First Impressions
Parts 13-14
By Kellie
Michelle leaned up against the closed bedroom door trying to catch her breath. Tears began to roll down her still flushed cheeks. "What am I going to do?" she muttered to herself as she thought about the situation she now found herself in. Michelle's head swarmed with reasons why Danny was dangerous, especially after everything that happened at the beach.
Michelle walked over to the closet. Dusk had arrived outside and she knew that she wouldn't be able to look for some clothes to wear once darkness arrived. "Cassie, I hope you left something in this closet," she said aloud as she turned the creaking doorknob. Michelle glanced through the few clothes in the closet before settling on a blue tee shirt. Michelle headed over to the dresser and found a pair of gray knit shorts. As she rummaged around, Michelle found a jogging bra that she thought she'd be able to wear.
Michelle took the clothes and headed to the bathroom door and went inside. Noticing that the bathroom was windowless, Michelle closed the door and switched on the light. She walked over to the large claw footed bathtub and turned the hot water faucet. "Please let the water heater be on," she mumbled as she put her hand under the running water. Feeling the water warm up, Michelle plugged the drain with the small rubber stopper and began to pull the still damp bathing suit from her body. She shuddered as her hand brushed the nipple Danny had been massaging before she ran upstairs. Her mind drifted to the jumble of feelings Danny evoked in her with his kiss as she slipped into the tub of water. Michelle leaned her head back against the rim of the tub and closed her eyes as she recalled the warmth of his embrace and the feel of his tongue exploring the recesses of her mouth. More tears fell down her face as she tried to figure out how she was going to face Danny when she headed back downstairs.
Meanwhile, Danny carefully navigated the now dark stairway. He found his way down the dark hall to the closed bedroom door. He paused at the door rested his forehead against the cold doorframe. Not sure what he was going to encounter, Danny cautiously raised his hand and began to softly knock. "Michelle?"
Hearing no answer, Danny knocked again before slowly turning the knob. He slowly entered the room, as he began to say her name again, Danny noticed the faint light coming from the crack along the bottom of the bathroom door. He walked over and lightly knocked, "Michelle?"
"Go away!" she replied.
"Michelle, why do you have a light on in there?" he firmly asked.
"It's a windowless room, now leave me alone!" she countered.
"Michelle, are you okay?"
"I'm just peachy, now go away."
"If you're hungry, I'll stick the frozen pizza I found in the oven. Do you want any?"
Michelle sighed. She was starving, but she wasn't sure if she wanted to face Danny after pulling away from him earlier. She heard his deep voice ask again, "Do you want any of the pizza?"
She gripped the edge of the tub as she answered, "Yes, I'm starved. I'll be out in a few minutes."
Grabbing a bottle of Freesia bath gel Cassie had left by the tub, Michelle began to scrub remnants of the salt and sand from her body. She reached for the pitcher sitting on the floor by the tub and filled it with water so she could wash her hair. Once she had rinsed all the soap from her hair, Michelle got out of the tub and reached for one of the clean towel that were neatly folded and laying on the brass shelves by the tub. She quickly dried off and pulled on the clothes she had gathered. Michelle walked over to the sink and opened the medicine cabinet. She rummaged around and found a comb. Michelle ran it through her wet curls as she tried to gather up the courage to face Danny. She pulled her hair into a ponytail and walked over to the door. Swallowing hard, Michelle switched the light off before opening the door. She paused in the bedroom and gave her eyes a few moments to adjust to the darkness. Once she could make out the dark shadows of the furnishings, Michelle cautiously headed out the door and down the stairs wondering what would happen as she faced Danny again.
The aroma of the pizza made her mouth water as Michelle reached the bottom of the stairs. She could make the outline of the sofa out thanks to the moonlight coming through the window. Michelle walked to it and ran her hand along the edge as she found her way to the kitchen. "Danny," she cautiously called out.
"Over here," he replied from the table.
The table sat by a large bay window. Michelle could clearly see Danny's face thanks to the light from the full moon. She walked over to the table and sat down unable to look Danny in the eye. They sat in an awkward silence for several minutes each waiting for the other to speak. Finally the oven timer buzzed and Danny got up to pull the pizza out of the oven. He sat it on the table as he asked, "Where should I look for a something to cut the pizza with?"
Relived that the silence was broken, Michelle rose and began to open drawers. "Here's the pizza cutter," she said as she walked over to the table, grabbed the oven mitt and held the edge of the pan as she began to cut.
"Danny, about what happened earlier..."
He broke in, "Michelle, I owe you an apology. After everything that's happened today, I shouldn't have..."
Michelle stopped him by pushing a piece of pizza in his mouth.
"Let's just forget it, we were both a little out of it after everything that happened this afternoon," Michelle said as she hoped to get past the awkwardness between them. "It looks like we're going to be stuck here together for a while. I just want to forget what happened earlier. We do need to lay some ground rules while we're here."
"What exactly do you have in mind?" Danny asked.
Michelle picked up a piece of pizza and took a bite before thoughtfully replying, "Danny, considering everything that happened at the beach, I just don't see how anything could ever work between us. Our lives are just too different."
"Michelle, how can you know unless you give us a try?"
Michelle bit her lip and gathered her thoughts before answering. Before getting out of the tub, she had decided to let her head rule rather than her heart. "Danny, I just can't handle the secrets and the danger that is a part of you're life. Nothing else is going to happen between us, have I made myself clear?" she firmly asked.
"Crystal," he replied. "One more thing Michelle."
"What's that?"
"I want one last kiss," Danny answered as he stood and pulled her from her seat and into his arms.
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Frank stood on the beach surveying the investigation scene. Detective Levy had already called in the gun serial number and found out it was registered to Danny. The entire Springfield PD was on the lookout for Danny. Frank knew he needed to find something to throw the hunt onto Mick, or the manhunt would likely take a deadly turn since a cop was dead. The Medical Examiner signaled that he had finished taking pictures of David's body, so Frank went over and kneeled by his friend's lifeless form. He slipped on a fresh pair of latex gloves and reached into David's jacket pocket hoping to find his notebook. Frank closed his eyes and prayed that Mick's name would be in David's notes when he felt the object inside David's left pocket. Frank carefully pulled it out and began flipping through the pages. The notepad was fairly new and David only had notes in it from the investigations they had worked on over the past 48 hours. The notes from their overnight surveillance of the Santos Estate mentioned Mick's comings and goings. Frank continued to flip pages. "Paydirt!" Frank exclaimed to himself as he read David's last note detailing the fact that he was tailing Mick Santos. The time written in beside his entry was about a half-hour before Danny had called Frank. "Levy, get over here!"
"What is it, Frank?" Levy asked.
"Read this last entry in David's notebook." Frank watched as Levy read. "I think we need to change the focus of our manhunt to Mick Santos."
Levy nodded as Frank pulled out his cell phone and called into the station.
After supervising the final details of the crime scene clean up, Frank headed towards his car. He didn't notice the dark figure lurking behind the dumpster in the beach parking lot. Frank reached in his car and pulled out his personal cell phone to call Danny. "Come on Danny, answer the phone," he muttered to himself.
Mick's eyes got wide. "So Danny's the one who put the cops on my tail. Little brother, you'll regret that move," he whispered to himself.
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Michelle opened her mouth under Danny's probing tongue. Resisting the attraction she had for him was going to be a lot harder than she originally believed Michelle thought to herself as she felt Danny's right hand slide up her back beneath her shirt. She felt her knees getting weak as Danny pulled her body tighter against his. She could feel his arousal pressing against her body as she wrapped her own arms around his neck, her fingers running through the curls at the base of his neck. The shrill ringing of Danny's cell phone interrupted the moment.
"Damn phone," Danny muttered as he broke away from their kiss. He stood there for a moment with his arms still wrapped around Michelle. He momentarily considered ignoring the phone as he looked into her eyes, glazed over with desire. Knowing it was Frank and the danger they were both in; Danny released Michelle and reached for the phone on the table.
"Have you found him?" Danny said into the phone as soon as he flipped it open.
"No sign of him anywhere yet. There's an APB out for him. Thanks to David's meticulous note taking, the entire force knows that Mick was the person David was tailing before his death. That seems to have taken the focus off of searching for you, but there's still and APB out for you. Make sure you both stay out of sight."
"That's not a problem. We do have another problem," Danny said into the phone.
"What?" Frank asked.
"There's not a lot of food around here. Michelle and I are eating a frozen pizza I found right now. There's only enough to last us a day, two at the most," Danny explained.
"I not sure when I'll be able to get away, but I'll see what I can do about bringing you some groceries tomorrow. I'll call before I come," Frank remarked before hanging up.
Michelle sank down into the kitchen chair and rested her elbows on the table as she watched Danny pace during his conversation with Frank. She wasn't sure what she was going to do. When she overheard Danny ask for groceries, she knew that they would be trapped at the farm for a while. She rose and walked towards the refrigerator to look for a cold drink. "Maybe this will cool me off," she mumbled to herself as she reached for a soda.
Danny flipped his phone closed and turned to face Michelle. "Michelle," he said.
Michelle turned to face him. He could see a determined glare across her face as the moonlight reflected off of her body.