Page 69 of The Sound Of Us

I look at him enquiringly, indicating that I’m confused about why he’s here, while also trying to tell him how happy I am to see him.

“Is there something he needs?” Frank asks me, his eyes bouncing between me and Eli once again.

“Is there something you need?” I ask Eli. And then to Frank I say, “Eli can lip read.”

Frank frowns like it’s the stupidest thing he’s ever heard.

“Well, can you tell him he’s blocked us in?”

I face Eli again. “What did you need, Eli?” I try to keep the softness in my eyes and not my voice.

He signs first. I recognize only a two words. Rain. You.

I frown and shake my head, telling him I don’t understand.

With a relaxed smile, he takes out his phone and types.

I saw it was raining, so I came by to give you and Frank a lift to work.

I lean forward to read it, but he pulls it back and types again. Just trying to be neighborly.

Me and Frank?

He holds it up to Frank, who reads it and then tells me, “Tell him to move so we can go. He’s making us late. And no, you can’t ride with him.”

Eli can read his lips clearly. Only I notice the clenched fist at his side. He drops his phone back into his pocket, heads back to his car, and backs out.

Frank gets into the car with Kenny and they drive out.

Alone with Eli now, I watch Kenny’s car until it’s disappeared down the road. Eli circles his vehicle and stops next to me.

Frank’s confidence in my obedience to him, and his over inflated ego making him believe he can issue an instruction and simply leave like that, provides the perfect protection for my affair. He’ll never suspect that I would disobey him.

His parting words infuriate me. Does he really think I’m so easy to control? Has he always thought this lowly of me?

But I’m the cheater here. Frank is absolutely right about not wanting me to ride with Eli.

Eli drops the window and leans over the passenger seat, opening the door.

I wait a beat, double check down the road. Then, I climb in.

“I’m sorry Frank ignored you like that,” I say, facing him. And then, “That was a dangerous move, Eli.”

He takes my hand in his. Then he signs and I understand him perfectly. “You are mine.”

My eyes flick up to fuse with his and then, without meaning to, they drop to his lips.

Even though he can’t hear my response the way I can, I need to hear myself say it, even if it’s barely a whisper. “Yes.”

He signs again. “You belong to me.”

Again, without hesitation, I answer. “I belong to you.”

He smiles and I find myself returning it with some degree of confidence.

I wish he would kiss me and, with his eyes locked on my lips, I know he wants it, too. But it’s too risky so we settle for holding hands. The fact that I had been instructed not to ride with Eli finds a place somewhere at the back of my mind.

Eli pulls our entwined hands into his lap, his thumb sweeping over the back of my hand.

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