Page 33 of Anders and the Girl Worth Fighting For
I leaned forward and gave him a kiss. A small one. A simpleone. One that said everything I couldn’t. He kissed me back, but didn’t push for more.
“Thank you,” I said. That was probably the worst thing I could have said, but here we were.
“Glad I could be of service,” he said and then he winked,winked,and I knew everything would be alright.
He pulled away, but his eyes never left mine.
“I should get cleaned up. I believe I owe you a date,” he said before he finally broke eye contact, turned, and walked away. I leaned back against the wall and just breathed for a moment.
I hadn’t quite expected the inferno that had just happened. I had hoped I would tease him a little, to ease some of the guilt I could see written on his face, to be free again. I got all that and so much more.
A smile stretched across my lips, unfamiliar but welcome, and I brought my finger up to trace its path, reliving the warm brush of Anders’s lips on mine. That was so much better than my anxiety and fear-ridden kiss from before. That was just us and desire.
I hadn’t wanted to admit it to myself before, but I suspected Bill was behind the threats. I’ve spent too many years afraid of him, of my mother, and of George. I still didn’t know whether they were all involved, but something about them had been wrong for a very long time. When Anders had told me and I fled to the room, I stood there in front of the mirror processing the information. All I could see was their effect on me, still lingering there in the lines between my eyes and the sad set of my lips. I wanted to be done with that. I needed to be done with that.
I know things aren’t resolved, and I still have people after me, but I knew as I stood in front of that mirror that I couldn’t keep living in fear and anxiety. I couldn’t let them continue to rule my life. So, I donned a dress I had only dreamed of wearing since I bought it. I was never brave enough to actually put on,and I did my best to flirt with the man who was here, helping me, caring about me, flirting with me, and even to my naïve eyes, obviously attracted to me. It thrilled and excited me in a way that I hadn’t experienced before. I loved every moment of it.
I still hadn’t moved from my spot by the door when Anders reemerged from the bedroom dressed in dark jeans and a black henley shirt that stretched over his muscles, contouring to them, highlighting them in a way that was practically indecent. He pushed the sleeves up so his forearms were on display. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the tattoos that snaked up his arms or the bulge of his biceps and how broad his shoulders were. I didn’t know where he kept getting these clothes from, but a girl could get used to it.
“You good to go?” He asked as he came up to me and wrapped an arm around my waist.
“Uh, no. I haven’t moved an inch since you left. I don’t think I can.”
He huffed a laugh and then guided me towards the door so we could go.
“I know a place on Hilton Head, just off the harbor that has great seafood. Steaks, too, if fish isn’t your thing,” he said as we rode the elevator down to the underground garage. He had his phone pulled out and I could see that he checked the cameras in the garage before we ever left the elevator. How he had service in here was a mystery to me, but I was glad for his diligence.
“Ela’s?” I asked.
“Yeah. You know it?” His eyebrows raised in surprise. I didn’t know why. I’d lived in Savannah my whole life. Of course I knew the restaurants here.
“I’ve never been, but my mother talks about it all the time. She loves the salmon.” Anders stiffened at that.
“Maybe we go somewhere your mom doesn’t frequent,” he said as the elevator opened and we stepped into the garage.
“Oh, I don’t think she’s been there in years. She and George aren’t exactly wealthy and it’s not the cheapest place around,” I said dismissively.
“Which reminds me,” he said, “We’ve been looking into their financial records. Did you know Bill used to own a house in Maryland? George did, too. Around the same time, actually.”
I stepped into the car through the door he opened for me and thought back to how they knew each other.
“It wouldn’t surprise me. They’ve known each other for a long time and Bill didn’t live here in Savannah when we met,” I answered when he got in on his side.
“So George introduced you to Bill?” Anders asked.
“Yeah, do you think they are working together?” I worried at the hem of my dress. It’s very possible they were, but where does that leave my mother? She wasn’t the best mother to me, but she’s still my mother and I was still going to worry about her.
“It’s one possibility,” Anders said. “It would be a bit of a coincidence that George introduced you to Bill, but we’re trying to consider every angle, so there are no surprises.”
“That makes sense.” I thought back over the years and tried to find something odd about their interactions. “They seemed close, but I always attributed that to whatever friendship they had before I met Bill.”
“Is he much older than you?” I knew he meant Bill without him having to say it.
“Twelve years,” I answered. When I was younger, I used to think it was a sign of my maturity that an older man was interested in me. Now, I’m sure it was because I was docile, young, and naïve. Discomfort twisted in my gut at the idea that I have been conned into a decade long marriage by the people that I should have been able to trust the most.
“Tell me something unexpected about yourself,” I said to Anders, desperate for a topic change. I wanted to live in the now,to be free, and know everything about this man sitting beside me.
“When I was in third grade, I composed a song without ever sitting down at a piano,” he said, catching me off-guard.
