Temporary Home

My eyes widened and a smile broke my face in half. 

Aaron. 

He looked like he'd just been through hell.  He had bags under his eyes, his hair was shaggy and unkempt, and he was dressed in super baggy jeans and a massive tshirt. 

I took a quick step towards him and jumped at him, and he caught me.  I wrapped my legs around his waist and kissed him hard.  He kissed me back, just as passionately, but cut the kiss short. 

He let go of my legs, letting me settle back to the floor.  I made eye contact with him and I could tell something was wrong.  His eyes were hard.

He looked at me, then at Sarah, and back at me.  "I don't have a lot of time to explain right now.  You both need to come with me."

I looked past Aaron and saw a blacked out, non-descript SUV parked along my curb.  I furrowed my brow at him.

"I'm serious, Aleah," he said sternly, but I could see the urgency written across his face. 

"Are we coming back?"

"I'm not sure."

Sarah asked, "Can we at least pack a bag?"

"No.  I promise I'll explain more in the car, but we have to go, now."

She and I exchanged a look, grabbed our phones and purses, slipped on flip flops we had by the door, and followed Aaron to the car.

The door opened as we got closer, Aaron climbed in first and we slid in behind him.  The front seats were filled by two men whom I didn't recognize.  They weren't smiling, were in street clothes, and I could see the driver had a gun on his waist.

I was in the middle between Sarah and Aaron, and Aaron slid his arm around my back protectively, and kissed the side of my head.  I turned and whispered in his ear, "What name am I supposed to call you?"

He cracked a half-grin at that.  "Aaron."

Sarah and I sat in silence as the driver navigated through town and got onto the highway.  We were headed south, away from Omaha and Lincoln.

I finally broke the silence, because Sarah and I were both nervous, as evidenced by our bouncing legs, me picking at my nails, and her twirling her hair.  "Sooo... um, it's really good to see you?"

Unknown man #2 in the passenger seat spoke, "Aaron, you can tell them, minimally, what's going on."

Aaron sighed, and I felt his body tense.  "Some things... didn't go as planned.  A few days ago, somehow, Tito or one of his men figured out who I was.  And they quickly figured out who you were, then."

His head dropped to his chest and he put his palm on his face.  "He was threatening you, and I reacted.  There was a shootout..."  He trailed off.

Unknown man #2 picked up where he left off.  "We think that the information Tito found out was contained between him, his girlfriend, and the other guy in the house.  Not Aaron's partner, but another guy who was involved in Tito's ring.  We aren't positive, though.  So until we can verify that, we are putting you three up in a hotel.  It shouldn't be too long, because we have some leaks, and also a few other carefully placed undercovers."

"How long is 'not too long?'" Sarah asked.  "I'm supposed to be at work on Monday."

"We're hoping by mid-week you guys will be back home, unless there's an issue.  When we get to your destination, I'll get your employer's information and take care of it for you."

"Is your friend, the guy from the bar, is he okay?" I asked.

"He's in the hospital."  Aaron didn't elaborate, and I didn't push.

We drove in silence the rest of the way until we pulled up to a little dingy hotel in the middle of nowhere.

Unknown #1, the driver, turned around and looked at us, "Well, here's your temporary home for the next few nights."

Sarah and I exchanged glances.  Aaron grabbed my hand, and opened the door to exit.

Something Just Feels Off

I jerked awake, my eyes opening wide.  Where was I?  I was laying on my side, facing a wall with a window on the edge of a foreign bed.  My eyes darted around wildly, trying to center my thoughts and remember where I was.

I had been asleep, deeply.  I felt more tired than I had before I'd gone to sleep, I think.

The dingy plainness of the room reminded me I was in a hotel.  I felt a random arm fling over my side, casually, but no other movement.  I squeezed my eyes shut tight, wondering if this was actually a dream.  I bit the inside of my cheek sharply, and the pain resonated through my senses, letting me know this was for real.

I eyed the arm that was draped over my waist, cautiously; the events of the past 24 hours were rushing back like a tidal wave, overtaking my thoughts.  As much as I wanted this arm around me, it came with a lot of repercussions.

~~~~~~~24 hours earlier~~~~~~~

Sarah and I had woken up early, and with hangovers, after downing a couple bottles of wine the night before.  Drowning our lonely sorrows.  However, something about wine makes me more hung over the next morning.  I think it dehydrates me.

We were trying to sneak through the grocery store as unseen as possible, in our sweats and oversized t-shirts, our hair looking like we had just woken up after sleeping on it.  Pretty much because we had.  We were craving biscuits and gravy, eggs, and bacon, so we were trying to pick up what we didn't have, so we could gorge ourselves without having to be in public for too long.

I felt uneasy while we were walking around, haphazardly throwing things into the cart, but blamed it on my pounding headache.  "We need Advil, too," I groaned to Sarah, who gave me a guttural caveman sound in agreement.

We were not fit for public.

I grabbed a carton of eggs, and was checking them for cracks when I felt I was being watched.  I looked up to see a man, about my height, slightly overweight, blatantly staring at me.  I squinted my eyes at him and gave him what I imagined to be a snarl-y look, and went back to my egg checking.

Like I said, not fit for public.  I'm not known for my friendliness and hospitality on the rare occasions I'm hungover. 

We trudged back towards the aisle with the medicines.  I was squatting, looking for a supersized bottle of Advil (because obviously we were going to need the largest size possible...), and Sarah was idly staring off in the distance, when I looked down the other end of the aisle and Mr. Judgey McJudgerson was standing there watching me (or us?) again.  He wasn't even trying to hide it by fake looking at items on the shelves.

"Sarah!" I whissped (whisper/hissed).  She was still blankly looking the other way.  "Sarah!"

She slowly forced her gaze to look down at me.  I grabbed a box of bottled Advil and stood up.  "Dude, check out Mr. Creepy behind us."  She started to turn and I grabbed her arm.  "Don't be obvious!"

She rolled her eyes at me, but started looking at the pregnancy tests, that were on the opposite side of the aisle.  I saw her look down there, and I looked up, and he was gone.  I frowned.  She turned and looked at me, and gave me A look. 

"I swear he was just down there."

"Yeah, okay," she said, again rolling her eyes. 

I scoffed and we headed towards self checkout.  While checking out, I saw him standing there again, by the door waiting to exit.  Still looking at me, but this time he was on the phone.

We went to leave and he was still standing there by the door.  Still staring.  As we walked past him, his gaze didn't leave mine.  I wasn't going to back down.  Right as we walked past him I snipped, "Take a picture, it'll last longer."

Sarah snapped at me, "Aleah. Rude!" at the same time the guy said, with a sneer on his face, "Already did."

Chills immediately ran up and down my spine and goosebumps popped up all over my body.  I gave him another long look, Sarah tightly gripped my upper arm and we sped walked out to my car.  I felt Sarah turn and look behind us.  "I don't see him," she said.  "And that was super creepy.  Although, that was probably uncalled for by you."

I ignored her last comment.  "Do you think I should call Brad?"

She scrunched up her face.  "Why?"

"Um, you DID just see what happened back there, right?"

"Duh.  But I think maybe you're being a little paranoid because of... you know... everything that's happened."

"Okay, if all that happened was the last exchange, I'd agree with you," I argued.  "However, you didn't see the other two times he was creepily staring at me."

She shrugged.  "You're right.  I didn't.  If you think you should, go ahead."

As I backed my car up, I looked in my rear view mirror and saw the creeper standing back behind my car, holding out his phone.  I gasped.  "Sarah, the fucker just took a picture of my license plate."

She whipped her head around.  "Call Brad."

Since it was the weekend, I figured Brad wouldn't be in his office.  I called his cell, and he answered, his voice ringing through my car speakers.

"Hey Aleah, what can I do for you on this fine Saturday morning?"

I didn't waste time and immediately told Brad what had happened at the store, my body tensing up, as I recounted everything.

Brad's voice was light.  "Oh okay, can you tell me what he looked like?"

Sarah and I took turned describing him. 

When we were done, Brad said, "Alright Aleah, thanks for letting me know.  I'm sure it was just a uniform keeping an eye on you, but I'll call you back if there's anything to tell."

When I hung up, Sarah commented, "He didn't sound very worried."

"No, no he didn't.  But, something just feels off."

~~~~~~~

Sarah and I were wrapped up in blankets on opposite ends of the couch, binge watching The Walking Dead on Netflix in anticipation of the new season starting in a few weeks.  It was now late in the afternoon, and we'd been napping off and on, still in our pajamas.  I had my phone next to me, waiting to see if Brad got back to me, but he still hadn't.

I was trying to take the approach that "no news is good news," but I just couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. 

We were right at a tense moment in an episode, when there was a banging at the front door.  Sarah and I both jumped, and she let out a shriek.  We looked at each other, eyes wide.  "Who is it?" she whispered to me.

"How would I know?  I've been sitting right next to you!"

There was another pounding at the door.

We got up, together, and made our way to the door.  She grabbed one of my tennis racquets, and I grabbed another, which I kept in my bag next to the door.  We held them back, and I tentatively opened the door.  The racquet in my hand fell to the floor with a loud clatter, shock freezing me in place at who was standing on the other side.

From a Distance

Sarah and Matt’s break up had come as a shock to me.  It stemmed from Sarah being at Matt’s house, and Matt was showering.  His phone had lit up with an incoming call from his ex-girlfriend, whose name Sarah happened to know.  She didn’t answer, however, she did get curious and opened his texts and read a quite lengthy text conversation that had occurred between the two of them that spanned over a week and a half or so.  The conversation wasn’t outright sexual, but there was subtle flirting with an open ended invitation from her for them to have dinner which he hadn’t turned down.  She was mad at the inappropriate conversation, and he was mad she had read his texts.  It blew up from there and they broke up and neither had spoken since.  Sarah was feeling guilty and felt that it was her fault, and she shouldn’t have read the messages. 

I tended to lean towards the side of my bestie, and be fiercely loyal to her, and said Matt shouldn’t have been text-humping his ex-girlfriend.  Maybe a little extreme wording... but maybe halfsies true.

After she had shared all this with me, I unfortunately had let my mind wander that night while in bed, and started imagining all the more-than-likely-inappropriate conversations Aaron was having in the name of his job, and I shuddered.

But that was a week ago. 

And the thoughts were still present.

My phone rang and it was Detective (Brad) Stratton.  He asked me to come and speak with him down at the station. 

Once I got there, he didn’t waste any time cutting right to the point.

“Did you see Aaron recently?”

I gulped.  “Yeah... I was planning on coming and telling you about it, I just got busy.  I’ve had a lot on my mind.”

“I’m not mad,” he quickly said.  “I understand why you would tell me, but unless his cover was blown, you would’ve had no reason to come speak with me immediately, I suppose.”

“Aaron and I did talk.  And he told me to tell you.  I was just scared of the repercussions for him, that he might get pulled if I did.”

“Oh, no, Aleah.  He’s in way too deep.  He’s not getting yanked out, yet.  But I do need to make you aware that the main person of interest that Aaron is after is trying to have one of the other undercovers find you.  It’s being handled, so you shouldn’t have anything to worry about, but I would avoid Omaha in case you run into them again.”

I looked down at my hands, fidgeting in my lap. 

Brad leaned over and patted my shoulder.  “Keep your chin up, kid.  I know this is hard for you.  And I can already tell that you want to run out to Omaha and try to run into him again.  Don’t do it.  It won’t help the fake id that was created for you.  You were just visiting here and live in Florida.  I’m telling you this, just in case you do run into them again.  Your name is Kim Smith.”

I smiled at him.  “You guys could’ve chosen a better name for me at least.  Kim Smith?” I wrinkled my nose.

“Hey, we needed something very generic that would be next to impossible to search and find out that it really isn’t you.”

“Got it.”

“So tell me what happened with Aaron.”

I detailed what happened, only glossing over the bathroom experience (we met in the bathroom, and, um, talked briefly... and stuff).  Brad laughed when I told him my last exchange with the Tito guy.

We briefly touched base about Luke’s case.  Trial was officially scheduled for February.  For now.  It kept getting delayed.

Before I left, Brad made me promise to not go to Omaha, and if for some reason I had to, I was supposed to take Sarah, since she was my “cousin,” and Brad wanted to come along as my dad.  I told him I’d avoid it, and let him know if for some reason I couldn’t.

Even though I was still struggling with Aaron not being around, after speaking with Brad, I felt more secure knowing that I was being looked after from a distance.

I Wouldn't Regret It: Aaron's Perspective

A/N: Hey all, I've decided that when I do bonuses on the weekend, they are going to be from Aaron's perspective, so that way we all have insight into what's going on with him :)  Hope that's okay!  If I need a bonus from Aleah, I'll post an additional one during the week, and as always, give you guys a head's up!  ~A

~~~~~~~

"Lorenzo, over here, brah," Jose called out to me.

I took one last, long look at the stargazer lilies and strode over to him.  "Sorry, man."

He raised his eyebrow at me and snickered.  "Didn't know you were so into flowers."

I shook my head.  We were at the store picking up groceries.  Jose and I usually went shopping for groceries on Sundays for our small apartment.  To our knowledge, Tito didn't know where it was, but we weren't sure, so we couldn't ever talk about personal things there.  That's why we talked (quietly) about real life when we shopped.  Still didn't use real names, and spoke in code a lot, but it helped being away from our families. 

Jose had been under for a lot longer than I had.  He had been more than a year when I came in.  This operation was originally for guns.  There was a huge illegal gun ring out of Omaha, ran by Tito.  I got brought in because it was discovered that there was also a secondary drug cartel, also being ran by Tito.  His big one was coke.  From what I'd learned so far, he would sell anything for the right price, but he mainly stuck with blow.  The story was that I was Jose's second cousin from Chicago, where I deal, though not quite as big time as Tito.  I was brought in, because before I was on the homicide unit with Brad, I had worked briefly in the narcotics unit in Lincoln.

Jose's real name was Brian.  He's really from LA, and on the PD there.  He's married and has a now 3 year old.  Luckily, for him, being more involved with the gun side, he got to fly around the country, and to travel to San Bernardino and Santa Barbara, so he would a lot of times leave his phone in the hotel room, in case it was tracked, and go overnight to see his family.

Originally it was thought that I would fly "back" to Chicago often, since that's allegedly where I'm from, giving me time to really go home and see Aleah.  However, turns out Tito really likes me and trusts me and asked me to stay out this way to be his right hand man.

We were part of the way through the store.  "Hey, 'Zo.  What was up with the girl in the bar a couple weeks ago?"

I rolled my eyes.  "When is Tito going to get off that?"

"No shit answer."  That was Jose's code for he wanted the truth, and he knew there was more to the story than I was letting on.

"Ok, so this is really fucked up," I ran my hand through my hair, then grabbed a bag of chips and threw them into the cart.  "It was my girlfriend."

"Are you fucking me?"  he looked at me incredulously. 

I shook my head.  "In the flesh."

Although we knew a lot of personal details about each other, one thing we kept private were names of anyone we knew, and our last names.  That way if something were to go down and the other was tortured, we didn't have to worry about personal details coming out.  We trusted each other, but it was just better this way.

"That's why I need Tito to let it go, and I keep blowing it off."

"Dude, he must be suspicious of something, because he asked me to find her."

I widened my eyes at him.  "Are you shitting me right now?  You can't do it."  I was starting to panic a little, internally.  "How would you anyway?  I had her leave there shortly after I spoke with her."

He sighed.  "He took a picture of her friend's license plate.  He said he thought you two looked at each other differently.  He didn't say he thought you knew each other, but he thought you two had a connection.  He said he 'just had a feeling' about it."

"What are you going to do?"

"I already contacted my home station.  They're getting me some fake papers with names, and it's going to trace to your girl with a fake name and she'll be living out on the east coast somewhere.  Don't worry, I got you.  I didn't want to involve some innocent girl in this, but now knowing who it really is, I'm definitely going to make sure all bases are covered."

I nodded at him, remaining cool on the outside, but internally I was still freaking out.  I decided I would somehow get a hold of Brad the next time I was meeting with my superiors, so he could look out for Aleah.

Because if anything happened to her, at the hands of Tito, I would kill him.

I wouldn't regret it.

The Worst of Both Worlds

"You're gonna fuck him again, and you're gonna like it," Tito said through gritted teeth, pressing the cold barrel of the gun under my chin, making my jaw hurt.

I felt the hot tears streak my face that were falling from my eyes, evidence of the fear that I was unwilling to verbalize.  I shook my head no.  

I wasn't sure where I was.  It was dark with a single light hanging from the ceiling.  I was pressed up against a wall with my hands tied behind my back.  

"Mmm," he growled, nipping at my ear.  "Would you rather have me instead?"

He licked my neck, and with his head to my side I saw over his shoulder and gasped.  There, under the light, blind folded and duct taped to a chair, was Aaron.

My eyes shot open and I sat up with a start.  My tank top was soaked in sweat, and I wiped at the real tears that had trailed down my face during the nightmare.  I looked over at my clock, and it was only 4 a.m.

It was more or less the same one every single night since I'd ran into Aaron and Tito at the bar.  I think I was nervous that something was going to happen, and was combining what Aaron had told me with Luke.  So Tito was the worst of both worlds right now.

I was tired from sleeping restlessly and waking up constantly.  I was having a hard time remaining optimistic due to the stress from my dreams.  I had an appointment with my therapist the next day, so I was hoping he would be able to help me out, as I was at a loss.  I had been doing a lot better, and so the medication I was originally on I had gone off of, but I was thinking about asking to be put back on it again.  Or at least some type of sleep aid to keep me asleep at night.  I also decided I needed to talk to Detective Stratton to let him know about my run-in with Aaron and Tito.

I'd had my interview a few weeks ago at the Department of Health and Human Services for a position investigating child abuse and neglect.  They told me that they were waiting for a new "cohort" to start training, and had some more applicants to interview, but as soon as they heard about the new cohort and had made a decision, they would give me a call.  I tried to focus on how my interview had gone, to distract myself from everything else.  It was easier to think about that than anything else.

Eventually I must have drifted off, as I woke up to the sun trying to break through my curtains.  I stretched and yawned, still tired.

I made my way downstairs and saw Sarah was sitting on the couch, not at work.  "What are you doing here, slacker?" I asked through a yawn.

She shrugged, but didn't answer me and didn't look at me.  I poured a bowl of Cinnamon Toast Crunch and dumped milk in it.  I grabbed it, along with the box, for when I ate the cereal and then could add more to my leftover milk, and went into the living room.  I sat in a chair, and took in Sarah's appearance.  She still hadn't looked at me or spoken to me.  She looked rather disheveled, her blonde hair unkempt and matted from sleeping on it, smeared eye make-up, and wrapped up in a blanket.

"Are you sick?"

She shook her head no.

"Don't make me come over there and beat it out of you," I joked.

She then shot me a look, but burst into tears.

I looked at her alarmed.  I put my cereal aside, no longer important.  I got up and went over to her, and wrapped my arms around her, pulling her close to me.  "Sar, what is wrong?"

She sniffled.  "Matt and I broke up."

Split Decision

A/N:  I wanted to try something a little differently, and wrote this split between Aleah and Aaron's views.  It has their name before each section they are narrating.  This won't happen often.  However, if you love it, let me know and I can try this in the future, or if you hated it, let me know that, too, and I'll stay far, far away from doing this ever again :)  ~A

~~~~~~~~

::aleah::

I recognized Tito from when I spilled that girl's drink accidentally.  I knew that this was my time to shine.  I had to for Aaron.  Although, really, for my own sake and safety, too.

I shot Tito an embarrassed look, which was more or less the truth, and turned to give Aaron one last hasty look, hoping it appeared full of lust.

I heard Tito compliment Aaron, and the sound of hands smacking together.  "Niiiice, 'Zo!"  I blushed.

Aaron responded, but I couldn't hear what he said.

~~~~~~~~

::aaron::

"Yeah.  Guess I just needed a good fucking," I responded to Tito, while I watched Aleah walk away.  She played it off good enough.  Hopefully Tito wouldn't question her as more than some girl I hooked up with.

He asked me something, but I was lost watching her turn the corner back into the bar.

"Pendejo!  I'm talking to you," Tito pushed my shoulder.  His way of getting my attention.  It wasn't violent, just not friendly.

"What?"

"That piece of ass that good, huh?  I asked if you got her number."

"Oh, right."  I started to see red, hearing Aleah referred to that way.  I took a deep breath, knowing this was just work, nothing personal."  "Yeah, she's hot, but there's a million more like her."

Tito scoffed.  "You looked at her different than you have any other bitch we've been around."

"Nah, man.  Just haven't hit it that hard in awhile."  I gave him a half grin and walked off, to get a drink and head back into the VIP.

~~~~~~~~

::aleah::

When I rounded the corner out of view of Aaron and Tito, I quickened my pace.  As much as I desired to be with Aaron and watch him, even from a distance, I had a bad feeling about Tito.  Based on that feeling and Aaron's warning, I needed to get out of there.  Especially, I needed to get Rosa and Quinn out of there before a chance run-in with Aaron.

When I got into the karaoke bar, Rosa and Quinn were belting out "Sweet Caroline" to the rest of the bar, everyone singing along loudly with their glasses raised.  Despite what had just happened, I smiled and laughed at their drunken singing.

I sought out Sarah.  I found her at a small round high top with several drinks on it, all at least half full.  The song was almost over.  I needed to hurry and I needed to have Sarah help me.  She had driven and was the least drunk of all of us.  "Sar, we need to get out of here."

"Why?" She looked at her phone.  "It's not even 1 yet."

I picked up one of the drinks, "Is this one of theirs?"

She nodded her head, looking at me strangely.  I started chugging the drink.  I finished it and put it on the table.  "We need to go.  Now."

She saw the look on my face and nodded her head, and started drinking her drink.  I picked up the other one and dumped a little bit of it into the now other 2 empty glasses, making them all next to empty.  Rosa and Quinn just got back to the table.

"Oh, we're out!  I'll get the next round," Rosa said excitedly. 

Sarah faked a yawn.  "Actually, we probably should get going.  I have to work in the morning and we still have an hour drive back to Lincoln."  Lie.  Not about the drive, but about her working.

"Oh yeah, I forgot about that, Sarah.  I'm sorry!"  I was way over-acting.

Quinn nodded, seemingly empathetic.  "Oh yeah.  Sorry we kept you ladies out so late!  And thank you for driving, Sarah."

Rosa chimed in, "Yes, thank you.  Let's go.  It was so much fun!"

Their words were slightly slurred, but hopefully mine and Sarah's abrupt need to leave wouldn't seem so weird with the alcohol dulling their BS radars.

~~~~~~~~

::aaron::

I was back at the table and had been for a few minutes.  Gina was pulling her normal overly-flirty act with me, since Tito wasn't around.  I didn't fully understand their relationship.  He slept around with whoever he wanted, she seemed to know but didn't say anything.  I think she was content having whatever she wanted at her beck and call.  I was getting disgusted though, with her purposely rubbing her nipple over my arm.  Since her tiny shirt was see through.  Why the hell did she think that was attractive?  Even if I was looking for someone to hook up with, dressing like that only made me assume she was dripping with gonorrhea or the hiv.  Fucking nasty.

I sighed, exasperated.  "Where's your boyfriend, Gina."

"Eh, who cares.  He'll be back when he gets back," she said, as she turned, once again rubbing her chest against me. 

I stood up, done.  "Wait, where you going?" she asked.

I looked at her.  My mom would slap me if she heard me talk to a female the way I was about to.  "None of your fucking business, Gina.  I don't answer to you."

I walked out, in search of Tito.  Seeing Aleah, although it had initially made me happier than I've been since I said bye to her in Philadelphia, had just put me in a really bad mood.  I was angry, and I couldn't even pinpoint why.

~~~~~~~~

::aleah::

We were all out the door, almost to Sarah's car when I heard a voice yell out behind me. 

"Hey!  Hey, girl!"

I turned, and saw Tito jogging after us.

Just, no.

I stopped and turned to walk back to him, not wanting for any of the other three to hear whatever conversation was about to ensue.

I pretended to be super confused. "Can I help you?"

He smiled, slyly.  It sent shivers, and not the good kind, down my spine.  "My boy, Lorenzo, back there.  I think he wants your number, but was too shy to ask."

Internally, I froze, not sure what to do.  I decided to play hardball, instead.  I folded my arms over my chest.  "Well, if he wanted it so bad, he sure is doing a piss-poor job of asking for it."  Tito started to talk, but I quickly cut him off.  "Plus, he didn't seem so shy in the bathroom."

"Aw, come on.  He's a good-looking dude.  You wouldn't want to see him again?"

I knew then how to get him to leave it.  I shrugged my shoulders.  "He wasn't that good." And I walked away, my knees weak, and my legs shaking.

~~~~~~~~

::aaron::

I quick walked out to Tito, as I saw he and Aleah walking away from each other.  "Tito, wha's up?"

He grinned and nodded his head back at Aleah.  "I tried to get her number for you."

I clenched my fists.  "And?"

"She said you weren't any good!" he guffawed.  He kept walking back towards the bar, his back to me.

"That bitch," I said, though I was grinning like a proud parent having witnessed their child just score the winning touchdown.  I sent a silent "thank you" to Aleah, hoping if she somehow felt it, she would know it was for more than just this moment.

This Could Ruin Everything: Aaron's perspective

And we froze.

Aleah.

What were mere seconds felt like hours. We said nothing, but everything.

Everything inside of me wanted to gather her in my arms and hold her close, but on the outside I had to remain cold and aloof.  I couldn't have Tito or his girl, Gina, turn around and catch any type of interaction.  At best, Tito would try to take her home, despite Gina's presence.  At worst... well, lets not talk about at worst. If he suspects I'm anyone other than who I'm portraying to be, everyone either of us knows will be in witness protection for the rest of our lives.

This could ruin everything.

Through her eyes I saw the whole spectrum of emotions:  joy, hurt, confusion, anger, fear, and lastly, realization.  I held her gaze just enough, but not anywhere near enough.  I quickly looked her up and down.  Damn, she looks gorgeous.  I want to touch every inch of her body with every inch of mine, but alas...

I was about to head back into the middle bar, when my eyes darted past her to see who she was with.  Well, fuck.  Just, fuck. 

My mother was there, too?  How in the hell, and why?

I closed my eyes and pushed through the door, praying that only Aleah saw me.  I also sent a silent message to her, that she would avert anyone she was with away from me.

As I stalked back to the bar to get Gina another drink, I grabbed a pen sitting on someone's receipt left on the bar, and a napkin, and scribbled a quick message.  I looked to see Aleah making her way through the bar, watching me closely, with Sarah, my mom, and Rosa following behind.  I turned my back to them, hoping they don't notice me.  Aleah was in front and I turned my head to the right to see her start to brush past me, and I stuffed the napkin into her hand, while she was next to me. 

I waited until her group made their way into the karaoke bar, and I went back to where Tito, Jose, and Gina were.  They were set up in VIP of course.  I couldn't even believe this place had a "VIP" section.  And they already had a harem of what Jose and I refer to as "vultures."  The girls that want to be part of what you are.  I didn't even want to be at this fucking place to begin with tonight.  Gina had made us food before we left, and every time she cooks I get sick.  Every.  Single.  Time.

The good news is, Tito and Gina both know it, so when I disappear in 10 minutes to meet Aleah, they won't come looking for me.

I know I look distracted, and I catch Tito watching me.  I nod a "what's up" at him.  He hollers over at me, "Selection here not good enough?" as he gestures to the 5 or 6 girls that have gathered.  I give him a half smile of approval, while inside my stomach is churning.  And this time, not from Gina's cooking.

My undercover orders are to act as "when in Rome."  In order for me to be trusted and get into the inner circle, I have to play and look the part.  So far, I'd managed to not fuck any girls.  I can't do it to Aleah.  I love her.  I constantly have girls surrounding me who aren't leaving much to the imagination in how they're dressed.  Some of them are really good looking, and if I was single, I would happily, and fully, be playing the part.  One of my earliest tests after meeting Tito, was trying to show I was not hiding anything and had no ties to anyone, so I could do his bidding as needed.  While Tito had a gun pointed at me, without flinching, I had to let some whore blow me.  I didn't finish.  I couldn't.  I had to block out my surroundings and think about Aleah only in order to even get it up. But finishing wasn't the point.  I had to prove to Tito that I had nothing to lose.  On the outside, I was fine.  On the inside I was crying, because I have one, who is my everything, to lose.  There would be a lot of questionable things I had to do or participate in while playing my role.  There were certain rules I couldn't break, others I could toe the line, and some my superiors would look the other way. 

I look at my burner phone.  One minute.  I break away from the two girls that are laying it on thick with me, and go over to Tito. I lean down so he can hear me and say, "Gina's cooking."  I stand back up and he laughs, and I head to the middle bar, where the bathroom is.

I don't know what architect built this joint, but they're an idiot.  However, I'm thanking them at that moment.  The bathrooms there were single bathrooms.  The girls' had a line, of course.

I push open the guys' bathroom door and look behind me to see Aleah taking quick steps in shoes that are ungodly high towards the bathroom. I can't hide the smile, though, at seeing her.

I check behind her and didn't see anyone I recognize.  I held the door open for her, and she entered.  I closed it, locked it, and immediately turned to her and pushed her against the wall, pressing my mouth hard against hers. 

I wanted to taste her, feel her, breath her in.  I needed to. 

She kissed me back, just as hungrily.  I grab her waist, having forgotten how perfectly it fits inside the grip of my hands.  The kissing lasts minutes.  Hell, I don't know, maybe hours.  Realistically, though, minutes.

I reluctantly pull away, but rest my forehead against hers.

"Aaron," she whispers.  I place a finger over her mouth, silencing her.

"I love you.  Please don't say my name."  I pause.  "I love you.  You look amazing.  I've missed you so much.  I love you."

I feel her muscles relax.  "I love you.  When are you coming home."  It was a statement.

I sighed.  "Not soon enough.  I'm not sure.  It could be awhile.  Unfortunately, a long time.  Did I mention I've missed you?"

She smiled.  I would do anything to make her smile, to keep her smiling, to be able to see her smile.

Before she could say anything, I continued.  "Aleah, you need to listen to me.  These people I'm working with... they're bad.  They're extremely dangerous.  I'm in deep and can't get out right now.  But they can have no knowledge of who you are, or who I am.  I'm not sure how long we'll be here tonight, but I need you to get out of here.  Get my mom out of here.  I can't risk Sarah, my mom, or Rosa seeing me and blowing my cover.  If you see me in here again, don't look at me.  Pretend I don't exist tonight."  The deep sadness that clouded her face caused a part of me to die right then.  "Please be strong.  There's so much I want to tell you, and so much I want to ask you, but I just don't have time right now.  If you ever think there's someone following you or watching you, or anything, let Brad know immediately.  There's another guy I'm undercover with, his name is Jose.  Well, his real name isn't, but that's a whole other story. I just want you to know I'm not alone, and we're looking out for each other."

She nodded her head, but I could see the fear etched across her forehead, and trailing through her eyes.  I kissed her gently, again, first on the forehead, then the tip of the nose, and finally on her lips. 

I stepped back to look her up and down and take her fully in, knowing that I may not see her for a long time.  I want the image of her burned into my brain.  I see a tear make its way slowly down her face.  I brushed it off with my thumb, letting my hand linger on her cheek.  "Babe, I know this is hard.  At least until you get home, I need you to be strong.  And especially walking out of this bathroom, I need you to act like everything is okay.  Or, rather, act like we just met and I fucked the life out of you.  If anyone is out there who knows me, I can't have them think I know you."

"I wish you would," she quietly said.

"You wish I would what?"

She smiled sadly at me, but there was a slightly mischievous look behind the sadness.  She shyly said, "You know... fuck the life out of me."

She blushed and I laughed, moving closer to her.  I love the innocent side of her.  The spontaneous, adventurous side, too.  I side nodded to our surroundings.  "Really?  In here?"

I saw her briefly look around the bathroom, and back at me.  "I mean, you want to make it look believable when we walk out of here, right?"

I studied her face closely.  She looked so innocent, yet truly like she wanted to help.  And beneath it all, she looked as if she really just wanted me with her for as long as possible. 

I didn't answer her.  I kiss her in response.  I'm already ready for her; I was the minute I laid eyes on her.  I unbutton my jeans, and unzip them, pushing them and my boxer briefs down to my knees.  She coils a hand around me and I moan into her mouth.  I roughly push her short things to the side, and feel she has no panties on.  I smile into our kiss, and let a finger feel her.  She's just as ready for me.  I push that finger into her and she intakes a breath, sharply.  I remove it, and she lets go of me, and I guide myself into her gently.  I know this isn't going to take long, for either of us.  I press my thumb against her as I thrust.

She presses her mouth into my shoulder and makes some muffled noises, or something.  I don't know, I can't focus on much other than her tightening around me, putting the cherry on top of this cake, as I quietly groan her name into her ear.  We stay like that for a time, me supporting her, and I can sense she's shaky.

After she feels stable, she loosens her grip on me.  She looks at me, shyly, again, and makes her way to the toilet.  She cleans herself off, and I get myself straightened back up. 

Before we walk out, I put my hands on her cheeks.  "I love you, sweet girl.  When it gets hard, or the nights seem long, remember that."

I unlock the bathroom door, taking one more long look at her.  Her hair is slightly disheveled looking, but I don't fix it.  When I open the door, I'm glad I hadn't.  Because standing there, was Tito.