Twelve Days The Beginning - By Jade Reyner Page 0,29

moments before had clearly taken him by surprise too and he obviously recognised that they needed to get back onto safe territory.

Elise selected a DVD and poured them both another shot as they snuggled together on the sofa, content with each other’s company and the safety that it gave them both. Many times Elise had wondered what Cole actually got out of their friendship as she seemed to be the one always doing the taking, but whenever she asked him, he just smiled and said he enjoyed being with her and that that was all that he needed.

As the movie reached its conclusion, Elise stretched, yawned and turned her tired blue eyes on Cole. He was watching her with a curious expression on his face, and she could tell that he wanted to say something but seemed unsure how to say it.

“You OK? What’s wrong?” she asked.

“It’s nothing, it’s just.....well something happened today.” Cole turned away from her and

Elise rested her hand on his arm to get him to look back at her.

“What? Besides getting the shit beaten out of you, you mean?” He suddenly seemed really serious and Elise wanted to relax him a bit.

“Yes, Elise. Besides that.” He sighed, clearly seeing little humour in her comment and she suddenly realised that this was something big. His voice had become deep and solemn and Elise felt her heart go cold, fear running through her veins.

“What, Cole? What happened? Why the hell didn’t you say something earlier? Oh Christ, I forgot, you got arrested, didn’t you? Don’t say they are going to press charges! Is that what this is about? Shit!”

“No, Elise,” he said cutting her off “It’s not that. Thankfully, they let us both off with a caution but I need to be more careful in the future – despite how much I may want to beat your husband up again.” He laughed humourlessly.

“What is it then? Come on Cole - you can tell me anything, you know you can.” Elise pressed her hands into his and turned to him, her face earnest and imploring. “Baby, I’ll help you, whatever it is, you know I will.”

“I’m not sure you can help me with this one, sweet-cheeks” Cole turned away from her, hiding his eyes as if afraid of what she might see.

Silence descended and Elise struggled with how to break it. His hands had become clammy where she was holding them and she could feel them shaking slightly. She had no idea what was going on with Cole or why the sudden seriousness and the change in him. He knew that she was always there for him, didn’t he? She just had to hope that that was enough and that he would open up to her eventually. She waited patiently, calmly rubbing his hands as he had done for her so many times; soothing him, reaching out to him.

Just as she had given up all hope of him saying anything further, he shrugged and turned back to face her.

“You know today when I was fighting with Dale?” she nodded, “And you know when Vaughn arrived and he pulled me off him?”

“Yes...” she said carefully, not sure where this was going.

“Well..., when Vaughn pulled me off, something happened. I felt something.”

“OK....” She said, not really understanding. “If he made you angry, I totally get that. Believe me, I’ve known him less than twenty four hours and he is already seriously stretching my boundaries!”

“No, Elise, you don’t understand.” Cole hesitated again and then shook his head. “He didn’t make me angry – far from it. He made me feel something – something that I shouldn’t feel. He made me feel.....” he swallowed. Whatever he was about to say was clearly a big deal for him and Elise just continued to rub his hands while she waited. Eventually he spoke again, quietly this time, and she almost had to strain to hear him.

“It was attraction, Elise. I was, in that instant, attracted to him. And all the while he was holding me back, all I could think of was how good his arms felt around me and how good he felt pressed up against my back. I didn’t want him to let go. It scared the shit out of me.” Cole took a breath and turned to face her, not quite meeting her eyes.

“I’ve had a lot of time to think about it this afternoon.” He continued, still unable to meet her eyes. “First of all I thought it was a one-off,