ultraviolence // kai anderson

fugitives

    I stiffen immediately and look frantically to Kai, partly to alert him and partly waiting for direction. He instantly detects something is off by my face, and his own falls from enjoyment to cold neutrality. He refuses to turn around, only says in a low voice, "Relax. Tell me what it is."

    "Cop," I murmur, barely audible. "Think it's trooper, he's in brown."

    He takes a bite of waffle as I speak, and I'm not sure he was even listening until he asks, "He looking this way?"

    "No."

    "Okay. Stop watching him," he orders, and I obey. I blink a few times down at my food and try to regain control of my accelerating heart rate. Kai continues reassuring me, "We're not doing anything wrong. Just a couple regular civilians having a late dinner. Take a few more bites and we'll walk out of here, calm and casual."

    I do as he says, using all my willpower to not have my eyes glued to the officer. I'm using to much focus to try to watch him in my peripheral vision that I'm using my fork with the speed of a sloth. Finally I get one full bite and chew slow then swallow hard. Kai's moving and emoting as if he doesn't have a care in the world, then makes a subtle show of finishing up and pulling a few bills from his wallet. I can't help it anymore, I steal a glance at the trooper, and see him talking with Sheila who looks like she's thinking hard about something.

    "y/n," Kai quietly hisses when he catches me, and I snap my gaze back to him immediately. "Knock it off. Let's go." He places the money on the table just under the edge of our stack of plates, takes one more sip of his soda, then stands a second before I follow his lead. The officer is definitely looking at us now, but I fight all urges to look back at him, and instead keep my eyes on the floor as I walk. Kai's hand reaches out behind his back for me and I take it right away, most of my anxiety dissipating just like that.

    Still, I don't exhale a breath until we're both in the car with the doors shut, "Oh thank god."

    Kai turns the key and the car roars to life, "You're welcome."

    I smile to myself at his little joke as he reverses then pulls away. He has no idea how close he's truly held to that standard in my mind.
   Later that night we watch the ball drop on cable TV, then ring in the new year with sex so rough I'm sure I won't be the only one with marks to prove it in the morning.

//

    The sun rises and proves me right. Kai is facing the opposite way I am, and I can see my pink and slightly raised scratches down his bare back. The left side of my neck is tender when I touch it, letting me know it's certainly bruised without even having to look at it. My bliss is interrupted by Kai's phone screen lighting up, and this number is actually one even I recognize: Lacey. I take the liberty of grabbing and unlocking it; she could be worried sick about where we are, or letting us know something crucial to our situation.
    I hate that it's the latter that's correct. It's a link she's sent, to a news website. I click it and read the article as fast as I can.

Have You Seen This Woman?

Y/n Ross, 24, has been missing since the morning of December 31. Authorities received a tip saying she was last seen with the man pictured below, 24-year-old Kai Anderson, about an hour south of Brookfield Heights. Anderson is now being considered a Person of Interest as well.

On this morning of January 1, the Brookfield Heights Sheriff's Office deputies searched the Ross family home, noting that the only out-of-the-ordinary sight was a cell phone believed to be Mrs. Ross's submerged in a bucket of water in their kitchen. Her husband, 27-year-old Gregory Ross, had gone missing himself only days before a second occurrence that labeled Mrs. Ross as a Person of Interest. Details are not yet being disclosed on this secondary case as of yet.

Please call the number below with any further information. Thank you for your cooperation.