Page 41 of Lightning Angel
Alexa felt her throat close, but she choked out her response, “I believe you.”
Her choice of words baffled him, it was evident on his face, but not as evident as the revelation she had now with her. Alexa gave him one small smile and walked into her house. Once inside, she locked the door and leaned against it.
It was him. All the time, it had been him.
Cassie had been right, and she had refused to believe it.
But no longer.
The truth was right before her eyes. Why—howelse could he give her his word on keeping her safe? What other explanation was there about his heroic rescue back at the bridge?
Hewas the Lightning Knight.
Her Lightning Knight.
8
Invisible Protector
Alexa sat on her bed after the refreshments and she changed into her PJs. She called Cassie as promised and updated her on every detail of her ‘date’ with Tristan—that’s what Cassie insisted it was, despite Alexa’s protests.
Though, the details didn’t include her attempting to leap from a bridge and Tristan saving her, or that she had finally figured he was the Lightning Knight. Alexa could’ve told herthatpart, but she knew she’d have to explainhowshe figured out something that they’d dropped after comparing the handwriting on the notes.
The handwriting was something that still confused Alexa, but she told herself that perhaps Tristan used different styles on purpose so she wouldn’t figure out it was him. He did prefer to bemysterious, after all.
Cassie would find out about it soon, because Alexa wasn’t capable of keeping anything as thrilling as such information from her sister. Perhaps tomorrow. Because tomorrow would be the day that everything in her life collided.
After they hung up, Alexa reclined on a pillow and scrolled through her Instagram notifications. In the distress of the last few days, she had been barely online.
Though she had retreated from most activities after her dad’s passing and hadn’t return to them yet—like her dates with Jude, Melissa’s club meetings and house parties, and filming videos for her YouTube channel—she did go back to running her Instagram account after the first month itself, doing covers of songs that comforted her in her grief. Books had always been her comfort zone besides music, so she was still making book review reels too.
Replying to every polite comment, she finally decided it was time to sleep, when suddenly there was a knock at her bedroom door.
Alexa stiffened on the bed, staring at the closed door.Lightning Knight?Then she corrected herself.Tristan?
The knocking continued after a moment of pause, this time sharper, and followed by a voice. “Alexa, open up!”
Alexa’s heart jumped. She leapt off her bed in terror.Brandon?What washedoing here? How did he get inside?
Alexa held her ground with caution. She clutched the phone to her chest that heaved with the force of her breaths, her panic reaching the skies. The door wasn’t locked, but he didn’t know that. If only she could tiptoetoward it and lock it.
Alexa reached for the key and Brandon’s knocking became banging. His voice cut through the door like a sharp blade. “Alexa, I know you’re in there.”
The knob turned, and Alexa stilled, her heart stopping for a moment. If he opened the door, she was going to call the authorities. She unlocked the phone with trembling fingers and went to her contacts list, finding the Child Protective Service.
Her thumb hovered over the call button.
The knob kept turning, but the door didn’t open. Was he trying to scare her?
“Open the darn door, Alexa!” Brandon’s voice ordered as he resumed banging.
But she hadn’t locked it! She hadn’t ever bothered to lock it before. Who locked their bedroom doors when the house was secure? Perhaps she should start locking the door from now on; it seemed her house wasn’t so secure after all.
How on earth did Brandon get inside?
“It’s not locked!” she called back before she knew it.
The banging paused and Brandon laughed. “Nice game, pretty doll. But what fun is a game when played alone? Let me in and it would be much, much better.”