6. Elijah
Ihad walked over to that car with so much anger in my body, I thought I was going to explode. However, I came away feeling a complete mixture of emotions as I sat myself back down in the driver’s seat.
As much as I didn’t want to admit it, I may have allowed my emotions to dominate that situation more than I had liked. I had expected the driver to be some stupid, young guy thinking he was above the law. The last thing I had expected was someone like her.
Charlotte Miller.
Her name dangled in the air as I stared out the front of my car. I rubbed my hands over my face as I watched her car pull away from me.
I felt slightly guilty for being hard on her, but she was being reckless, stupid. I felt the annoyance find its way back to the forefront of my emotions.
There was something about her though that made me change my mind. My instincts were telling me that she was vulnerable, that something was amiss with the whole situation. There was something in her eyes that made the anger disappear and concern take precedent.
Truthfully, I was a little distracted by her.
I’d almost forgotten why I pulled her over in the first place. It wasn’t very often people stood up to me like that, especially not people who looked like her. Her defensiveness felt over the top to me, as if I had really hit a nerve with my comments. I couldn’t place my finger on why the interaction bothered me so much. I’m missing something.
The situation could have been so different if I hadn’t pulled her over, though. If she had continued on driving recklessly instead of me pulling her over, I could have been pulling her body out of the car. The images that came with that thought made my stomach turn. A quiet scream just above a whisper filled my ears. I quickly shook the thoughts and noises away.
Maybe I was harsh on her, but she needed it. Sometimes people just need tough love in order to see their errors. She won’t be doing that again, that was for sure. I tried to convince myself I was justified in my response to the situation, although I still had that niggling feeling. It doesn’t matter, I’d let her off with a warning, I’d shown her kindness. Other officers probably would have fined her on the spot.
I probably should have fined her, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. I don’t think I would have been able to look her in the eye as I handed her the fine. She looked vulnerable and honestly exhausted. I was tough, but I wasn’t a monster; especially not with a little boy in the back.
The last few hours of my shift passed through without incident. Nobody spoke to me about the events of the day when I was clocking out, so it was a fair assumption that she hadn’t reported me. Not yet, anyway. Whilst I felt justified in my response, that didn’t necessarily mean my boss would.
Heading back home, I’d hoped my brother would be there ready for our dinner when I got back, but the house was quiet. As if reading my thoughts, my phone buzzed in my pocket.
L: Running late, meet you at Blake’s in an hour.
I guess I should have predicted that.
At least he was still coming. I wouldn’t have put it past him to completely blow me off. I took my time showering off the stress of the day before getting ready for dinner. I stared at myself in the mirror, trying to figure out how to cheer myself up. I wasn’t exactly going to be great dinner company if I couldn’t rid myself of this foul mood. I struggled to get the day off my mind, to get her off my mind. I felt some guilt try to creep its way in, but I shut it down quickly before making my way out the door.
Blake’s was mostly quiet and I was grateful for that. I gave a polite nod to a few people I knew as I walked over to the booth my brother was seated at near the back.
“Nice of you to finally join, Eli,” he said, a smug grin covering his face. He was still in his work clothes; I was hoping he’d at least have the decency to change before meeting me.
“Bit rich coming from the man in dirty overalls, don’t you think, Lucas?” I countered, placing myself down across from him.
“I’ll have you know the dirty overalls look is quite popular with women. I feel it’s starting to rival the love for a man in uniform.” He chuckled as he put down the menu. “How was your day?”
I answered him with a grunt, which earned me a raised eyebrow from him, encouraging me to go on. “I was called to a couple of teenagers robbing Lucky’s this morning. I was chasing one of them down.” I paused to thank the waitress for the water she brought over. “My leg cramped up and he got away.” The frustration rolled off my tongue as I spoke.
I felt Lucas’ eyes on me for a moment before he spoke. We’d become closer in recent years after I let him move into my house. He wanted some independence from our mother, but wasn’t quite able to afford his own space whilst he was building his business. I’d already bought my house by then and was happy to have him there. As annoying as he was, he brought a lightness to the space where the darkness had begun to consume it.
The silence of the house before he moved in had bothered me more than I cared to admit. Selfishly, I didn’t want him to move out. I didn’t want to have to live alone again.
“It happens som–”
“It shouldn’t happen,” I interrupted him before he could finish. “I should have caught them.”
“You don’t have to be perfect all the time, Elijah. Sometimes these things are going to happen. You can’t exactly predict that you’re going to get cramp. It isn’t your fault.”
Except it was my fault, but I didn’t bother to argue his point. If I hadn’t run so far this morning, I may not have gotten a cramp in my leg. But to explain that would mean explaining why I ran so far in the first place. I wasn’t about to talk about that.
Sensing my unwillingness to discuss it further, he continued, “What about the rest of your shift?”
“Uneventful,” I lied. This afternoon was yet another thing I didn’t particularly want to discuss right now. I didn’t really want to talk about her.
“How are things in the car fixing world?” I asked in an attempt to deflect the conversation away from me.
“This morning was pretty uneventful, however something interesting did happen this afternoon.” He paused his story as one of the waitresses approached and took our order. Once she had gone, he continued.
“I had a walk-in. Now I normally turn away walk-ins that late in the day, but she was gorgeous. That and I’m a softie.” He smirked, turning to me. “Apparently some ass of a cop had pulled her over and was chewing her out about her tail light.”
Son of a bitch.
My stomach dropped at his words. Charlotte Miller. I could feel his smirk even though I wasn’t looking at him. I knew he had already made the connection. I didn’t even think about the fact she would go to Lucas’ shop. I guess it makes sense, considering I told her to sort it today. When I didn’t respond, Lucas continued.
“Officer Weatherston, she told me. Real nasty guy who said some horrible things to her.” He paused. “Was there a particular reason you decided to be mean towards this beautiful woman?”
“She didn’t pull over when I first started blaring sirens at her–it took her ages to even clock me. She was driving recklessly; I wasn’t mean, just giving her some tough love,” I countered .
“She still looked pissed when she showed up to my shop. Said you implied she was a bad mother.” He sighed.
“What were you thinking, Eli?”
I mentally noted that it was about a twenty-minute drive from where I pulled her over to Lucas’ shop. I couldn’t help but enjoy the fact that she was still thinking about our interaction when she got there, even if she was pissed.
“I didn’t say she was a bad mother, I simply said I would have expected someone with a child to be more responsible. She was being reckless!” My voice raised slightly on the last sentence.
“Were you angry at what she was doing or were you just pissed off that those two teenagers got away this morning, then took it out on the next person you came across?”
I would never admit this to him, but there was a high chance he was right. It irritated me how well my brother knew me.
“What did she say when she found out you were the brother of the asshole cop that pulled her over?”
“Oh god, I did not tell Lottie you were my brother. She was furious with you.”
“Lottie?” I asked incredulously, annoyance laced in my voice. “You’re on a nickname basis now, are you?”
“Don’t blow a gasket, that’s how she introduced herself to me. I kept it purely on a first name basis. I was not going to kill my shot with an attractive woman by telling her I was related to you,” he teased, nudging me.
I couldn’t help but feel a bitter taste in my mouth listening to his words, talking about having a shot with her. I quickly let it go and changed the subject. It wasn’t worth the argument. But I couldn’t help but feel slightly disappointed that her tail light was fixed. I had wondered if our paths would cross again.