Thisisnotagood sign, the harsh reality of the truth is creeping. At this point, I don’t know how much longer we can keep somewhat of the truth. But could my hunch now expand?
I throw the truck into gear as my mind gets occupied by the new information.
Charlotte is yelling at me to stop and go back, but I have information that is deemed pertinent, something that can open the gate on all this.
What I didn’t tell Charlotte, yet, was that I didn’t find signs of trouble inside. Other than the door, I don’t know where the damn kid is. But his writing is enough for me to tie things together.
I wake from auto-pilot thinking to find Charlotte smacking my arm, trying to get me to stop the truck. It wasn’t going to happen.
“Asshole, go back! We need to go back and look. We still need answers.” She continued to hit my arm in a bruising manner. I’ve taken hits before, but she had her own force behind each hit.
“We were supposed to do this my way. You promised,” her voice trembles.
“I promised to keep you out of danger and just go with you.” I say.
“Keola, you wanted in my good graces. You just fucked that up.” She teeters.
She goes to swing one more time, I snatch her hand in the mid-swing. I catch her look from the corner of my eye, she’s stunned, quiet. “Angel, you’re going to listen like the good girl I know you are.” It doesn't take a genius to know she’s blushing like she’s turned on and doesn’t want to admit it. “You can take your anger out on me in a way both of us will be pleased and sated. And once you have calmed down, I think you’ll appreciate things a little bit more.”
Her breathing becomes heavy, knowing that her mind is racing with the same agonizing thoughts as I have had for the past few weeks. I have been counting down the hours, minutes, seconds until I can officially sink myself into her and finally make her realize that I wasn’t planning to go anywhere.
She fell into my life and I’d be damned now if she fell out of it.
She remains silent until we are through the threshold of my place. There she stands frozen in time. On the outskirts of town was my place, nestled in with open land but neighbors were across the street and down the main drag.
“You live here?” Her genuine surprise is cute.
“Yes angel, I live here. Did you think I lived somewhere else?” I ask as I turn on the lights through the house.
Her quiet footsteps creep into the living room and study area. I leave her to go rummage through my office.
“I mean I thought that you lived on the compound.” She bluntly says. I storm back through to the living room, seeing her touch objects around the mantle.
“You thought I did what?” I lean against the opening.
“You know the compound, where all your scary biker things happen. The place where the boogeyman lives,” she examines a random vase. “Seriously didn’t peg you for a home looking like a picture from the catalog of Target.”
“There’s a lot that you don’t know, but I hope that you will soon.” I say, earning me her gaze. “You have to trust me.”
Her eyes narrow down, I step towards her, tilting her chin back up at me. “ Not fully, but a little bit at a time,” I kiss her forehead. She tries to hide another yawn from me, between stress and everything else in her life, I don’t blame her for being exhausted.
“Lay on the couch. I gotta make a couple of calls and then I promise I’ll explain everything,” I go to turn, but not before she grabs my hand.
“Keola?”
I turned back, “Charlotte?”
“Kiss me again,” she pleads. “Help me silence the thoughts in my head.”
A smug grin spreads on my face, “What do you say?”
She closes the gap on us, “Please.”
“How can I deny my sweet beautiful angel a kiss,” I tuck the loose hair behind her ear before grabbing the sides of her face and planting a kiss on her lips. She tastes like vanilla, a warm vanilla that has been sitting in the sun. Her body presses against me, fitting into every crevice like she belongs there.
Like she’s the missing piece.
My tongue slips between her lips, allowing me to explore, bringing her closer to the edge. She may be an angel, but she’s a siren that calls to me.
