Crashing Waves

35

———***———

"The court shall reconvene tomorrow morning. Dismissed." The rest of the afternoon was filled with pointless accusations of previous allegations by police officers at my previous place of work, each set of questions being completely pointless to the case.

"They're stalling because they haven't found a way to scrap the evidence yet." Lucy said, perhaps in a manner too cold for my liking.
"I shall see you tomorrow. Get some rest, I have a feeling the jury will start their decision making then." I nodded, seeing her leave the car park as we walked with Miller to her car.
"We're going to stay in a local tonight." Alec said, looking down to me. He hadn't left my side all afternoon, which I was majorly thankful for.
"Oh, alright then. I guess I shall see you tomorrow? Did you want a spare change of clothes?" Ellie, the forever mum friend.
"If you could grab me some new underwear, thank you Ellie." Stepping forward we hugged goodbye, Alec nodding as we took a step back and allowed her to leave for the drive back.
"I thought you said we'd talk about it?" I asked him, turning to face the lanky bastard as he continued to look down at me.
"I did, but I decided that it was in your best interests to stay local. You look exhausted and you need sleep." Alec Hardy, forever blunt as a spoon. Usually I would argue about someone saying what my best interests were, but I know Hardy meant well.
"You could do with some sleep yourself." I said, completely failing at that comeback. He raised his eyebrow at me before turning us and walking towards the town, leaving us in silence.
"You look like you know where you're going." I said- implying something, looking up at him as we ambled to the hotel.
"I've stayed in this hotel a few times when I've had a stressful court-case." Of course.
"Right. Sorry." I said, and he suddenly took my hand.
"Stop apologising for everything, Walker." Back to the last name basis, he was annoyed.
A few minutes later we were stood outside what looked like quite a fancy hotel, the furnishings and interior even nicer than the exterior.
"Double room for a night, please." Alec said, going to grab his wallet.
"Here." I quickly interjected, handing my card over. He looked at me and froze, my mind telling me I was in for a yelling when we got to the hotel room.
———
"What was that?" He said, shutting the door behind him.
"You've put me up and bought my food for over a month whilst I've been here, Hardy. The least I can do is pay for the room." I sat on the bed and sighed, kicking my shoes off before laying down. Two can play at the surname game.
"You need dinner before you doze off." He was definitely annoyed at me.
"I'm not hungry." I said, feeling weight shift on my side of the bed. I opened my eyes to see Alec sitting next to me.
"I'm not asking you, Walker. You've had a stressful day, you need to eat." What had gotten into him?
"I'm fine." I said, my breathing getting heavier. This feeling was like the one I had in the courtroom earlier. Another panic attack?
"You need to eat, god damnit." He responded, allowing me to sit up.
"I said I'm-" I paused, my head spinning. "Alec somethings wrong." My side throbbed, my vision going haywire as everything around me seemed to speed up and slow down at the same time, Alec's lips moving but no audible words coming out. It was another panic attack. "Alec." I repeated, holding my hands out for his arms to suddenly embrace me from the side, an immediate warmth spreading throughout my body as I tightly shut my eyes, hearing his heart as the feeling began to pass. My breathing slowed as I recovered, although still a bit out of breath.

"Damnit... Are you ok?" He asked, pulling me away from his torso so he could look at me. His face was full of concern, a face I wasn't used to seeing for me.

"Y-yeah. I am now." I leant back into his arms, taking a deep breath before closing my eyes without imagining anything horrible.

"Come on. We'll order in, let's get you into bed." Standing up Alec helped me strip off to my underwear, untucking the sheets.

"You just want to milk the fact I used my card and that I'm now in my underwear." I joked, making him roll his eyes and sigh. "What?" I chuckled somewhat, suddenly seeing him crack a small smile. "Did you just smile?" I said, watching his face turn deadpan as he picked up the menu. "Oh my god you actually did."

"Oh shut up and pick what you want." Hardy chucked the menu at me, phoning up the desk as I read through some options.
"Can I get the small lasagne and chips please?" I asked, it wasn't often I ate lasagne but I loved it.
"Hello. Can I order two small lasagne and chips along with two lemonades please. Yes, room 2006. Thank you."

"Oh my god that was amazing." I said, undoing the complementary dressing gown a bit as I leaned back in the tub chair we had in the room. For a small portion, it was rather large.
"I'm going to go and brush my teeth." I said, allowing Hardy to get changed. After such a big meal all I wanted to do was curl up in bed and I all honesty I wanted him to join me.

"You can take the bed." He said as I came back into the room, his shirt somewhat undone and his jacket hanging over the chair.

"Don't start this. Come on." I said, stepping forwards next to him. "It's been a long day for both of us. You need sleep as much as I do." I said, pulling his hands slightly.
"It's fine." He replied.
"I... I want you in bed with me." I suddenly blurted out, my cheeks flushing red. "There, I said it." I turned around and closed my eyes as I slipped off the dressing gown and got into bed, looking at him just staring at me. He eventually sighed and began unbuttoning his shirt, making my cheeks flush. I looked away as he did so, a small chuckle emanating from behind me.

"There." He said, a hand suddenly wrapping gently around my stomach and pulling me to a nice warm body. "Better?"
"Mhm." I immediately replied, taking a deep breath. "Can I ask you something?" I said, feeling him shift somewhat in response.
"Hm?"
"When my dads lawyer asked me if we were dating... what did you say?" I turned over to face him, my hands tucking into my chest.

"I said that we were. Like you did."

"So, are we?" I asked, looking down at his arm resting on top of the sheets.
"Do... err, do you want to be? Because I told you how I felt earlier." He responded, almost out of character.
"Yes, I do." After my response two fingers lifted up my chin to look at him, his eyes on my lips. He was waiting for permission. "You can kiss me, if you want to." I said, leaning in and closing my eyes as I felt his lips on mine, the beard that was once coarse, now a little softer. The kiss remained just that, a simple kiss, before we broke away and I pushed into him, my head under his as he wrapped his arms around my body, encasing me. I felt safe in his arms.
"G'night, Hardy." I said, closing my eyes.
"Get some sleep, Alice."