The Detective and the Rockstar

Chapter 20

           She lay on her bed like a bloated corpse, staring at the wall. She allowed the thoughts to play in her mind. Sweet memories of moments she wished she could relive.

          She remembered the summer she and Alice had sat on the oak tree on their grandparents' farm. They were staring at the sunset and sharing their deepest thoughts. Alice was sure she wanted to become a nurse when she grew up, but Annika was lost. She had no direction until Alice gave her one. Alice was younger but so much wiser than Annika was. She didn't spend her days roaming the streets with other kids and being reckless. She was planning and preparing for life.

When Alice first met Rio, she told Annika she found her soulmate. She had never met a guy like him before. Though she barged into his house and demanded they speak, instead of calling the police, he offered her to sit and gave her a cold soda because she was warm. He was edgy and charismatic. He swept her off her feet, and she began plotting her life around him.

Annika wasn't sure what unfolded next or why Alice suddenly stopped thinking of Rio as her soulmate. She started dating other men. Whirlwind romances that lasted no more than a month.

           Life progressed as it always did. Alice seemed fine to Annika, so she didn't bother asking why she was jumping from guy to guy. Maybe she should have paid more attention to her sister, but she shrugged it off as Alice wanting to find Mr. Right after Annika had found Eric.

          She drew a long breath as guilt surfaced in her chest like a dark, vicious blob that wanted to smother her to death. If she had been a good sister and talked to Alice, maybe she wouldn't be lying there thinking what she was at that moment.

            Her phone vibrated on the nightstand. She was too depressed to roll over and get it. She kept staring at the wall, delving deeper into her thoughts. She was drifting like her soul was traveling back to those memories.

            She ignored the knock on the front door and then the heavy chime of the doorbell. A few moments passed. The bedroom opened, but she didn't budge. The scent of the familiar perfume betrayed the identity of her visitor.

           His baseball cap landed close to her. He crawled onto the bed next to her. She could feel him peering at her, and then he wrapped his good arm around her waist. She helplessly melted in his arms. It was strange how it seemed like heaven existed in his embrace.

"Why didn't you answer the phone?" he whispered close to her ear.

She sensed his lips a fingertip away from her neck. His warm breath on his skin made her quiver with desire. She wanted to turn around and invite him to kiss her, but the sane part of her fought the impulse with desperate aggression.

She turned to look at him. She couldn't deny herself the happiness of looking into his eyes. They were beautiful, warm eyes that told her everything would be alright. She could trust him. He was not the one who was betraying her. He was the victim in this story, the one being lied to.

"I knew it was you," she teased him.

He chuckled and rolled on his back to alleviate the discomfort in his shoulder. Annika touched the bandage and wondered how nice it would have been if Eric had survived like Rio. But Eric wasn't Rio. He may have been bigger and stronger, but Rio was a survivor, a fighter. Annika deeply admired that about him.

He dug into his jacket pocket and handed over the small square tin. Annika held it in the air to examine the exterior. A floral design bordered the light-blue-colored aluminum. She sat up and opened the lid to smell the blend inside. It was heavenly. An earthy scent with just a hint of hibiscus.