Honey and Salt Chapter 6
Chapter 6.
It takes some effort, not to mention blackmail but in the end, I’m able to do what Catherine wasn’t; get Ecklie to hire an extra body to swing shift. I know, know, it sounds totally selfish of me to go through all this trouble just so I can take Catherine on proper dates, but I don’t care. I’ll gladly move heaven and earth to be with her.
The good thing about being someone’s right hand is that you know all sorts of dirty and embarrassing things in which to blackmail them. I’m certain Catherine has a long list of things that Gil does not want out in the open. On the other hand, why, why, why, did Ecklie have to hire her?
His bastard senses must have tingled the moment she stepped into his office, because he hired her right on the spot.
Her name is Claudette King and if you haven’t guessed it, she’s my ex. And no, we didn’t split on amicable terms, more like ‘two alley-cats in a potato sack’ terms - lots of fighting, lots of ugliness. At 5'9", with shoulder length dirty blonde hair, piercing grey eyes and a rail thin body; she either belongs on a runway or a street corner. She can charm the scales off of a snake and manipulate the white off of rice, and what’s more, she is fully aware of her ‘talents’.
I gave her three years of my life, three years that I’ll never see again and she gave me nothing, nothing but heartache. Catherine’s not the only one who’s suffered from third degree burns. Claudette treated me like a rented mule. With no regards to my feelings, she had God knows how many people on the side, then had the audacity to blame it on me.
This is the woman who’s now working under Catherine and I can’t help but feel the bile rise in the back of my throat. I know it’s irrational to feel this way but, old resentments are hard to shake once they’ve been reawakened. Scars, that I thought were healed and forgotten, suddenly feel raw and new.
In the two weeks she’s been here, my distrust of her hasn’t diminished one bit and I hate myself for it. I trust Catherine and that should be the end of it. It’s Claudette I don’t trust and knowing the two of them are working together, is enough to bring out an ugliness in me that I abhor.
I need to talk to Catherine, but I’m ashamed, and I don’t know why.
“Sofia? Earth to Sofia?” It’s Catherine and she’s waving her hand in front of my face trying to draw my attention from my locker onto her. Over the last two weeks we have made a tradition of meeting in the locker-room between shifts. It’s a way for her to unwind after a case and for me to start the night on a high note. If one, or both of us, is out in the field, we slip notes into the other’s locker. And let’s just say, that there’s been a time or two when I’ve had to explain away a blush due to graphic content of some of Catherine’s notes.
“Sorry,” I quickly mumble.
“Are you okay? You seem out of it. As a matter of fact you’ve been out of it for a while.”
So much for hiding my emotions from Catherine. I should have known she’d catch on that something was up, but I’m not prepared to tell her, yet. “It’s nothing.”
“Don’t give me that line. I know something’s bothering you. Is it me? Gil? Sara? . . . Hodges?”
“Never you,” I say. “It’s not anyone on graveyard either. It’s . . . ”
“Say nothing and I smack you.” I believe she would too.
“I was going to say, it’s not something I want to talk about in the middle of the locker room where anyone can walk in.”
“Oh. All right, I’ll let you drop it - for now,” Catherine murmurs. Then a smile lights her face as she takes on a teasing tone. “So, are you going to tell me where we’re going Monday night?”
“No, it’s a surprise, like I said the other nine times you asked me.” I’m glad she didn’t press further and the fact that she is looking forward to our first date as much as I am alleviates some of my nervousness.
“What am I supposed to wear if you won’t even give me a clue?” She gives me an exaggerated pout and I’m tempted to take her lower lip in my mouth and suck it for all it’s worth. Only the fact that we are in the lab keeps me from carrying out my desire.
“Don’t wear anything but a smile,” I whisper very quietly in her ear. “It’ll save me time when it’s time for dessert.” I pull away to observe Catherine’s reaction. Her eyes are slightly dilated and she has her ‘come hither’ smile on.
“So, you think you’re going to get lucky or something?”
“I know I’m going to get lucky.”
Catherine pecks me on the cheek and starts for the door. “We’ll see,” she says, but I know she’s joking - we both do. It’s been two weeks since that day we made love in her house. Between cases and family obligations, we’ve been unable to replicate that day. Monday will be our first ‘official date’ and I’ve planned everything to a ‘T’. A whole night for just the two of us and I don’t plan on wasting one minute of it.
“Ahem.”
Shit, someone was here and I recognize that voice all too well. “Claudette, you might as well come out,” I call. Catherine’s gone and I already miss her calming presence.
She does, making her way from her hiding spot in the back to take a spot three feet from in front of me. “So, that’s your new girlfriend, I hear half the lab’s done her. I wonder when it’s going to be my turn.”
Refusing to take the bait, I answer quietly, “Never, if I have any thing to say about it.” I know what she’s trying to do. She just wants to get a rise out of me, trying to see how long it will take for me to lose my cool and do something stupid.
“Aww, c’mon, not even one night? Are you afraid if she slept with a real woman, she’d drop you like a hot potato?”
If this were a cartoon, I’m certain that steam would be coming from out of my ears. Once again I wonder what the hell I saw in her. How could I have been so blinded by love to not see what a complete and utter bitch she is; that this woman is incapable of loving anyone else but herself. Her sole motivation in life is greed and sex. I just wish it hadn’t taken me three years to figure all that out. “Catherine is more woman than you’ll ever be on your best day.”
“Really? Well, that just makes me want her even more.”
“Don’t even think it.”
“What? I don’t see your name tattooed anywhere on her and I saw her in the shower.”
That knocked some of the wind out of my sails. What the hell kind of game is she playing at? I’m stunned enough that when she closes the distance between us, I don’t even notice until she starts whispering into my ear. “Don’t worry, my dear. We haven’t done anything - yet. But once I’m done with her, she’ll forget all about you.”
I push her roughly aside and storm my way out of the lab and into the parking lot. The cool desert air envelops me, helping me regain some of my composure. If I hadn’t left, I would surely have driven Claudette through one of the lockers. I hate how she does to me; says just the right thing to piss me off, knowing full I won’t do anything in a public place.
I need to speak to Catherine, need to warn her about Claudette.