Caught In The Middle

Chapter 39

"Oh my God" Khadja shrieked when she saw me.

"Hi" I smiled at her.

"Lexi, I haven't seen you in ages" Khadja said before running to me and giving me a big hug.

"I know. I've been overseas" I laugh hugging back. "Out and about you know".

"It felt like years" Khadja said pulling back. "You look great"

"Really? Thanks" I smiled.

"You're glowing and you've also put..." Khadja started but I held up my hands.

"No. Don't say it, I know. I've gained a few extra pounds" I said.

"I wasn't going to say that" Khadja chuckled.

"Yeah right" I said sarcastically before laughing.

"It looks good on you" Khadja said smiling.

"Thank you" I chuckled.

"Khadja you need to get back to....Lexi?" Derek said smiling in surprise as he came up to us.

"Hey manager, how is it going?" I smiled.

"This is unbelievable" Derek said coming to hug me.

Today was my first day out of the house since I've been back. I just didn't want to stay in anymore now that I was feeling better. I was longing to go back to work and check up on the restaurants and store. I just know that me sitting at home not doing anything really was going to make me gain a lot of weight, because all I'd be doing is eat and sleep. I needed to get out so today was my day. I was so over hiding from Gio now, I've had it now. Its been over two months since the incident, I think it was time to move on.

I was obviously missed here if the hugs I was getting now from everyone here was any confirmation. Everyone kept telling me that I looked well and that the vacation sure did me well. I got to love my staff here at Lexi's, no doubt about that. Everyone here was like a second family, I believed that I must have been doing something right as a boss here because if I wasn't I don't think everyone would be this happy and welcoming at seeing me back here this morning. I mean no one likes a terrible boss,so no one would be this happy to see me again if I was.

"So are you gonna be taking back your office from me now?" Derek chuckled.

"Not permanently" I chuckled. "But I'll be in from time to time".

"So guess I better clear out today then" Derek laughed.

"No, not today. I won't be staying in long today" I said to him. "I just came to check how things were going on so far, I'm gonna be going to check on Specialicious today as well and the store so I'm not gonna be taking over until tomorrow".

"Well guess I get to be manager for another day then" Derek chuckled.

"Derek, you're always manager" I smiled. "Whether you're here or not"

***
After spending a few hours at Lexi's I then left and went to check up on things at Specialicious. Mrs. Hart and Eylene really had everything under control as usual. After I had check the book figures and the settings of the place, I even had a bite before heading over to CHANCES.

"So you decided to finally come back out?" Kathleen asked me.

"Yeah, I'm sick of staying in everyday" I told her.

"Are you sure about this Lexi?" Kathleen whispered worriedly.

We were at the store and customers as well as other staff members were walking about so we had to be careful not to talk too loud.

"No I'm not" I said to her. "But its been over two months now, I refused to spend the rest of my life from Gio or being scared of his threats"

"But based on what you said he sounded pretty serious and really pissed I wouldn't take it lightly" Kathleen said to me. "I remembered getting threatened by Keith I didn't take it lightly, I ran and he found me. He almost killed me Lexi, you saw"

"And we both know where he ended up after don't we?" I said to her.

"I'm sorry" I said after seeing the look on her face. I often forget that things like this are sensitive topics for her. "Its just that I'm tired of feeling like I'm hiding Kathleen. I've never had to be living in fear yet and I'm not about to start now so if Gio thinks that he's gonna get to me then let him. I'm not backing down either".

"I just don't like this whole thing Lexi" Kathleen said to me. "I've been there with an ex boyfriend threatening me. For you it may be different because you know self defense and stuff but still, even though I'm not the one being threatened I still feel fearful about it"

"It'll be alright Kathleen" I tried reassuring her. "Gio is the one being stupid, he isn't even giving me a chance to explain or anything. He just jumped the first chance he get to believe that I was the one spying and bringing out information on his group back to Dominic. It doesn't even make sense since Dominic isn't the one stealing his shipments or anything. Sure a few deals has been lost on his path because Dominic got them but the stolen shipment that he talks about doesn't have anything to do with the Luciano. If he can't allow me to explain things to him and feel the need to try and carry out all these threats then I can't stop that, but I'm done hiding".

"I just hope this whole thing could somehow be put behind us" Kathleen sighed.

"Me too" I said to her. "Its getting really tiring that is why I'm not hiding anymore. Maybe this will be the start"

"Do you think things are gonna be better?" Kathleen asked.

"I really don't know but I'm hoping it will" I said to her. " I just won't get my hopes up".

Alright guys, so here's an update. To me this chapter sucks and is really boring but I was having a writers block. I didn't know what to write for this chapter but I wanted to give you guys an update so I just tried patching this up. I'm sorry if its not what you expect, hopefully the next chapter will be better and get more exciting.
Anyway you could still comment and let me know what you think.