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CHAPTER FIVE Max Evans didn't know what to expect when he got home from work and saw Liz waiting for him by the door. "What happened?" "Can you explain this?" She waved a piece of paper in front of his face. "Maybe, what is it?" "It's a letter from school asking you to give it another try next semester. A form letter sent to everyone who dropped out!" Flush crept up her neck into her cheeks. "So, Max. Explain." "Oh boy," he took a deep breath and loosened his tie. "Can we sit?" "Whatever." She sat at the card table across from him and waited. "Okay, I didn't want to tell you that I wasn't going to school." "Yeah, I kind of got that already. It's much better to lie about it and fake going. Carrying the backpack was a nice touch. You sure had me fooled," Liz glared at him. "You have to let me explain." "Fine, this should be rich." "Do you want to hear why or would you rather keep talking?" Max asked. "Please, explain. I will keep my comments until the end." She glanced over her shoulder at the naked Christmas tree in the corner. Tonight it was supposed to be decorated. "I went to school for the first three weeks -" "You haven't gone since then?" Liz shouted. "I'm sorry." "I couldn't go anymore," he looked down and closed his eyes. "I wanted to, I still do, but we didn't have the money to pay the rent and the bills. They offered me a full time position at the insurance company and they're training me to be a broker. We needed the money." "Oh my God," Liz shook her head. "So, you're saying that we can't afford to live here." "We can with what I make now." "Not before? Not even with the extra money from my dad?" Liz asked. She thought the hundred dollars a month from Jeff Parker, given to her on the sly, put them in the clear. "Why didn't you say anything?" "I..." he paused. "I was embarrassed. Here I go out and rent this apartment for us to live in thinking the whole time how happy we're going to be and our lives are going to be perfect. Then I find out that there is no way we can afford it. I was devastated, Liz. I didn't want to tell you because I was so embarrassed. I should have thought it through; but like usual, I didn't." He shook his head, unable to meet her eyes. "When you're concerned, I never think, I just act." "Please don't tell me you dropped out of school for me." "To keep you happy here." "Thank you for the guilt. Screw it Max, we're breaking our lease and moving back home. You're going back to school next semester and we'll get a new home together when we can afford it." "No," he looked at her, finally able to meet her eyes. "I can't. I don't want to. Living here with you has been like a dream come true. This is all I ever wanted. We can find a way to work it out." He knew he sounded desperate and yet didn't seem to care, he was desperate. "I can't not live with you now, Liz." "I don't know what to say." She rested her head on the table. "Part of me wants to strangle the shit out of you and the other wants to take you in my arms." "I like the second one better." His weak attempt at humour went unnoticed. "I can understand why you dropped out, the part that I don't like is that you felt you couldn't come to me and tell me we couldn't afford this place." "I hate to see you upset and I know you love it here. You made it your own almost at once. I just want you to be happy, that's all." He held his hands out palms up. "I am happy Max, with you. I don't care if we live here or somewhere else. It doesn't matter if we have to live apart for a while -" "No, that's not an option. I'm not giving you up so easily." "We have our whole lives in front of us, if we can't afford to live together right now, then we'll wait it out until we can!" "I'll fix it, Liz. I'll make things right," he looked at the naked tree. "We may have to break our lease here and move, though. Would you be mad?" "No! Not at all!" She reached across and picked up his hand in hers. "That would be fine with me as long as you go back to school." Max stood up and walked around in back of her, he ran his hands down her arms and inhaled her hair. "I love you Liz." "I know, I love you." "Everything I do is for you." He bent and kissed her neck; she rolled her head to one side and smiled. Max took the smile as an invitation and slid his hands underneath her shirt. "You make me the happiest man in the world." He whispered in her ear. His hands slid underneath her bra, cupping her breasts. Liz stood and turned to face him. She jumped up on him and wrapped her legs around his waist while he held her ass. She ran her hands through his hair and kissed him. "Don't think I'm not still mad," she said in between kisses. "I am." Max nodded and walked to the bedroom. He laid her down and unbuttoned his shirt throwing it to the side. Liz watched as he kicked off his shoes and dropped his pants and boxers. She loved to look at his sculpted body; she knew she could just lay there and stare for hours. He leaned over her and undressed her. Fighting the urge to look at the brand on her thigh, he met her eyes instead. Windows of the soul, he thought, seeing the love and disappointment all rolled in together. He grabbed her hands with one of this own, and held them behind her head. His eyes closed as he thrust inside her, deeper and deeper until he felt like he might go through her. His head came down against her neck, her legs wrapped around his. Heart rate accelerating. His breathing was shallow, laboured. He thrust into her again and again feeling a fissure between them close. He looked at her face, the fine line between pleasure and pain was being crossed; but he couldn't stop; not now. Liz tried to move her hands, but Max bound them too tightly against the bed, she felt them falling asleep. She winced wordlessly and bit her lip to stop herself from crying out. She looked into Max's eyes but he didn't seem to be there anymore. She nudged him with her leg but go no response, just the constant thrust searing deeper. "Max?" she whispered unhidden pain in her voice. "Please..." He was oblivious to her plea. Thrusting. She moved her pelvis away from him and tried to push him away with her legs. "Max!" she said louder this time. Soul fled back into his eyes and he ceased movement looking into her fearful eyes. He let go of her hands and withdrew from her, gasping. He sat back on the bed, his heart pounding. He watched as she gathered her knees under her chin. He wanted to reach to her; scared she was going to turn him away. "Liz," he was still breathing heavy, sweat dripped from his face onto his chest. "Liz." She shook her head and looked at her feet. "Don't." "Something happened," he said softly, his voice breaking. She looked up at him and saw pain in his eyes. "I don't know what." "You hurt me," she said meekly. "I didn't mean to." He shook his head. "It's like part of me wasn't here. I was somewhere else." "No, see, that was my line." She shook her head. "You'll have to come up with something better." "I mean it. I was here, but somewhere else, too. I was fighting." With that word he saw Liz's curiosity peak. "I think I felt it through you. I heard a word over and over. 'Warrior.'" Liz gasped. "What does it mean, Liz? Who's the warrior?" * * * Driving through Tulsa the stranger laughed. Cowboy hats and boots galore. Country music blared from the car stereo. Had he known there was no CD player when he boosted the car he probably would have opted for something else. Hindsight, as they say, is twenty-twenty. Pulling into a cowboy bar he got out and laughed again. He knew he was going to so not fit in here, although he didn't really care, he just wanted a beer. He sat at the bar, aware of the staring and pointing, and shrugged it off. He drank half the bottle in one swallow and looked next to him to find a pretty young woman, complete with tight jeans and cowboy boots. She smiled shyly at him. "Yo." He cocked his head to one side. "This all you got for fun and drinks around here?" "Pretty much," she said softly. "I guess you're not from around here, huh?" "What makes you think that?" She smiled and blushed. "What are you doing in Tulsa?" "Passing through," he looked around, light glinting off his nose ring. "On my way to visit a few old friends." She smiled and asked him to dance. They had barely made it to the dance floor when he grabbed her and pulled her into a hallway leading to the restrooms. He pushed her up against the wall and forced his mouth on hers. She tried to fight him at first, then relented. His hands travelling over her ass, hers hung limp at her sides. He untucked her western shirt with one hand and reached up underneath it, roughly pushing up her bra. She looked nervously over his shoulder afraid someone would see them, the hall was empty. The twang of the music was getting louder, the band had come on stage. He grabbed her collar and pulled her shirt open; the snaps popped one by one. She started to protest, then looked in his eyes, they were mesmerising. He grinned sideways and brought his mouth to her full breasts. She sighed and ran her hand through his gelled hair. She felt her jeans become looser and then they were pushed down to her ankles. She tried to push the stranger away but was unsuccessful. One look from him and she was his. She watched as he undid his black leather pants and pulled them down to his thighs. She spread her legs and grabbed her breasts as he plunged inside of her. He licked his lips watching her get her own nipples hard. He bent his head and bit at them, leaving teeth marks on the supple skin. He released himself inside of her and backed away. He pulled his leathers back up and stood back, looking at her naked body. "Thanks." She pulled her jeans up and tried to fix her bra; somehow in the middle it had ripped. She slipped it off under her shirt and threw it to the floor. Standing in front of him with her shirt open she saw a couple men down the hall that must have been watching. She pressed her bare chest against him and kissed him. "I gotta go, babe." He pushed her away. She nodded and snapped a couple of snaps on her shirt. She broke away from his eyes and looked down. "Wait, can you tell me your name?" "Rath, babe. Don't forget it." * * * Michael sat ouside the Sheriff's department in his car Monday morning; it was a few minutes before eight. The butterflies in his stomach had turned to bats. He took a few deep breaths and got out. The streets were busier earlier with it being only a few days from Christmas. He knew he was working on Christmas Eve, but somehow managed to be off on the actual day. That somehow being Valenti, Michael didn't know what he would do without him. "You going to come in or stand outside all day?" Jim Valenti called from the front doors. Michael smiled walking to him and stepped inside his new job. "You have a little bit of paperwork to fill out and then we'll get your gun issued to you and I'll show you around." Michael nodded and licked his lips. "You okay, Michael?" "Yeah," he said and nodded. "Nervous?" "Yeah." "Don't be, you're going to be fine. C'mon, I'll introduce you around." Jim led the way down the hall and introduced him to a couple of clerks and then the other Deputy, Deputy Hansen. Hansen regarded Michael and laughed. "I never thought I'd see you in uniform here, Guerin." "Yeah," Michael nodded and felt like he was going to throw up. "Welcome," Hansen extended his hand and Michael shook it before he walked away. Michael followed Valenti into his office and sat in the chair on the other side of the desk. He let out a deep breath. "You're going to do fine, don't be so nervous," Jim smiled. "You got excellent grades at the Academy and I know you're smart. You're smarter than Hansen out there, that's for sure. Give it a couple of weeks and it'll seem like you've done this forver." Michael nodded and started on the paperwork Valenti had put in front of him. He watched when he laid a gun on the desk and had Michael sign for it. "You take this home with you; but you be damn careful with it." "I will." Michael picked it up and checked to see if it was loaded. It wasn't. "Here," he handed him a gunlock. "Keep this on it when you're at home, I don't ever want to see Leia get hurt by it." Afterr another hour of office work, Valenti and Michael went outside to his truck and drove off to keep the town of Roswell safe. |
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