Compulsion

Compulsion Part 13

Elias watched the emotions flash through her expressive eyes. He ran his tongue over his lips and despite feeling far from calm, he calmly said, "You don't believe me."

Georgia snorted and pushed at his shoulder to garner a few inches of space, "I might act stupid, but I'm really not!" She raised a brow when her shove at his shoulder had done little to buy her space, and then added, "And if you don't mind, this couch is big enough to sit three people comfortably," or so she had always thought, "So I don't see the need for you to be sitting practically on my lap, do you?" She asked coolly. In the back of her head she was willing her father to reappear.

Elias considered arguing the point. But instead he nodded as he accepted the fact that he had to tread slowly and carefully. So he leaned back, giving her the few inches she had sought. The last thing he wanted was to annoy her again. "I think it's about time we cleared the air, don't you?" Though that was clearly not going to be straightforward.

Georgia snorted again and said with utter derision, "Why?"

Which is when he scowled. "What do you mean, why?"

"I mean why clear the air? You seem to have managed without the need to clear the air for the last ten years, so why start now?" Georgia was impressed with herself. Caitlin would be astonished if she was here, for not only was Georgia standing her ground, she was standing her ground with him!

Ok, this wasn't going to be as simple as he'd hoped. That nearly had him chuckling. When had anything been simple where Georgia was concerned? "Ok, look, I was a jerk at sixteen." He held up his hands to stop her from retorting and said, "Back then I was an idiot." He decided he would broach the subject head on because obviously he had given lots of people, including her, the wrong idea.

"And age has changed you?" She asked sweetly doing nothing to hide the irony.

"Not nice, Georgia!" He grinned, despite himself.

She shrugged as if it did not matter. "So what? You want me to believe you have or haven't changed?" She kept her tone light but he could see the wariness in her eyes.

Elias grunted and shook his head at her. "You are deliberately being recalcitrant!" He admonished with a smile in his voice. Georgia rolled her eyes at his comment but said nothing in response. So she was being obstinate and fractious, wasn't that what he deserved? Elias tipped his head to one side, consideringly, "What Vonne said this evening," He decided to be direct if a touch obscure, "the events she mentioned, well they were unfortunate accidents."

"Right." Georgia said drily and snorted in dismissal. "Unfortunate accidents."

Elias narrowed his eyes at her tone. She was being difficult. Obstinate. Intractable. Unforgiving. But to be expected Elias decided given she was hurt by what was said earlier this evening. Elias looked her straight in the eyes and said with utmost sincerity, "I never saw the mistletoe."

Georgia said nothing. The memory of that unfortunate event surfaced as if it was something had happened seconds ago. She felt her cheeks flush as the recollection of just how embarrassed she felt at the time came to the fore. She'd been mortified. And humiliated then. But that was nothing in comparison with tonight. Tonight she realised that other people, not just her, had memories of that embarrassing moment. Not only did they remember it, they had constructed a history to go with it. A history that did not do her any favours.

Seeing the colour flood her cheeks and the look of abject mortification in her eyes, Elias ploughed on quickly, and wanting to spare her further hurt he explained, "And I didn't know that someone had just shaken the beer can I handed to you." Though he did know who the culprit was, he did not think sharing that bit of information or passing on responsibility would be particularly productive.