Previously:
Suddenly a car pulls up in front of me. The door swings open. "Get in, Damon. Hurry."
"Elena?"
"Damon, get in! They're right behind you," she yells.
Elena speeds away after I jump in the passenger seat. "How did you know where to find me?"
"I bought a police scanner just in case anything would come across about you. After we get out of here, we need to talk. I'll tell you everything, I promise," she says, her voice sounding sincere.
I turn to look out the rear window, "they're still behind us, Elena. If you can't shake them, it's back to prison, I go." I tell her anxiously.
"Buckle your seatbelt," she utters, then makes a sharp left turn, barely avoiding a collision with another vehicle. Then she makes a sharp right then a sharp left down an alley before flying out onto the street, narrowly missing another car.
"I think you lost them," I say, letting out a breath of air.
"I'm going to go back to our place, okay?"
I nod my acceptance while continuing to stare out the front window, my thoughts heavy with what I've learned today.
Marshal Saltzman"
"Gather round, let's start putting pieces together," I tell my crew while motioning for them to take seat.
"If you were Damon Salvatore.. Why would you risk everything to come back to the city? Why hunt for this one-armed man that you think killed your wife, find a clue, call us and then leave without confronting Jordan?" Bonnie wonders aloud.
"To throw us off the trail?" Jeremy says.
"Unless... What if you were a well respected surgeon and wanted to kill your wife? How would you do it?" Matt asks hypothetically.
Turning his eyes to Matt, Jeremy responds, "hire a pro. Set it up to make it look like a botched robbery maybe?"
I turn to my team, "How would you go about finding this pro? It's not like there's a 'killer for hire' section in the yellow pages. Where would he look?"
Bonnie bites her lower lip for a moment before weighing in, "Through a connection? Maybe through someone you know, someone you did business with, like a Medical device or a pharmaceutical company, someone in security?"
"On the night of his wife's murder, Salvatore and his wife attended a hospital benefit that his wife helped organize. It was sponsored by Biometric, Jordan's company," I add.
"But Jordan claims he was out of town at that time. Company records support his claim," Matt informs us.
Dropping his head for a moment before looking up, Jeremy replies, "That would be easy to fabricate. Let's imagine he was in town, did the job, everything goes as planned except for one problem..."
"Instead of looking like a robbery gone bad, Salvatore ends up being the one accused, tried and convicted..." I respond calmly.
"and the hit man gets away scot free." Bonnie adds.
Matt scans the table with his eyes. "Salvatore returns to hunt for and find the hit man."
"Why? To share the blame? He'd still get prison." Jeremy chimes in.
I stand up and walk around the table for a moment to think. "You're underestimating Salvatore. It would be his word against Jordan. Who would you believe?"
"So what's Salvatore's next move?" Matt wonders.
"Get help," Bonnie suggests.
I get up and walk over to the white board in our office where we have all the key information tacked on it. I point to a photo of Dr. Lang.
"Get Zach in here. See if he can check phone records for Salvatore and Jordan." I say before pointing to another photo. The one of Jordan and the unknown man that I pocketed at Jordan's apartment. "Find out who this guy is."
Damon:
Finally we arrive at the place Elena and I had been sharing. "Thanks for saving my neck, Elena. I'll be on my way."
"No! You're going to hear what I have to say. I know it sounded bad but I promise you that I didn't betray you," she pleads.
"Fine, Elena. Why don't you explain what I don't suspect a thing about...?" I say with more than a hint of sarcasm in my voice.
"I told you from the get go that I'm a reporter. I told you I grew up near the town where we met. I didn't lie when I said I was in town for the corn festival, but then you just fell into my lap as it were," she says empathically as she wrings her hands together.
"Your case made headlines in all the newspapers, Damon. I followed the trial. You were so unyielding when you talked about your innocence. At first, I did think you were guilty," she says as she begins pacing the floor.
"Then I met you. It was your eyes that convinced me. You can't hide anything in them Damon. They're so expressive, they give you away. I truly believe you didn't kill Katherine. When you overheard me talking to Liz, I was just giving her the run down of what I've been doing and letting her know that I'm okay." Elena stutters, her voice hitching as her eyes plead with me to believe her.
"She's my childhood best friend's mother. She worries about me. Please believe me, Damon. I wasn't lying when I told you I felt the sparks too. I think I'm starting to fall in love with you. I've never felt like this before. Not for anyone."
Raising my eyes to hers, I whisper, "Why didn't you just tell me, rather than going behind my back? The sting of betrayal is painful, Elena. It felt so visceral almost like my insides had been ripped out."
Elena collapses on the bed beside me, cradles my face with her palms then pulls me in for a kiss.
When I pull back she whispers, "I'm so sorry. Please forgive me?"
I drop my eyes for a moment before turning to face her again. Then I pull her onto my lap and press my lips to hers, trying to convey everything I feel for her in this kiss.
One things leads to the next and before long we're in bed, both naked as the day we were born. Using my mouth and tongue, I play her like a Stradivarius. In mere moments, she squirming and writhing and fisting the sheets.
"Please, Damon," she moans.
I tickle her 'there' a little more with my tongue and stroke her front wall with my finger. Seconds later, I feel her insides tighten and quiver just as she arcs her back off the mattress. I stroke her through it before kissing my way up her body. I take her nipples into my mouth, one then the other, before releasing one with a plopping sound before slamming my lips to hers in a blistering kiss.
I pull back to look at her, "You okay?"
"More than okay," she says before flipping us over and straddling me. Slowly she lowers herself down taking me inside. The feeling of her sheathing my length is like no other. Anchoring her palms flush against my chest, she starts raising herself up and down. I grab onto her hips to pull her down harder when she throws her head back and begins quivering all over again, I thrust into her two more times before crashing headfirst into Nirvana right along with her.
"Wow, Elena, that.. that.. nothing compares," I whisper before dropping a kiss to her forehead where she's laying beautifully sated on my chest. With a yawn, she rolls off of me. Then she repositions herself a little before snuggling in and wrapping an arm across my chest before closing her eyes.
Thanks to Eva for all your help with this. Thanks to all of you for reviewing. They really spur the notion to keep writing. So thanks all of you who do take a moment to say a few words. Hope you all have a wonderful day. I just got home from work so I'm going to go night, night now. Until next time...
