''Tell me how it feels,'' he whispers.
"Good," I gasp, my entire body trembling. Deeper. Harder. Perfect. Like we've been doing this for years.
His hand finds my jaw, fingers firm as he tilts my head up, making me look at him. And that's it. Waves...
The metal is too big for her wrists the way some rooms are too big for a single lamp. Whitney Kastellanos lies on the back seat of the police cruiser like a cat playing with an imaginary feather above her. Clank clank!
"Officer Wyatt, I think your seats are made of lies."
Faro Wyatt drops into the driver's seat with a sigh, running a hand over his buzzed head. The cruiser is parked just off the gravel shoulder beneath a sky smeared velvet. Trees sway. Crickets chirp. As the rest of the lot pack up and head out, he lifts a finger in goodbye, waiting for this night to be over.
Whitney giggles behind him, pressing her nose to the seat. "Leather lies. And expired Febreze. Ooh. Is this a buff? I want this headband." She knocks two bound hands against the glass wall. "It's cold back here."
Then she hiccups, a sharp, squeaky sound that surprises even her.
"I'm scared."
He looks up. Just a flick of his eyes in the rearview, where she's sitting up now. Her lower lip is caught in her teeth, and her knees are curled to her chest. Her voice is soft and breathy—
Is she barefoot?
He sighs not for the first time and unlocks the back door.
She beams.
Crawling out and around like a creature released, she tumbles into the passenger seat, cuffs still on. She wriggles. Adjusts.
"Oooh. Buttons."
"Don't."
Her grin widens like a knife, then she presses the radio button. Static. Then window control. The pane rolls down with a mechanical whine, and wind snakes in.
"You said you were cold."
"Air!" She hiccups again, wiggling her shoulders. "Is this how squirrels feel when they escape traps?"
He exhales. The idea of responding is just... too expensive.
She pokes the siren switch. Nothing happens.
He mutters, "It's disabled."
"What else is disabled in your poor man's Batmobile?"
"Thought you were the rodent."
Whitney leans back, craning her neck to the ceiling. "Bats are not rodents, Officer Wyatt. Common misconception, I won't hold this against you."
"Good to know."
"They have some superficial similarities, but bats are in their own order of mammals. Chiroptera!"
He finally turns to her. "Pardon?"
"It means hand-wing." Her clanking wrists lift and move to punctuate her points. "Rodents are in Rodentia, obviously, and bats are way more closely related to primates, anyway. Like humans. Oh! Maybe you can be Batman!"
He turns to her just a little more. Enough for the brown of his hazel eyes to catch her like a hook through the belly.
"You're a good listener, Officer Wyatt."
"You talk more than anyone I've ever met."
"Oh. I'm sorry." She bows her head, bottom lip wavering. "Squirrels mourn, you know. When another dies, they stop and sit beside the body. Sometimes they scream."
Faro pulls the key from his pocket and unlocks the metal, dropping it into the cupholder. "I'm sorry I cuffed you."
Her eyes close with a smile as a tear falls down her cheek. "It wasn't so bad."
He turns away, grips the wheel, and starts the drive.
Minutes pass like animals through snow. After a while, she falls asleep.
Lips slightly open, hair a mess of braids and leaf-dust. Her face slackens into something young and... cruelly innocent. As he turns left here and there, he eyes the gold rings on her thumbs. As he drives through the city centre, he marks a star tattoo there, a band-aid on her palm, and pale blue polish on her fingernails. She's not even wearing shoes. Her toes are the same colour. He can't tell what exactly about her makes him feel, but inside his chest glows a flicker in the grave.
He types her last name into his control and finds her current address.
Faro Wyatt takes the long way.
When they arrive at row after row of slate grey townhouses, Faro stops the cruiser on the street, eyeing the familiar truck just ahead. He sits in the silence for a full minute longer than necessary, then cranks the heat vents and angles them all toward her.
It's not long before a porch light flickers on in her unit. He eyes it through the windshield.
Faro reaches across, very gently, and unbuckles her seatbelt. Her scent burns into his throat, smoky vanilla and something like linen. It'll be in the air after she's gone. It'll sink into the fibres of the car and show up even if he wants to forget.
Whitney's breath catches with a small moan. When her eyes blink open, for the first time, he really sees them. Not just blue. A sharp, wild shade of turquoise that doesn't belong this far inland. The kind of saturation gods might spill when they break worlds open.
She looks up at him, confused at first, then eases. The smile that forms is small.
She whispers, "Hi."
His inhale is subtle, but it's sharp.
"Hello."
Hey 🥹
You're either here directly after reading the 'flames' chapter, here after finishing Beside, or here while reading Between. In any case, I've been trying to figure out who my favourite couple is in this little universe.
Which pair, so far, are your favourites?
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