Intrigue

Chapter 16

Chapter 16 - Malcolm's POV

An hour after I'd received the message from Sean asking me to meet him on Monday, I was sitting in my car, waiting. Apparently Sean was running late, because he didn't open the door when I rang the doorbell. No worries. It was an unusually sunny day, so the takeaway I'd brought wouldn't get cold.

I put my sunglasses on and emerged from the car, desperately in need of fresh air. I'd been waiting for around fifteen minutes, and didn't want to sweat profusely from the heat. I changed my mind, and opened the door to my side. I rummaged into the side of the door, and took out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter which I left for emergencies like this. Emergency of being annoyed at Sean, for not being on time.

I put the cigarette to my mouth and lit up, resting my back against the car. I exhaled in mild irritation, and took out my phone. No new messages. I decided to type out a message myself.

Since you said 1pm and it's now 1:20pm, I'm obviously here.

I punched out the send button before I changed my mind. I took a deep breath, taking in the nicotine from the cigarette, and exhaled slowly. Sean didn't answer.

I heard the front door to his apartment building a couple of minutes later. Jimmy, his homophobic neighbour, emerged. He stopped as soon as he saw me, as if worried that I was going to jump on him.

"Lover boy left you waiting?" he called.

I rolled my eyes, which he couldn't see, because of my sunglasses. I dropped the cigarette butt on the ground and stepped on it, deciding to ignore his comment.

"You're not supposed to litter outside, you know, especially if you're sleeping with a police officer, of all people," he said again.

"I'm waiting for him to arrest me now," I said to him, glaring.

He frowned back at me, as if not comprehending my sexual joke. "If you want to go in, I have a copy of his key which I kept for him for emergencies, before I knew he was, you know. Like you," he told me.

I offered a sarcastic smile. If it weren't for the homophobic jab, he would almost be nice and helpful, at least at this point in time. "Thanks, I'm fine here," I replied. I dug into the cigarette packet and lit another one, and inhaled into it, very frustrated now.

Jimmy muttered something and went back inside, closing the door behind him. As if on cue, I heard the rumble of a motorcycle, and Sean appeared in front of me. He parked, switched off the engine and set the latch on the motorcycle, and climbed off the vehicle. I watched him remove his helmet and take out a bag from the small luggage compartment. He smoothed out his hair, and walked over to me.

"I'm so sorry for being late-" he trailed off when he saw that I was smoking. "You're smoking," he said, as if I didn't know from the cigarette hanging from my mouth or the smoke coming out of it.

"And you're late," I answered stiffly, turning around to give him my back. I closed the front door, dumped the cigarette on the ground without bothering to step on it, and took out the takeaway I had in the back seat.

"I know, I know. I'm so sorry." Sean edged closer to me. "I had the twelve-hour shift, then I had a meeting with someone whom I needed to help me out with a case, and then drove him back, then needed to check out something on my motorcycle and didn't realise that the time had flown." His breath smelled like whiskey.

"You've been drinking," I said, now even more pissed off.

"Yeah," he answered nonchalantly. He watched me with a curious expression. His finger reached out to touch my jawline, a gesture which I ignored. "Geez, you're moody today. Look. I'll make it up to you, okay?" He was looking at me, but I disregarded his gaze, and started walking to the front door. I couldn't help but be annoyed, after he'd made me wait with no prior notice, and to top it off, showed up drunk. He followed me, bypassing me to get to the door first, to open it. He didn't say anything else, and started walking up the stairs.