Insatiable (22 page)

It was midnight when Gary was allowed to go free. He was still unable to get in touch with Liam, his calls were going unanswered. His heart sunk at the thought of his friend lying dead, still in the airport. When he inquired about his friend, the investigators told him nothing. They'd asked him for a description of Liam and left it at that. Gary did manage to overhear that several witnesses were being held and questioned at other command posts in and outside the airport. "Perhaps your friend is being questioned at another command post," a stranger told him.

"I hope so," he said. Gary needed to call Melissa. I wonder if she's even worried, he thought to himself. Of course she's worried; I haven’t finalized my Will yet. He let out a nervous chuckle. God he was happy to be alive, things could have gone horribly wrong. What if things went wrong for Liam? The thought humbled him. No, Liam is too tough to let some fucking gunman get the better of him. I'm sure he's alive, and I'm sure he's safe.

Melissa was pacing in the kitchen when the telephone rang. She must have jumped a mile high when she heard it ring. The fact that she was on her third scotch didn’t help matters. "I'll get it!" She shouted out to her kids. The last thing she wanted was her children picking up the phone to a barrage of questions by some nosy reporter. Her hands were trembling when she turned over the headset. She forced herself to look at the display of the caller identification. She closed her eyes and let out a heavy puff of air. "Oh thank god," she said before picking up the phone.

"Gary?"

"Yeah babe, it's me. I'm alright." Gary could hear the sobs coming from his wife, but he couldn’t believe it. His wife of ten years, a woman who'd not even shed a tear at the birth of their children for fear that it would smear her mascara, was now shedding tears for him. Were they tears of joy? Or disappointment?

"Liam?" Melissa gasped.

"I don’t know. He was away from me on the phone when the shooting started. I lost him in the chaos Melissa. I don’t know where he is and I can't reach him on his cell."

Melissa choked back a loud sob. "Just come home Gary, please. The children are asking for you, they need you. I need you. Come home." His wife pleaded.

Gary nodded his head, he was grateful for the wall behind him; he needed something to lean on. All of a sudden he was exhausted.

"I will babe, but listen, I need you to do me a favor."

"Of course sweetheart, anything."

"Can you please try and get a hold of Aurora? She and her friends are staying out at Liam's place. I'm sure she's worried sick. Has she contacted you at all?"

"No, she hasn’t. I haven’t heard from her at all." Melissa lied.

"Okay, well do your best and see if you can find her number alright? I'm sure she'll be grateful and please don’t tell her that I'm coming home alone. Just tell her that you heard from me and that as far as you know everyone is being questioned. If she presses about Liam just tell her that everything will be alright, can you do that for me?"

Melissa rolled her eyes. After the verbal slashing Aurora gave her the other night there was no way that she was going to ease any of her pain.

"Of course I will honey, I'll do it the moment that I hang up with you."

"Thank you and tell the kids that I'll be home as soon as I can. I love you Melissa."

"I love you too Gary."

After she hung up the phone, Melissa took another sip of her scotch and headed upstairs to tell her children the good news.

The night was excruciatingly long, and Aurora sat alone in front of the fireplace. Even though she sat so close that sweat had begun to form on her brow, she was freezing. There was such coldness in her body that she wondered if it would ever go away.

Rosie jumped as Mari walked into the kitchen, and her hands shook nervously around the coffee pot she'd forgotten she was holding. "I made coffee. How's she doing?"

"She's staring into the fire and holding onto her phone. Mari wandered over towards the counter and wrinkled her nose at the coffee. She'd much rather have a stiff drink. "Sit down Rosie, we've got to talk."

Rosie stopped fidgeting around long enough to take a seat across from Mari. "This entire situation is pretty messed up."

"I put a call in to her friend Renee; she's on her way over."

"Well that's very nice of her, especially considering that it's so late."

Mari nodded her head. "They're good friends and Renee told me that Aurora has been there for her more times than not."

"What are we going to do?" Rosie was beginning to fret. Aurora was the glue that held them together. She'd organized so many things for them, and she was responsible for helping them get their lives back on track. Without Aurora, where would they be?

Mari struggled to gather her thoughts. "We will be there for her no matter what and if and when the time comes and she finds out that Liam's gone… well, we'll help her pick up the pieces. That's what we'll do."

When Aurora heard the sound of a car door, she bolted towards the front door. "Renee? What are you doing here?"

"Oh sweetie, Mari called; she said that you needed friends around you so here I am."

Mari introduced Rosie to Renee and afterward the four sat awkwardly before Aurora excused herself and went back to the fireplace. Renee followed suit and pulled out a small bottle from her purse. It was late or by her standards, early. "Honey here, take this," Renee said. "It'll help you sleep."

Aurora wrapped her arms around herself tighter. "Sleep? I can't sleep Renee. There's no way that I'm going to sleep, and you can't make me."

"Is that so?"

"Yes it is. Now I'm sorry that you had to come all the way out here, but I'd very much like it if everyone left me alone."

Rosie and Mari joined them in front of the fire. "We're not going anywhere Aurora."

Rosie, Mari, and Renee sat quietly next to their friend for the rest of the night.

By morning the only one awake was Aurora, she'd stayed up all night staring at the fire. She'd gone over each and every moment that she'd spent with Liam. And by her standards, it wasn’t nearly enough time. Now there was the possibility that he was gone forever. It's true what they say, she thought to herself. Life is short, live for today. Tomorrow is never promised. She got up from the floor and realized that her body ached. She hadn't moved all night, and her bones were stiff. She stepped back and looked at her friends. Mari and Rosie lay curled up on one of the oversized sofas, while Renee was sprawled out on the floor, a heavy wool blanket covering her. She stirred when she felt Aurora ease past her. "Any word?"

Aurora shook her head. "I need some fresh air; I'm going for a walk."

"Okay, want me to come with?"

"No, go back to sleep. I won't be long," Aurora smiled weakly.

The stone walkway that led to the beach was covered in frost. The morning was gray and cold and for a moment she thought about going back to the warmth of the house, but the sound of the ocean lured her closer. The more she walked the more she found herself enjoying the solitude. There was no one around, and she was very glad of that. Had this been her place she would make it a habit to go out to the beach each and every day. The scenery was incredibly sublime, and she took a moment to think about Liam again.

"Thank you," Liam said to the driver. When he was finished being questioned, he was able to use a telephone. He cursed out loud when he realized that he'd relied too much on the small electronic device, he was unable to remember Aurora's cell phone number. At the moment he was unable to recall anyone's number, Gary's included. There was a long line of witnesses waiting to use the telephone and he didn’t want to appear greedy. All he wanted to do was get back home, back to Aurora. After searching through his wallet he managed to dig out the business card of the driver who'd been hired to pick he and Gary up at the airport. After watching the hired car back out of the driveway; he turned and stared at the house. Aurora was still there, and that meant the world to him, he smiled as he made his way into the house.

Pull yourself together Aurora, today's a new day. You are going to hear back from Liam today, you will. If you break down again, who is going to keep things going? Too many people need you, you can't collapse right now. She'd been so busy having an argument with herself that she hadn't seen or heard Liam calling to her.

When he made his way inside the house three women, one he didn’t even know, began hugging, and bombarding him with questions, comments, and statements. He managed to find out that Aurora was out taking a walk and that she'd been worried sick. Liam made his way to the beach and stopped short when he saw her. She was far off in the distance, and she was standing with her back towards him staring into the ocean.

"I can't get lost to this, I can't."

The tears felt hot as they streamed down her face. Then off in the remoteness of the beach she saw someone. It wasn’t until she'd gotten closer that she realized that it was Liam. "Run!" She shouted at herself. The tears were blinding now, but she kept on running. It can't be, she kept telling herself. It can't be. I must be seeing things. She flew across the sand and slippery rocks slamming herself into him. His words escaped him as she cried hysterically in his arms. She stopped crying long enough to look up at him. "Is it really you?" She asked him and cupped his face in her hands. She leaned closer to his hard, warm body.

"Yes it's me," he said and kissed her long and deep. His kiss was slow and exploring. "God I missed you."

She wrapped her arms tighter around his neck. "I missed you too. Are you alright? Are you hurt? Suddenly she gasped and covered her mouth with her hand. "Gary? Where's Gary?"

Liam shook his head. "I don’t know, there was so much confusion and then so many of us were questioned separately at different command posts. It was chaos Aurora, complete and utter chaos. And I have no idea whether or not Gary is alive. I lost my cellphone in the craziness and when I was able to get to a phone, I went brain dead. I couldn’t remember anybody's number." He fretted and felt ashamed.

Aurora held him tighter. "We'll get through all of it together, but for right now, I'm just glad you're home."

"I could use a drink," he said.

"Liam it's morning but on second thought I know exactly what you mean," she grinned.

When they had made it back in the house and Liam recounted everything that had happened, Aurora introduced him to Renee. She had completely forgotten that the two had never met each other and she had no doubt that Liam was wondering who this strange woman was, and why was she temporarily inhabiting his house.

"Nice to meet you. Sorry it isn’t under better circumstances."

Renee smiled. "I'm just glad that you're okay. You had us all worried," she grinned and put her arm around Aurora. "Well guys I'd love to stay and chat but I've got to be at the hospital in a few hours. Aurora, call me. And please get some rest, you look exhausted. After seeing Renee to the door, Liam turned to Aurora, she looked incredibly tired. "Go lie down."

Aurora shook her head. "No."

"Aurora I'm here and I'm safe. I want you to lie down and turn all of this off for a while."

"I'm fine Liam, really."

She was trembling and she looked feverish. He could see how hard she was fighting it. "Aurora you're sick and you're tired. You need to rest and while you're resting, I'd like to use your cell and give Melissa a call. Then I'll join you, how's that sound?"

"And if it's alright with you," Mari said. "Rosie and I will take your car back to the house?"

"I don’t know about that," Aurora sighed. "There's still a maniac about and I don’t like the thought of you two being there alone."

"Oh we won't be," Mari grinned despite herself. She felt guilty smiling when her husband had just been murdered. But something inside of her would not allow her to feel bad. Maybe it's because I've already spent enough time feeling bad, feeling bad for being me. No more, she silently vowed. No more.

"Nick and Martin are coming by later on. I've already made arrangements, so there's nothing for you to worry about."

"Well then I guess you two have it all figured out," she smiled at her friends. They were slowly easing away and although that had been her mission, she couldn’t help but feel unwanted.

Tears threatened her eyes into blurriness. Oh please don’t let me break down right here in front of everybody. She quickly turned her back to them. "I'll be upstairs," she mumbled. Liam was right, she wasn’t feeling well and she was not just tired, she was exhausted. And if she could, she'd sleep for days, but only if Liam slept right there beside her.

Chapter Fourteen

"Gary's alright," he said to her. "Gary's alright."  When she didn’t respond, Liam knew that she'd fallen asleep, passed out was more like it. Hell he was exhausted too and wanted nothing more than to wrap his arms around her and sleep next to her for days. Having her lying next to him made him understand what it felt like to finally be home. He felt her snuggle up next to him when he got into bed. It was a feeling that he imagined over and over again, and now it was happening. He was falling in love and judging by her tearful reaction when he returned from his ordeal, so was she.

Later on in the day Martin came by Aurora's Place. After not being able to see Rosie for a few days, he was very anxious to see her now. Mari was upstairs getting ready for Nick's visit so Martin took advantage of the moment the two had alone. "Thank you for inviting me over," he said and touched her cheek. Rosie instinctively winced in defense. Wincing had become a natural habit for her. "Sorry," she said and looked away. He sat her down and then took both of her hands in his. He linked his fingers with hers and patiently waited until she returned his gaze. "Don't be afraid Rosie. I won't let anyone or anything hurt you."

"I'm always afraid," she said. "Passive and afraid."

Her hands flexed slightly, but he felt that it was time to take a chance and continued to hold on. "You came to a brand new place, with only strangers around you. And you didn’t go back to your abusive boyfriend. There's courage there Rosie."