Attraction
1947 Words
Daxon
“Uh Rox…see the thing about that is-”
“You knew?!” Roxanne demanded, interrupting Beatrix. “A-and you didn’t tell me?”
“McCloud, we-we tried.” Remy stammered.
“Don’t you dare ‘McCloud’ me right now, Remington!”
“Let’s just calm down,” I said soothingly rubbing the back of Roxanne’s neck.
“You guys lied to me?” Roxanne whispered. “I’m your best friend.”
“We didn’t want to see you hurt,” Beatrix sighed. “A-and we kind of thought you already knew.”
“No, you didn’t and that’s why you never mentioned it. Screw you guys! Let’s go Daxon!”
“Oh, um, baby maybe we should hear them ou-”
“Now!”
“Pleasure meeting you both,” I got up and followed Roxanne out of the restaurant.
We were silent in the car once again. Roxanne just stared straight ahead. I could see her eyes swimming in tears. I wanted to say something to make her feel better, but I couldn’t.
Suddenly her hands slammed on the dashboard. “f**k! f**k! f**k!” She sobbed violently as she screamed.
I pulled over immediately.
“Roxanne-”
“They knew! Everyone knew what he was doing behind my back and they didn’t tell me! I thought I was happy! I-I thought I had finally found someone who only liked me, but I hadn’t and everyone knew! They saw me fawn all over him at parties a-and talk about our future and I looked like a fool! I’m a f*****g i***t!”
“No, no you’re not.” I insisted.
“You don’t understand Daxon!” She wailed.
“Don’t I?”
Roxanne sighed. “Sorry I forgot. But still. You’re you. And…I’m me. Tyson isn’t the only guy that’s cheated on me you know? They all have.”
My heart was breaking for her. I wondered why she chose guys like that. What the hell am I saying? I was basically a guy like that. After Eleanor, I couldn’t stick to one girl either. I was no better than these assholes she’s crying over right now.
“They’re all idiots, Roxanne.” I muttered.
“You know…I’ve never broken up with anyone. They always break up with me. They always leave me. And I know why. They can sense something broken in me. They know I’m not whole and so they find people better than me. People who are whole. People who aren’t damaged and haunted the way I am.”
I stared at her in confusion. Nothing seemed broken or haunted about her. She was bubbly and magnificent and she lit up rooms. There’s just no way she’s damaged. Not the way I was.
“You are not broken.”
Roxanne finally turned to face me. Tears fell freely down her face and somehow she had never looked more beautiful.
“Yes, I am Daxon. And you have no idea how broken.” She chuckled bitterly. “You don’t see it yet, but you will. And when you do…well I guess I should just be glad this isn't real. Maybe I can make it out of this without getting my heart broken again.”
“Maybe I can’t,” I breathed.
“I know it probably won’t happen, but don’t fall in love with me, Daxon. You’ll just fall out of it anyways. You have the potential to hurt me more than any of those other guys. I don’t have much heart left to break.”
“I won’t break your heart Roxanne, I swear. If there’s any guy in the world you can trust, I want it to be me. I will do anything to protect you. To make sure no one hurts you okay? I will make you feel safe.”
I was shocked when fear showed in her eyes, instead of happiness. “That scares me even more.”
“Why?” I whispered.
“The last person who said that, well…it doesn’t matter. Thank you Daxon. Sorry I’m such a mess.” She laughed.
It was strange the way a smile easily made it back to her face. She was saying a lot of strange and ominous things and suddenly she was okay. Roxanne was such a complex woman.
She was a mystery and I intended to figure her out.
--
We stopped by my work on the way home. I hadn’t been to work since I’d met Roxanne and I had to sign off on some contracts and remind everyone I still ran the place.
“So like, when I go in there, am I your fiancee?” Roxanne asked.
“Um…let’s keep it quiet,” I muttered. “I mean the longer people don’t know, the longer it seems more believable. Usually I’d say no one would even notice you, but you’re kind of hard to miss.”
“Flirt,”
I flashed her my most charming smile as we pulled into the parking lot. I parked in my designated spot.
I held out my arm for Roxanne as we entered the building. My employees had seen me with a woman on my arm countless times
“This is amazing!” Roxanne whispered. “I mean I’d die if I worked in an office, but this is still so cool.”
“This is like the only place I feel at home.” I admitted.
“There you are Daxon!” Gideon exclaimed, approaching us. “Could you two come with me to Conference Room C?”
“Um, Roxanne too?” I asked.
“Yeah, of course, she’s family.”
We followed him down the hall. He threw open the door.
“CONGRATS!”
There were all of my employees and a banner reading ‘Congrats on your Engagement!’.
I’m gonna kill Gideon.
“Um, th-thank you!” I forced a laugh.
I looked over at Roxanne who looked like she might have a panic attack. Still she kept her composure and greeted everyone politely.
“Um…Rosie, could you take Roxanne to my office please?” I whispered.
“Sure, Mr. Vaughn.” She glared at me.
Yeah, she’s pissed about my engagement.
I pulled Gideon out of the room. “What the hell was that?”
“What do you mean? I was being nice.” Gideon stated.
“We weren’t exactly ready to tell everyone yet! You ambushed us!”
“Well jeez, I guess I’ll never do anything nice for you ever again!”
“Like you ever did before. You stole my wife!” I snapped.
“And look, you’re getting a new one!” Gideon exclaimed.
“What the f**k is wrong with you?!” I heard Roxanne shout.
The next thing I heard was Rosie scream and broken glass.
Roxanne
Seeing all these business people stare at me made me nervous.
It was almost like I could see them realizing that I wasn’t good enough for Daxon. What was a small town girl like me doing with one of the most powerful men in the city? What was this nobody doing with Daxon Vaughn?
I was relieved when Daxon asked Rosie to take me to his office. I got a weird vibe off of her, but tried to ignore it.
“It’s not gonna last,” Rosie said suddenly, her green eyes burning into mine.
“Excuse me?”
“I was just in his bed four days ago. I don’t know how you manipulated him into a marriage, but it won’t work. You’re not good enough for him.”
Her words cut like a knife and yet pissed me off.
“And you’re jealous. You think because Daxon f****d you you’re special or something? He used you Rosie, he told me so himself. And no matter how much it hurts your little feelings, I’m going to marry him. He was on top of me last night and will be again tonight. Desperation isn’t a good look on you sweetie.”
I gasped as Rosie slapped the hell out of me.
“What the f**k is wrong with you?!” I screamed, smacking her back.
She tackled me on Daxon’s desk, causing most of the contents to fall to the floor and break. I threw Rosie off of me and onto the floor with the broken glass. I punched her in the face over and over, unable to control myself.
“Roxanne!” Daxon cried.
I got distracted and Rosie hit me in the nose.
“f**k! You b***h!” I grabbed her hair and slammed her head against the floor.
I felt Daxon pull me off of Rosie.
“Let them fight a little longer, this is hot!” Gideon chuckled.
Daxon carried me out of the room, to one of the empty conference rooms. He set me down before slamming the door.
“What was that?” He asked.
“She slapped me and told me I wasn’t good enough for you.” I huffed.
“Roxanne, you were really hitting her!”
“I’m sorry, I just…fight or flight, you know?”
I couldn’t believe I had lost control like that. It had been so long since I had let that side of me be released. I hated that Daxon saw it.
“I’m gonna have to fire her.” Daxon sighed.
“You can’t,” I whispered. “You f****d her. She’s gonna sue you for s****l harrasment.”
“f**k…but she hurt you. I literally just promised to protect you.”
“As you saw, sometimes I can protect myself.”
Daxon laughed slightly and reached for a tissue. He gently grabbed the back of my head and wiped my nose.
“You’re bleeding babe,”
“You should see the other girl.” I smiled.
“You’re turning my life upside down, Rox, you know that?” He breathed. I nodded. “You’re a lunatic.”
“You’re marrying me, so what does that make you?” I murmured.
“Out of my f*****g mind.”
--
I stayed in the conference room while Daxon did what he needed to do. We walked out of the office, hand in hand. I glared at Rosie as I left. She had a black eye, a cut lip, and swollen nose.
I couldn’t lose control like that again.
As we approached the car, Daxon stopped.
“What?” I asked.
He pulled me to him and kissed me softly. He wrapped his arms around my waist tightly. My hands went to his handsome face, kissing him back.
I pulled away slightly. “What’s that for?”
“I’m really f*****g attracted to you,” Daxon smiled. “You have to know that.”
“Too bad you’re hideous.”
--
We went back to the house and Daxon went to his home office to get some work done. He suggested I look through some scripts that had been sent to Vaughn Showcase so I could see which roles I wanted to try out for.
There were so many good scripts and quite a few horrible ones, but at this point, I would be in anything that would get my name out there.
“f**k!” I heard Daxon yell.
“Dax?” I called, making my way to his office. “What’s wrong?!”
When I entered the room he gestured to the TV.
“You heard it here first, one of the most eligible bachelors in the city, CEO Daxon Vaughn, is getting married to an unknown woman. Everyone wants to know who this woman is.”
Daxon sighed “There goes the secret.”
- Writer
