Twelve Days The Beginning - By Jade Reyner Page 0,23

hopefully by Monday, this will have all blown over.”

For a moment Vaughn looked like he wasn’t going to respond but then he released his grip on her arm. Watching as she absently rubbed it where he had been holding her.

“Of course you can take the rest of the day to .... sort things out. I hope that your husband is soon feeling better” he intoned with a complete lack of sincerity.

“Thank you. I’ll see you on Monday.” She turned to leave. It sounded glib but what else could she say?

“Oh, and Elise,” at the sound of his voice, slightly deeper now, she turned back to face him again.

“This,” he gestured to the sofa, clearly referring to their earlier interlude, “this did happen and it will happen again – and I can promise you that neither of us will be quiet then”. He emphasised the word that she had used only moments before, giving it a completely different meaning. “Don’t forget.”

Mortified, she scrambled for the door, feeling the colour rush through her body. Why did he have to mention that kiss again? She had tried really hard to compartmentalise things once Celeste had come in and she had been trying really hard to put it in the “do not disturb ever again” compartment. The fact that she was having serious trouble forgetting about it herself was beside the point. Her arousal begin to stir again at the intention in his sentence, the undoubted emphasis on certain words and realised that she needed to get out of this room fast before she did something that she would regret. Like, jump him. Big time.

As she turned the door handle another thought struck her and, unable to ignore it, she swung back to him to find him watching her with hooded eyes, a lingering of something she strongly suspected was desire, in his heavy expression.

“Vaughn, don’t you want to know why Cole was so mad?” she asked. She had found it strange that he had not questioned Cole’s actions either then or now. He had simply dealt the final blow to Dale, effectively defending Cole, and then almost moved on as if what had happened today was an everyday occurrence.

Vaughn continued to regard her steadily and he looked almost sad. For a while, Elise didn’t think he was going to answer her. When he did his voice was soft and gentle, almost breaking, as he formulated the few short words.

“No Elise, I don’t need to know why.” he said simply. “I already do.”

Chapter Seven

It was 7pm and Elise had finally got home from the hospital. She walked into her lounge on tired legs and sank down onto the sofa without even bothering to turn on the light.

Dale was still in hospital as they had decided to keep him in for a couple of nights. The concussion had worn off and he was awake and talking but due to the quantity of alcohol in his system, they had been unable to perform certain tests and wanted to make sure that everything was absolutely clear before they released him.

Elise couldn’t say she was sad about that. Dale had been in a foul mood when she had arrived at the hospital and the poor nurses were getting it in the neck. She could tell that he was still under the influence and briefly wondered how much he had drunk to end up in such a state.

Patiently she had sat with him, explaining that the nurses were only doing their job and eventually he had calmed down and become more amenable to their poking and prodding. The alcohol was finally starting to wear off and the Dale that she married was beginning to re-appear. It had taken her all afternoon though and had left her with no time to check in on Cole. She knew that he was OK but she wanted to see what had happened with the police and of course apologise for the mess that she had got him into.

Privately, Elise was relieved to have a couple of days away from Dale. Things had turned upside down in the last twenty-four hours and her exhausted brain needed some time and space to process everything. She had to work out what she was going to do about Dale and his association with alcohol, which was undoubtedly getting worse. She also needed to think about their relationship, their marriage, where they were heading and what she could possibly do to get things back on track. If she