Chasing Memories

[39] Lace

     "I knew it! I fucking knew that guy was up to some shifty shit."

     Even obscured by the whistling rattle of the cabin's exhausted shower, the vitriol that poisoned Cadence's words burned the tips of Elise's ears. Her girl would have chased after James straight away, only for the days-old damp, musty air that encircled her to quickly convince Elise that freshening her up was their first priority. The chance to take a breather after dealing with her father was another much-appreciated benefit.

     "What's his angle here, though?" Cadence asked, her voice rising with the steam that fled through the bathroom's open door. She peeked past the caramel stripes of the shower curtain, a wicked glint in the brass of her hazel eye. "Him trying to creep his way into your pants, I get. But trying to hook up with Flo? Isn't she, like, twice his age?"

     "I didn't need that image, thanks," Elise said with a shudder. She leaned her head against the wall, tapping her knuckles against the bathroom door's wooden frame. There was no denying that James strong-armed Florence into coming with him, yet whenever she looked back, she struggled to read the look in her seminar leader's eyes. It lacked the malice of a manipulator. In a way, he had almost seemed wounded, ashamed. "I don't know why, but I think James really does want Florence to keep putting out books, even if it means stealing them from others. He probably thinks this is helping her."

     A deep huff rippled through the bathroom mist. "Beats me. You can ask him all about it when we roll up behind him and kick his ass," Cadence said as she peeled back the crinkled shower curtain and cocked her eyebrow at Elise. "That's what we're doing, right? Kicking his ass?"

     "I wouldn't be against it, but let's take it one step at a time, Wonder Woman." Covering the grin that parted her lips, Elise looked down at her phone's water-marked display. If her gut was right, then James had returned to the same writing retreat he had visited previously. That meant, her maps application colourfully sketched out for her, that they had an arduous drive through the area's marshiest moorlands ahead of them. "Florence said they'll be at one of the old hunting cottages over Redcarne Bay. There are a bunch of them along those cliffs, so we'll have to drive around and keep an eye out for James' car."

     "Cruising through a wicked storm, hunting a creep in the middle of nowhere? Now this is getting badass." The shower fell quiet, and Cadence sighed in satisfaction as the water trickled to a stop. She peered out again, silver water droplets dripping down her shimmering hair. "There. Wanna drop those clothes for me now, killer?"

     Despite both knowing that Cadence was naked and being aware exactly what she looked like, Elise felt her breath flutter away at the slightest glimpse of the girl's bare skin. The subtle sheen of her tattoo, a flash of the curve of her chest, the hint of the smooth length of her thigh all swarmed her mind, purging whatever thoughts she might have had. Her head was out of commission, and her heart thumped with the urge to join Cadence behind the curtain's teasing cover.

     But somehow, she did not. Instead, she averted her eyes and tried and failed to shake the blush that scorched her cheeks. "Oh...I don't know if we have time for that."

     "My clothes, Ellie. Ideally ones that don't reek like an old gym floor." Cadence snickered to herself as she snatched the towel that hung beside the shower. Casting her eyes up and down Elise's motionless body, she gave a quick wink before disappearing behind the curtain with the towel. "Though if you wanted to drop your threads and hop in here too, I wouldn't stop you."

     Elise's broken breaths and sweat-slick back betrayed just how much she wanted to test that claim. Unable to find her words, she simply carried herself out of the bathroom and hurried to Cadence's bedroom, eyes locking on the wardrobe doors. She found a white sleeveless top that featured an open road leading towards a sunlit horizon, which she chose to interpret as a dawn rather than a dusk. Teaming the top with one of Cadence's many pairs of dark ripped jeans, Elise turned to the chest of drawers by the bed and paused. Borrowing Cadence's underwear for herself was one thing, but choosing some knowing it was all going straight onto her girl was quite another.