by A. M. Wilson
“Are you aware that Miss Martin has been missing since last Saturday evening?”
What the fuck is going on? Katie and Elias dated? Does this make Elias a suspect? Where was he really on Saturday? I swallow hard against the bile rising in my throat. My forehead is beginning to sweat as a wave of heat washes over me. I’m certain he can feel the dampness pooling in my palm pressed against his own hand. Or maybe it’s his sweat I’m feeling.
“That’s…unsettling. I had no idea.” Elias sounds calm, unaffected by the sudden onslaught of information. I’m unsure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing. My heart jackhammers in my chest as if it’s trying to crash through my ribs. It’s good if it means he has no lingering feelings for her, but it’s bad if it means he’s not surprised to hear she’s been missing. My free hand is fidgeting with the material of my dress. “Do I need to hire an attorney?”
“That depends, are you guilty of something?” Detective Nelson eyes him speculatively.
“Of course not, Richard,” he snaps, running his free hand through his long locks. “I was with Sin until I came home at 11:45 that night.”
“And can anyone verify that you came home? Alone?”
Ugh, that’s my cue. “I can,” I say, voice small and weak sounding. Taking a deep breath for courage, I continue, “Have you by chance checked out her boyfriend?”
Two pairs of shrewd eyes rake over my heating face. “We were unaware she was currently seeing anybody,” Detective Nelson responds quickly.
“Well, she was. His name is Travis Dawson. Um, he’s my ex-boyfriend, and he does have some violent tendencies.” Offering up that information willingly is a huge step for me, but if it helps to protect Elias then it’s worth every uncomfortable minute. I’m still unsure about where he was last Saturday, but I know without a doubt that he had nothing to do with Katie’s disappearance, even if he lied to me about having dated her. Now is not the time to hash out that argument. All I want is to get these detectives out of here.
Detective Gonzalez gives a firm nod of his head in my direction. “Thank you for the tip, ma’am. We will definitely check him out.” He slips his notepad and pen back into his pocket, before addressing Elias again. “We will be checking with Sin, and we will be in contact if we have any more questions. I’m sorry, Elias. You know we have to do this. Call if you remember anything you’ve left out today.”
Elias stands to walk the detectives to the door. Does this make Elias a suspect? Why else would they be here asking him questions about his whereabouts? My head is spinning, but one question in particular surfaces through the tornado of thoughts.
I take a deep breath to fuel my courage. I hate confrontations, but I need answers. I need to know why he lied to me. My stomach is buzzing with nerves like a hive of angry bees, and it’s not going to be stopping any time soon by the direction this conversation is headed. I hunker down in my seat, preparing to be shocked, angry, hurt maybe; I’m not quite sure.
He has his right arm resting on the closed door, his head is bowed towards the floor; he looks pensive. He gives his head a small shake before looking up at me with liquid blue eyes.
“Why did you lie about dating Katie?”
His head snaps up, his eyes locking on to mine. He almost looks feral. Why is he so angry? As suddenly as it came on, his mood shifts again back into the calm persona he adopted when the detectives showed up. He lets his breath rush out of his chest, and he slowly makes his way back to where I sit on the couch.
“I didn’t lie. I said she was a cold bitch. We never discussed her any further than that.”
“Okay, you didn’t lie. You omitted. Why?”
“I wouldn’t even call it dating. It was brief; I had a lapse in judgment, and it only went on for a couple of weeks. I didn’t want you to be jealous or think you had anything to worry about.” His expression is so serious that I want to fling myself into his arms and shower my forgiveness. However, my life has fooled me one too many times, and I’m jaded. Something about this situation doesn’t feel right. Hell, something about the last several weeks of my life isn’t right.
“I need truthfulness from you right now. I can’t hear these half attempts at skating over the facts!” Standing up, I cross my arms over my chest and begin wearing a path into his carpet. Elias doesn’t move from his perch on the couch, although, he does scrub a hand across his mouth. “Are you going to fill me in on where you really were last Saturday?”
My body is prepared for the lie, but my brain is quietly begging him to tell the truth. The string connecting Elias and myself is beginning to fray and weaken. The constant tug of war between trusting him and listening to my warning bells is a constant friction on our connection.
Don’t lie, don’t lie, don’t lie! My thoughts are screaming at me.
“You heard what I told the detectives, Marlee. I was with Sin. Exactly where I told you I was,” he responds in a measured tone. His eyes meet and hold mine, almost too forcefully, as if he’s trying to persuade my opinion.
Why is it so hard to believe him? My next breath hitches high in my throat. “I need more from you,” I whisper, then add, “please.” I watch, immobile, as his eyelids lower over those two blue jewels and screw shut tightly.
When he looks at me again, his handsome face contorts with confliction. “Marlee. I want to tell you…everything. Absolutely every goddamned thing there is to know about me. But I need more time. Please. Don’t give up on me for being dishonest yet. There are some things here I’m trying to protect. I just need time.”
“You know trust is hard for me, right? This doesn’t help that you know,” I say, not trying to conceal the distress in my voice. My own features contort with unconcealed pain. “I can’t let you hurt me.”
Elias rises from the couch and crosses the space between us in two strides. Warm, calloused palms mold to the sides of my face and rough thumbs trace the crest of my cheeks. He props his forehead against mine. His heated breath fans across my damp lips, and I capture the lower one between my teeth.
“I’m sorry. I’m not trying to mislead you.” He’s silent for a beat. Maybe he’s trying to gauge my reaction. Maybe he’s just tired. I know I am. “Can you trust me? Can you trust that I’ll share with you when the time is right? That this has to do with not betraying my friends, no matter how badly I want to share with you. I never want to hurt you.”
At first, his words sound sweet and full of conflict—a good man trying to be loyal to his friend and his lover. But I hear the undercurrent of uncertainty. “But you might,” I whisper back, wishing down to my soul that I was wrong.
“Not on purpose,” he replies forcefully. “Never on purpose.”
Some may think I’m a fool for giving him a chance despite his inability to give me his word. I’ve already learned the hard lesson that anyone can spout bullshit. It takes action to prove those words have real meaning. The lesson I’m still working on, however, is how to trust myself in my decisions.
“Okay,” I say, but cringe when the word is stuck in my throat.
“Okay,” he says back, his hands moving from my face to rub both of my biceps. “Are we done talking about this?” he continues. “After this morning, and now the police showing up, it’s been a stressful day. Let’s get out of here, go do something fun.”
I simply nod my head. What more can I say? We both could use a distraction.
“Great. Sinclair’s closed to the general public today for a private party. You up for it?”
“Yeah, sounds great. I’ll just grab my things.”
Elias watches me walk down the hall to his room. Without turning around to look, I can feel his eyes burning through the back of my head. My reaction confuses him. I think he’s expecting me to break down or put up a stronger fight, but I just don’t have the energy right now.
Inside, I’m all twisted up. Outside, not so much. I school my face into impassivity. My instincts are telling me he’s being honest, although, my mind is finding the circumstance
s a little strange. I need to stop always doubting my heart because my head has so much unrest. I know my anxiety tends to blow things out of proportion. Elias looks and sounds truthful. So even though I have jealousy and uncertainty roaring in my gut, I try to tamp it down. Relax. We both need to relax.
***
We end up back at Sinclair’s, which is quickly becoming “our spot.” Cars are lining both sides of the street when we arrive, and the sound of low bass is rumbling from the propped open entrance. We make our way to the door, Elias leading me with a hand on the small of my back. Stepping inside, the roar of the music is deafening.
“Elias!” Someone shouts immediately upon our entry. A handsome young guy with rich, milk chocolate skin comes bounding into the entryway, giving Elias one of those one-arm-slap-on-the-back man hugs.
“Good to see you man!”
“Hey, man. You too,” Elias replies, grinning. This is exactly what he needed. What we both needed. I can tell by his demeanor that Elias is finally relaxing after the day we’ve had.
His friend turns his body to me, running his eyes up and down me once, appraising me as if I were a shiny, new toy.
“And who’s this lovely lady you have with you?” he asks Elias while extending his hand to me.
Allowing him to engulf my small hand in his rather large one, I give him a shy smile. I want to know Elias’s friends. More than that, I want them to like me.
“This is Marlena. My girlfriend,” Elias shouts back. Then, turning to me, he says, “Marlee, this is Wes. He’s one of my friends from high school.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Wes.”
“The pleasure is mine, Marlena. You have a beautiful name. It goes well with your beautiful face,” Wes says, while winking in my direction. I can’t help but laugh at his playfulness.
Elias butts in with a scowl. “All right, man. Stop flattering her and let us in the door, will ya?”
We make our way up towards the bar to grab some drinks. We place our order with the spunky female bartender, Kimi, and she hands me a chilled bottle of Budweiser. I take a welcome sip, using the moment to scan the people surrounding us. I haven’t been to many parties in my life, but this has to be the most casual party I have ever been to. The bar top is full of people playing some drinking style card game that I have never seen before. I can’t really catch the gist of it, but I keep hearing someone talk about some green man on the cup. Either they are drunk or on some hallucinogenic drugs.
Shrugging to myself, my attention drifts from the bar top, where people come to mingle and refill their red plastic cups, to the open space where tables once sat. Some people have congregated around a couch that was brought in, watching a couple guys playing Halo on an Xbox set up in place of the jukebox.
From the corner of my eye, another guy catches my eye. He’s similar in size to Elias with long, shaggy brown hair that falls over his forehead and ears. He has a hoop in one ear, and his eyes are a deep, jade green. Tipping his beer back, he takes a swig before heading in our direction.
“Hey, you guys made it,” he says as he approaches. He and Elias exchange the same strange man-slapping hug I witnessed before with Wes. I briefly wonder if it’s something they started in high school. “I’m Kyle,” he says, offering a small smile. He doesn’t reach his hand out to me, though.
“Hey. Marlena. Nice to meet you.”
“Do you guys want to come join me in a game of beer pong? Sin modified the pool tables into two games of pong.”
“Yeah, we’re in. It’s been a long time since I’ve played.” Elias admits.
“Are you sure you want to play with me? I suck at this game. I’m sure you could find a different partner if you wanted to.”
“I don’t think so. You’ll play with me.”
“Okay. Your loss,” I acquiesce, although, I can’t keep the smile from tugging on my lips. I enjoy playing games, but I don’t want to be the reason he loses. Anxiety, I guess.
“Great,” Kyle says. “Grab a couple more beers each and I’ll meet you over there. I need to find a partner quick.”
We stop to grab some more drinks and decide to take two shots of vodka each before we make our way to the other side of the room.
My blood is warming quickly from the alcohol seeping into my system and the room full of bodies. The boys have set up makeshift beer pong tables out of an eight-foot piece of plywood atop each of the pool tables. Messages decorate the wood in various types of ink from previous partygoers, I’m assuming. Everything from who’s hot, who’s not, different ‘-isms’ from previous parties, to phone numbers are scrawled along this memorable board. Ten red cups are set up on each end of the board in triangle formation like bowling pins. Peering inside, I see they all contain water.
“Aren’t these supposed to have beer in them?” I ask. Maybe I’m remembering the rules incorrectly.
“Usually. I find it gross to take a drink out of a cup that had this nasty ball in it though. These floors are so gross, and who knows where some of these joker’s hands have been,” Kyle laughs as he rounds the table. “That’s what your beer is for. Instead of drinking the cup, take a drink from that instead.”
He found a partner, a tall thin girl with platinum blond hair cascading down her back in curls. Her hazel eyes have lines of thick, long lashes I can see clearly from across the table. She smiles warmly at me as she takes a swig of whatever liquor is in her cup.
“Hey, I’ve never met you before!” She shouts over the music at me. “I’m Selena! A friend of Elias and Shelby!”
“Nice to meet you! Are you ready to lose?” I grin over at her. She puts me at ease, and I like her immediately. Something about her cool demeanor. The way she introduced herself right away, unlike most the girls here who just stare at me, and she doesn’t seem to be eyeing up my boyfriend at all.
She giggles at me. “Yeah right. You’re new here. But don’t worry, you’ll learn quickly enough.”
The game begins with their team. Balls begin flying back and forth across the wooden table. I manage to sink my third shot in the cup front and center. I squeal with delight and clap my hands like a little girl. Elias picks me up in a bear hug, kisses me fiercely, and sets me back on my feet.
My body begins swaying to the music while we play. The alcohol is running through my veins, making my body warm and relaxed. I can’t remember the last time I had this much fun. This is exactly what Elias and I needed after today. Winding down with some drinks and good friends.
Selena tries taunting Elias by leaning over the end of the table, showing a considerable amount of cleavage above the remaining cups. I can’t help but laugh at her behavior. For some reason, her fun, open, carefree attitude doesn’t intimidate me, and I know she isn’t trying to make a pass at him; she’s trying to be entertaining. Somehow, Elias manages to sink the ball in the cup directly in front of her proudly displayed breasts. Selena straightens, laughing and shrugging her shoulders at Kyle. I look at Elias out of the corner of my eye, and he smirks at me, his ego obviously inflating.
“Lucky shot!” Selena taunts from the other end of the plywood board, her hand cupped around her mouth. “Let’s see you get the last cup if you’re so good!”
Elias leans over and kisses my cheek.
“Watch this,” he whispers in my ear, before backing slightly away from the pong table.
I watch his eyes move between the remaining cup on the other end, to the wall on the right side of table, and back again. He swings his left arm a few times in practice, before he launches the ball towards the wall. The ball flies high, almost hitting a random spectator as it shoots towards the middle of the wall, before bouncing off in a high arc and sinking straight down into the last remaining pong cup. A laugh bursts out of my mouth at my opponents’ stunned faces.
“Holy shit!” I jump up, throwing my arms around his neck and kissing him hard. The few people who have crowded around our game erupt in applause.
Elias takes a dramatic bow.
A
new team comes over to take our places, and we gather our now empty bottles to let them pass.
“Aw, I’m all out,” I pout, sticking out my lower lip dramatically.
Elias eyes my pout with a carnal, wanting gleam in his eye.
“Are you drunk yet?” he asks, placing his free hand on my hip, swooping down to take a quick nip of my lower lip.
A shiver runs through me. “Hmm…not quite. But I’m getting there.”
“Good. That’s how I want you.”
I feel something dark and sensual clench low in my belly at his words. Oh my.
“C’mon. I need another drink, too.” He takes my hand, leading me towards the bar.
Elias helps me onto a stool while we wait, stepping between my legs and caging my body against the bar. His pelvis lines directly with mine, and I can feel his erection pressing into my sensitive flesh. Dipping his face into the curve of my neck, my breath hitches as he traces a line towards my ear with his tongue.
“I think we need a timeout,” he whispers huskily once there before taking my earlobe between his soft, wet lips. My skin ripples in goosebumps.
“A-a time out?” I stutter, my blood boiling with each delicate suck from his perfect mouth. Trying to stem the delicious ache between my legs, I shift side to side on the stool, which only causes me to rub up against Elias’s hard cock.
His hands drop to my wiggling hips, squeezing them tightly to halt my movements. “Fuck,” he groans hoarsely. “Come with me.”
Not waiting for a response, he grabs my hand and pulls me from the stool, past the pong tables, towards a dark hallway near the back of the bar.
Before we can reach our destination, we’re stopped once again.
“Glad you could make it,” Sin says, his thick, colorful forearms crossed over his huge chest. The seams of his tee put to the test by his sheer bulk. He looks at me with cold, calculating eyes. Instead of averting my gaze like I would have in the past, I harden my stance and glare back. Sin raises one eyebrow in question, and to my utter surprise, the corners of his bearded lips twitch.
