Stay With Me

Chapter 7

Inside a small, slightly dilapidated home with a long, weed-choked driveway, a man examined the fruits of his so-called baking labors. A thin layer of crystals lay spread across a clean countertop. The smell was beyond pungent --- a dead giveaway for anyone with any experience of making crystal methamphetamine. A meth lab, as it is so generously described in the news, was generally little more than an ordinary kitchen, with a few extraordinary ingredients. The risk was that the chemicals sometimes collided and exploded. One had to be careful. Very, very careful.

The man gazed on in satisfaction, but his thoughts strayed to Alex Taylor. Alex, his friend, his partner in crime and best buddy when they had still been in college. Ah, but that was a very long time ago. Now there wasn't much to think about but the joy of shrieking along on a crystal meth ride. Except, Alex was gone. Killed. Murdered. The man shuddered. He'd heard once that fear was the most powerful of human emotions. Hatred, rage, love, desire, envy....nothing compared to fear. And fear was what he felt these days. Ever since that corporate suit had walked through the door and scared the hell out of Alex and him. It really pissed him off too. He wanted to wrap his hands around that bastard's neck and squeeze the light out of his eyes.

His shuddering worsened, and he sat down hard on a nearby worn-out ottoman. He chewed his thumbnail furiously. Alex had stared at the stranger through eyes the size of a full moon, and the suit smelled the distinctive smell and drew his conclusions.

"This is where the money is going?" he'd said in a deadly voice. Alex had shuffled him out the room and the next thing you know, he was dead and gone. And that was when the phone calls started. He chewed even more desperately on his thumb until it bled. He was sure to end up dead too, if he didn't think about what to do.

What to do.....what to do.....what to do....

Chloe. Alex's girl. She was the one to help. With a sudden burst of energy, he left to his feet, ran to the bedroom, and threw dirty clothes and sneakers into an army duffel bag. Then he hurried to the kitchen to scrape his precious crystals from the counter and placed them in a Ziploc bag. Hearing an engine, he dashed to the window, his own eyes wide and staring. Coming towards the house was a slow-moving black sedan. Or was it a police cruiser? No. No. It was all black, All black.

Oh s**t! Oh, s**t!

Slipping out the back door, he sped into the dusky woods that crept right to the back of his house and he was gone.

****************************************************************************

Chloe mentally groaned as Sarah, with Luke standing beside her, turned to her fully. The blonde eyed her up and down, then looked away as though pretending she wasn't there.

"Hey there Chloe," Luke said to her.

"Hey Luke, he asked me to stay." Chloe felt the need to say, but the blonde didn't react. Luke nodded his head while glancing at Anthony's sleeping form.

"I talked to him last night. How's he been today?"

"Better," she said, considering, "He's alert when he's awake."

Sarah continued to stare at Anthony without saying a word. Her whole attitude needled Chloe. She didn't like the way she was gazing at him. He was too vulnerable. Walking fully into the room, Chloe dusted her hands on her skirt and spoke softly.

"Is there something I can help you with?"

Sarah gave her a furtive glance before replying.

"No."

Abrupt. The woman was always abrupt, and Chloe recalled the first time she had met Sarah. They had been classmates in university, and Sarah had been in several of the same courses as Chloe. But Sarah's style was bold, aggressive, and in Chloe's biased opinion, downright nervy. They'd never liked each other, and by the time Chloe met Anthony a few years later, Sarah was already employed at his company. It felt as if Sarah had always been a part of their lives, and suffering through years of the woman's same attitude, and the knowledge that she was seemingly having an affair with her husband, had eroded Chloe's own natural good manners. It was difficult to even be in the same room with her, and now, feeling emotion swamping her good sense, Chloe clamped her jaws together to prevent herself from saying something she might well regret later.

"Has he been like this the whole time?" Sarah asked Luke.

"He was awake. He fell asleep in the middle of a conversation," Chloe informed her/ "It would probably be better to conduct business in the light of day."

"I would really like to talk to him," Sarah declared flatly.

"We all would. I just don;t think Anthony's up for it." Chloe was unmoving. "Come back tomorrow." Or never....

"You're planning to be around all the time?" Sarah asked Chloe.

Like that's any of your business. "He asked me to. I promised I would."

Chloe's skin prickled. She sent a look Luke's way, gauging his reaction. He seemed distracted rather than provoked by their subtle sparring. But Sarah wasn't immune and Chloe could feel the woman's growing annoyance with her. There was a certain pleasure in that, which made Chloe inwardly smile.

Looking down her nose, Sarah said, "You can't just step in at this late and expect any of us to believe you have Anthony's best interest at heart. You're not even living with him."

You have to hand it to Sarah, Chloe marveled. She doesn't pull any punches.

"Well, I will be. I'm moving back into the house to help take care of him while he recovers." Chloe swallowed hard as she kept her composure. What the hell am I doing? A pause. "Really?" Chloe noticed Luke's full attention was on them now.

"Yes, really." The idea was firmly taking root even as they spoke. "Anthony asked me to."

"Anthony asked a lot of you, didn't he?" Sarah's eyes narrowed like daggers as her body slightly bristled.

"Not anymore than would be expected of his wife."

"When Anthony is himself again, I'm sure things will be different," Sarah declared.

"And how's that?" Chloe asked.

Just what did Sarah expect Anthony to do? Leap out of his bed and drag her into his arms, promising all kinds of things he couldn't deliver? For all their supposed mattress thumping, Chloe had never heard Anthony wanting anything permanent with the aggressive Sarah, and even if that were a small victory, Chloe hung onto it with an iron will. Anthony was still her husband, so Sarah could stew all she wanted. Sarah shifted on her feet and Chloe noticed her fists balled at her sides.

"He's in recovery, and from all reports, it's close to miraculous. Soon, he'll be back to normal and we can all get on with our lives."

Sarah's words were hushed, but the staccato whispering took nothing away from the intensity of the conversation. Chloe, who would never before have actually argued points with Sarah, felt a certain sense of liberation from the exchange. She was done with hearing about Sarah Aldman and Anthony. Now that her feelings were sprouting forward again, she really didn't know if she wanted to reign them back in again. She wanted to tell Sarah to get the hell out of her and Anthony's life, and for a moment, her lips actually quivered in readiness.

It was then that Luke finally spoke up. "Okay, okay," he muttered. "Come on Sarah. We'll come back tomorrow morning. He just needs a little more time."

"Exactly," Chloe agreed.

Sarah opened and shut her mouth, then pursed her lips together with an effort. Her eyes glittered. It was like watching angry thoughts collide inside her head. Turning on stiff legs, she marched after Luke towards the door. Chloe watched her leave. Shoulders tense, back rigid, Sarah Aldman was an unhappy, demanding woman who only acted on her own self-serving impulses. But she was a force to be reckoned with nonetheless. Chloe's heart thumped hard several times before settling back to its natural rhythm. She hated confrontation, but it was high time Sarah learned Chloe possessed a backbone. Anthony was still her husband. Her husband.

Alone with Anthony again, Chloe reseated herself, examining her husband's still peaceful face. What was it about him that draws her in so completely? Was it his looks? His sense of barely leashed power? His wealth? No, she knew that wasn't it. Money had never interested her, at least money she hadn't earned herself and therefore felt she had no right to. But Anthony definitely had an effect on her, straight from the start. When she thought back to that inauspicious meeting at the Four Seasons Hotel, she knew she'd been hooked from the moment he'd first spoken to her. Her mind continued to wander along with the memories of the 'tour' he had requested.

"It's Anthony Hale. I was hoping for that tour you offered."

"Oh, you want to see the condos?"

"I'd like to. Is it possible for you to get away and show me around?"

"Well, I could go......now." She suggested.

"Good. See you in a few minutes at your office then."

Chloe recalled her mind racing at the possible encounter. She had glanced down at her blue shift and wished she had taken those extra ten minutes to grab something a little newer. A little more glamorous. As soon as the thought had crossed her mind, she shook her head in self-disgust. He wasn't interested in her. She'd seen his photographs in the tabloids with Seattle's elite single women. Anthony Hale was way out of her league. She had given him her best version of a tour and then he had offered to take her to lunch. They ended up at an Irish pub where she had ordered the stew at his suggestion. And when the owner walked over and clapped Anthony on the back, only then did she realize that faces were turned and staring at them. Even within the confines of a small pub, Anthony Hale was noticed. Chloe couldn't remember the rest of the meal. She remembered it was the most delicious one she'd had in a while, but other than that, all she remembered was the way Anthony's eyes twinkled when he spoke of a project or the way his adam's apple bobbed when he took a sip of his wine.

It was almost three o'clock when he took her back to the office. Shutting the door, she'd leaned into the window.

"Thanks for today. I had a great time."

"So did I." And he'd smiled. And Chloe felt like she could look at that smile forever.

"I'd like to see you again," Anthony said, and the intensity of his gaze had her breath caught in her throat.

"That would be.....possible." she managed.

"Then it's a date, Chloe Kramer," he drawled.

And what a date it was. Chloe shook herself out of her reverie as the sound of the machines beeped in the quiet of the room. Good lord, where had she gone to! She was susceptible! How could she still feel these waves of warmth when she'd learned to hate him?

Why? When did things change?

From the moment you met his family.......