The Art of Denial,
Chapter Two
She woke with a start, heart pounding in her ears, breath caught in her throat. She forced herself to take one deep breath, then another, then another still, all in an effort to shake off the remains of the nightmare that had held her in its grip.
Even though darkness blanketed the room, she was able to make out the outline of her dresser against the far wall, the fuzzy bathrobe hanging on the doorknob of her closet, and the barely-ever-used dog bed by the door. The familiar sights served as a reminder that she was safely back home, that she had indeed escaped from that hellhole down in Mexico.
She felt Jimmy stir next to her, mumbling something unintelligible into her hair as he pulled her closer, further proof that that she was back where she belonged.
She relaxed into his embrace, feeling the last tendrils of nightmare-induced anxiety slowly melt away. She was drifting back to sleep when the sound of a ringing cell phone brought her back to full wakefulness.
She reached for her nightstand out of habit, only to remember that her cell phone was... Well, she wasn't exactly sure where her cell phone was - her first guess would be in her wrecked truck, which was probably sitting in the federal impound lot right about now - but she was pretty damn sure it wasn't anywhere near her nightstand.
Which left her partner's phone, which she figured had to be with the clothes he'd discarded before climbing into bed a few hours ago. She briefly considered letting the call go to voice mail, but she just couldn't do it in the end; U.S. Marshals didn't have the luxury of screening, not when every call could mean the difference between life and death...
Cursing softly at whoever was on the other end of the line, she carefully extricated herself from her still-sleeping partner's embrace and slipped out of bed, tracking the source of the ringing to the living room. Finding his jacket draped over the back of the couch, she quickly went through the pockets, intent on silencing the blasted thing before the incessant ringing woke him up.
She stifled a cry of victory as her hand came upon the offending device, yanking it out none-too-gently in her haste to stop the ringing. The less-than-careful removal of the phone caused something to fly out of the pocket, landing on the floor with a metallic clank before rolling under the couch. Cursing not-to-softly this time, she bent down to retrieve the item as she flipped the phone over to check out the caller ID.
She cursed again - this really was becoming a bad habit - as she saw Nathalie's picture and number on the phone's display. She'd known she'd have to deal with the other woman at some point, but she'd hoped that her and Jimmy would have been able to talk by then.
She was just about to hit the call button when she realized exactly what it was that had fallen out of his pocket.
A ring.
A gold engagement ring, to be exact.
The same gold engagement ring Nathalie was going to propose to her partner with.
Don't, the little voice in her head warned.
She could only think of one reason why he'd have the ring with him.
Don't, the voice begged frantically now. Don't say it, don't even think it, just... don't...
Nathalie had asked him to marry her, and he'd said yes.
It was over.
She'd lost.
She'd lost him.
As she kept staring at the ring in her hand, oblivious to the tears blurring her vision, Annie Frost did something purely selfish for the first time in her life. She hit the ignore button, sending the call the voice mail, and put the phone on vibrate before returning both items to the pocket where she'd found them.
Feeling numb, she made her way back to the bedroom, hesitating only briefly before slipping back into bed.
And back into her partner's embrace.
Every instinct she possessed screamed at her that this was wrong, that while last night could be forgiven because she hadn't known - not really, not for sure - she had no such excuse now.
Ruthlessly silencing the little voice that kept insisting she needed to stop this now, she closed her eyes and waited for sleep to claim her once more...