Dex's quick call was enough to drag her eyes back to the road in time to stop the car from going straight off of the bridge, and Alexis pulled hard right on the steering wheel whilst slamming on the brakes yet even so she felt the car give a lurch as the drivers front wheel slipped over the edge.
Screaming Alexis held on to the steering wheel as the car continued to groan and lurch and it wasn't until she felt Dex's strong hand on her shoulder that she remembered he was even there.
"Dex…"
"Easy girl…." Dex spoke soothingly trying to keep his voice as calm as possible.
"Alexis you need to unbuckle your seat belt." He paused as Alexis continued to grip the steering wheel as though her life depended on it.
"Alexis I've got you but we need to get out onto the road, so take your right hand off of the wheel." He waited until a shaking Alexis did as he told her and a moment later her seat belt was free.
"Ok now you need to edge across to the other door."
"I can't." Alexis gasped her left hand locked rigidly around the steering wheel. "If I let go of the wheel then the car will move."
"Alexis we can't sit here forever. Trust me I won't let you go, now edge over to the other door." Dex insisted his hand tight on her bare shoulder.
Muttering a quick prayer under her breath Alexis closed her eyes as she slowly inched towards the other door, jumping every time the car gave a shudder or groaned. Finally her fingers closed on the door handle and she had a momentary flicker of doubt as in order to open it she had to let go of the steering wheel.
"Alexis I have got you…Even if we go over I've got you, but since I suspect that dress is dry clean only and I would hate to ruin this suit…." Dex deadpanned trying to use humour to ease her obvious fear.
"Dex I'm scared." Alexis admitted new tears brimming in her eyes as finger by finger she released the steering wheel.
"I know baby but you're not alone."
The next few seconds passed in the blink of an eye and yet for the participants it felt like a lifetime. The moment the wheel was released the car lurched forward and further off of the bridge, but Dex was moving throwing open his own door and leaping out as Alexis struggled to get her own open. Wrenching it open Dex bodily hauled her out of the car, which now not bolstered by his weight tipped further over the river before careening over in a screech of metal against metal.
Panting as they collapsed safely against the wooden boards of the bridge Dex couldn't help pulling Alexis to him, his hands moving over her just as his eyes checked her for any sign of damage other than the slightly glazed expression of shock. When he couldn't find anything he allowed his eyes to fall closed, a silent thank god on his lips as he let his head fall back against the dirt floor.
When he opened them again it was to stare into large emerald eyes that stared at him in relief and confusion. "Dex?"
Reaching up Dex stroked her face gently the knowledge sinking into his thoughts that if he hadn't followed her when he did, that she would have been alone and she could have died and it would have been his fault. Yet it wasn't guilt that motivated him it was the gut wrenching knowledge that he could have really lost her, and she would have died thinking he hated her when in fact the opposite was indeed the truth.
"I love you."
The words slipped from his tongue and Dex couldn't bring himself to regret it.
"I was angry and jealous and I hurt you and I am so sorry Alexis…" He babbled surprised when Alexis stopped him, lifting a hand to lay her fingers across his lips.
"You're supposed to kiss me…Isn't that how it works? The hero saves the girl and then they kiss…" She prompted and Dex didn't need telling twice reaching up to thread his fingers through her hair pulling her mouth down to meet his own, kissing her desperately as if in a moment she might vanish. Feeling her respond hungrily her hands gripping him just as tightly Dex knew there was nothing he cold do to change the past and take back his cruel words but he could influence the future.
And he vowed that moment lying in the road, Alexis's soft warm body pressed against his as their lips danced against one another's, that as long as he had breath left in his body she would never end up alone, not if Dex Dexter could help it.
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