Chapter 42
Lexie
“I’m sorry officer. I didn’t see what Mr. Parker saw. I saw Lexie push her first. Christine was defending herself.”
Christine is no longer on the premises. I think the other officer took her down to question her. Hopefully, they won’t be returning. The woman is crazy and extremely strong for such a slight person. My body hurts everywhere.
“But, Mr. Parker claims…”
“They’re dating,” Katya says rolling her eyes. “Of course, he’d say anything to protect her.”
Sighing, the officer turns to face Gabriel. “Is that true. Are you and Ms. Cartwright in a relationship.”
I want to say ‘no’ because we aren’t. Not anymore, but Gabriel replies, “Yes.”
Sighing, the man from Chicago P.D. closes his little notebook. Turning to me he mutters. “If you still want to press charges, come down to the station. I don’t think you’ll get far, not with different witness accounts.”
I nod and smile weakly at the officer. “Okay. Thank you.” I’m not pressing charges. Why bother? I look up at Gabriel and see his jaw is clenching so tightly I fear he may break some teeth.
“It’s fine. Gabriel. No worries.” I wince in pain as I sit back in my chair.
“Go home, Lexie. You’re obviously hurt. If you don’t feel better in an hour or two, I’ll have Eric take you to the hospital to get checked out.”
“Eric? Eric will take me?”
Gabriel places his palm on my shoulder. “Of course. Do you think I’d allow you to go alone?”
No. I assumed you’d be the one to take me. “No.”
“Of course not. Now, go home.”
I pull my purse out of my bottom drawer and start the walk to the elevator. “Where’s your coat?”
“I left it at home.”
“It’s below freezing out there.”
“I’m fine.”
“Jesus, Lexie.”
I don’t reply. I step onto the open elevator and hit the lobby button. I can’t wait to get out of here. When I don’t see Eric waiting for me, I limp down to the bus stop. I shiver when a gust of wind hits me. “God. I’m an idiot.” In more ways than one.
On the bus, I pull my phone out and open up the internet browser. Typing in some keywords, the page I want opens up immediately. I had a feeling it would be published quickly. What I read makes me want to cry. It’s worse than I imagined. Selecting the web address, I copy and paste the link into a text message to Cammy: www.chicago-magazine.co/GabrielParkerandhisBBW. I don’t add anything else to the message. I don’t need to.
I can’t decide if I want to cry or sleep. I’m so stressed and tired either would be a relief. At home, I toss my purse onto the kitchen counter mumbling things to my pets. They’re all clean and fed, they don’t need me right now even though Cy has a few things to say to me. “Not now, Cy. I’m going to take a long shower and go to bed.”
I sleep for about an hour. It’s not enough, but it’s taken the edge off. Wearing only my panties and an old tee, I stumble out into my kitchen. My body aches from the assault earlier today. I was so tired and in pain from the assault that I hadn’t really thought about Katya’s response to everything. “She lied, Cy.” But why? “She told the officer that I provoked the crazy cow. Why would she say that?”
When I hear a knock on my door, I look up at the wall clock. Six fifteen. No. No way. I tiptoe to the door. “Who is it?”
“It’s Gabriel.”
No. No way. “What do you want?”
“Please open the door, Lex.”
Rolling my eyes, I unlatch the door. As I pull it open, I can’t help noticing how casual he looks, for once. He’s got on dark jeans, and if my eyes don’t deceive me, a brown cable knit sweater peeking out from beneath his Cambridge jacket. “What are you doing here?”
