Like Glass We Break (Glass #2) (4 page)

Together they fall onto the couch. She is buried in the cushions beneath his body. With him completely on top of her, it’s dark and she feels suffocated. She arches her back and squirms in an attempt to re-position herself more comfortably.

“Stop moving,” Scott instructs.

“I can’t breathe.”

Scott allows her to wiggle out from under him, but only by a few inches. Her face is just above his shoulder and she can smell his fresh, masculine cologne, full of alluring sensuality. The smell reminds her of earth after a rainfall.

I can breathe.
A few seconds ago, with her face buried under him, she could not—and she was beginning to feel dizzy. Now, he lies on top of her with all of his weight, holding her down. He is kissing her shoulder, exposed by her low cut shirt.
It feels amazing.

She can feel that he clearly wants her and he’s forced to reach down to unbutton his pants, allowing for more room. He grinds against her again. Her body aches.

“Off,” she pleads. “You’re hurting me.”

“You like it.”

“No, I don’t. Get off.” She pushes him back with both hands, and he jumps up to his feet. He zips his pants up and snaps the button at the top.

“Sorry, Scott, I didn’t want you to stop, I just—”

“It’s okay.”

Suddenly, he’s gone, and she’s left throbbing and aching for his body. Confused, she sinks back into the couch. Her heart returns to its normal rate and her breathing slows. She falls asleep.

***

Renae

Renae is cleaning up her desk and getting ready to leave for the day when Scott walks by her office.

“Where were you?” she asks, laughing, but serious. “I thought you said you were coming back to work.”

“Uh, just out.” He is short with her.

“Oh. You don’t have to tell me. I just thought, since we’re friends, I’d ask—sorry.”

“It’s okay.” He disappears from her view and she follows him into the hall.

“I’m going to the gym, if you’d like to come and sign up for a membership.”

“No thanks. I’m going to stay here for a few more hours and finish up what I didn’t get done today before the boss loses his mind.”

Renae nods and steps into the elevator, descending to the first floor and walking out into the night alone.

***

Scott

Minutes later, the elevator doors open and two uniformed cops step out into Danis Accounting.

“Where is Scott Reed?” the shorter of the two asks. It seems as though he’s the one in charge. The office concierge points down the hallway and the two men nod with approval. They walk down the hallway and look through the glass of the French doors to Scott’s office. Scott is seated at his desk beside a huge picture window, and he motions them in with his hand when he sees them.

“Gentlemen, what can I do for you?” he asks casually.

“We just need you to answer a few more questions, Mr. Reed. Where were you on the night of October twenty-eighth?”

“I don’t remember. Why?”

“That is the night we believe Ms. James was kidnapped.”

“I work late almost every night of the week. The twenty-eighth was a Tuesday, so I was probably at work,” Scott explains.

“Can anyone verify your whereabouts?” the shorter of the two officers asks, with a stern look on his face.

“No. Should I be speaking to my lawyer?”

“We’ll be in touch, Mr. Reed.”

The men are gone.

Scott stares at the wall of his office for almost two minutes without blinking. Then he stands, grabs his jacket, and leaves the building. He walks and walks and walks.

He stands outside Sophie’s house.

***

Sophie

There’s a knock on Sophie’s door. She’s upstairs, lying in a hot bubble bath with her head under water, and she doesn’t hear it the first time. She lifts her head and lets the water pour off of her face. The entire bathroom is cloudy with steam. Her skin is red, but the bath feels so amazing on her aching body. The gym wasn’t kind to her today. There’s another knock at the door. This time she hears it. She dries one hand on her white towel and then reaches for her phone to check the time. It’s almost midnight.
Who one earth could possibly be knocking on the door at midnight?
She wonders if it’s Renae, here to confront her about her near hook-up with Scott. Or if it’s the police to tell her something has happened to one of her parents. Or if it’s the guy she met online for a booty call two weeks ago. She stands, soaking wet and dripping, and places her foot carefully over the side of the claw-foot tub onto the squishy blue bath mat. She bends over and flips her black hair down in front of her, toweling it off quickly the best she can. Then she wraps the ribbed Turkish towel around her naked body. The cotton feels incredibly soft against her skin. She gazes at herself in her foggy bathroom mirror, and she can make out exactly where Scott’s hand was placed on her neck this morning. She shudders, but then shakes the feeling when she hears the knocking at her door once more. She briefly considers pulling her housecoat on but decides against it because it’s hidden in her closet somewhere and she needs to answer the door, not look for the robe. She rarely has guests over and usually just frolics around her place in the nude.

Careful not to slip, she tip-toes down her elegant wooden stairs. She peeks outside the window on her front door and doesn’t see anyone. To be sure, she unlocks the deadbolt and takes a step out onto her porch. Still, she sees nothing. The street is dead and all of her neighbors’ lights are off. Certain she will develop pneumonia if she stands out here any longer, she retreats back into the comfort of her warm home, where she returns to her bathroom to dry her hair and head to bed.

Scott stands in the park across from Sophie’s house, hidden by the shadows of the dark night. He has the perfect view of Sophie’s bedroom. He smiles when the light flicks on; his hand buried deep in his pants.

Chapter Four

Renae

“Scott’s a weirdo,” Sophie laughs, over coffee.

“Why do you say that?” Renae asks, taking a sip of hers.

“So, remember when I texted you to ask if you liked him?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, you said no. He and I, uh, went back to my place.”

“What?” Renae is shocked, and almost spills her coffee.

“Yeah. I’m sorry. Are you pissed off? I went to the gym after you went back to your office. He showed up there. It was strange, but he’s really, really hot,” Sophie sighs.

“I don’t understand. What happened?” Renae asks, confused and annoyed. “How did you end up back at your place? I introduce you to the guy for less than twenty minutes, and you’re already ready to bang him. I work with him, Soph. That’s going to make things awkward at the office.”

“He kept staring at me. There was chemistry, and then he suggested it so I went with it. I haven’t been with anyone since my ex and I split four months ago, you know that. It’s been a really long four months. We didn’t sleep together. I mean, we made out, but it didn’t feel right and he left.”

“I don’t want to hear this,” Renae says sternly, getting up from her seat. She wraps her bright colored infinity scarf around her neck, grabs her things, and heads for the door.

“Ren, wait. Are you mad?” Sophie calls after her.

“I’m irritated, yeah. I’ve only been working at Danis for two weeks now and you’re already fucking one of my co-workers,” Renae shouts across the busy café. She immediately regrets airing her dirty laundry in front of everyone, so she walks back to where Sophie stands, obviously feeling hurt and betrayed. “I’m sorry, Sophie, that was uncalled for. Do whatever you want to do, just don’t get me involved. I don’t want to be any part of it.”

Sophie nods, but says nothing in reply.

Hoping things are okay between the two of them, Renae rushes to her office, fearing she’ll be late for work.

“Hi Renae. Want me to make you a coffee?” Scott asks, leaning against the door frame of Renae’s office.

“No, thanks.”

“Are you sure? We have that raspberry chocolate one you love.”

“I said no.”

Renae realizes that Scott is refusing to take the hint and she sighs. “What’s wrong?” Scott asks.

“I just really want to get some work done.”

“Are you upset that Sophie and I are dating?”

“Dating?” Renae repeats the word, glancing up from her desk to look at his facial expression. “I didn’t know you were dating. She told me—oh, never mind. Just forget it. No, I’m not upset.”

“No, no. What did she tell you? Maybe she didn’t want anyone to know. I’m really not like other men, I swear. I don’t just sleep with someone once. I don’t do one-night stands.”

“You slept with her?” Renae whispers.

“Well, yeah. I don’t know what she told you. Maybe we should just drop this. Sorry I brought it up.”

“She told me you went back to her place, kissed a couple times, and then you left. Why would she lie to me about this?” Renae wonders.

“Maybe she’s ashamed that we started dating after meeting just once. I don’t really know. I can talk to her on your behalf, if you’d like.”

“No, please don’t. Just forget we talked about this. I really need to get my work done.”

Scott nods, and then he is gone.

Renae opens a file folder and begins punching numbers furiously into her calculator, and then scribbling them down into a chart. She barely notices the time and doesn’t realize that six hours have already gone by when she finally gives her calculator, and wrist, a rest. She glances at her phone and opens a text message from Sophie.

Sophie: Sorry. Hope we’re good. I won’t see him anymore.

Without replying, Renae shuts her phone off. She decides to call it a day, since she got all of her work done anyway, and she heads home. She’s off work for the next two days, so she plans to spend it relaxing with a good book, like a hermit, not turning her phone back on until Monday morning. Hopefully that will give things enough time to cool off between Scott and Sophie, and the office will be there Monday, without all this weird tension.

Chapter Five

As promised, Renae turns her phone on for the first time since she left work on Friday afternoon. It is Monday morning and she skipped her morning work out to avoid bumping into Sophie at the gym. She thinks that maybe she’s being a bit too hard on her, and overreacting about this whole situation, but Sophie always seems to do something to ruin her work life. Like at her last job, when Sophie decided it would be a great idea to tag along with Renae to the employee Christmas party, only to get hammered and make a fool out of herself. Renae was embarrassed, and quit that job shortly into the new year. Sophie had just laughed it off, saying it didn’t matter because it had just been a part time job to get her through college and her college was almost done, anyway.

Now, after having been off for over two days, only one text message popped up on Renae’s phone. It was from early Saturday morning.

Sophie: Can I come over? I’m really creeped out. I was going through pics on my phone and I found one of me sleeping.

Renae is almost surprised at this message, so she dials Sophie’s number. There’s no answer. Surely Sophie is upset at Renae for having waited until now to reply.

Scott walks by with flowers in his hand.

“Scott,” Renae calls out after him. He stops and turns toward Renae. “Have you talked to Sophie?”

“Yeah, I talked to her last night. We’re meeting after work today. These, uh, flowers are for her.” He smiles shyly. This is the first time Renae has seen his pale cheeks turn bright red. He must really like her.

“Okay. Can you let me know when you talk to her again? She sent me a weird text and now she’s not answering my phone call. Just have her call me. I’m sorry things have been weird. I didn’t mean to make them weird. You like her, eh?”

“Yeah, I do. I’ll have her call you,” he promises.

“Thanks.”

“No problem.”

***

The remainder of the day goes by fairly quickly. Around five o’clock, Renae watches Scott leave his office, bouquet of flowers in hand.

“You’re leaving early,” Renae mentions.

“I’m cooking supper for Sophie at her place tonight,” he explains. Chuckling, he continues, “I’m actually running late. I told her I’d be there by four-thirty. Wish me luck; there’s probably tons of traffic by now and I don’t want to piss her off just yet!”

“Good luck.” Renae smiles warmly. Perhaps they’ll be good for each other. God knows Sophie needs to finally settle down and quit sleeping with anyone with a heartbeat.

Renae catches the bus shortly after five-thirty. As soon as she takes a seat, she feels the vibration of a text on her phone.

Sophie: Sorry I didn’t answer your calls today. Left my phone at home. All is good between us.

Renae breathes in a deep sigh of relief. They have been best friends for as long as she can possibly remember. They met in grade school and then Renae was forced to move out of state because her dad was relocated to Oregon. As soon as she possibly could, Renae moved back to Texas. She reconnected with Sophie; though they had written to each other and talked on the phone every so often, they hadn’t seen each other face to face in over six years. Now, they speak almost every day. They do have their little spats, however, that mean they won’t be speaking for a couple months. Then one of them gets over it and apologizes to the other. Renae had feared this was what was going to happen the other day after the whole Scott ordeal, but after this text, Renae knows they’ll be fine.

Renae: Have fun with Scott tonight. Don’t traumatize the poor boy.

***

Scott

At Sophie’s house, her phone vibrates on the kitchen table. Scott laughs as he reads the message out loud to Sophie. “She says not to traumatize me. Don’t worry; I’m not easily scared off. I’m not going to reply to this one. Tonight’s our night.”

He puts the phone back down on the table and goes back to sautéing garlic and mushrooms in extra virgin olive oil over the gas stove. The whole house smells amazing.

He turns the heat down to low and lets them sit for a couple minutes while he sips red wine.

“You do have quite the personality, Sophie. You’re outgoing, funny—sometimes overconfident and intimidating, though. I’ll admit I don’t really like that, but I’ll accept it, because that’s just who you are. Did you see the flowers I brought you?” He points toward the table in the entrance. On the table sits a beautiful bouquet of different colored lilies in a tall, blue porcelain vase.

Sophie’s eyes move to look at the vase and then she lowers her head, weak and sobbing, spitting up blood from where her tongue has been cut from her mouth with a steak knife—the knife that Scott is now using to cut up the marinated chicken breasts.