by Alexis Leia
“I’d like to say that he doesn’t deserve it, but it wouldn’t be true. He’s just... he confuses me. I never know where I’m at with him”, she admitted, letting her guard down and telling the truth to this man who listened to her carefully.
“What I’ve learned so far is that the only thing that matters are your feelings. Even if your mind is confused, your heart knows the truth. How does he make you feel?”
“When I’m with him... like the only girl in the world. But when he leaves, he does it so abruptly it makes my head spin. He... I wish I could explain him, but he’s too complicated for a one-sentence explanation. I guess the closest thing would be emotionally unavailable.”
“Then you must decide if he’s worthy of your time and your fight.”
“I don’t know if he’ll come back this time”, she confessed.
“Well, then he’s an idiot for not seeing what he’s got in you”, he told her sweetly, making her smile.
“Thank you, Bruce.”
That one dance turned into many, and as the last ballad was ending, she guessed that was when she was supposed to say goodbye to Bruce.
“Get your hands off her”, a dark, threatening voice said.
Her head snapped up and she saw Chris standing right next to her and Bruce. He was wearing a wrinkled suit, looking tired with his disheveled hair and dark circles under his eyes, but incredibly dangerous as he gave Bruce a deadly stare.
“Who the hell are you?” Bruce asked Chris, whose jaw ticked from his teeth-grinding.
“I’m her man”, Chris answered, almost growling out the words that made her Selene’s heart skip a beat and her breath catch in her throat. Her man?
Bruce glanced at her and then back at Chris, a slow grin spreading across his face.
“If you’re her man, then why weren’t you here, dancing with her?” Bruce asked, and Selene knew he was doing it intentionally. She had no idea what the hell was he thinking, because Chris looked ready to pounce, and that was never a good sign.
“Let’s take this outside”, Chris said through his clenched teeth.
“Let’s”, Bruce agreed, sending Selene into a state of panic as they both took long strides toward the exit.
“Don’t you fucking dare, Chris!” she grabbed his arm, trying to stop him, but it was like trying to stop a freight train. He only kept dragging her as he walked. They earned a few stares, but she guessed they didn’t make enough drama for people to start yelling ‘fight, fight!’.
“Why the fuck did he have his hands on you, baby?” he asked her as they finally stepped outside, where Bruce waited for Chris.
“We were just dancing! What is wrong with you?” she fumed at him on the empty parking lot.
“You are mine, Selene. And the way he was looking at you, it wasn’t ‘just dancing’. He wants you”, he said, lowering his face. She pushed him away with all her strength, moving him only a step away.
“You have no right to say that! You left!” she yelled, anger rising up inside her.
“On a fucking business trip!” he shouted back, his hands in the air.
“Well, I thought you weren’t coming back! I thought you were doing what you’re good at, running away!” He flinched as if she slapped him.
“I wouldn’t leave without saying a proper goodbye, not this time”, he said in a quieter voice.
“I knew he doesn’t deserve you, Selene”, Bruce said, a few feet away. She groaned when she saw Chris’s face become livid again. He took fast strides toward Bruce, who stood ready.
She thought he was immediately going to hit him, but the two men stood nose-to-nose, talking very quietly. Selene doubted they were discussing their newly-formed feud in a civil, adult manner. People who discuss rationally don’t look like enraged bulls. Bruce said something that made Chris laugh bitterly. A few hushed words later, Selene thought it was maybe going to end on mere threats. No such luck; Bruce’s fist connected with Chris’s head, which snapped back, and he stumbled on his feet. Quickly, Chris found his balance again and punched Bruce right under the ribs. Instead of standing there and screaming at them like she wanted to, Selene rushed inside to get Jackson.
She made her way through the crowd, frantically searching for the Springsteen impersonator, and hoped to God those two weren’t killing each other on the parking lot.
She found Jackson and Annie in the corner, talking. She grabbed his arm and got into his face.
“You better get the fuck outside and stop your best friend from killing Bruce. Right. Now.”
Annie’s mouth gaped open, but Jackson didn’t look surprised.
“You told him I was here with Bruce”, she accused him, knowing the call he had made earlier was probably with Chris.
“Let’s go”, he simply said and took the girls’ hands, leading them out.
There was a full fight going on outside; they took their fight to the lower level, so to speak, and started wrestling on the floor. Jackson ran toward them to split them, but it wasn’t exactly an easy mission, so he was the one to take a few stray punches.
Selene furiously paced and watched the fight, biting her nails, but Annie was obviously incredibly amused, since she turned into a cheerleader.
“Get him, Bruce!” she yelled and earned a slap on the shoulder from Selene.
Then suddenly, a woman with bleached hair, fake boobs, and incredibly short dress appeared out of thin air and started screaming her heart out. She sounded like a D-rated horror movie victim, and Selene wanted to smack the shit out of her. Bruce and Chris stopped their fight, raising their heads up to see who the hell was screaming so loud, and Bruce used Chris’s distraction to punch him in the gut once again.
“Stop hitting him! Chris, baby!” the woman screamed and ran in her five-inch heels toward Chris, who groaned on the floor as he held his ribs.
Selene completely forgot about the woman when she saw Chris obviously hurt, and she ran to him, getting down on her knees to inspect his injuries. His lip was bleeding bad and he breathed heavily, with his left eye swelling, about to close any second. She was mad at him, but that didn’t stop her from gently putting a hand on his hair and leaning down to comfort him.
“You stupid idiot. Look what you’ve done to yourself”, she murmured at him, holding his hand with her own.
“He provoked. You’re mine, babe”, he told her in a hoarse voice and squeezed her hand.
She didn’t know what to say to that, but even if she did, she wouldn’t be able to since the blonde woman kneeled down and interrupted her.
“Chris, baby! Are you okay?” she whined and sniffled. Selene glanced up at her and saw her fake-crying, her mascara-coated eyes completely dry.
“And who are you?” she asked the blondie who looked familiar, although Selene couldn’t quite place her.
“I’m Mona Walker”, the blondie said, sounding rather offended. Oh, yeah. The country singer.
“And what are you doing here?” Selene didn’t try to hide her antagonism. She obviously knew Chris well, calling him ‘baby’ and acting all concerned.
“I’m his girlfriend.”
“Does Chris know that?” Selene retorted.
“Stop lying, Mona”, Jackson said, standing a few feet away, next to Bruce who looked unstable on his feet.
“Fuck off, Jackson. And you, get away from my Chris”, Mona said to Selene. Chris was obviously oblivious to everything around him, since he seemed too deep in his pain, holding onto his crotch and groaning.
“May I suggest you take a few steps back, because I’m not really stable at the moment”, Selene warned her and leaned above Chris to try and help him.
“And who are you to tell me that?” Mona screeched, sending Selene to the edge of her nerves.
“I’m the goddamn mayor of this town, and if I tell you to step back, you do as I say”, Selene said, her voice raising with every word.
Mona got up from her knees, and Selene thought the bitch finally got the message. But then something very
similar to spit landed on her head. She looked up to see Mona standing above her, a very satisfied smile on face.
“Oh, no you didn’t”, Selene said and lunged herself at Mona, knocking her down on her ass. The woman started screaming again, which didn’t put her in Selene’s good books.
In that moment, Chris suddenly jumped up and lunged at Bruce. Selene was too busy with sitting on top of Mona, trying to shut her screaming mouth with her hand to pay much attention to the renewed fight. She didn’t even need to hit Mona, because the crazy woman simply decided her vocal cords were the best weapon. And they were; had she kept it up, Selene’s eardrums would’ve started to bleed.
“What the hell is this?” someone yelled in the distance and she recognized Emmet’s voice.
He was in his uniform, on duty tonight, accompanied by two officers. When everybody saw the cops, they all split up; Chris and Bruce moved ten feet away from each other, Jackson had already given up on trying to stop the fight since he only stood with Annie, watching the scene. Selene jumped off Mona with a groan, and Mona finally stopped screaming, but she was still sprawled on the ground like a starfish.
Emmet stood in front all of them, his thumbs inside his belt, a grin on his face.
“And just when I thought I wouldn’t have to arrest anyone tonight, he said, his eyes twinkling with amusement.
“Are you for real?” she asked him, suspecting he was very much for real.
“You disrupted public order. I’m afraid the four of you will have to spend the night behind the bars”, Emmet said and tsk-ed.
“Emmet, if you do this, I’ll kill you”, Selene said, knowing it probably wasn’t the smartest thing to threaten an officer on duty.
“Did you hear that, Jake? Kenny, handcuff her first”, he spoke to both of his officers, his voice full of amusement.
“Leave her alone”, Chris said aggressively and limped over to her, putting a protective arm around her waist. Since it was an extreme situation, Selene kept her mouth shut and watched Emmet slowly approach Chris.
“I told you I will get you behind the bars.”
Chris, surprisingly, said nothing but he still looked deadly, even when he was bleeding and looked all beaten up.
“Get them to the station”, Emmet said and grabbed both Selene and Chris’s arm to take them towards one of the police cars. The other two officers took Mona, who started dry-crying again, and Bruce who swayed on his feet.
Wow, just wow. Not even a month in office, and she was already behind bars. Not bad for a politician, Selene thought to herself. Yeah, she was going to kill Emmet.
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Chris woke up feeling disoriented and pretty beat up. Well, that made sense, since he spent a big part of last night fighting. It took him a moment to notice that he was actually lying on the bed in a cell. He abruptly sat up, regretting the movement immediately, his ribs throbbing in pain. He put his head between his knees, noticing how his left eye was completely shut. That Bruce guy packed a mean punch, he had to give him that. But Chris didn’t leave him in good condition, either.
Where was Selene? He was worried sick about her, unable to stomach the idea of her being in jail, probably scared and angry. He was going to kill Emmet, Selene’s best friend or not.
That douche interrupted the fight that should’ve ended in Bruce learning his lesson. Before the first punches were thrown, Bruce had said some things that pushed Chris over the edge. It was about Selene, about Chris’s obvious lack of respect for her, and Bruce’s disbelief in why ‘‘assholes like him always seem oblivious to what they have’’. In all honesty, Chris couldn’t hate the guy for worrying about Selene, but he could definitely hate him for the incorrect presumptions. Had Chris been in a different mood, he would’ve ignored the man, or solved it more smoothly. Besides, he had nothing but respect for Selene, and hearing such accusations hit something inside him.
However, he spent five days sorting out business complications, and the entire time he couldn’t take his mind off Selene. In the end, he managed to solve the issues with the artists who were dissatisfied, and immediately after taking care of everything, he took the first flight back to Colorado.
What he didn’t expect was how much he missed Selene in that short time he was away. Those couple of weeks they spent together only intensified his addiction, making him used to seeing her every day and the withdrawal was hell; he couldn’t sleep most of the time, worried that she might have crossed him off. Turns out, his worries had been justified; just as he landed in Denver and was about to jump into a taxi, Jackson had called him, saying Selene was on a date. In his state of frenzy, he had paid the cab driver six hundred dollars to get him to Mountainview in less than forty-five minutes.
They arrived within forty. And then he walked inside the pub and saw Selene dancing intimately with Bruce. That was all it took for a total goddamn blackout. He hadn’t even stopped to think twice about his actions, something Chris Ledford’s famous self-control never allowed. Now, he was left with nasty bruises and body pains, along with feelings of guilt and ever-present anger.
“Good morning, sunshine.”
There she was, standing in front of the cell, dressed in black jeans and a red sweater, her shiny hair tied up in a ponytail, her beautiful face free of make-up. She was so breathtaking, he physically felt it. The only time he probably wouldn’t get turned on seeing Selene would be when he died and spent six months in the ground, which was still a minimum estimation.
“Are you okay?” he asked her reflexively, worried that she was hurt last night, or spent the night in the cell, cold and uncomfortable. Although, something seemed off. She wasn’t wearing the same clothes from last night, and she actually looked well-rested.
“Just peachy!” she quipped in a high-pitched voice she didn’t normally use, and he knew she was doing that to make him suffer. Well, she succeeded; his head was throbbing anyway, but her voice made it throb even harder.
“Why do I have a feeling you slept in your bed last night?” he asked her, slowly getting up from the bumpy bed, limping towards the bars.
When Emmet had brought them in, he immediately put Chris behind the bars, but he left Bruce, Mona and Selene inside the waiting room. When Chris got locked in, Emmet gave him a wide grin, saying he should get some sleep, while he interrogates other “suspects”. And that was obviously bullshit, since Chris didn’t fail to notice all the cells remained empty.
“You have a good feeling”, Selene said and sipped her coffee, the other one still in her hand.
“Can I get my coffee before we continue with this convo?” he asked her nicely, and the little witch lifted the other cup toward the bars, but obviously, the cup was too big to fit inside.
“Oops, looks like the bars are to narrow”, she said and took a sip from his cup.
“Then give me a sip through the bars”, Chris said, his voice dangerously calm.
“But I drank from your cup, aren’t you disgusted by that?”
“I went down on you dozens of times and enjoyed it as much as you did. Do you really think I’m disgusted by your saliva?”
She rolled her eyes and lifted her hand up, bringing the hot elixir of life to his lips.
“Thank you. Now get me out of here”, he said after taking a few big gulps of the hot potion.
“Tsk, tsk. Not so fast”, she sang and sat on the floor in front of the bars, crossing her legs underneath her.
He narrowed his eyes suspiciously, wondering what the hell was she up to.
“Selene, I’m not kidding. If you can’t bail me out, call Jackson to get his ass over here”, he warned her.
“Do you think Jackson has enough cash with him?” she asked him suddenly.
“I don’t know, why?”
‘‘Because your bail is set to fifty thousand dollars. Cash only’’, she said and sighed in content.
His eyebrows shot up and he had the urge to laugh, because he knew she was bullshitting him. His Selene always tried to fi
nd the ways to fuck him over somehow.
“Yeah? The judge was so eager to work on a Sunday?” he asked.
She frowned and stuck her tongue out at him, making him chuckle.
“Okay, fine. You’re not really arrested. I just asked a favor from Emmet to keep you locked up until today. He didn’t seem to mind too much.”
“Is that so? And why would you do that?” he asked her, sitting on the floor of his cell as well, only bars separating them. He was probably supposed to be really be pissed off that she intentionally kept him in jail, but he must’ve lost his mind since he found it pretty damn funny. Trust Selene to put him in his place.
“Because I wanted some time to cool off, and if you were allowed to walk away yesterday, you would have looked for me, making me even angrier”, she explained her logic.
“Why exactly are you mad at me?” he asked, even though he suspected the list was very, very long. She had every right to be angry, but it didn’t mean he liked it.
“Where do you want me to begin? Leaving without a word, just texting you had to go ASAP? Or maybe coming back suddenly, again without a word? Or even better, beating up my friend on the fucking parking lot of a packed pub?”
“He didn’t act like your friend yesterday. In fact, he acted like he knew you very well”, he retorted, still feeling butthurt over Selene’s interaction with the man.
“Oh please, calm your testosterones, you’ll blow up the station. I thought you weren’t coming back, he was nice and he asked me out. Why wouldn’t I agree to a date –”
“A date?”
‘‘An encounter he thought was a date, until I told him I see him like a friend only’’, she finished.
“I still don’t like the fact you went out with him.”
“Tough luck, Ledford. He’ll be working on my project.”
“He’ll be what?”
“Anyway, that’s not the point. Do you want to hear what happened yesterday?” she asked him, avoiding the topic. She didn’t wait for his confirmation to elaborate.
“So, after they took us in, and we were damn lucky nobody else saw it, I threatened Emmet if he put me behind the bars, someday I’d get an iron rod and stick it up his ass. He obviously took the threat seriously, since he let me walk away. But I also made sure he let Mona and Bruce walk away too, since they were collateral damage. Emmet wanted to set you free too, but I ordered him to leave you here for the night, so I could get my shit straight. After that, I helped Mona book a hotel room and took Bruce to the hospital later, because you, my dear asshole, broke one of his ribs”, she said, her voice becoming accusing in the end.
