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.

I flashed my headlamps at her and pulled up beside the pavement.

She lifted her head in surprise as her eyes went wide.

I pushed open the passenger door.

“Get in.”

She just stood there, her rain soaked hair plastered against her face, challenging me.

“Did you call my mother, Neil?”

“I did indeed, now get in the car,” I barked, ready to jump out and drag her in if I had to.

“That was stupid of you, then,” she yelled, throwing her arm out.

“Not nearly as stupid as walking home in a torrential rainstorm in the middle of the goddamn bloody night!”

She turned away and started walking again.

I saw red and it was all reaction after that.  The Rover was up on the pavement blocking her path and she was looking at me like she wanted to slice off my balls and feed them to her pet alligator.  “What is the matter with you, Neil?” she screeched.

“Right now, it’s your stubbornness,” I bit out.  I pointed to the empty seat.  “Now get your defiant arse into the MOTHERFUCKIN’ SEAT OF MY CAR!”

She did it.

The interior of the Rover was silent except for the pounding of the rain.  The earthy smell of water filled the air and mixed with the scent of her hair and wet coat.  I think we were both in shock.

I’m sure I’d never shouted so loudly before to any person.  These extreme emotions were starting to get to me.  I was the guy who kept his cool and a level head.  I didn’t even recognize myself anymore.

I looked over at Elaina sitting beside me, her arms folded across her chest, hair dripping, eyes straight ahead, and so utterly beautiful even in this bedraggled state, that it hurt to have her so close.  It hurt because she was still so far away from me and I didn’t know how to make her let me back in.

Her mobile rang from inside her coat pocket.  She rolled her eyes as she pulled it out and answered the call.

“Yes, Mum.  I’m with Neil right now and he’s bringing me home.”  She paused listening.  “I’ll tell him.  Okay.  Bye.”

I couldn’t imagine what she was thinking.  She wasn’t talking and she wasn’t fighting me either, she just sat there in the front seat of my Rover, so very still.

I reached over her for the belt to buckle her in and could see she was shivering.

“You’re cold.”  I cranked up the heat and backed off the pavement, straightening out the wheels and parking it up against the curb.  The windscreen wipers methodically passed back and forth between us.

“M-mum w-wants you to s-stay for dinner,” she chattered blankly, still staring forward out into the dark rainy night.

But what about you, Elaina?

“I’m sorry for screaming at you,” I said softly.

I wished she’d look at me, but she wouldn’t…or couldn’t after our terrible shouting match.

And so, I just sat there and watched her, the heater inside the car working overtime, making the air warmer by the minute.

“It’s okay,” she said finally, wiping one side of her face with her fingers.  Was she crying?

“Elaina…look at me, please.”  I waited while time seemed to slow down to a crawl.

She turned her head toward me, her chin up and trembling like she was guarding herself from falling apart.

“I didn’t know you worked there.  I wouldn’t have taken the job if I’d known.  They tricked me into applying, and I just don’t want you to think I did this on purpose—”

I cut her emotional ramble off with two fingers to her lips.  “I know.  I know it was them and not you.  Don’t you worry about it.”

She froze when I touched her, looking fragile enough to shatter at any second.

I dropped my hand away, but I didn’t want to.  I wanted to run it around the back of her neck and draw her up against me.  I still wanted her.  Despite everything that had happened between us, all of the betrayal and abandonment—my heart just didn’t care about any of it.  She was here.  My Cherry Girl was here right beside me.