Bejewelled

CH 1

12 years from prologue.

The rain was falling as Cinda pulled to a stop at the red traffic light, there wasn’t a single car in sight at that late hour and she thought about riding on through it. She had left home really late on purpose, so that she would arrive here in town in the wee hours of the morning, and no one would notice her arrival. She was hoping to be in and out within a day and go undetected at that.

Running a red light with no cameras? What could it hurt in this sleepy little country town, at this late hour, she thought absently, but she didn’t. There was no rush to her arrival tonight. She had cruised on out here to her home town on a nice leisurely ride, and though it was raining, it was only light rain, not a storm, just a plain old drizzle.

The hour was indeed very late, checked her watch as she sat there waiting for the light to change to green. It was close to 2am and she wasn’t expected by anyone, because she’d not told anyone she was coming home, she was here on business and she had keys to the house she’d just purchased. There was no one waiting there for her.

Her eyes moved to her gloved left hand, not anymore anyway, a hollowness filled her heart, how she missed him, especially here and now, this wasn’t a place she’d ever brought James. But he had asked her to, and she’d always put it off for some reason. A hollow laugh escaped her, for some reason! She knew the reason; she hadn’t ever come back here.

Blue Eyes was here and so she couldn’t be, it was too hard.

She saw the lights of a car coming up behind her, in her motorbike's mirrors and the traffic light changed to green and she rolled on through, at a leisurely pace, only to have a set of sirens flash and the distinct whoop of a police cruiser sound briefly.

Sighed heavily she had done nothing wrong; it was clearly just the lateness of the hour that had them pulling her over. Which was completely ridiculous, of course. Even if they checked her plates, there would not be so much as a single ticket attached to her bike. She obeyed the road rules.

Cinda pulled over across from a streetlight, the safe thing to do when being pulled over by anyone, stay in the light. It’s what she had always been told and not just by her foster parents, but also by Blue Eyes himself once. The patrol car pulled up alongside her. If they ran the bike's number plate, it wasn’t registered to her but to the company she worked for.

Though it was her bike, her boss was just really generous in allowing his company to pay for the registration and for her to put the petrol on a company credit card.

The window of the police cruiser rolled down and she smiled behind her helmet's tinted visor, as she saw the man in the passenger seat. 'Oh, this was going to be interesting'. She thought somewhat amused by the situation now. His mother would not be happy to hear he’d pulled her over for no reason in the rain.

“Lift your visor please.” Gabe’s deep cool tone ordered her as he shone a torch in her general direction, not wanting to blind her but also wanting or needing to be able to clearly see her once she did. He was all cop, no smile on his face, marred his good looks, she thought absently. Not that he would smile at her.

Her visor was almost black, and she knew that he couldn’t see through it. The darkness of the tint eliminated the need for her to wear actual sunglasses under her helmet, it also stopped people from seeing who she was.

Cinda almost laughed at seeing him and a part of her wanted to twist the throttle and make that man chase after her, just for the fun of it. But what good would that do her? If he didn’t know who she was first, there would be no fun at all for her.

“Your visor.” He ordered her again seemed very annoyed that he was having to ask, a second time, it had been a good 30 seconds since his first request and she hadn’t complied yet, was still looking at him through her visor though. Just letting him stew and get more annoyed, by her unwillingness to comply with his order. That was fun for her.

Cinda knew that she hadn’t done anything wrong to warrant him stopping her, it was just the late hour of the night and an unknown bike in his town. It was very quiet, and he likely had nothing else to do, she supposed. She looked skyward for a moment, then stared up the street.

Cinda knew that on her bike she could outrun the patrol car, and easily so, he would also know this himself. She was so very tempted to do it, but didn’t want the trouble at this point, well not without him not knowing who she was anyway. Amused her to think about it though, and she had to actually hold in a soft chuckle. Oh yes, she was itching to tick him off, it seemed.

Finally, she raised a hand and flicked the visor open, though she was still looking down the street instead of at him, waited a good further ten seconds before she turned her head slowly and looked directly into those gorgeous deep dark blue eyes, that she had nicknamed him after.

His torch shined upon her, and she couldn’t help the smile that played on her lips, not that he would see it. Her Bell SRT Modular Ribbon Helmet, only allowed him to see nothing but the colour of her eyes. Cinda also couldn’t hide the sound of her amused smile as she said in a sickly-sweet tone, “Did I do something wrong, officer?”

Watched as Gabe blinked in complete surprise as he recognised her eyes and realised just who he was looking at. He had clearly not been expecting to see her and why would he, when they both went out of their way to avoid each other for the past 8 years, having only minimal contact where it couldn't be avoided.

“Well, well, well, what do we have here!” His voice came right back, but unlike her fully amused tone, he didn’t sound at all amused or happy to see her. Sounded more like a sarcastic remark to her. Annoyed her now, that attitude of his, thought he was so superior.

“Something you can’t catch.” She shot back, annoyed by his sarcasm, snapped her visor shut and twisted the throttle, roared off down the street away from him and his cruiser. He didn’t pull out all the guns and chase her down. No sirens, no flashing lights, didn’t even drive off after her. That was of great disappointment to her, so much so she was now out to just to annoy him, even more.

Not that Cinda had thought he would chase after her, that had stopped a long time ago, just hoped somewhere deep down that he would. She knew she should have gone straight to her newly acquired house. But just couldn’t help herself, she cruised around the town and parked her bike in plain sight of his cruiser just long enough to make sure he knew she was there.

It wasn’t hard to miss in the wee hours of the morning on a Tuesday night. It was literally just her and them, and she made sure to rev her bike up just for him, why she needed to taunt him she couldn’t really say, was compelled to annoy him. Cinda wanted to anger him to the point where he would be so pissed off, he’d think only of coming after her, drive him to it.

Her phone rang, as she sat there in the middle of an intersection, staring down the street at his car, which was now parked facing her just two blocks away. The rain had finally stopped, and she had a clear view of his patrol car, which was now parked right out the front of the local police station, but it was not turned off and he was still in it, as was his partner for the night.

Cinda was really tempting fate now, but hey she knew him pretty well, she was sitting upright on her bike, her hands free was on as was her voice recognition. “Answer,” she said, and heard the line connect, “Yes”

“Stop playing tag.” Gabe’s hard, annoyed voice came down the line, she had finally gotten to him. About bloody time, she thought.

“Why it’s fun?” Cinda laughed softly.

“Do you really want me to arrest you?” He snapped.

“Mm... a full pat down could be fun.” She said all sultry like, wondering if he’d would actually frisk her, tormenting him with the thought of it.

“It won’t be, I assure you.” He snapped all business now.

“Spoil sport.” She said and ended the call, then just sat there and stared up the street at him for another minute. Cinda knew that he wasn’t driving, and she didn’t know just how good the other officer was. She hadn’t recognised him, a new face to the area, she supposed. A pity he wasn’t driving. It would be nice to put Mr Blue Eyes in his place and let him know he couldn’t actually catch her.

She held onto the brake and twisted the throttle, smoked up that intersection she was sitting in, until he snapped on his lights, laughed out loud as the patrol car shot forward. Spun the bike in the other direction and shot off the mark at breakneck speed. Finally, the chase was on. Took him bloody long enough.

There were no sirens sounding, just the flashing lights, but she knew these streets as well as he did, and Cinda knew she could corner better and pick up speed a lot quicker than his car could. They wouldn’t catch her, not unless she wanted him to, and she didn’t. Just wanted to play with him, so to speak.

Cinda lost him ten minutes later by rounding a corner and ducking down an alley way meant for pedestrians only, his cruiser wouldn’t fit then pulling out onto the next street where she then pulled into her new residence, dousing the lights and cutting the engine, his car went right past her, a minute later, he’d had to go the long way around.

Thanks to the tall hedge that ran across her front yard for privacy, they did not see her. He had no idea she’d bought a house here. No one in town did but the real estate agent. Cinda trotted up the steps of her new home. She was not yet ready for her move back home, it was still a few weeks away, smiled as she let herself inside and switched on the lights. It was really going to piss him off when he did find out she'd bought a house here and was moving back to town.

She knew there would be no hiding from him tomorrow, he’d want a stern word with her tomorrow, but then, of course, he’d have to find her first. Cinda laughed softly, she knew where he thought she would be, at his parent’s place, and she wasn’t there. She laughed 'good luck with that!' she thought, amused for now, she was not intending on going to visit them. This was an in and out visit, not a hi how you doing, good to see you visit. Would do that when she officially moved home.

Stripped off showered and flopped down into her bed, if he was running the night shift then he’d be asleep most of the day, she had plenty of time to sleep and get up for her appointment at 10. Gabe would be asleep by then. His shift, she knew, would finish at 7am and he was not going to sit up and stay awake just to rip her a new one. Or at least she doubted it very much.