Had she been crying?I cocked my head to the side to see if I could get a closer look, but her eyes appeared slightly puffy.
“Yes,” I replied while I set my napkin on the table and stood.
We quickly said goodnight to the other women at the table, and Elise turned and began striding towards the entrance of the ballroom. I walked briskly to keep an even pace with her. I didn’t want people to think she had had an argument with me, and that’s why we were leaving.
“Do you want to say goodbye to Angela or Samantha?” I asked quietly as we walked out of the ballroom and into the lobby of the hotel.
Elise laughed and shook her head at me.
“Nope, I’m good,” she said in a sharp tone.
While we waited for my car in the valet, Elise began pacing along the cobblestone sidewalk that led into the hotel. Her heels clicked with each step, as though they were calculated to just fuck with my mind. I was able to tune all sounds around me off with the exception of the heavy promise of something unexpected to come, disguised in a simple footstep.
Audible, but unspoken mindfucks turned me on. Things like hearing a leather belt being pulled out of belt loops, or heavy calculated footsteps, or hearing a Dom or Top lightly swat the falls of a flogger against their own legs simply drove me wild. Elise was about to unhinge me as she paced with her heavy footsteps.
Finally, my car pulled up, and we were on our way back to her place. I had hoped that she would start up a conversation, but she didn’t. I began wondering if maybe while she was in the bathroom that she started to feel consumed by memories of her late husband.
“Dinner was good,” I recalled, hoping it would spark the start of a conversation. “Thank you for taking me with you, Mistress Elise.”
“Yep.”
Okay. That didn’t sound good. One word, short and sharp replies weren’t good at all. We drove in silence for a bit, and then I tried again.
“Were you glad you attended?” I cautiously asked.
Her laugh sounded as though I was bordering on annoying her. I would tread carefully, but I was worried.
“Overall, I was glad that I went. Having you with me made my night, Andrew.”
There! She was coming around! Elise’s emotional armor was coming down, or at least opening up in a few places.
“I was happy to go with you. I remembered to pick up a pin from the table for you,” I told her and reached into the pocket of my tux jacket. I held the ‘Not Forgotten’ pin in the palm of my hand and offered it to her.
“It’s funny, you know?”
“What’s that?” I asked.
“I spent all this time supporting people who I believed were my family. When tragedy strikes, everyone rushes in to help and support. But then the following month comes along, and it gets very lonely.” Elise paused for a few moments and gazed out the window.
Perhaps seeing all of the people that had been extensions of her family had hit her hard. Come to think of it, in the time that I had been living with her, I’d never heard a phone call between her and anyone other than Liz.
“Fuck them, anyhow,” Elise huffed. “They’re just catty, jealous bitches,” she added.
I frowned and glanced at her. Elise was still gazing out the window. Had something happened?
“Did something happen?”
“No. Let’s forget about it and enjoy the rest of our evening, Andrew,” Elise said, the edge of her voice was gone, and a small smile had even appeared.
In a surprise move, she covered the back of my hand with hers and squeezed it tightly.
“If you’re good, when we get home, I’ll beat you,” she teased.
“Promise?”
“Oh, Andrew, Andrew, Andrew,” she laughed. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, young man.”
I felt re-energized and as though the electrical current that had been whipping around between us at the dinner, had returned. I wanted to kiss her so badly. As we walked inside, Elise hooked her arm around my elbow. As I unlocked the door, I offered to start a fire in the fireplace.
