Kris stood next to Ellie where she sat staring at a blank canvas in the middle of the living room. Painting always helped her express herself, but she was empty, full of grief and disappointment. Everything stuck inside her with no way out.
“Does this mean you are taking the job?” Kris asked, tugging on Ellie’s curly hair.
“My bags are packed and I’m booked on the six a. m. flight.”
“So you are running away? Have you tried-”
“It’s not going to change anything,” She said, cutting Kris off, “I’m just not there yet.”
“And when will that be?”
Ellie looked at her blankly. She didn’t know the answer to that question; if she did, it would have made things so much easier.
“How many more hours are you going to stare at that thing?”
Ellie gave her a weak smile and then turned back to the canvas, even more worn out than she was when she first sat down.
Kris moved to answer the door. “Well if that canvas doesn’t give you an answer soon, we can try my Ouija board or I can call my online psychic to do a reading for you.”
Ellie laughed, “Thanks but I’m going to stick to the forces I know exist.”
“Aahh, Ellie….” Kris whispered.
“Hmm?” she answered, unconsciously as she stared at the blank canvas for an answer.
“What are you doing?”
Ellie jumped at his voice and turned around. It was the last thing she’d expected. “Dale what are you doing here?”
He stood straight in a menacing stern pause in front of her; it made her uneasy. “Did you really expect I’ll do nothing after you walked out on me?”
Ellie curbed the urge to retreat from his hard deportment. At the moment, he wasn’t the fun, arrogant and sexy Dale, he was the hard, no nonsense, sexy FBI Agent Carson. Arousing, but scary.
“I’ll leave you two alone.” Kris rushed away to her room, closing the door securely behind her and abandoning Ellie.
“Dale I just don’t want to date you. What about that don’t you understand?” Ellie retreated to her room hoping to lock the door behind her, but Dale pushed the door open, closing it behind him.
“Why?”
Ellie crossed her arms over her chest and stayed quiet.
“In my line of work, people always have a reason for committing the crimes they do. As sick, demented and even petty as they may be, there is still a reason. So what’s your reason?”
“I’m not one of your psychopaths you can profile Dale,” she moved to the door to escape but he blocked it, “Dale!”
Her words were caught out of her mouth by a surprise kiss. It was deep, desperate and sweet and felt so sincere and naked that it took all she had with much regret to pull away. “Dale, please don’t…” He kissed her again cutting her off, and this time he didn’t give her any room to breathe let alone speak.
She liked the feel of his lips on hers, then her cheek and her throat. It was soft, light and teasing like getting tickled by a feather. When he grazed the back of her neck with his finger tips, she sighed and once he bit down softly in the nape of her neck her sighs turned into moans. She loved it when he touched her. He lifted her heavy hair up to undo the knot of her halter top. He traced his fingers down her spine pulling the top down slowly, and finally settling on her waist.
“I love your waist, it fits in my hand like it’s meant to be there,” he shifted, pulling at her bottom lip with his teeth. “And this part right here,” he placed his finger into the hollow curve at the small of her back and drew it up and down slow and lightly, “It’s perfect to kiss, just like this part,” he pulled her in, trapping her lips with his.
It didn’t take much coaxing for her to start swaying to his tune. She unbuttoned his shirt as she planted kisses on his smooth chest. She traveled her hands lightly on his skin as she felt his arms and broad shoulders, his muscles tightening at her touch as she settled them on his back. She wanted to feel his skin against hers. Just one time. She was breaking a number of her rules, but this was different, it was necessary. It was the only time she would be with him.
“You are never going to be rid of me Ellie, never.” He whispered on her lips, before he took them as his again.
She didn’t respond. She didn’t want to. All she wanted was to savor the moment, his touch, his kiss…. She was going to etch the memory of that night in her mind.
Remember the night, forget the man.
Carson woke up alone in Ellie’s bed, the memory of the previous night still fresh in his mind like a video stuck on a loop. It was wonderful, different and fulfilling unlike sex. Probably why they called it making love, he thought to himself. He wrapped her bed spread around his waist and went out of the room to look for her.
Walking into the living room, “Babe, where are you?”
“She’s gone,” Kris spoke from behind him.
“Gone where?”
“She got offered a job to teach a summer art course in New York.”
That pissed him off, “Where exactly in New York?”
“I’m sorry but I can’t tell you that.” Kris felt guilty and sad for him and her best friend for her stubbornness. “You can email and text her, she’ll answer but don’t call her because she won’t pick up.”
“Because she’s a coward!” his anger came to the surface.
“No, she’s stubborn, but not a coward.”
“What the hell made her hate cops so much?”
“It’s not my place to say.”
“Her way or the high way, whatever it is, it has to be on her terms.”
Kris smiled, “You are finally getting her. Talk to her about anything and everything but don’t ask her to come back. She needs to be okay before the two of you can be okay.”
He gave her a weak smile in return. With no other choice but to accept the cryptic explanation, he went back to Ellie’s room for the last time, until god knows when.
I’ll text you, I’ll email you and I’ll send you post cards if I have to. I’ll nag you until you get over your hang ups and come back because…. I don’t know…. there is something there Ellie.
Audrey stood close to Carson and hugged his back. She felt guilty having a hand in Carson’s failed relationship. She wished she hadn’t pushed, but all she wanted was for her best friend to settle down and be happy- with anyone else but Gwen.
Carson unclamped her hold on his waist and turning to face her asked, “Are you okay?”
“I should be asking you that,” she whispered, looking up at him under her multicolored bangs, “I just don’t understand why she did that to you.”
Carson hid his own pain behind a chuckle. He was never known as a man to be broken by a woman or a brooder and he was going to keep it that way, “It’s okay. She has her own issues to sort out first. Then we’ll see if this relationship is worth continuing.”
Audrey groaned then dropped her head on to his chest, “You’ve never used the word relationship with any other girl, which means you really like her, which means she is going straight to the top of my shit list if she doesn’t fix things!”
That concerned Carson. He hadn’t realized Audrey was so invested in his relationship.
He put his fingers under her chin and pushed her head up, “Audrey,” he said with a kind warning, “Don’t do anything that’s going to get her into any legal problems.”
She smiled, some furtive behind it, and then pulled away, “Too late!”
“Audrey, when she comes back I hope I’m not going to be called to bail her out.” He meant the warning to be harsh but she just smiled at him unfazed.
“Maybe some little rescuing will help her appreciate you more.”