Marie
The warm water cascading down her body felt wonderful, even as it washed away the delightfully pleasurable sins of the evening before, leaving her refreshed and invigorated.
And ready to sin again.
She’d told the truth earlier about being sore. Her sex life hadn’t been this active in a long time, if ever. The early days with Liam were blurry, and she preferred not to think about them anyway. Certainly not with Garath in the picture now. He was just better in every way, and she’d stopped bothering to compare him after their first night together. It wasn’t even a contest anymore.
Marie was falling for Garath, and falling hard. It scared her though, and she wanted to talk to him about it. All too often relationships had problems because people didn’t talk, and she wanted to ensure that he was comfortable and that they were both on the same path.
Whether or not getting involved with him was the right decision was something else entirely. Marie hadn’t come to Barton City with the intention of staying. She was just here to find Liam and if she was lucky, screw the asshole over somehow as payback for stealing her father’s car from her.
Things were different with Garath in the picture. He was tied to the area, working with the military. The exact details of what he did were still unknown to her. It wasn’t a topic that had come up, but she wasn’t worried. There were so many top-secret things going on at the base out in the mountains that she’d lost count. He was involved with one of them, and that was all she was likely cleared to know.
“Garath?” she called, toweling her hair dry. The summer air would dry out her reddish-brown hair swiftly. It was long, but not overly thick, and it dried easily, which was a godsend.
Wrapping the extra large towel around her body, the gentle terry cloth warming her skin, she peeked out of the bedroom. He wasn’t there, and even after calling his name again there was no response. Her eyes wandered to the table. His shirt, a light gray V-neck was draped over one of the chairs.
“Garath, come on out. I’m not in the mood to be scared, please.” She walked around her house. It wasn’t like there were a ton of places someone his size could hide.
The washroom and second bedroom both came up empty, and the basement door was closed. She rarely went down there, except to add any new pictures of Liam to her tracking board, in hopes that she might be able to pinpoint his location even further. He was still here, she could feel it in her gut, her instincts. Unfortunately, she’d been unable to figure out just where.
Opening the door to the basement on the freak chance Garath was down there, she called into it. “Gar, if you’re hiding down there, you’re going to be there a while. I’m headed into the bedroom. Either come fuck me, or we’re going for food. But either way, you don’t have any time to waste.”
That should summon him, no matter where he was hiding. But thirty seconds passed with no response. Then a minute. There was no way he could resist both food and sex. It just wasn’t possible; she knew Garath too well. So where the hell was he?
Her stomach was slowly knotting itself into a ball, telling her that something was wrong. The real question was what. She couldn’t figure that one out. Even knowing she wouldn’t have to explain the pictures of Liam she’d hidden down there was of no solace to her.
“Where the hell did you go?” she muttered to herself, grabbing his shirt and giving it a sniff.
His scent was strong upon it, heady with its exotic nature, a fragrance she couldn’t quite place. Draping it over her shoulder, she retrieved her phone from the bedroom and sent him a message.
Five minutes later she called him. There was no answer. She tried again. And again. Left a voicemail. She was beginning to worry. This wasn’t like Garath, at all. He was always around, almost unwilling to let her leave his sight, and reluctant anytime she had to do so. For him to just disappear was very out of character.
Where could he be?
A sudden thought struck her. Could it have been his work? Maybe he was some sort of spy, and his enemies had caught up with him? She began looking around the house, but there was no signs of a struggle that she could see. Garath was strong and quick too, and she doubted he would go down easily. A fight between him and someone his equal was certainly something she should have heard in the shower.
The mystery grew with every minute. She thought about calling the police, but it was too soon for that. For all she knew, he’d been called away upon urgent business that required him to go, now, and he hadn’t even been able to grab his shirt or tell her. That also seemed unlikely, but she was fast running out of options.
Frustrated, she decided to stop by his apartment on her way to work that afternoon to see if he was there. In the meantime, there didn’t seem to be much else she could do but wait and hope he got in contact with her.
Don’t let me down, Garath. I trusted you. Please don’t make me regret that.