Running From Forever

by K. Aten

  “A little over a year.”

  Jill laughed. “Oh yeah, you rolled into town for a night then rolled right back out again.”

  Sarah smirked. “But it was a good night though, wasn’t it?”

  Jill blushed. “Uh huh, no complaints here!” She shook off the arousing memories. “I heard you were back in town playing at the Pony, but I haven’t been out in forever. So when are you heading out again?” The redhead worked as a veterinarian at an emergency clinic just outside of the city, so her hours were sometimes random and unpredictable. This meant it was often hard for her to meet up with friends.

  “Actually, I’m back for good. I’m living with Annie for the time being. You know me, just trying to stay out of trouble.” When Jill raised an eyebrow in disbelief, she took a swig of her beer and chuckled. “Well, mostly anyways.” Both women laughed, remembering Sarah’s uncanny knack for getting herself into romantic entanglements. Jill had to save the singer on more than one occasion from over amorous fans and one-night stands.

  They spent nearly an hour catching up and exchanging stories. By the end, they were laughing so hard tears were running down both their cheeks. Jill reached over and took Sarah’s hand. She said seriously, “I’m so glad we ran into each other tonight. I always have a good time with you.”

  Sarah smiled sadly. “I know and I’m sorry we lost touch too. I didn’t keep in contact with anyone but Annie while I was on the road. I’m afraid it has cost me a lot of my old friends.”

  Jill gave her hand a squeeze. “No worries there, not this friend.” She tilted her head to the side and added, “Why is it that we broke up all those years ago?”

  Sarah shoved the other woman’s hand away playfully. “Someone, who shall remain nameless, had a serious aversion to monogamy.”

  In a flash, Jill slid over to Sarah’s side of the booth and tickled her. When she was done, she grabbed Sarah’s beer and drank it in three swallows. “Whatever! As I recall, Ms. Colby, you weren’t ready to settle down either!”

  Sarah looked down, blushing and idly scratching her ear. “Heh, oh yeah, I forgot about that.” When she looked up again, Jill kissed her. This time the redhead did not stop until she elicited a moan from Sarah. “What are your plans for the night?”

  “Not much really. Why, what did you have in mind?” Sarah played along as she had done many times before with the other woman.

  Jill gave her a sexy smirk. “What do you say we cut out early and go back to my place? We can do a little more catching up. It will be just like old times.”

  Sarah let the proposition sink in. It didn’t take a lot of internal debate. She was desperate to get Keller out of her head and she knew Jill wasn’t looking for anything serious. “Sounds good to me. I just have to pass along a message first.”

  Jill stood and offered a hand to Sarah. “I’m going to grab another beer and hit the dance floor while you do your thing then. Just come and get me when you’re ready, okay?”

  Sarah gave her a pinch, eliciting a squeak. “I never could keep you off the dance floor. Don’t worry, I shouldn’t be too long.” Jill made her way over to the bar and Sarah headed for Keller’s office. Nervously, she knocked on the door just below the manager sign.

  Keller’s voice was nearly a growl. “Enter.” When Sarah walked in, Keller gave her a look that managed to be both angry and hurt at the same time. “Yes?”

  “Can we talk for a minute?”

  Keller waved a hand toward the leather chair sitting adjacent to the couch. “Have a seat.”

  Sarah took note of Keller’s tired blue eyes and the dark circles underneath. Signs of the manager’s exhaustion were clearly evident. She decided to just say what she had come to say and get out as soon as possible. “Annie is worried about you. She tells me that you’re working fourteen hours a day, every day of the week.”

  Keller leaned forward, with her hands interlaced on her desktop. “Why doesn’t she tell me herself?”

  “She says you won’t talk to her.” Sarah blew out a frustrated breath. “She practically begged me to try and talk some sense into you.”

  Keller stood abruptly, sending her chair rolling backward. As Keller stalked toward her, Sarah came to the alarming realization that the other woman was pissed. And she knew without a doubt that Noble Keller could be a very dangerous woman. “Keller, you can’t keep working like this. You will wear yourself out. Trust your employees, they can handle it.”

  Keller leaned forward and pinned Sarah’s arms to the chair. Her voice was quiet but the anger could be heard quite clearly. “I don’t think either my job or my welfare is any of your concern.” She lashed out, her words cutting deep. “You’ve made it abundantly clear that there is nothing between us but sex. That you have plenty of other—friends to keep you occupied. Unless— you’ve changed your mind?”

  Sarah slowly shook her head and whispered, “No.” She was a little afraid of the angry woman in front of her. She was also turned on by the sheer dominance on display in front of her. They were so close that she was engulfed by Keller’s scent. Ignoring her racing heart and shallow breathing, she tipped her chin up defiantly. “Fine, I’ll leave you alone then.”

  Keller didn’t move for a few seconds. Finally, she released Sarah’s arms and put her hands on the back of the chair on either side of Sarah’s head. She leaned in slowly, giving Sarah plenty of time to pull back. When the singer didn’t, she kissed her. The kiss was as aggressive as the woman doing the kissing. With tongues gliding together, she dominated the mouth of the woman in the chair. Sarah felt like her entire body was on fire and she pulled Keller even closer. Keller suddenly jerked away and stood up. Her blue eyes had gone nearly black with desire. Sarah was breathing hard but she didn’t miss the trickle of blood running down the other woman’s lip. Keller saw Sarah’s look and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand, blood smearing across tan skin. Sarah continued to stare, something nagging at the back of her mind. Then realization dawned. “Keller, your lip—” She pointed. “—why is your lip bleeding?”

  Keller’s eyes widened for a second then she walked to the bookshelf by the door and grabbed a tissue. She cleaned the back of her hand then dabbed at the small cut caused by Sarah’s teeth. Keller ran her tongue over the cut and tasted blood. She looked at Sarah with panic on her face then stared at the floor. “You need to leave.”

  Sarah jumped up and hurried over to the other woman. “Let me see it. Are you okay? You shouldn’t be bleeding!”

  With dark eyes flashing, Keller pinned her to the office door. “I said you need to leave. Now!” She abruptly released Sarah and strode to the opposite side of the small office.

  Sarah gave her one last look then fled the room. It wasn’t the words that sent her away, it was the look in Keller’s eyes. She looked hungry. After a few calming breaths, she walked back out into the main bar. In her preoccupation, she almost ran into Jill who was coming off the dance floor. “Are you ready?”

  The redhead laughed. “Ready, willing and able!” The look on Sarah’s face as she turned toward the front door made her stop and take the singer’s hand. “Hey—” Sarah turned around with a questioning look on her face and Jill gave her a compassionate one in return. “Do you want to talk about it?”

  Sarah still had a multitude of emotions running rampant through her. Fear, anger, and arousal were the top three. She gave Jill an intense look. “Talking is the last thing I want to do right now!” She practically pulled the other woman out of the bar. “Let’s go already.”

  SARAH ARRIVED HOME Sunday afternoon after spending two nights with Jill getting reacquainted and immediately plugged her dead phone in to charge. She could have used the one in her RAV4 over the weekend, but she didn’t want to face any potential calls or texts from Keller. She had forgotten how much she missed her friendship with Jill and all the good times they spent together. But deep inside, she couldn’t help wishing that it was Keller’s hands on her body. In the g
uiltiest part of Sarah’s mind, it was Keller and not Jill that drove her over the edge into oblivion.

  Her sister and Duke were gone so she assumed they were at the park down the street. It was Annie’s favorite place to go with the rambunctious Husky. She made her way to the bedroom to change out of the clothes she had borrowed from Jill. Her mind was a million miles away as she folded the jeans and t-shirt carefully, placing them on her dresser. Within ten minutes of walking in the door, she was munching cold leftover pizza and drinking a beer. She heard the front door open and seconds later Duke pushed his way into the kitchen. He greeted Sarah enthusiastically so she tossed him a piece of her crust. Annie came into the room a few minutes later and grabbed her own slice of pizza. “It’s about time you got home!”

  Sarah mumbled, “Why?” around a mouthful of pepperoni and cheese.

  Annie launched into the story that had been eating at her for two days. “I tried calling and texting you, but your phone was off!”

  Sarah pointed at the phone in question. “It was dead and I didn’t feel like using the charger in my RAV4. Why, what’s the big deal? I sent a text to let you know where I would be staying.”

  Annie shot her an annoyed look. “Julie said you were there Friday, but you left too early. You missed all the commotion.”

  “Commotion? What commotion?”

  Annie continued. “Well I was at the Pony when it first started. From what Julie told me, two guys came in and tried to start some trouble. Julie refused to serve them because they were already drunk and harassing the other customers. Big Teddy tried to get them to leave when they started knocking over tables but he was out numbered. By the time Keller got involved, Teddy had the first drunk in a chokehold, trying to restrain him. She ran out just as the second drunk nailed Teddy over the head with a chair. That was when I came over from the other bar. He managed to keep his hold even though the chair cut his head.”

  Sarah nearly choked on her pizza so she took another healthy swig of beer. “Oh my God! What happened after that?”

  “Well Julie had already called the police and they told her it would be about five minutes. But Keller didn’t even hesitate. It was—” Annie shook her head in amazement. “—you wouldn’t believe it unless you saw it. Before anyone could even blink, she had grabbed one of the tall chairs and was using it to pin the other guy against the wall. It was so tight against his throat he could hardly breathe. Suddenly, he let go of the chair with one hand and grabbed a beer bottle.” She made a slashing motion with her hand. “He smashed the bottle on a table and cut her arm open.” Annie stopped when she saw her sister’s face pale. She walked over and put a comforting hand on the older woman’s arm. “She’s okay, really.”

  Sarah just nodded numbly. “So what happened then?”

  “Well it was incredible. She threw down the chair and punched him across the jaw with her good fist, knocking his drunken ass out. She did it so fast he didn’t even have time to defend himself.”

  Sarah sighed with relief. “That’s crazy! Everyone else was okay though?”

  Annie nodded. “Yeah, the cops showed up and arrested the two men. They took statements from witnesses, we got the mess cleaned up, and then it was business as usual.” Annie had been having suspicions about Keller for a while. She wanted to talk to Sarah about them but was nervous. After what she saw at the bar after the fight, she didn’t think she should put it off any longer. “Sarah, after the fight I saw something really strange.”

  Sarah looked up at Annie, noting the serious tone in her voice. “What is it?”

  The younger woman was scratching the back of her neck, unsure how to begin. When she did start, her speech was halting and a little disturbed. “Well, um, after everything went down, Keller disappeared into the office to take care of her arm. I stayed to clean the blood off the floor in the main bar but when the police arrived, I went to get her. Sarah, what I saw was—” She paused, searching for words. “Her cut was pretty bad. I saw it before she went to the office. But when I went to get her, she was getting ready to bandage it.” She swallowed nervously. “In the office it wasn’t even half the original size. It was more than half healed! I mean, it still should have had stitches but—” Annie returned her gaze to her older sister, the woman she trusted more than anyone else. “How? I’ve noticed strange things going on with her for a while and now I’m more curious than ever to know what’s going on.” She paused, seeing the strange look on her sister’s face. “You think I’m crazy, right?”

  Sarah sighed and ran a hand through her hair. “No, I don’t think you’re crazy.” There was no way she could lie to Annie so she did the only thing she could to help Keller preserve her secret. She knew Annie would keep a promise so she swore the younger woman to secrecy and told her everything. She included all the things that had been on her mind for the last few months. Keller’s disease and her insistence that they were soul mates were first. She also told of her fears of commitment to Keller, or any woman.

  Annie sat in shock for a few seconds, just trying to take it all in. “Jesus! That is so, so—incredible.” She looked at Sarah. “You really believe this?”

  Sarah nodded. “I’ve seen it, I can’t help but believe. You’ve seen some of her stuff first hand.”

  “Wow!”

  “Yeah, that’s what I said too.”

  Annie looked at her sister in concern. “So what are you going to do?”

  Sarah looked back at her with sadness. “I don’t know, Annie, I just don’t know.”

  Their conversation was interrupted when Annie’s cell rang. Annie answered it and spent the next few minutes on the phone. Sarah could tell something was wrong just from the tone of her sister’s voice and from the worried words from her side of the conversation. After a brief flurry of words, Annie finished the call with reassurance to whoever was on the other end. “Don’t worry, I’ll find someone to check on her and I’ll be there in about fifteen minutes to open up.”

  Sarah looked at Annie in concern. “What’s the matter?”

  “Keller never arrived to open the bar this afternoon.”

  “Was she supposed too?”

  Annie started pacing. “I didn’t finish my story. She called yesterday and said she wouldn’t be in, that she wanted to give her arm a little more time to heal. She has never missed work before and I was worried but she insisted she was fine. And now, she failed to show up for work without calling anyone or answering her own phone.” She grabbed her keys off the counter, clearly upset. “I can’t even check on her because I need to open the bar for Julie!” She gave Sarah a pleading look. “Could you go over to her place and make sure she’s okay?”

  Sarah slowly shook her head, remembering Keller’s harsh words on Friday. “I don’t think that would be a very good idea. We had an argument and she pretty much kicked me out of her office the last time I saw her.”

  Annie looked thoughtful for a second and mumbled, “Well that would explain her mood.” Then louder, “You’re the only one that can do it, besides, what if it has something to do with her condition? We can’t just let anyone find her.”

  Pulling herself off the stool, Sarah sighed in defeat. “Fine, I’ll go see what’s up.” She got halfway to the kitchen door and turned around. “For what it’s worth, I’m worried too.”

  Chapter Six

  THE CONDO WAS dark when Sarah entered, the windows tinted completely. The only sound came from the steady hum of the refrigerator. The place seemed empty as she quietly made her way toward the bedroom. She hesitated before walking around the corner and precious seconds ticked by. Sarah was afraid of what she might find, but she was more afraid of what she might feel. Finally relenting to the worry that was twisting her stomach, she walked into the bedroom. The sight of Keller’s body lying sweat-soaked sent her rushing across the room. Hollow-eyed and still, she looked like a child lying in the king-size bed. Sarah took in the bloody bandage on Keller’s arm and the shallow rise and fall
of her breathing. She sat on the edge of the bed and took Keller’s chilled hand into her own. Guilt and sorrow fought for control as she spoke into the silence of the room. Her words came out as more a sob than a whisper. “This is all my fault—I did this to you.”

  Keller’s eyes fluttered open. “Sarah?”

  Sarah scooted closer and rested her palm against Keller’s cheek. “Shhh, you don’t have to speak, I’m here.” Tears filled her eyes as the smaller woman leaned into the caress. “I’m so sorry, Keller, I never meant to hurt you.”

  Keller weakly lifted her hand to press it against Sarah’s, holding it in place. She turned her head to kiss Sarah’s palm to reassure her. “It’s not your fault, I just overextended myself and when I got hurt I couldn’t heal.” She shut her eyes for a moment then continued. “Anyway, it’s too late now and maybe this is for the best. I can’t help but feel as if I’ve caused more turmoil than good in your life.”