CHAPTER FORTY-SIX CLARKE AND CECI
Chapter Forty-six
Clarke and Ceci
Clarke
The police officer who showed up spoke only Japanese. It took some effort, but finally they were able to locate enough people who could speak more than one language to form a chain of communication.
Clarke told the man who spoke English what happened. Luckily so did some bystanders, who made it clear that the other guy had started it and Clarke had simply defended himself.
Once the story was translated to Spanish, Italian, German, and finally Japanese, the officer dismissed the complaint, and the drunk and his friends left.
Clarke sighed. Okay, that’s the end of that.
But then the officer said something. What he’d said finally made it to the guy who spoke English.
“He wants to know if you’re a couple.”
Clarke hesitated.
Ceci glared at him. “Aren’t you going to answer him?”
“I don’t know what I should say. If you know, why don’t you answer him?”
She narrowed her eyes. “Because he asked you.”
“You’ve never hesitated to jump in before when something had nothing to do with you.”
“Nothing to do with me?”
“Okay, poor choice of words. I just meant, he asked me the question, not you.”
“And he and I are still waiting to hear your answer.”
Clarke’s heart was pounding. The heat radiating up his neck to his cheeks was going to have to come out of his ears, or his mouth when he spoke otherwise his head would explode.
Finally, he held out his arm indicating Ceci. “Do you know what this woman has done?”
The men quickly translated.
“Let’s see,” Clarke said, crossing his arms, “she gave me a black eye after I discovered her in the men’s room at a hotel.”
He waited while this information was translated.
“On our first date, she gave me another black eye. The next date, I got a split lip. After that a cut on my cheek, another split lip, a busted nose, a cut on my jaw that required stitches, and a bucket of water thrown over my head.” Clarke opened his mouth to continue, but the first man waved his hands.
“Hold on, you’re going too fast.” He then turned to the man next to him, and the entire story was translated down the line.
The men glanced at Ceci, shaking their heads and casting sympathetic looks at Clarke.
“This woman is dangerous, hazardous to my health. She should have some kind of warning emblazoned on her forehead, like a skull and crossbones.”
When this was translated, the men nodded, murmuring sounds of agreement.
“You tell me,” Ceci said, stepping forward. “If it were you and you were with a woman you really cared about, wouldn’t you do anything you could to keep her out of harm’s way, even if sometimes it meant getting a black eye or a bucket of water thrown in your face?”
Once translated, this appeared to impress the men. They puffed out their chests, extending their spines to stand at least one inch taller and shot disapproving looks at Clarke.
“Alter.”
“Tizio.”
“Dudar.”
“Dude.” This man placed his hand on Clarke’s shoulder. “Do you even like this woman?”
“Like her? I’d have to be certifiable to like her. She’s loud, insulting. She can’t keep one opinion, not even the most minute opinion, to herself. How could a man possibly like a woman like that?”
Ceci shoved him aside. “You tell me how a woman could like a man who’s morally self-righteous, always has to be so damn proper, and suffers from a Sir Galahad complex?”
There were murmurs of Sir Galahad up and down the line. This seemed to require no translation.
Just then Tilney entered the bar with a group of people.
Clarke groaned.
Seeing Clarke, he headed toward them. “Where the fuck were you? You missed the press conference. Not cool, dude.” Suddenly noticing Ceci, he grabbed her waist, pulled her toward him, and planted a kiss on her cheek.
“Hey!” Clarke and Ceci cried in unison.
Clarke made a move toward him, but Ceci quickly disengaged herself and was about to knee Tilney. She hesitated when she saw the men who’d been translating for them lean forward, watching with avid interest.
“Fine,” she spat, crossing her arms, taking a step back and looking pointedly at Clarke.
Turning to Tilney, he sighed. “It appears I’m going to have to hit you.”
“You are such a—”
Tilney got no further. Clarke landed his fist smack on Tilney’s jaw, and the man went down.
The line of men broke out in applause.
Clarke gave them a half-hearted smile before he crouched down.
“Is he okay?” Ceci asked.
“Yeah. I’m tempted to toss a bucket of water on him.”
Ceci laughed but grew silent when he looked back at her, a serious look on his face. He wasn’t laughing. “I’ll have to let him have a swing at me. It’s only fair.”
The man who spoke English came up behind him, placing his hand on Clarke’s shoulder. “So, my friend,” he said, indicating Ceci and Tilney with his other hand. “Why?”
Still kneeling next to Tilney, who’d just come to, Clarke’s chin fell to his chest. “Because I love her.” His voice was barely above a whisper.
“What?” Ceci asked.
He stood up, balling his hands into fists, glaring at her. “I said I love you, damn it!”
Her eyes ballooned as her mouth dropped open. But only for one swift moment. She fisted her own hands, clenched her jaw, and glared back at him.
“Well, I love you too, damn it!”
The bar was suddenly silent.
The police officer huffed. Holding out his arms, he groaned. “Kanojo ni kisu shite!”
“Kuss sie!”
“Baciala!”
“Besala!”
Placing his hand on Clarke’s shoulder, the last man sighed. “We think you should kiss her now.”
Clarke gazed at Ceci, but didn’t move.
“Oh, this is ridiculous,” Ceci huffed.
She threw herself at him, wrapped her arms around him, placing her lips on his.
The English-speaking man smiled. “The language of love requires no translation.”
The other men nodded in agreement.
Ceci
“How does it feel?” Ceci asked as she held a towel filled with ice to Clarke’s cheek and eye.
“Not too bad. Nothing I’m not used to whenever I’m around you.”
“You’re the one who invited Tilney to pay you back and then just stood there when he punched you.”
“It was the right thing to do. Don’t get me wrong, he deserved it. But it’s not as though he came at me and I was defending myself. Besides, I didn’t give him much of a warning.” He paused and pushed her hand down. “I hope you noticed I remained standing after he hit me. Unlike him.”
She grinned. “I did, Sir Galahad.”
She placed the towel back on his eye.
Are we really going to do this?
“What’s with that worried look?” he asked.
She sighed. “Even if we can forgive each other for the things we’ve said, we’ll never forget them.”
“I suppose that’s true, but I also won’t forget what your face looked like when Holly and Boudica crossed that finish line, or that look of pure fire when you were riding that bull, or the way you taste, or how I feel when you call me Sir Galahad.”
“I make no promises about that. I’m under no obligation to say that. Ever. Again.”
He grinned. “Of course not.”
She rolled her eyes.
He grabbed her around the waist and pulled her toward him.
“Ceci. There are so many things I will never forget when it comes to you, things that make me ignore my own sanity and safety. Don’t you understand?
I can’t not love you. Trust me. I’ve tried.
I’ve been trying for a long time now. You’re like a virus, one of those crafty ones that never leaves you and lies dormant in your system.
Only you don’t lie dormant. Maybe I should want you to. But I don’t.”
“So in professing your love to me, you liken me to a virus. How romantic.”
Shrugging, he chuckled.
Ceci sighed. “Okay, but down the road those words are bound to come out when you’re angry or I am, we’re bound to hurl those awful words at each other again, which shows that we never forgot.”
“We’re bound to hurl all sorts of things at each other.
I know you are—pots and pans, maybe even a trophy, definitely a bucket of water.
I might not like that you remember some of those things I’ve said and done and I’ll wish I could take them back.
But I can live with it. Because I know that in spite of all that, I love you and you love me.
What would it say about you or me, and the way we feel about each other now and forever, if we could just forget all that and put it behind us?
” He pulled her toward him. “As long as we make up.”
“Did you just say forever?”
He pulled back. “Did I?”
Ceci nodded. She watched his Adam’s apple rise and fall as he swallowed. Then he turned and scowled at her.
“Okay, so what? So I did. You have a problem with that?”
Smiling, she shook her head. “No. And one thing you can be certain of, I’ll always have your back. If Tilney had knocked you out, I would have been there to revive you.”
“Be Prince Charming and breathe new life into me. Which by the way, you’ve already done.”
She frowned.
“Do you remember what I said to you at that ball, when I told you I would get that rifle back to you and you asked, and if it’s loaded?”
“You said to be kind and aim it at your heart. You said the same thing when I held that blade to your chest. You also told me I should know what you meant by it.”
He nodded. “I think I did that because I wanted you to tell me. I’ve been wondering where that came from. Why I said it. Now I know. I was asking you to free me of the prison I’d built for myself, shake the paralysis that’s kept me from moving forward, make me feel deeply again. You did that.”
I’m not invisible. He sees me. Really sees me.
Ceci Rivers is here.
She placed her lips on his and murmured before kissing him. “You breathed new life into me too.”
When they finally came up for air, she felt how much she didn’t want to. How much she wanted his lips on hers forever.
Forever.
“Come on, Sir Galahad. I think it’s time I got you home. Your white charger needs to rest.” She cocked her head and flashed a coy smile. “Besides there’s a catsuit waiting for you.”
His eyes lit up, even the one that was bruised. “Really?”
She nodded.
Clarke stood up but then hesitated. “Wait, you’re the one who’s going to be wearing it, right?”
She laughed. “Yes.” They headed toward the door but she stopped before they reached it. “What was that thing you said to me in Gaelic? You know when you first …”
“Knelt at your feet?”
“Amongst other things.”
“Not worried you’ll be disappointed?”
“Oh, forget it, it doesn’t matter. Maybe you don’t even remember.”
He leaned in and placed his lips up against her ear and murmured, “Is tusa an cruthaitheoir is áille a chonaic mé riamh, an cruthaitheoir is áille a bhí sé ina onóir agus phribhléid agam a chothú i mo lámha. It means, You are the most exquisite creature I have ever laid eyes upon, the most exquisite creature I’ve had the honor and privilege to hold in my arms.” He pulled away. “Disappointed?”
She thought a moment.
He frowned. “You have to even think about it?”
“Well, no. I mean my immediate thought was no, but then I realized you were speaking to my vagina. So it just seems a little weird.”
Laughing, he put his arm around her and headed to the door. “Ceci. Hold in my arms? I can’t hold your vagina in my arms. Much as I might like to try. I was speaking to you.” He suddenly stopped. “Hey, when do you think they start serving breakfast at the hotel?”
“I don’t know. Why? Are you hungry?”
“The Japanese have this thing called dorayaki. It’s two pancakes filled with a sweet red bean paste called anko. They serve it at breakfast,” he said with a sly look, “but I think it qualifies as a dessert. And it’s a dessert I haven’t tasted. Yet.”
She grinned. “You really are relentless.”
Once they were at the door, he turned to her. “So have you decided?”
She didn’t need to ask what.
Smiling, she nodded. “I want to drive.”
“Good.”
He was about to open the door, but she stopped him.
“What if one day, I move up to F1 and we have to race against each other?”
He shrugged. “Nico and Rocco do it. If that happens, we’ll figure it out. You can always knock me unconscious before a race, and then you’ll just have to contend with the other drivers. You’ve done it before. We already know you’re good at it.”
She gave him a shove as he opened the door.
He held out his arm. “After you.”
Ceci stood gazing out at the street, now dark and still. Her eyes drifted back and forth between the door frame, measuring its width.
She grabbed Clarke by the waist and pulled him alongside her.
“I think there’s room for both of us,” she said as they stepped out into the night, the sun just up ahead, balancing on the horizon and about to rise.