I REALLY LIKE REVIEWS!
Chapter Two
They had met in an online chatroom five years prior. Artemis had just settled back into his home after his visit to limbo and was simply surfing chatrooms to find someone interesting to cruch in a debate. Elizabeth's username caught his eye: smartassbitch. He didn't know why it had, but he had seen nothing else, so he entered her chess game and watched her beat the snot out of some kid from Japan. Artemis was surprised that, when he played her, he lost as well. He had never lost a chess game. Ever. Immediately, that peaked his interest. So, he found her profile, learned her name, then offered to meet her for lunch.
It was only semi-annoying to have to fly to nowhere in the middle of the United States to do it, but it had paid off. Elizabeth Chilton became his partner in crime, and whenever he was bored or wanted to make some more money, he would give her a call, send her a plane ticket, and she would be there to help him.
Elizabeth hadn't been very forthcoming with information about her personally, but it hadn't mattered. She was good at her part of the jobs, breaking security codes, gathering information, and retrieving the objects. And for that, she got a cut of whatever money Artemis had been paid that one. It became aparent that she lived paycheck to paycheck, and he couldn't figure out why. A smart person, like her or himself, would save that money until it built into a substantial fortune. After one mission, he asked her.
They had been at Fowl Manor, after a large heist. She had been half asleep on the couch in the sitting room. Mrs. Fowl would have a fit if she saw the smudged, thin, "white trash" girl sitting on her couch. But his parents had been in the Alps in a skiing trip.
"Elizabeth, why do you always blow the money you make?" he asked, staring at her from the arm chair near by.
She yawned. "I don't." She sounded indignant. And inebriated.
Artemis glanced to the liquor cabinet. When he had commented to her about getting herself to drink, he wasn't thinking about that certain type.
"Then why, my dear, are you always looking like you're half-starved? And that your clothes were found at the bottom of a charity bin?" he didn't mean to insult her, it was merely the truth.
"Because I am and they were. Do you have a problem with that?"
"I pay you enough to live well, so yes. Why don't you spend it wisely?"
Clearly she thought she was asleep or this amount of information never would have been indulged. "I use it on medical bills," she said with a slight frown. "Fucking leeches, those are."
Artemis ignored the crude language. "Medical bills, for what?"
"My mom, and sister, and me. We all have medical bills."
"No, what disease?"
"We all have or have had ovarian cancer."
"Oh?" he was shocked that she would even admit it. But when he saw the brandy snifter next to her on the table, he realized why.
She suddenly cracked one eye open and looked at him. Even looking the way she did, Elizabeth was truly a beautiful girl, full of curves and mischief.
"You're a grade A hottie, you know that don't you?" she suddenly asked.
He started to do something very un-Fowl-like; he started to stutter. "Uh..what? No. Why?"
"Because you don't act like you do," she explained as she sat up. He looked up at her as she walked over to him. Artemis knew Butler had retired for the night.
"What are you doing, Elizabeth?"
She smiled before sliding into his lap coyly. She weighed very little.
"I think I'm going to kiss you, Mr. Fowl. Is that all right."
He tried to laugh this off. "Miss Chilton, you're drunk. I don't want to take advantage of you."
"I think it's the other way around, Artemis."
She kissed him then, gently and sweet. Then she pulled away. Artemis saw those green eyes hazy. For him. He had a bit of experience with girls, a few one night stands and such a year or so ago. But this was different. Or, at least, he thought it would be.
Not thinking any more about it, just how much he wanted to kiss her again, he cupped her face and pulled her back down to him, kissing her fully, and it soon became anything but sweet. It became full on snogging, complete with groping hands and appreciative moans.
It took five minutes to get to his bedroom.
Four minutes for them to undress.
A couple seconds to find some protection.
He knew he should have stopped, but he hadn't. He had continued, and she had encouraged him. It had been her first time, and he knew that he had caused her pain. But soon they were softly calling each other's name.
He went to sleep wrapped around her and with his name on her lips.
"Elizabeth."
The next morning, he had been alone in bed, and she was nowhere to be seen. About ten hours later he got a email saying that she made it home all right and to contact her for the next mission.
The few times he had talked to her, she never mentioned that they had slept together. She didn't seem to want to, so he hadn't touched it. But he still secretly wished that she would look at him again with that thin haze in her eyes and that sexy smile.
