“I’d love that,” Alix said. “Okay, so plan set. We go back to my place to park, walk over to Hermosa Pier, and then after lunch and an afternoon by the sea, we can take care of the rest. You know, Kade, you’re pretty awesome, you know that? A girl could search her whole life for a guy like you.”
“All it takes is the right circumstances to happen, I guess,” I replied, momentarily shaken by Alix’s words. I couldn’t let her see it though, so I cracked a smile. “Then again, knowing my luck, I’d end up with a total blonde like you or something.”
As we drove north along the PCH toward Hermosa Beach, my mind wandered to places that it wasn’t supposed to, places that I had set up iron-clad walls to prevent myself from visiting. The problem was, for all of the taunting I’d given Alix, the reason I had was because she was, in so many ways, the woman of my dreams. Despite her bitching toward Layla and Dad, she was normally sweet and innocent, kind to almost everyone she met. I’d once gone to an industry party she’d been invited to soon after she turned eighteen, just to see what the fashion industry was like. Despite the glamour, despite the outfits and the supposedly beautiful bodies, most of the people there were miserable pains in the ass. There was more backbiting, snippy comments, and just unhappy people than I had ever seen gathered together at once. But through it all, Alix was kind and nice to everyone, even when they were being mean to her.
I realize many of my own comments to her were just as bad as what the fashionistas said that night. And yes, I realize that makes me a hypocrite. I couldn’t help myself, and at the time I thought it was better than what the alternative was.
When we got to Alix’s house, I was surprised. I’d expected, like most young people in Los Angeles, that she’d be living in an apartment. Instead, I parked my Lexus in front of a very nice little two-bedroom bungalow. “I didn’t realize when you said you had your own place that you literally meant you had your own place,” I said as I put the car in park. “When did you get this?”
“About a year ago,” Alix said with a smile. “I was sharing an apartment with some girls in Torrance, near the Fashion District, but I couldn’t put up with one of them. She insisted on smoking as a way to control her weight for shoots, and every time she was booked for a runway show the apartment smelled horrible for two weeks. I tried everything, from leaving my windows open to air fresheners, but it just didn’t work. Derek gave me good advice. I picked it up as a bank foreclosure, and as long as I live here another four years, I can get tax write-offs on it before flipping it and making a profit, or I can turn it into a rental property.”
I shook my head in amazement. “You know Alix, I think that’s the first time I’ve heard you give Dad a compliment.”
“Derek’s not a bad guy,” Alix replied. “You know that. And I can tell from the way he talks about you that he was a great father. I guess . . . I guess I just wish I still had my father in my life. So when I do get bitchy with him, it’s not his fault.”
I held my tongue, but it took me literally biting it to not let myself say what I wanted to say. Instead I nodded and got out of the car. “If we’re going to the pier, let’s get going. Is there anywhere nearby I can get a change of clothes though? I dressed for Dana Point, and if we’re going to hang out on the beach, I’d like to wear some shorts instead.”
Alix shook her head but then grinned. “I might have something that works for you inside, though.”
She was right. Apparently, as part of the marketing deal with Reebok, the UFC gave everyone involved a swag bag. Since Alix wasn’t into the sort of fashion that the UFC fighters wore, she had just taken a set for a friend. “A guy who I was seeing at the time,” she said evasively, and I let it go. I didn’t tell Alix everything about my personal life either.
The style wasn’t what I normally preferred, but it wasn’t as garish as some of the board shorts that I’d seen. There were no dragons, no flaming skulls or tribal designs, just the UFC logo in large letters on the left thigh. I was already wearing a blue t-shirt, so it was a decent enough match. “How do I look?”
“Better than the guy who wore that for the website,” Alix said, coming out of her room. I had to blink a few times; she’d changed into a bikini top with a gauzy, see-through cover up that didn’t in any way hide the amazing figure beneath, and a pair of board shorts that still hugged her hips before going about halfway down her thighs. I noticed they were black too, and she’d chosen a bikini top that was nearly the same shade of blue as my shirt. “I figured you wouldn’t mind.”
“We’re going to look like a couple,” I grumbled without even thinking. Alix’s face lit up, and her lips spread into a beautiful smile.