Her hands lift, and she touches it. “I needed a change.”
I have no words for that. So, I say nothing and just stare. It’s creepy, but I can’t help myself, she’s been on my mind for a long time.
“Do you not want to talk to me?” she asks as I take a seat across from her.
“I’m afraid I’ll say the wrong thing and scare you.”
She takes a deep breath at my words and sits on the coffee table in front of me so we are eye level. If I looked down, I could see up her dress. So, I try hard to keep my eyes level with hers.
“I am scared of you. But I realized I never thanked you either.”
I say nothing, what is there to say?
“You did come and get me, and I don’t know what that cost you. But thank you.” She brushes a short piece of her hair back as she watches me intently. “This is so unlike you, I could never shut you up.”
“What do you want me to say, Ariel?”
She cringes at my words. “I came here hoping you weren’t going to be here today, but I knew somehow you would be. I just knew it…” She pauses and looks past me, then the door opens and closes. “But I realized today… well, Chad helped me realize… if you wanted to hurt me you actually would have. I don’t think you wanted to hurt me, Falcon.”
“Of course I didn’t,” I say, and I know my face is scrunched up in confusion.
“You quit your job?” she asks.
“You quit yours,” I say.
“I did.”
“Do you miss it?”
She nods. “I miss the stories, but I work for Storm now. Nothing like I was doing before but it’s still writing…” She pauses. “What are you doing?”
Shrugging, I answer her. “Nothing. Drinking. Nothing.”
Her lips part softly. Her name is called and she stands. I look at her legs and would give anything to have them wrapped around me right now.
“Don’t leave, okay?” she asks softly.
I don’t do anything as she walks off. I just get up and make my way out the side of the house and straight for my car.28Ariel ‘Raven’“He left,” Storm says, coming up behind me. I turn, looking into the house, and there’s no sign of him. Of course he left. I sigh, he looked so… lost. I’ve never seen anything other than confidence emanating from every pore of him. But even with that look on his face, he’s still the most handsome man I’ve ever seen and that is without a doubt. The stubble on his face made me want to touch it, the look in his eyes made me want to wrap my hands around him and pull him to me.
“What did you say to him?” Tracey asks.
I can’t tell her what really happened. No one really knows. Chad has some idea but not all the details. I woke up this morning feeling better. Today’s a new week. I’ve been working with Storm now for two weeks, and I hadn’t seen him once until today. It took me all week to gain the courage to come to her birthday party because I knew he’d be here. But some things you have to let go, or it will consume and take you whole. I couldn’t let what happened define me or change me any more than it already had. I came out unhurt, apart from my feelings. Those were fucked up and needed time to heal, which I think they now have. And seeing him proved that, but it seems he’s taken it harder than I have, and I was the one who was taken without my permission.
“Nothing. Where’s he going?”
Echo walks up answering. “Home. He never leaves it.” He passes me a key, and I take it looking up at him. “He doesn’t let anyone in, but he forgot we have a key.” His lip twitches and I nod my head.
“Be kind to him, okay? Whatever happened between you two has changed him. I’m not sure if it’s for the best, either,” Tracey says.He’s home, I know he is. The music is blaring and his car’s in the driveway. I knock and no one answers. So, I place the key in the lock after I knock again. It clicks open and I see him at the bar of his kitchen counter, draped over it with a drink in his hand.
“You know it’s rude to enter someone’s house without their permission,” he says not looking up. I walk to the music and shut it down so I can hear him properly. His place is a mess, there’s shit everywhere and it stinks. So unlike him. I take the stool next to him and sit, waiting for him to move or to even look up, but he doesn’t.