toward the bed, her long hair falling softly in front of her as she leans in. She sees me sitting here, my feet bare on the tile, and her eyes light up. “Oh! I wasn’t sure if you’d be sleeping.”
The prophecy Rebecca left lingering behind her, like poisonous fumes, is all around me as I watch Annie’s smile. “Hey. Come in.”
Wearing office-style clothes and looking very graceful and beautiful, she walks in with mischievous eyes. “It’s after visiting hours, but I told them I’m your sister.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Brendan
I laugh and wince a little at the tugging of my skin. “Ouch.”
“Sorry. I’ll try to be less funny.”
“No! I need it. I need to laugh.” We share a look we both understand. I rise up, my hand held over the area of my wound. Again comes the feeling that she’s the only one who gets it, because we went through this together. It’s bonded us. Maybe that’s what Rebecca saw. Maybe that’s what this feeling is. Maybe it’s just the connection two people have when they’ve been in a life-threatening situation, like survivors in an airplane wreck, or a bombing; that’s probably it.
So I let my guard down.
“Tell me what it’s like to be out there in the real world.” I walk back to get in the bed. She doesn’t help me, which I appreciate. I can see she’s watching me closely, so the restraint is on purpose. That’s very interesting. Does she know I want to do this on my own?
“Well, I went to the police station and gave them the report.”
Lowering myself as normally as I can, I throw my legs up, trying to act like I’m not in pain. “Oh yeah? I’ve never been down there. What’s it like?”
“It looked just like the station on Law & Order. They must have researched those places for the show,” she says, matter-of-factly as she watches me to pull the blanket up. “Oh, covering up those legs. What a shame.”
I chuckle and hold the blanket up for one last gander. “Look at that, huh? What do you think?”
“Perfection.” She grins and continues, “It was pretty much a carbon copy without the good lighting and makeup people prettying all the cops up.” She walks over and puts her purse down next to my jacket, a little bounce in her step. My eyes are on her shape, how those black slacks over her curves remind of a cello. I’m about to tell her this, when I see her eyes change.
“Oh, you got your jacket back.”
“Yeah, Rebecca brought it to me.”
I watch Annie’s expression closely to see how she reacts. I’m fully expecting prying. But she turns and walks to sit on the bed next to my hip, laying her hand on my thigh with a comfortable, light pressure as she moves her hair away, over her shoulder. She looks down at her hand on mine and says nothing about Rebecca. The soft warmth of her skin feels good. And when she looks up, even though I’m looking hard for one, there’s no plan behind her pretty blue eyes. She’s just gazing at me. It’s unusual, this behavior, and I’m not sure what to do with it, so I stay silent and hold the look. A part of me wants to glance away, like it’s too much, but I breathe in and out and stay where I am, to see if I even can. There’s something raw going on down deep in my gut. I feel excited now that she’s here. It’s impossible to deny, though I’m giving it my best shot.
“They said there haven’t been any other robberies like that in the neighborhood, so that’s good,” she says, quietly.
“Ah,” is all I can say with her eyes on me like this.
“Tell me about you, Brendan.” She looks down at my leg and runs her fingertips slowly from my knee up to my hip. She stops, and then runs it back down to the middle of my thigh.
“What do you want to know?”
Her eyelashes fall as she bites her lip and looks at my chest. “Everything.” A playful smile spreads her pink lips. I want to suck on them so badly that I almost launch myself forward to do it.
I’ve got on a fixed stare that’s taking in everything she does and when she glances up, I say, “Probably should narrow it down a tad.”
“Okay. Probably a good idea.” Her eyes focus on my lips, too. “Steak or burgers?”
Feeling a pull down below, I smile at