I was lying on my bed, gazing up at the ceiling with my hands behind my head when I heard the front door open and close. Audrey... she must be back from her meeting with that friend of hers. Ten seconds later, she appeared in the doorway wearing an outfit that made me immediately catch my breath. The clothes hugged her gorgeous curves in all the right places as I fixated my gaze on her flushed face.
"Hey," she smiled as she walked into the bedroom.
"Hey," I shook away my thoughts. "How did it go?"
"I don't really want to talk about it," Audrey sighed and took off her leather jacket. "I'll take a quick shower and jump in bed. Okay?"
I nodded and watched her go into the bathroom. A few moments later, I heard the trickling sound of water coming from inside.
Something was wrong. She had barely looked at me, but I caught a glimpse of her face. Her eyes were puffy and red, an obvious sign that she had been crying. On top of that, I noticed a twitch in her face when she glanced at me for one second.
I knew that twitch. I've seen and experienced it too many times to not know what it meant. She had not only been crying, but screaming as well. Whether in rage, despair, or sadness, it didn't matter. What mattered was that something happened, and the friend was the cause of it. I was ninety-nine percent sure of it.
"Hey," Audrey's voice cut through my thoughts. "Can you throw me that shirt on the chair?"
I glanced up and saw her standing in the doorway wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around her body. Drops of water glistened on her naked skin as she blew the hairdryer on her damp hair. The red puffiness around her eyes had disappeared and she looked so beautiful that she took my breath away.
"Yeah, just a sec," I mumbled. I quickly recovered from my affixation as I jumped off the bed and grabbed the beige blouse that hung on the back of the chair.
"Thanks," Audrey smiled warmly as she took the shirt from my hand and closed the door.
I stood there for a couple of seconds before returning to the bed and flinging myself on top of the covers. I stared up at the ceiling and sighed. That wasn't the first time I've seen her practically naked. We had been living together and sleeping in the same bed for several weeks by now, and nothing ever happened.
And I was completely fine with it. I wanted to take things slow with Audrey, and it was totally up to her when we would take the next step in our relationship. Even though I slightly wished it was sooner.
The bathroom suddenly became quiet, and Audrey walked out of there only wearing the blouse that I handed to her earlier. She has been sleeping in that almost every night since she moved in, and each time I couldn't help but admire how sexy and hot she looked.
And she knew it too, because she smirked at me as she walked around the bed and climbed under the covers beside me.
"Enjoying the sight, aren't you?" She pointed out with a mischievous smile.
"Perhaps I am," I slightly chuckled as I threw my arm around her and brought her closer to me.
Audrey rested her head on my chest and snuggled against me. I kissed her forehead and tucked her hair behind her ear as she laid beside me.
"Do you want to talk about today?" I suddenly asked. I could feel her shift uneasily.
"Not... today," Audrey whispered as she turned her head to look into my eyes, a range of emotions flickering across her face. "I'm just... tired and sleepy. Maybe... later?"
"Later then," I nodded with a smile and gave her a kiss on the lips. "Whenever you're ready, I'm here for you."
"Thank you," Audrey said softly as she settled against me once more. I watched her close her eyes and take a deep breath before drifting off to sleep.
I watched her chest slowly rise up and down as she slept. I loved Audrey, more than anyone I've ever loved, which included Abriana. And tomorrow, I was ready to reveal a little more of myself and my past to her.
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"Where are we going exactly?" Audrey asked me as we hiked along the path.
"You'll see," I answered. "I promise, you'll love it."
Audrey and I were walking up one of the hike trails at the park near Los Angeles. Most of it was just plain desert with dusty winds and barely green plants struggling to survive in the sizzling heat as the hot sun bore down on the land.
But I knew of a place that held the remedy to any stress or problem in my life. It was a little off the normal trail for hikers and visitors, well okay, more like a mile off, but the distance was well worth the result.
"Here," I said as we approached the valley and came upon huge rocks surrounding a clearing filled with trees.
I could hear the welcoming sound of water rushing from the other side. The whole place was surrounded by cliffs and rocks from all sides, but there was a tiny opening that allowed a person to easily squeeze through to the magic located within.
"What... is this place?" Audrey asked in awe.
"You'll be even more impressed once we get to the other side," I replied with a grin.
Once I slid my way through, I reached my hand towards her through the gap.
"Watch your step," I added as I grabbed her hand.
We were both finally inside the rock formations and I glanced over at Audrey to see her reaction. Her dropped jaw and wide eyes were enough to tell me that she was just as breathless as I would have been the first time I discovered this place if I wasn't escaping from my problems.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" I asked, giving Audrey a smile.
"It's...breathtaking," she replied in awe as she looked all around.
Inside the magnificent rock formations was a crystal-clear creek about sixty-feet wide which flowed for a few hundred feet before it ended in a small, gentle ten-foot waterfall that splashed against the rocks below. Water lilies floated on the surface and I could even see several turtles perched on the logs that had fallen into the creek.
"How did you... how did you find this place?" Audrey asked as she turned towards me, her face still frozen in admiration. "I mean, it must be at least a mile from the main trail."
"It's a... long story," I told her as I sat down on my usual spot atop my favorite rock and patted the seat beside me.
Audrey sat down and wrapped her arms around her knees while I folded my legs in a criss-cross position. I sighed and looked out at the creek, its rippling surface glinting in the sun. Neither of us spoke for a good minute while I contemplated what I was going to tell her.
"Remember when Andrew attacked you and I told him something which hinted that we knew each other?"
Audrey nodded, her eyes not leaving my face.
"We dated back in high school," I said, not daring to look at her to avoid seeing her reaction. However, the sharp inhale that followed right after told me what I needed to know.
"I didn't love him," I resumed. "Did he love me? Probably not. I was just the popular girl that the quarterback wanted, partly for his image and partly because I was the prettiest in that school. At least, that's what everyone told me. I used him for my image as well, because I was a teenage girl hell-bent on being admired and envied." I scoffed. "You know how it is."
Audrey nodded again.
And I told her everything. I recounted how Andrew had taken me out to the beach and attempted to sexually assault me. How I had threatened to expose him if he told everyone that I was gay. I told her every detail, and about how we eventually broke up and he kept his distance from me.
When I finished the story, I finally glanced at Audrey, and she was looking at me in shock, her eyes even wider than before. She was breathing a little harder than normal, and I could see her hands clenching and unclenching.
"That fucking jerk," Audrey hissed. "If I ever see him again, he'll get a piece of me. I'm so sorry, baby."
She rubbed my shoulder in an attempt to soothe me. I sniffled and realized that a few tears had escaped my eyes when I was retelling the story and reliving the memory.
"He did pay for it, at least recently, so I'm content with that," I replied with a weak laugh and wiped away the tears on my face.
"I just... I don't understand why you didn't just put him in jail if you had evidence?" Audrey asked me with a raised eyebrow.
I knew she would ask that question. That's what my best friend Carmen asked when I told her about it. So I gave Audrey the same answer that I had given Carmen.
"I don't trust the system. Much less the justice system. Andy- Andrew's father has connections that reach until the highest ranks. And you're probably thinking if that was the case, then he wouldn't be threatened enough, right? Well, there's always a chance that his father wouldn't have enough power and Andrew knew it. He isn't an idiot, so that risk was too great for him."
I took a deep breath.
"And plus, I... loved the feeling." I directed my gaze towards Audrey and saw a range of feelings on her face. I couldn't tell if she was angry, sad, shocked, or all three.
"The... the feeling of having not just a man's life, but an asshole's life in my hands made me feel so... powerful. To be able to control this piece of garbage and have him grovel and beg before me... I loved it."
Audrey looked over at the bubbling creek and didn't say anything. Worry began to rise inside me as the silence grew louder. As I was about to say something, she slowly turned to face me, and the next words she said filled me with surprise:
"I... get it," Audrey said with a sigh. "I... I can understand that feeling very well. That jerk deserves to live the rest of his life in fear. No matter how small it is."
Relief flooded my brain, and I released the breath that I had been holding all this time in a trembling exhale.
"I'm glad to hear that," I replied, my lips forming a small smile.
"Is that when you discovered this place?" Audrey asked, waving her hand.
"No actually. I found it when I broke up with Abriana. I think I told you about her. My ex-girlfriend."
"Yes. You told me that she... chose her parents over you?"
I scoffed.
"Yeah. Her homophobic parents gave her an ultimatum. Me or them and the future she had worked her entire life for." The memory brought more tears to my eyes. "Of course, she chose them. Which, I understand I guess. But I was a fool for believing that love could be that strong."
"No," Audrey said abruptly. "You're not a fool. She's the idiot who didn't deserve you."
She scooched closer to me until our bodies were touching. She threw her arm around me and pulled me against her. And I not only let her, I rested my head on her shoulder. I felt her kiss the top of my head before she said:
"I'll never do that to you. You can trust me."
"The last time a person said that to me, they betrayed it," I said without thinking and immediately regretted it. "How do I know that you won't do the same?"
I lifted my head to look at her and she removed her arm from around my shoulders. I saw a fleeting look of pain in her eyes as she looked out at the creek once again.
"You're right," she finally said, returning her gaze to me. "You don't know that."
I stared at her, confused. I didn't expect this answer at all. I thought she would assure me that I can trust her. I was... speechless.
"It's totally up to you," Audrey continued. "You can choose to trust me now, or you can choose to not trust me until I've proven to you, without reasonable doubt, that I've earned your trust."
Her answer completely caught me off guard, and that definitely did not happen a lot at all. And instead of deterring me, I was turned on. I couldn't take my eyes off her as I was filled with the overwhelming desire to have her. Now.
Audrey bit her lip and tilted her head a little to the left. She gazed at me with a questioning look in her eyes, waiting for me to react to her answer. She looked stunning, the sunlight casting dancing shadows across her face. Her electrifying eyes sparkled at me, beckoning me to take some sort of action right now.
And I did.
In a blink of an eye, I caught her mouth with mine. The sweet nectar taste of her lips flooded my mind with a frenzy that threatened me to overdose. Our tongues intertwined in a dance of passion, electricity surging through every part of my body. I felt like I was on fire, and she were the flames that melted away the remaining ice that had built up in my heart over the years.
She laid down on the rocks as I climbed on top of her, not breaking our kiss for even a second. She moaned when I nibbled a little at her bottom lip, my hand cupping her face while she trailed her hands down my upper body and grabbed my waist. I felt her grind against me as I broke off the kiss to trail my kisses along her slender neck that sweetly smelled like roses. I traced my lips to her ear and lightly bit her earlobe, causing her to whimper.
We were both panting hard when I stopped to look at her lying on the slab of rock. She looked like a goddess, her beautiful brown hair spread around her head and her eyes looking at me filled with love and desire. She traced her finger along my jaw and whispered:
"I love you, Scarlett."
Those three words made my heart feel ready to explode and I leaned down to kiss her once more.
"I love you too, babygirl," I whispered in her ear.
All I wanted at that moment was nothing more than to bring her home. And make her mine.