Cherry Girl (Neil & Elaina 1)

We sat there in silence for a bit, him smoking, me breathing it in second hand, the smell reminding me of Afghanistan, taking me back to other times and other places. Places where I’d been with Ethan, a long time ago when things were different. He was very quick, and I imagined he’d puzzle it all out in another moment or two.

“Elaina’s the girl, isn’t she? The one from years ago, that you…lost, right before that last tour.” He lit up another Djarum.

“Yes. It’s her.”

I put on my coat and peered out the window from the forty-fourth floor.

Well, shit.

Late leaving work tonight and it was already completely dark outside. The fall weather had arrived in full force, too. The temperatures were dropping and the rain was falling.

The ride home on the train didn’t worry me, but the walk to my house from the station most certainly did. Maybe I could call Mum to come pick me up in the car.

But I didn’t like to do that. It was a risk I really couldn’t take and I knew very well why. Mum would be well into her G&T’s.

I was pondering calling my brother on the small chance he wasn’t already committed to Friday night happy-hour somewhere, when Neil stepped through to reception.

He wore a solemn look on his face and his coat on his back. With his briefcase in his hand, he appeared to be leaving work for the night, same as me.

“I’ll take you home,” he said, walking ahead of me toward the lifts.

I stared at him in surprise. This was the first time he’d really spoken to me since that first day, and it made me wary.

He stepped into the lift. I stayed rooted in the hall.

After a moment, he poked his head out, his hand holding the door open. “Well, are you coming?”

“What? No. I’ll take the Tube like I always do.”

He shook his head slowly at me. “You’re not walking home in this pissing rain in the dark, Elaina.”

“I’ll ring Mum from the station to come and collect me.”

“No, you won’t ring her, and we both know why. Get in.”

I paused, unsure how to respond, tempted by his direct command but afraid to be so close to him again. The inside of a lift was very small quarters. And Neil was such a big man. And, he would be in it with me. Intimidating as hell was a good descriptor for him at that moment.

“The lift, Elaina?” He cocked his head impatiently. The lift bell dinged and I saw the G lit up in red on the panel, indicating he was heading down to the parking garage.

“No, thank you.” I shook my head at him. “I’m taking the Tube home.” I let the doors close Neil inside the lift where he was still frowning at me from behind those beautiful features he’d been born with.

Relief spilled through me and I closed my eyes for a moment.

With a steady hand, I calmly pressed the button to call another lift. When it arrived, I made sure to select the street level because I had a feeling Neil might insist on taking me home tonight.

He knew too much about me. He knew the station and how far I had to walk from there in order to arrive at my home. He knew my mother’s drinking habits and that she couldn’t drive to come for me. He knew Ian was busy somewhere as it was a Friday night. Neil knew everything.

Elaina was living proof that it was very possible to want to protect someone and strangle them simultaneously. Metaphorical strangulation, of course, along with some other things I could think of doing to her.

Christ in heaven, I was going to lose my mind if I didn’t spot her in the next minute or two.

Once she ditched me at the lifts it’d been a race across town to beat her train to the station. Not easy to do in Friday evening London traffic. Throw the rain in on top of it and it was a bloody mess. The strangling still seemed a viable option to me at the moment. That, or kiss her until she couldn’t breathe.

I had a trump card though. I’d called her mum and tattled; right before assuring her I would find Elaina and bring her safely home. Mum Morrison still loved me even if her daughter didn’t.

Yeah, it would make Elaina spitting mad but I didn’t care. She could join my fuckin’ hell club. I’d spent the past week in a continual state of madness from this whole cocked up situation. She’d have to just deal with it. And me.

There she was, slogging through the sideways rain with her head down. I could spot those legs of hers anywhere. A hundred years could have passed and my brain would still have remembered exactly how she was made.