Weak Without Him

"Too fucking late."

Not able to go on without her? I've lost too many people in my life, and she was nothing more than a colleague, an employee, a manager of The Elite.

I turned on my heels, walked through the automatic doors, and tried to soak in the fresh air. My head swam with thoughts of Je

Once inside V, I pulled out my phone and cancelled the appointment with the man who wanted to purchase the Honda. Told him I would give a killer deal, and would need to reschedule. After hanging up, I dialed Je

I drove to her house. She wasn't home. She wasn't answering her phone. Damn it. Vegas was a big city, one large enough for a beautiful woman to get lost in, and I needed to find Je

Jesse did something that was unforgivable, and just the thought of it pissed me off all over again. Who the fuck did she think she was, and what the fuck did she think she was doing? I never gave her a reason to think feelings existed between us. I probably should have squashed the crush thing years ago, but it was harmless. Snowballs usually are until they become avalanches.

Before I started to panic, I got out of V and leaned against the trunk outside of her house. After forty-five solid minutes of waiting, I knew that she wasn't coming home. The best thing would be to leave her alone and give her the space she needed until she was willing to talk. I couldn't live without her, not since I've had her. Je

I called Paisley and let her know that her counterpart was terminated and that she would need to find a replacement as soon as possible. In a few days, we had one of the biggest conferences of the year, and I would need help facilitating it.

"Mr. Felton, may I ask why she was terminated?"

"Sexual harassment."

"With another employee?"

"With me."

She agreed to post the position when she returned to the office.

"Also, can you please have Lori give me a call?"

"Yes, sir."

We hung up, and I headed home. The day had been long, exciting, then somehow took a turn for the worse. What had happened?

When I walked inside, Lori rang, and I answered.

"Lori, I have a small favor to ask of you, please."

"Yes, Mr. Felton. Anything you need."

"Please contact Je

She agreed, and didn't ask any questions. If any of my Girls could get ahold of Je

I kicked off my shoes, loosened my tie, and sat at the table. I needed to hear Je

Lori called back and said she left Je

The waiting game began. I would wait for her forever.

Thirteen

Three o'clock in the morning came early. When I had seen this time last, it wasn't because I was waking, but rather going to sleep. I turned on my phone and had several missed calls. Lori and Fi

The crisp air filled my lungs as I packed two weeks’ worth of clothes into the Honda. Although Little V didn't do anything wrong, and I loved her, I couldn't stand the thought of driving that car. I didn't want to think about Fi

Yawn after yawn came, and I stopped by the little coffee shop on the way out and grabbed a mocha for me and a black coffee for Luke, just the way he liked it.

When I rolled up to his house, he opened the garage, and I parked inside. Like a gentleman, Luke helped me load my bags into the trunk of his Volvo.

"Morning," he said, his voice still raspy from waking.

"Morning. I got you a coffee." I handed him the cup, and he wrapped both hands around it.

"And it's still warm. That's what I call service. Thanks." He opened the door for me. The heated seats warmed my body.

"All set?"

I nodded and yawned.

The garage door closed and we were on our way to the airport.

Moonlight barely peeked over the mountainside, and the thought of going away excited me.

"What are you thinking about?" Luke asked.

"Just admiring the scenery. It's not something I am used to seeing yet."

"Yeah, your part of Texas is mostly flat, except for the bridges."

"That's the only downfall I think. But hey, we've got plenty of swampy waters and mosquitos."

We continued with small talk, as if nothing had happened between us. Once at the airport, we unloaded our bags, and made our way through security. I grabbed my passport from the front of my suitcase and then placed it, along with my plane ticket, in my pocket. We had an hour to kill so I leaned back in the plastic chair and closed my eyes. Unable to get comfortable, I rested my head on Luke's shoulder, and he wrapped his arm around me.

"Did you ever see Titanic?" I asked.

"James Cameron? Yeah. Who hasn't seen that movie?"

"The end made me cry. I never got enough of the young Leonardo DiCaprio. Like I had such a mega huge crush on him, posters in my bedroom, and I even signed DiCaprio behind my name as practice. I had the whole movie almost memorized verbatim."

Luke laughed. "Really?"

"He was an artist. You know, Jack."

"Yeah. He was."

I looked into Luke's eyes, and he swallowed.

"Would you paint me like that one day? The same setting as Jack and Rose."

His breath tingled on my skin, and my heart pounded in my chest.

"You'll always be my Rose, Je

I laid my head back down on his shoulder. Only the armrest separated our bodies.

It was easy and comfortable being with Luke, and at that moment I was the happiest I had been in a while.

Fourteen

Luke patted me awake after I had fallen asleep on him. I would have four hours to rest until the flight co

Luke leaned over my body and glanced out. Rusty mountains and desert surrounded us. I moved my body back in the seat and closed my eyes.

"I will never get tired of looking out the window of a plane."

"Me either," I said and looked at Luke.

He leaned back in his seat, pulled out a sketchpad, charcoal, and drew. Positioning his pencil at an angle, he drew dots and small lines that were followed by shading. Then an eye, eyelashes, and eyebrows were formed. With his thumb, he smudged lines, then continued drawing lips and hair. Although my eyelids were heavy, I watched him work. The way he would close his eyes and reopen them, then close them again and reopen them, made me admire him even more for being able to draw from memory. Luke was completely involved in his work, despite the crying baby in the background or the chatter a few seats over, focused entirely on the drawing. He bit his lip and finished the picture with an eraser. Once complete, he looked down at it, then over at me with a grin.