You and Tequila

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The sun's golden rays are raining down upon her, but she's oblivious to the heat as her fingers focus on the keys below. The clacking is just a constant buzz in her mind now, that she needs to help stay focused. However, her phone lights up beside her and vibrates viciously against the mini table to the right of the lounge chair. She rolls her eyes as she reaches for the device, annoyed that she's being interrupted, yet again.

The screen rolls like a slot machine with text message after text message coming through and vibrating against her hand. She slides her finger across the warm screen and opens the first picture that was sent anonymously, just as they are always instructed to do. She tilts her head to the side as she inspects the first picture, her eyes immediately drawn to the tacky red leather jacket and she cannot suppress the eye roll that follows.

The picture is incriminating, with the blonde and brunette leaning in dangerously close, close enough to kiss as they laugh wildly at something the rest of the world is shunned from. Yet, the blonde's face is distorted behind the massive windowpane and the brunette is very strategically obstructing the view of any onlookers.

She scoffs at the picture and quickly moves onto the next. She shakes her head when the second scene comes into view with both women walking side by side down the street, with a small gap between them and both peering down at their feet like the world might suddenly slip out from under them and toss them off balance. She closes that message and opens the next, with the blonde tugging a big puffy jacket into an alleyway.

She scrunches her nose at the sight and moves onto the next, which is the big money winner, the payout. She cocks her head to the side as she assesses the evidence of a blonde woman with a grey beanie sharing a passionate kiss with a brunette who is pinned firmly against a brick wall. It just so happens that the angle is perfect and the profile view of Regina Mills is undeniable. Except, she closes out of the message and opens the next picture, with a brunette burying her face against the taller woman's chest.

Her lips twist and turn as she mulls over her options. She flips through the pictures several times as she weighs the possibilities. Her eyes drift toward the clock on her phone, calculating her time with deadlines to make this work in her favor. She clicks on the picture she desires, her thumb hesitating for a split second before she sends the picture and breathes out a weighted sigh.

Her heavy head falls back against the chair as her eyes fall closed and her mind scrambles with the infinitive amounts of different ways this could all play out. Yet, she doesn't have nearly enough time to think before she's interrupted again by that obnoxious device.

It's not even a full minute before her phone vibrates in her hand, but she doesn't even bother with glancing at the name because she already knows who is on the other end. She rolls her eyes and answers the device with another heavy sigh that expresses her annoyance.

"Are you positive this is the-"

"Run it," she coldly demands and ends the call before the person has a chance to rebuttal her decision.

~~~~~~~~~

"I love you so much, buddy, and I'll be back before you know it," Emma whispers soothingly in her son's ear as she holds him impossibly close and breathes in his familiar scent one last time.

Maybe it is coconuts...

"Peas, mommy, stay," he whines, burying his tear-stained cheeks further into her neck and if he could, he would crawl right back inside of her and never let her go.