by J. Judkins
“No, I would have, with you. But there simply isn’t time.”
“Yes. You’re right. If you still want to, we can later on at the apartment.”
“The apartment? Kind of dangerous, don’t you think? Besides, I don’t think they'd let us on the roof.”
“The roof would be dangerous.” Angel nodded in agreement. “The bed will suffice.”
Chapter Forty-Two
“Two more, see?" Angel pointed up into the branches of the larger trees at the edge of the parking lot. Kim peered up at the darkness, but all she could see was more darkness.
Angel walked up to the base of the tree and tried to pull herself up. The bark ripped and tore under her grasp and she went nowhere. Undeterred, she adjusted her grip and tried again. After the third attempt, she’d gotten the hang of it, and pulled herself up with astonishing ease.
From there, it looked to be child’s play.
Angel ascended quickly. Kim grew tired of looking up when she couldn’t see anything, and instead focused her attention on the convenience store on the far side of the parking lot. No one lingered outside to witness their activities, but she knew the store had its own set of cameras, ones that wouldn’t be disabled as readily as the smaller ones Angel discovered.
If Angel knew they existed, she might want to destroy them too, despite the risk of getting caught. Best not to tell her.
Had she ever parked closer? Surely if her silver Corolla had been identified, they would have found where she lived over a week ago?
Kim’s gaze fell to her car’s license plate. "If they're transmitting, they’ve already seen the car. Coming here was a mistake. Someone already knows what my car looks like!"
"If these cameras are anything like the others, they're recording, not transmitting!" Angel called down to her, "but don't worry, I changed your license plates!"
"What?"
"I said, don't worry, I changed your license plates!"
"When was this?” Kim demanded, “and why didn't you tell me?"
There was a noticeable pause, which suggested hesitancy in Angel’s reply. "A few days ago. And because I thought you'd be angry about it?"
"You'd be right!"
A camera dropped to the concrete and clattered noisily at Kim's feet. She stumbled away from it in surprise, then glared at it, feeling foolish.
Kim briefly caught sight of Angel jumping from one tree to another with a blatant disregard for gravity. There was more rustling, and a second camera jostled free and fell to the pavement.
Angel waited until after it stopped bouncing before releasing her grip, arms spread wide and completely heedless of a fall that would have crippled a normal person. She landed on the camera dead center, crushing it.
After brushing herself off, she turned to Kim. "I understand your concern, but think of your own situation. You're illegally harboring a foreign worker under an expired visa. I did it to protect you."
"I don't see how it could," Kim huffed.
"You concluded as I did, that someone set up a way to monitor this area to find me through you. My attention to detail paid off. If we hadn’t spotted them and if I hadn’t changed the license plates, they would have found and arrested us both."
“A minute ago, you seemed surprised when I suggested they were looking for you. Yet you had the foresight to change my license plates?”
“Yes, I did.” Angel looked off into the distance. “Truly, I never imagined they would go this far.”
Kim’s eyes widened.
Had Angel just admitted something?
Angel looked back at her, then away. The way she fidgeted reminded Kim of herself, when she was nervous.
Kim swallowed past the lump in her throat. “You knew you were being hunted,” she stated. “Didn't you? You knew it. All this time.”
Angel half raised her hand as it searching for the words, then let it fall again. “They're out there right now, Kim. I know they're out there. Searching. But I don't know who they are. Or why they're so interested in me.” She paused again, seemingly unsure of herself. The faraway look was back. “I feel as if I’m not supposed to be here. That I don't belong.”
You belong with me, Kim felt herself about to say, but didn't.
“We should return home,” said Angel.
Kim picked up the last remaining camera and stripped it of its memory card. “We should save one, but let’s leave it here. Maybe we can use it to try to find out more about the people hunting you.”
“Why not take it with us?”
“I’d rather not. It could have a tracking chip in it, or something. We don’t know who we’re dealing with.” Kim carried the camera to the parking lot’s edge, furthest from the main road, and tossed it underhand into the weeds just beyond.
Angel busied herself disassembling the telescope. Kim remained where she was, taking note of Angel’s activities but not much else.
“You belong with me?”
Kim sardonically admonished herself.
Seriously? Where did that come from? Angel and I are friends. Nothing more.
Okay, admittedly, they were good friends.
Who kissed a lot.
And had sex a couple of times.
Yeah. Only a couple of times, her internal voice mocked. A couple of times each day!
Sensing her introspective was going nowhere. Kim joined Angel at the car.
Chapter Forty-Three
The car had grown cold. Kim switched on the heater to its lowest setting. “You don’t seem at all worried,” she said. Her eyes flicked to Angel then back to the road, again.
“I’m not.”
“People are hunting you. That doesn’t worry you at all?”
“You’re aware of them, now,” Angel said. “Other than that, how has my situation changed?”
Kim fell silent. Angel made a valid point. She’d been living under the threat of capture for weeks, now. Today didn’t mark any significant change.
“By the way, changing license plates isn’t an effective way to hide,” Kim pointed out.
“It worked today.”
“Yes, but normally it shouldn’t. I’m still not sure how you thought it would work in the first place.” Kim glanced at Angel, again. “What happened to my old ones? Can I get them back?”
“You still have your old ones. I didn’t switch them. I changed them.”
Kim blinked. “Changed? As in, altered, changed?”
Angel gave a faint nod which Kim nearly missed it in the darkness. She snorted. “That’s marginally less illegal than stealing someone else’s plates and switching them out, but it’s still illegal.”
“Purchase new ones,” Angel suggested. She resumed her distant stare out the side window. “You’re up for renewal, soon. In March.”
“That’s six months away.”
Angel didn’t answer. Kim tightened her grip on the steering wheel, fuming.
Angel twisted in her seat, a look of concern on her face. “Are you still worried? Don’t be. They didn’t have enough information to find us, before. They still don’t.”
Another valid point, Kim realized. They were safe enough for the time being. Perhaps she could get in a little research of her own, tomorrow at work?
Kim could see Angel was back to her introspective look, again, not paying attention. “So if you’re not worried about anything, what are you thinking about?” Kim asked her.
“Just thoughts. What we talked about tonight. Our relationship.”
Kim swallowed hard and returned her attention to the road.
I shouldn’t have asked. Angel has a one-track mind. I really should have known better.
The rest of the trip passed in silence.
While Kim had no intention of indulging Angel’s make love under the stars idea, she couldn’t deny the thought of it inspired certain suggestive thoughts and made her wonder at the possibilities. It stood to reason that if she could feel it with her non-existent sex drive, Angel had to be feeling it far worse.
Angel int
entions towards her remained fully concealed behind her mask of complete indifference, but Kim wasn’t fooled. She focused on her driving, trying to keep her breathing under control. Angel had been denied her outdoor sex. Kim didn’t doubt she’d want to do something about it the moment they returned home.
They reached the condominium complex without further incident. Kim opened the garage door and pulled inside. Neither spoke a word about what was to come.
Angel carried the telescope while Kim followed behind, her face heated, keys biting into her tightly clenched fist. She unlocked and held open the security door for Angel and again followed after, watching while trying not to notice and appreciate the perfection of Angel’s form and how effortlessly she climbed the stairs.
After they walked through the door, Angel set down their gear and looked Kim dead in the eye. “Kim...”
Here it comes.
“Yes, Angel?”
“I’m going to make dinner,” she said, and left without another word.
Kim watched her go, amazed.
Angel left her.
She left her!
To make dinner!
It wasn’t as if she was looking forward to sex, but she’d more or less been expecting it. Now her half-hearted preparations to stop Angel were going to waste because Angel wasn't even paying attention to her!
Kim eyes narrowed, and she smiled.
This has to be some new strategy.
Angel volunteering to do the cooking had been the next piece of the puzzle. Normally, Kim did all the cooking. The only exception had been the incident last Saturday. Afterwards, Angel told her the orange juice had been drugged and not the food, but such transgressions tended to get one banished from the kitchen for life.
Fortunately for Angel’s cooking career, Kim was lenient, forgiving, and exceptionally lazy, especially when it came to preparing food. Such minor concerns bored her. Let Angel cook if she wanted. Surely Angel wouldn’t stoop to poisoning her twice in a row!
No, Angel had to have something else in mind.
As Angel, had so eloquently pointed out, she wasn’t interested in short-term benefits. The gift of the telescope had been a prop, nothing more than to provide an excuse for romantic sex “under the stars” where anyone and everyone could have wandered by and taken pictures. Or high-quality video, in the case of government agents.
Clearly, long-term for Angel meant later that night, which meant the bulk of Kim’s theories still applied. What does it mean when Angel takes out the garbage without being asked? Angel wants sex. Cooks dinner? Sex. Buys an excessively expensive telescope? Sex. The list was endless.
Kim pondered the apparent contradiction that followed.
But if that were true, why would Angel walk away and not capitalize on her success?
Angel claimed the gift was meant for romance. But romance in this case was only a means to an end. Kim may not have wanted to admit it, but all it would have taken was a little persuasion at the door. Eventually, she would have given in.
Yet Angel didn’t even try.
Why? Why would she do that?
There had to be a deeper strategy in play, one Kim couldn’t see.
Kim still hadn’t solved the question when she wandered into the kitchen, guided by the heavenly aromas wafting through the apartment. Angel was setting out plates. She’d chosen to make stroganoff, using advanced cooking skills involving measurements and ingredients that went far beyond what Kim could ever hope to understand or comprehend.
For a moment, Kim could only stop and stare. The food looked delicious, but Kim knew more than anyone that it was the thought that counted. She kept her expression carefully neutral as she took her seat opposite Angel, not letting her adversary know she was onto her dark plan.
While they ate, Angel seemed indifferent to everything and didn’t try to engage Kim in conversation. Nothing in her mannerisms betrayed her thoughts. Kim mirrored Angel’s behavior and tried to hide her emotions, knowing full well she was being set up on a multitude of different levels.
After dinner, Angel vanished once again, leaving her master plan to slowly unfold and sink its claws into Kim’s brain.
Kim was putting leftovers away when the revelation hit her all at once.
Angel was ignoring her!
The evidence was clear. Angel knew Kim expected her to push for sex at the door. Then Angel very cleverly didn't capitalize on it. After that, she set out to cook dinner, but not to make Kim happy and not because anyone was hungry. Mere coincidence that Kim hadn't had anything to eat in over twelve hours. Satisfying hunger wasn’t the point of dinner. And in any case, Angel had proven she wasn't interested in short-term benefits.
Angel was deliberately holding off…all so Kim would start to crave it.
Ingenious, once she thought about it.
Kim busied herself washing dishes as she thought it through. Angel was torturing her, that’s what it was. By not pushing for sex when Kim fully expected it to happen, it caused her to think about it incessantly. Now the process was irreversible. Nothing was able to distract her.
Angel had set her up, the sex-crazed minx. Not once, but five freaking times, each designed to rile her up then cruelly deny her and leave her wanting. First, there was the gift of the telescope. The second, when Angel tried to talk her into making love under the stars, knowing Kim would adamantly refuse her.
Then there was the romantic talk of being wanted, each word and action designed to make Kim dwell on uncharacteristic thoughts and feelings, to make her yearn to reassure Angel how her fears were unjustified, to tell Angel how much she deeply cared for her and never wanted to let her go. All of which could be interpreted as romantic even without the moonlit background.
And then, after putting the thought in her head and knowing Kim was looking forward to her long-delayed seduction with a minimum of token resistance, Angel implemented the coup de grace, the final stroke, ignoring her after returning home and ignoring her after dinner.
Wouldn’t it be nice if Angel could stop thinking about sex? Kim had other things to worry about. Important things, such as worrying about the nameless organization of hunters searching for them. But no matter how she tried to focus, her thoughts kept drifting to Angel and her latest erotic plan. It was slowly driving her mad.
Kim dried her hands and set about cleaning the table. It didn't need cleaning, but she did it anyway. She didn't want to admit it, but Angel’s “casual indifference” strategy was working.
As far as Kim could tell, based on a lifetime of observation, the longer a person went without sex after being introduced to it, the more they’d start to crave it. At the moment, Kim’s own cravings were at manageable levels. She was under no compulsion to act. What she felt was a distraction, easily ignored.
But what fate awaited her when the insidious cravings grew worse? Would she be able to control herself? Was that what Angel wanted? Her concentration was already shot as it was. She couldn't afford for it to get worse. She didn’t anticipate losing control like a vampire ignoring their hunger and succumbing to a mindless frenzy, but she did fear embarrassing herself.
What if she got it out of the way?
Kim considered it. If she had sex with Angel now, she’d quell this rising desire and ruin Angel’s carefully orchestrated plans. There would be no embarrassing loss of control. She wouldn’t look needy. Angel was the sex-obsessed lunatic. Not her.
But she couldn’t go to Angel and simply ask if they could have sex. That could be easily misinterpreted as her wanting it.
Kim’s fist tightened around her dish rag. There had to be a flaw in Angel’s plan. Some hidden weakness she could exploit.
Then it came to her. The cravings were irritating to her, but she wasn't the one with the overactive sex drive in their relationship. What she felt was bothersome, certainly, but it had to be ten times worse for Angel.
Kim smiled. She set her cleaning rag aside and rubbed her hands together in gleeful anticipation. That meant all sh
e had to do was point out the flaw in Angel’s master plan. Nothing more. Angel loved sex too much, and would realize the price she was paying was too high. Once she realized her plans were ashes, she’d want to cut her losses. She wouldn’t want to put it off any longer.
And after Angel realized Kim had no intention of depriving herself of sex for an extended period of time and wasn’t going to play her games, then…
Okay, try again.
After Angel realized Kim knew all about her latest evil scheme, she’d realize how foolish she’d been to deprive herself, to make herself go without for an extended period of time.
Perfect.
Elated and filled with confidence, Kim left the kitchen.
Angel was reclining on the living room couch, watching Kim’s DVD of Apollo 13. Kim picked up the remote and paused the movie, then pointed the remote imperiously at Angel. “I know what you’re planning.”
Angel’s reply was insufferably casual. “Oh? Which part?”
Kim opened her mouth. Closed it. Her hands formed claws at her side as she wrestled with the question. What could she say? Angel had never been open about wanting sex. She preferred to work from the shadows, tricking Kim into sexual situations she didn't want to avoid.
Angel’s aura of indifference was infuriating. She looked as if she could go right back to the movie without a care in the world.
While Kim struggled with an answer, Angel sighed. "You're right. I’ve been expecting this.”
This surprised Kim and threw her more than a little off stride.
Angel was actually admitting it?
She couldn’t remember the last time one of her own plans worked perfectly.
“I’ve been thinking about what you told me before, about how I manipulated you? It caused me to rethink my objectives. I don’t want you feeling compelled into having sex. With that in mind, I’ve decided to let you set the pace."
Kim snorted. "Oh, really? By manipulating me?"
"I...what?"
"Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” Kim quoted. “Does that mean anything to you? You’ve been ignoring me.”
“I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about, so I’m going to tell you what I’m actually doing,” Angel said, sliding off the couch. “As I said, from now on I’m going to let you set the pace. I wish for you to want me as I want you, but I’m uncomfortable with the thought of you feeling pressured into doing something you don’t want to do. So, I took a chance. I know you’re not as assertive I am. I’m also fully aware you may not feel as strongly as I do.”