Awoken - chapter one

Chapter seventeen

'Call it even?' he whispered with a coy wink. I nodded and agreed.

I helped load the other comics (sorry, graphic novels) onto the table and realised I still had Beau's sketch book clutched securely in my hand. I flipped it open to the first page and then on through each page gazing at Beau's work. 'Beau these are really great.'

'They're just sketches.' He tried in vain to grab the book away from me.

'The detail is amazing.' I gently ran my fingers over the indentations the pencil had made on the paper and mused in awe at the in-depth detail.

'What would you know?' This was the first time I had ever seen Beau so defensive. His face was taught and unresponsive. I handed the sketchbook back to Beau willingly and after a second or two he relaxed back into himself and the despondent expression that had plagued his beautiful face disappeared. He pulled me towards him and kissed my cheek fervently as his hand settled on my neck. 'Thanks'.

The cool night breeze through the open door woke me up instantly as it lapped at my hair and wafted in my face. 'After you madam.' I looked at him and curtsied. We took the short walk to my car through the dimly lit car park and the black cast iron security gates of the college grounds. He kissed my head lightly, not letting go of my face. I glanced up at him longingly not wanting him to let go. Leaving him was getting harder every time I saw him. 'Until tomorrow' he cooed.

'Do you want a lift home?' I asked, hoping for just a few moments more with him. He shot a quick look into my back seat and took a wary step back.

'No thanks, I can walk, it's a nice night.'

'It may be a bit of a mess but...' I began defensively. Beau the materialistic type – who'd have thought?

'It's not that' he interrupted.

'It's only just occurred to me that you've never been in my car. It's like it's radioactive to you or something' I said.

'I've been in your car...yesterday in fact, if I remember rightly. If the rubbish on the floor didn't bother me then it wouldn't bother me now!' he retorted with an unwelcome snigger.

'So why don't you want a ride? Somewhere better to be maybe? What, my old rust bucket isn't good enough anymore?' My voice was a high pitched squeal and left little precious breathing time. A crazy and unsuspecting mottled green wash of bunny boiler jealously appeared to pounce on me from out of nowhere, taking both me and Beau by complete surprise.

'Hey Annie Wilkes, how about you dial down the crazy a couple of notches.' Beau reached out and rubbed my arms. The tension dissipated into a cooling pool around me as his skillful fingertips kneaded out the tension in my shoulders. Why do I react like that around him?

'You see something, don't you?' I glanced at Beau and then into the back window of my car. My face fell along with my stomach. Why hadn't I thought of this before? He looked at me intensely, battling with the choice of telling me the truth or fabricating a lie that would be easier for me to handle.

'I'm guessing you got this car second hand?'

'Hey Sherlock how did you come to that conclusion. Was it the rust that's covering pretty much every visible speck of metal or the fact that it's being held together with duct tape?' I retorted sardonically. I had subconsciously realised the truth and my not so witty attempt at sarcasm was my defence mechanism. It wasn't making me feel any more at ease though as realisation hit me with a blow that resembled a tyre iron to my head.

'Well the previous owner didn't really...'

'Didn't really what?' I probed, hesitantly taking a few steps away from the car. Beau was silent. 'Beau, didn't really what?'