The Silent Observer

Lorena is followed by twitching lights and a police officer while walking quickly toward the heavy steel door, separating the spaces between freedom and destruction. As soon as they let her through, her eyes find the target instantly. She simply can't suppress an evil smile. Joe's back is facing her, not tall, not straight, not overflowed with vanity. It's like he's not even himself anymore.

The woman is approaching him slowly until she finally stands in front of the ruined perfection of Joe MacMillan. He doesn't even need to look up. He already heard the heels. First hasty, then slow and scornful. He would clench his fists if he could, but it's impossible right now. He's got barely enough energy to blink or breath. His mouth already tastes metallic with blood, but Lorena knows exactly how to worsen the taste.

"Well, well, well. So you're a human after all." She is fully without remorse. Not with their latest encounter, not with Joe questioning her ability to control.

"Where's Bosworth?" He's refusing to look at her face.

"Forget about him, I'm your savior on duty tonight. Officer, please unchain the wounded lion so I can take him back to the circus." She's prone to provocation and that never seems to stop working on Joe. He raises his chin frowningly. The point goes to Lorena, again.

It takes a couple breaths to restrain herself from the natural instinct, holding back from stroking the wounded face, tracing the bloody lips, swollen by heavy fists. In her mind, she has already stripped him naked, started her task to discover all of the bruises on his body. She'd bite it or grip it roughly whenever one would be found, asking him if that hurts. And when he'd moan with both pain and pleasure, she'd grab his swollen lips with her teeth and taste the sweetness of his blood.

The uniformed man uncuffs Joe and invites the lawyer a couple steps away to get done with the paperwork for his officer gives her a pen, pointing directly to the place where her name should go, bothering her deeply.

"I might want to know what I'm about to agree on if you don't mind. If I agree, I'll sign. Where did you put your finger? Oh, right here? I think I'll be able to relocate it. Until that, if you could just give me a minute."

She's more than curious about the story behind Joe's arrest. While reading the documents she's standing from one foot to the other, at one point she just laughs out hysterically. Leaving the offered pen on the counter, she fishes for her own one, signing her name on the dotted line before sliding the papers back to the other side of the desk along with a card. "I highly recommend you to contact Mr. MacMillan's lawyer first. Preferably with an excuse offer. Otherwise, there will be problems."

Lorena walks back to Joe, casually sitting down next to him. The waves of irritation coming from him make her skin prickle. She's hoping for him to feel the same way.

"So how do you want this scene to be played? I mean, I could hold your hand and be by your side with tears in my eyes until we reach the exit on the other end of this corridor. Or I could just walk three steps ahead of you with a genuine smile on my face. Which one would you prefer, Joe?"

"Fuck you." The only acceptable way to react to her insult is to insult her back. Weak and trivial but who could blame him? Joe is clearly not in his best form, still he won't let the woman eat him alive only because he got dragged out of his own car, got beaten by two morons in uniforms before he got handcuffed to a bench for what, maybe two hours before they let him use the phone. Not to mention he called Bosworth to come and get him out. And what did he get? He got Lorena.

The woman is on top of the world once again. Last time she was so close to giving up and giving in. The way she almost begged. That scent that has gently fought itself into his mind the minute she stepped into Cardiff, the same scent that made him inhale her skin while she was bending over his table, hot with desire, radiating nothing but pure lust.

"Okay, okay. Don't take it to your heart. Maybe take it to your ego. But not to your heart if you happen to own one. I know there was bad blood between us but this time, I'll be nice to you. So here's the deal: I'm just going to sit right here and let you stroll out that door with the most confident walk you can carry out within these unfortunate circumstances. And only then will I follow you outside."

She drives him home in silence. There's no need to push the limits any further. The enemy has perished. Once she stops the car in front of Joe's building, he buries his face in his huge palms. He's anything but ready for his walk of shame. His ego is screaming inside of his chest.

"You look like shit."

"I feel like shit."

The rain is pouring heavily, making Lorena arrive fifteen minutes late. The storm is bigger than she expected, but the fact that she actually made it alive to Cameron's place brings her a slight relief. Only a slight one, since the reason behind this get-together, is lost in a blur. She parks her car behind Joe's Porsche, even though he forgot to mention he'll be here as well.

Lorena saved herself a headache this one time when she agreed to show up at the programmer's crib without excrescent arguments with Joe or lengthy lectures about how exactly knocking works and went back to work instead. She left him believing that he was rarely persuasive.

The woman takes a deep breath before getting out of her car. Not only out of annoyance but also because it smells simply wonderful outside. The only thing that makes her dislike for the unbearable weather lessen a bit is the scent. Fresh and balsamy, tickles her senses like a playful stroke. She walks toward the front door with long steps. Not properly dressed for a storm, she's still managing to avoid every single puddle with her pumps barely touching the ground. Her flaming red pencil skirt makes her visible even in the grayest, nastiest weather, the black blouse tightly hugging her figure.

She knocks on the door. Just like Joe should, whenever he rips the door open to her office instead. No answer. She looks at the bottle of wine she's holding in her left, knocking again.

"Open the door! I need a drink!" She's waiting. Exactly what she hates the most. Giving a last chance to get inside, her hand stops midway in the air as the entrance finally gets unlocked, Joe's appearing behind it. His shirt is on the way to be completely unbuttoned, his hair is bed perfect, his shoes are gone.

"You might want to thank me for being late, Joe." The sarcastic little smile plays on her lips, the one she spares exclusively for the same person every time.

"You might want to come in and get a drink." He steps away to let Lorena inside.

The house looks nicer than she would assume. It's light and spacious while it's rather hard to decide if someone is in the middle of moving in or moving out, according to the million boxes everywhere. There's no sight of Cameron, but it's not too hard figuring out where she might be.

"I hope I didn't kill the party. The sooner you spit out what you want, the sooner I can leave."

"You've just brought the party." His bruises are almost gone. On the outside, at least.

"This is wonderful. If you show me the kitchen and I can fetch myself some wine, I'll probably give you ten more minutes before I walk out of the same door you just let me in." Joe's face tells all about how impressed he is, smiling without saying a word, completely aware of how annoyed Lorena will be by his actions.

The weather makes her anxious, the humidity makes her feel dizzy. She marches into the kitchen, wondering about what could possibly indicate her stupid decision to replace New York with a city that perfectly mimics the conditions of Hell. She should have been a lot more suspicious.

In the cabinets, she finds nothing but Cameron's lack of need to make a home, which means there isn't a trace of wineglasses. Or any kind of glasses, really. Except for a green colored mug in the sink with a weird picture of some ridiculous haired punk band stained with some leftover coffee on the bottom. She's absolutely not about to drink that wonderful, golden wine from its bottle. Never did, never will. The sky rumbles like it's about to fall into tiny little pieces before it lights up in purple and yellow. Lorena rolls her eyes as she's stepping closer to the sink for that horrible mug. She's whispering to herself. „Desperate needs call for desperate actions."

Joe is more than ready for Lorena to join their company. He worked really hard to make it happen, manipulating Cameron into it as hard as he could. He needed her help. More than ever before. Fortunately for him, she also needed something. Not only to be touched by Joe but lately she was obsessed with a new feature in their computer that seemed absolutely worthless, expensive, not to mention that the whole designer team was against it. Fortuna liked him once again. He promised the new feature to be accepted but even after that, she wasn't easy to convince. Eventually, he did it anyways.

Lorena finds them in the bedroom. She's only moderately surprised. Cameron is sitting on the bed with her back facing the door, barely wearing anything but Joe's shirt. The man's standing right next to her, bending down to her neck, kissing it lightly. The lawyer takes a step back, lifting her eyebrows. Joe takes notice of her presence and as a reaction, he wraps Cameron's small frame into his arms, towering above her with his dominant height before throwing a cold-blooded look at the lawyer. A look right into her eyes then slowly turning his head toward the chair in front of the bed, signaling where he wants her to be.

This is the first time the man manages to catch Lorena by surprise. It really is a show exclusively for her. She is seriously considering to leave right now. But how could he possibly think that she can be scared away just like this. Whatever is happening, it is ridiculous. She walks up to the chair behind Cameron's back, sitting down on it, taking up her usual position. Crossing her legs, she takes a sip of the wine before putting it down next to her, giving Joe a questioning look.

Cameron sells him out in the first minute. She's ready for aggressive kisses and up against the wall, rough sex but instead, she's getting something completely different. Her confusion disappears within the third feathery light kiss Joe places on her bare breasts, and by the time he easily caresses his way down to her most aching parts, a single touch by the tip of his finger is enough to make her moan loudly. The air smells sweet with desire and bitter with revenge. All at the same time.

The lawyer is sitting perfectly still in her place. What's unfolding in front of her eyes could be true but just as much could be the lovechild of her imagination and the disturbing sensation of the weather. Cameron arches her back, the moan gets drowned into the loud roaring of the sky. She grabs Joe by the arms but she's powerless. His tongue is still alternating slow up and down moves with circles between her legs. When the first wave of her orgasm tries to break in, he revokes entirely, not letting her reach the point right away. He frees himself from the remaining clothes, dropping everything to the floor while Cameron gets onto the verge of crying. Even if there would be words to express how badly she wants to feel him inside of her, she's already forgotten how to speak. Joe kneels between her thighs, positioning himself, still refusing to go inside. The moment he starts teasing her with painfully slow moves, he's locking eyes with Lorena. The wine instantly turns into lava in her stomach. Whatever outcome he is hoping to get from her, she's definitely not willing to give him. He can't be stupid enough to think she might join in. The simple thought is below her. She's smiling when she figures him out. Without breaking eye-contact, he slides inside the girl like a dream. She opens her mouth but bites on it instead, not being able to make a sound by the surprise.

Lorena won't let her breathing look anything but normal. Can not let it happen, even if the adrenaline in her blood rushes through her body so hastily, she can barely hear anything but the beating of her own heart. And that's already way too fast. Joe can't be fooled. They're communicating without words, their stare is getting so intense, it could catch on fire at any moment.

She can hear him inside of her head. "Touch!"

The woman bites her lower lip instead. Her thoughts exactly. This is how they sound in the voice of Joe. He's wandering inside of her mind. "Touch it!"

Her very own thoughts. "Touch yourself!"

To say she's dripping wet would be a serious understatement. She's blazing and she's about to explode by nothing but being eye fucked by him. This time, he might be the winner of their wicked little game.

Joe repositions Cameron so that she's laying on her stomach, her knees pulled up under her. Sweat sparkling on her whole body. He enters her again, making her grab the sheets so hard, her muscles clench. She screams with pleasure before starting to whisper his name like a sacred mantra, over and over again. Still keeping their eye-contact, Lorena vaguely shakes her head, signaling rather for herself other than to Joe. She has lost control over her breathing, practically panting now, gripping the armrest with both hands.

"Touch yourself and show me how much you wish you'd be under me right now!" Her mind has been taken over by his voice.

Joe's huge body moves faster and faster with every thrust, his glance tells her he's very close to reach the climax. Cameron begs him never to stop. Lorena leans forward in her seat, still grabbing whatever solid thing she can reach on the chair, her lips slightly parted, red and swollen with excitement.

He barely looks away from her the moment he's finally releasing himself. His whole body tenses up, muscles outlined, glowing with sweat. Phenomenal view. Lorena drops herself back in her seat, pressing against the chair with eyes closed. She can hear Cameron's raging orgasm.

Joe lays down on his back next to the girl, gasping for air. He's gigantic compared to her small body. Lorena needs to give herself a minute. She has to calm down and find a way to relax her tensed up muscles. She steps toward the bed and sits near the man's head. Again with the urge to touch him somewhere, stroke the sweaty hair out of his face, burn his skin with her palms. Her fingertips reaching for his lips, hearing his voice again in her head. "Touch!" The lawyer stops the movement so close, he can feel the heat radiating from her hand. He moans with anticipation.

"Desperate needs call for desperate actions." She whispers.

When Lorena closes the front door behind herself, the rain is nowhere to be found. It's only storming inside of her.