Twelve Days The Beginning - By Jade Reyner Page 0,34
coloured eyes - almost tiger like - had been what had first attracted Elise to him but over recent months and years, they had lost some of their humour and sparkle. At times when she looked at him, it was like no one was there at all.
But with the alcohol gone, there was life back in his eyes and as she watched him conversing with Vaughn, she saw glimpses of the lost little boy that he had once been. Dale’s childhood had been difficult and was not something that he really talked about although Elise knew the story and had seen photographs of him at an early age. His expression then was one of vulnerability and the parallel between the child of years gone by and the man today scared her. She was sure that his behaviour was linked to more than just their personal issues, but
Dale refused to open up to her and so she was left to draw her own conclusions, however inaccurate they might be.
Finally sensing her presence, Dale looked up and his eyes connected with hers.
“Elise! We were wondering what kept you. Vaughn has just been telling me all about his new role in your company. Sounds very exciting!”
Elise moved forward, every nerve ending humming in fear at what else he may have said but also feeling aching awareness of being in such close proximity to Vaughn again. He was wearing casual clothes today, jeans and a relatively tight fitting dark t-shirt which did nothing to hide the body that she knew was under there. He was devastating and she began to feel the effect of just looking at this man bubbling away at her core. She swallowed over a suddenly dry throat and almost stopped breathing when he turned to face her and the full force of those eyes fixed onto her face - his now trademark half smile gracing his lips. Her fingers itched to touch that mouth and smooth out that smile and her heart rate picked up as she imagined how he would react if she did just that. Bloody hell – she was in big trouble. And all of this was playing out right in front of her husband.
The world shifted and she began to feel as if she in an alternate universe as she finally registered that Dale was not yelling at her and was continuing to converse easily with Vaughn, who had turned back to the man in the bed - seemingly unaffected by her presence. Dale and Vaughn had apparently gone straight from one knockout punch to new best friends and Elise wondered how the hell that had happened. Was there nothing or no-one that this man couldn’t influence?
“Hey. You look much better! How are you feeling today?” She decided to go with addressing Dale in the bed and ignore the imposing presence to her right.
“Yes, much better. I can’t wait to get home although they said I have to stay in ‘til tomorrow. Something about extra tests. You would have thought I’d got enough pin holes in me already.” He grumbled and then extended his arm to indicate the man to his left. “So, how come you’ve never mentioned Vaughn to me before? I’m sure I would have remembered if you had?”
Elise searched for an underlying tone or a threat in his words but did not find any and took comfort in whatever calming influence Vaughn appeared to have on her husband.
“Vaughn is new to the company.” she said, “I only met him myself yesterday so I didn’t really have time to tell you about him. He’s my new boss.” she added, to clarify their working relationship.
“I know,” Dale said, “he was just telling me. Rather him than that pretty-boy you insist on calling your friend. Why the hell you have anything to do with that guy, I don’t know. He’s completely insane.”
Elise decided to ignore that comment; out of the two of them she was fairly certain that Cole was the least insane.
“I was worried about you yesterday” she continued, all the while aware of Vaughn absorbing every word. “You tied it on fairly heavy – what on earth is going on with you these days?”
That, she knew, was a rhetorical question. They both knew what was going on but until Dale was willing to face up to his demons, nothing would change.
“I don’t really remember much,” he said, “I remember you leaving for work but from then, up until I got here, it’s all a