Chapter Seven

Carmen checked her list one more time, making sure every thing the she needed was packed. She'd triple checked, knowing she didn't want to go two weeks without something.

She hadn't seen Elliott since the night he'd brought her home from the club, but he was supposed to pick her up to take her to the RYR in the morning. She'd left that little bit of information out when talking to Frank about her trip. He still wasn't happy about her going but he'd calmed down to some extent and she'd helped matters by staying home when she wasn't working and making him feel important.

Her feelings hadn't changed though. As much as she wanted to do the right thing, she was just waiting for a sign, for just the slightest thing to end it with him so she could go back to Elliott. But how could she be sure the Elliott even wanted to be with her. Sure he'd told her he loved her but for all she knew he said it in the heat of passion not because he meant it. Hell, he'd nearly said it on the answering machine that time that he'd called.

Things between them were so much of a habit, something that they'd done for so long that they'd easily fall into it again and she wasn't sure that was a good thing.

"Are you all packed?" Frank asked, sliding in behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist.

She shivered as he kissed her neck, realizing for the first time how it made her blood run cold. It wasn't the kind of shivers she'd had when Elli…*Oh dear God… get over it already!*

"Yeah. I'm about to go to bed. I'm leaving around 3 in the morning. The plane's taking off at 4:30 and I think we've got some conferences scheduled for tomorrow afternoon so I should be able to get a few hours sleep in between now and then."

He kissed her cheek. "Of course you can. It's only 8, why don't you go ahead and go to bed. I'll sleep in the guest room so you don't have to worry about waking me in the morning."

She smiled. "Thank you. Good night Frank."

"Night CJ," he responded, kissing her forehead.

She took a deep breath, doing her best to hold in her temper. He knew she hated that and he did it anyway. It was little things like that. All of sudden she couldn't wait to get on that plane and get away from here. Thank God she'd be gone for Valentine's Day. Lord only knows what kind of kinky perverted stuff he had planned for that.

How on earth had she stayed with him for two years?

---

Stacking her suitcases next to the door, Carmen poured herself a glass of orange juice. It was nearly 3 and she'd been up well over an hour, not bothering with a shower. She'd have plenty of time to get one once they got to Daytona, right now all she wanted to do was go back to sleep.

She'd opened the blinds in the living room and watched for Elliott, wanting to be ready when he got there. When she'd checked in on Frank a few minutes earlier he'd been sound asleep and she wanted to keep it that way.

Headlights blinded her momentarily and she adjusted her eyes, recognizing Elliott's car as he pulled into the handicapped spot at the bottom of the stairs. She rushed to the door, setting her bags on the landing before locking the deadbolt.

Grabbing her overnight bag, she then reached down for one of the larger cases only to have a large hand effortlessly lift the heavy bag. "Morning," he grumbled.

"Barely," she responded. Elliott had never been a morning person unless tree stands and hunting rifles had been involved. She picked up the smallest of her suitcases and followed him down to the car, putting her things in the trunk next to his.

He opened the door for her and walked around to get in on his side, then they backed up and pulled out of the complex, neither one noticing the furious man watching from the upstairs window.

---

Half an hour later they pulled into the parking lot at RYR, parking in a spot next to half a dozen other cars. "CJ," Elliott whispered, brushing the hair that had fallen into her face as she'd slept. "Wake up."

She took a deep breath immediately recognizing his smell and smiled. "Elliott?" she questioned, slightly disoriented.

"Yeah, sweetie. Look you need to wake up. We're here, the plane's waiting."

Carmen shook her head, absently rubbing her eyes as Elliott got out of the car and took their bags out of the trunk. She opened the door and slowly peeled herself out of the seat. She'd tensed up while she was sleeping and the pain in her neck was wretched.

Stretching her arms above her head, she walked towards the small plane sitting just outside of a small hangar. "Of course they have their own plane," she groaned. Flying scared the hell out of her and she never could place her fear, it was just something she'd always been afraid of.

"Good morning, sunshine," Robert Yates called cheerfully as he approached her. "Not a morning person I see. You and Elliott should be perfect company for each other."

Carmen returned his smile. "It's not exactly morning yet. Get back to me in about 3 hours and I'll let ya know."

He patted her softly on the back and ushered her towards the plane. "Go ahead and get comfortable, we're gonna be taking off in about fifteen minutes."

She took each step slowly, hesitating momentarily before stepping across the threshold. Despite it's exterior, it was actually quite large inside. There were six rows of seats. Two seats on each row and every other row faced the back of the plane.

Tables were pulled down between the rows. A few people were shuffling through some paper work but most of them were sleeping.

She walked towards the last row of seats, happy to find an empty row and sat down next to the window, leaning her head against the cool wall, easily drifting to sleep.

"You still afraid of flying?" Elliott asked softly, pulling her out of her much needed rest.

She nodded. "Absolutely. But right now I'm too tired to care so wake me when we get to Daytona."

She buckled her seatbelt and made sure her seat was in the upright position then immediately fell back to sleep.

Elliott smiled as he watched her. Her features softened and she appeared peaceful for the first time since he'd seen her three weeks ago. She'd let down her guard knowing he was right next to her and he knew she was still comfortable with him. No matter what had happened in the past.

---

"Wake up hot shot, we're here," Elliott chuckled, tugging on her ponytail.

She shrugged him off and turned further into the window. "Go 'way."

He stood up and tugged her to her feet receiving a groan and glare in the process. "We don't have time to wait on you to wake up Carmen. We've got to run from here to the car. There's a ton of people out there with cameras and all sorts of shit wanting my autograph this early in the morning and I'm not about to get into it. I'm ready to go back to bed for a couple of hours so lets get going."

She nodded and followed him to the door of the plane more than shocked at the number of people standing at the gate surrounding the landing strip that were yelling his name. "Wow."

He grabbed her hand and broke into a run, jumping into the backseat of the waiting Suburban and they were gone.

"Do you always have that many people waiting for you?" she asked in disbelief, staring behind them as the crowd became smaller and smaller.

Elliott shrugged and pulled his cap lower onto his head. "Only in Daytona."

---

They waited in the car while Elliott's publicist went into the hotel to get their room keys, neither speaking to the other as the minutes ticked by. Both too caught up in their thoughts, and too tired to say anything that might get them into trouble.

Shane opened the door without warning, nearly causing Carmen to topple out before he caught her. "Sorry about that," he smiled, helping her out of the car. "Here's your room key, and here's yours." He said handing the remaining card to Elliott and told them both to be waiting for him at 3 that afternoon in the lobby for a visit at the local children's hospital.

They nodded and shuffled through the lobby and onto and elevator taking them to the top floor. As the door opened they continued down the hall stopping in front of the door to Suite 813. Both pulled out their key cards and attempted to swipe it at the same time. "Elliott, this is my room," she growled pushing him to the side as she slid her card through the lock and waited for the green light. She opened the door and walked inside turning to lock it when Elliott shoved his way in and dropped his bags.

"It's my room too Carmen." He held up the envelope his key had come in, showing her the number. Sure enough it was 813. "I guess we're splitting the suite."

Carmen closed her eyes and shook her head. "No, no, no…" she grumbled. She looked ahead at the large living room, then to her left seeing a large bedroom. Looking to her right she saw another large bedroom and took a deep breath. "Fine. I'm going to bed."

She left her bags by the door and stormed off to the left, quickly closing the double doors behind her. This was just a bunch of shit. There was no way this was going to go down with no mishaps. Two weeks in the same suite with Elliott!?

Falling back on the bed, she closed her eyes and rested her arm over them. All hell was about to break loose, once Frank Phillips found out about this arrangement. She wouldn't tell him but there wasn't a snowballs chance in hell he wouldn't find out.