So i give half credit of this to ScarlettKate1013...we devised this through a text chat when i was bored at work. plus she wrote part of it Thumbsup
Bo was pulled away from his thoughts by his cell phone vibrating loudly on the table, the sound magnified tenfold by the silence in the cabin and the surrounding mountain air. He walked over and picked up the phone looking at the Caller ID before answering.
"Hello?" He said in a low voice. He hoped that Carly could hear his voice when he talked to her but at the same time he didn't think she needed to hear him talking about certain problems.
"Bo. How are you?" The man's voice was calm but deep. It fit the man on the other end of the line.
"I'm fine, Mickey. How are you?"
"I'm OK. I wish this was a social call but it isn't."
"What's up?"
"I've received the final papers for your divorce. I just need to get both your and Hope's signatures so I can file them."
"Oh…OK. I have to have a witness when I sign them don't I?"
"Yes. I thought in order to expedite things that you and Hope and I could meet and we would sign the papers together."
"I'm out of town right now Mickey."
"I know. I was just wondering when you would be back so that we can get this done. That is if you still want this divorce."
"Yes, I still want the divorce." Bo said without hesitation.
"You sound pretty sure about that."
"I am very sure, Mickey. I won't be talked out of this. My marriage to Hope has been over for a very long time. Now it's just time to make it official."
"So when can I expect you to come and sign the papers?"
"I can't get back to town right now…"
"Where are you?"
"That isn't important. I just can't get back to Salem for the time being. Tell you what, give the papers to Roman and he can bring them to me to sign and he can witness it."
"OK. I'll give Roman a call. Take care of yourself Bo."
"I will Mickey, thanks for calling. And give Mrs. H my love."
"Will do. Goodbye."
"Bye."
Bo closed the phone, ending the call, and turned around and looked at Carly. It had been two weeks and she was still unconscious. Marcus called every day to check on her but there had been no change since the team of elite ISA operatives had taken her from Lawrence's compound. Marcus had told Bo that the more time that passed the less likely it was that Carly would wake up. Bo walked over to the chair he had sitting next to the bed and sat down, reaching out to take her hand. He knew she would wake up, it was just a matter of time.
He knew that she was in there some where, he could feel her in his heart. What worried him most was what she would tell him when she did wake up. Would she be able to talk about her life with Lawrence and the things he did to her? He looked down at that same beautiful face that he remembered from so many years ago. That was the face he had seen in his dreams since the first time he had seen her. She looked like she was sleeping. He watched as her closed eyelids fluttered as thought she were dreaming and wondered to himself what was going through her mind at that moment.
Carly was standing in the doorway watching the scene unfold. She was sitting in a small café with the man she had been seeing for a year. Carly knew what was happening even though you couldn't hear what was being said. This was when she had left Lawrence. She had found out that the man she thought she knew and loved wasn't what he claimed. He was not who or what he had pretended to be. She had found out that he had been lying to her from the moment they met in order to get her to marry him. He only wanted the money she would inherit.
They were whispering angrily. She had her dark hair pulled back in a barrette and was wearing an off the shoulder blouse with a black background and large flowers on it. Back then she was still Katerina. Carly watched from the door as a man walked into the café and sat down a couple of tables away from her and Lawrence. He had beautiful dark brown eyes and long dark hair pulled back into a ponytail at nape of his neck. He was wearing a blue and white stripped long sleeved shirt and Jeans. Even back then Bo was handsome.
Just then movement from the other table turned Carly's attention away from Bo. Lawrence had just stood up and grabbed her younger self still sitting there. Carly remembered that moment very clearly. She had just told Lawrence she was leaving him. Bo jumped up from his table and intervened on her behalf. She watched as Lawrence let go of her 17 year old self and took a swing at Bo. The two men started to fight and Carly saw her younger self inching towards the café door all the while not being able to take her eyes off the two men fighting.
At that moment Lawrence notice the young woman was near the door and lunged at her to try and stop her from leaving, but was pulled back by Bo, the stranger who had saved her from the man she was to marry. Carly watched the seventeen year old girl she used to be dart out the door and down the ally way next to the café and followed her. For some reason after leaving the café, she had never been able to remember anything else of that night, only waking up the next morning on a small plane headed for France with no clue as to how she had gotten there.
Carly followed her younger self for just a moment when she saw the girl hide behind a large box truck parked between the café and a small bookstore. The girl hid and waited, watching the café door. After a few minutes the handsome stranger walked out of the café and looked around. It was almost as if he sensed her there.
"Psst…" the girl whispered to him.
He looked over and saw her head poke out from behind the box truck and she waved him over. He walked over and behind the box truck with her. He looked at her intently.
"You OK?" He asked her.
"I'm fine. Thank you for helping me, but you need to get out of here fast."
"That guy isn't getting up anytime soon and he won't be pushing you around anymore."
The girl shook her head. "You don't understand. He's very rich and very powerful. His family runs this country and now you are going to be in trouble for helping me."
Bo saw the young girl's bright emerald eyes fill with tears at the thought of him being hurt because he had helped her. He smiled gently, reached up and used his thumb to softly wipe away a single tear that had escaped and fallen down her cheek. The moment his hand brushed against her cheek present day Carly felt a jolt as though electricity had shot through her body and saw her younger self shiver slightly.
"We should get you some place safe." Bo said to the young woman.
"You don't have to worry about me. The border is only a couple of kilometers away. I'll be out of the country and away from him for good."
"You aren't walking alone. It isn't safe."
"Thank you for your concern, but really I'll be OK. You should go back to your hotel or where ever it is you are staying and get out of the country before you have a warrant out for your arrest."
"I'm walking with you." Bo said firmly offering her his arm.
"OK but then promise me you will find a way out of the country."
"I promise."
Carly followed them as they walked a few kilometers to the border slipping through during the darkest hours of the night, undetected by the border patrol, who had received copies of her picture and were told to prevent her from leaving. They found a small hotel a couple of kilometers past the border. Bo went in and checked the girl in under a false name. He escorted her up to her room and was about to leave when she spoke.
"Please, don't leave yet. Stay for a drink. It's the very least I can do to say thank you and it's a long walk back."
He turned to look at the young woman. Carly looked on as Bo walked into the room to accept a drink from the girl, shutting the door behind him.
Bo lifted the glass towards her younger self as Carly watched, mesmerized by the unfolding scene. She had absolutely no memory of this night beyond fleeing from the café and Lawrence. In fact, it was only after having spent some time with Bo in Salem that she connected him to her nameless savior.
What on earth is going on? She thought to herself.
Pay attention. You need to see this. Carly blinked in surprise as the orders pierced her already muddled brain. The words were not her own, and her head whipped around quickly, searching for their source. The empty hallway yawned before her lined with only closed doors.
The sound of Bo's laughter drew her attention back to the hotel room, and Carly saw Bo, still laughing at something she – Katerina – had said. Katerina poured another serving of the green liquid and Carly gasped in recognition.
"Absinthe," Carly muttered in sync with Katerina who was answering Bo's question of what they were drinking.
"I thought that stuff was banned," Bo eyed her skeptically.
Katerina gave him a mischievous grin. "It wasn't banned everywhere. This particular bottle came from a small town in Spain." She knocked backed another shot while the man across from her looked on in an odd mixture of shock and respect.
She filled her glass once more while he emptied his. "So what brings you here, vacation? Work?"
Bo took the bottle from her and poured the next round. "Neither, exactly. I'm kind of taking a world tour, you might say. What about you? What was all that about tonight? How'd a pretty, little thing like you get caught up with that asshole?"
Katerina shook her head, indicating she didn't really want to talk about it, but even as her mind protested, her mouth decided to take control. "His name is Lawrence Alamain, and he is – was – my fiance."
"He's older than you," Bo observed.
"So are you," Katerina shot back. Her emerald eyes strayed carelessly to his mouth, and she grew warm.
Bo cleared his throat. "Still, you're awfully young to be engaged."
Katerina snorted in a very un-ladylike manner, much to the amusement of her companion. "Tell that to my parents. They contracted the marriage while I was still in the cradle, and I mean that literally, by the way."
"What?" Bo seemed to be having a hard time keeping up, and from her stance at the door, Carly could see why. Bo and the girl she used to be had drained nearly half the bottle of absinthe, and he was starting to feel the effects. At the rate they were going, they'd both be on the floor in another half-hour.
"It was an arranged marriage. My parents made the match with Lawrence's family when I was born. He was ten at the time, I believe."
"So how long have you been with him?"
"I thought I was with someone else," Katerina whispered, anger creeping back up on her.
"You lost me, girly. What did he do to you?"
"He lied. I ran away from boarding school when I was 16 so I wouldn't have to go through with the marriage. I couldn't marry a man whom I didn't love, much less had never met. I didn't even know what he looked like." Bo blinked, clearly surprised, but then motioned for her to go on. "I met a man in Paris, who told me his name was James. It was love at first sight. He was everything I'd ever dreamed of in a man. He was handsome, charming and rich, but best of all he promised me that he'd keep me safe. He promised to protect me at all costs from Lawrence, and from my parents, who were searching everywhere for me."
"We were going to go to America so that I could finish my studies, but then I learned that James was really Lawrence. He had been watching me for two years, and he knew when I left my school. He tracked me to Paris where he introduced himself as James. The entire time he was planning on bringing me to his country, to force me into marriage, so that he could take control of my birthright."
"I'm sorry," Bo told her suddenly. Tears had once again filled her brilliant eyes, and Bo couldn't prevent his hand as it rose and caught the crystalline drop on his thumb. Katerina caught his hand with hers and held it to her cheek.
"You don't have anything to be sorry for," she whispered. "I'm the one who was stupid enough to fall into Lawrence's trap."
"You aren't stupid," Bo insisted, angry that she would even think of herself that way. "You loved him, you said, and you trusted him. You just made a mistake, that's all. That makes you human, sweetheart, not stupid."
Their eyes locked, and the very air in the room crackled with electricity. Bo's hand cupped her cheek tighter, and Katerina was aware of every millimeter of his flesh against hers. Her mouth felt dry and in an effort to break away from the magnetic field of his eyes, she reached for the bottle of absinthe and drank straight from it. The action dislodged Bo's hand from her face, and he took the bottle from her, finishing the contents.
"Sweetheart, huh?" She gave him a little smile.
"Well, I don't exactly know your name," Bo told her.
"Do you want to?" Katerina asked, but Bo shook his head.
"Good," Katerina responded. "I don't want to know yours, either."
They drew closer to one another. Bo leaned in to catch her mouth with his, but he stopped just shy of his goal. "I should probably get out of here." His words tickled her lips.
"I should probably tell you to," she answered.
But he didn't leave, and she didn't tell him to. Instead, his arm slid around her slender waist as he fitted his mouth over hers. His hands fisted in her hair, freeing it from its clasp, as his mouth trailed fire down her graceful neck. She straddled his lap, wrapping her long legs around him and pressing against him in all the right places.
He groaned against her neck and palmed her breast through her shirt. Her shirt left her shoulders uncovered and he tugged down the material until both of her breasts were bared to his touch. He spared a second's thought as to her braless state before drawing a dusky nipple deep into his mouth.
Carly grabbed hold of the doorway, absolutely unable to believe what she was seeing. This is impossible! None of this is real, it can't be. If Bo and I had made love that night, I'd remember.
Would you? The mysterious voice was back, but Carly didn't bother looking for the speaker again.
I would, Carly insisted even as she watched Bo strip Katerina – her – and lay her back on the hotel bed.
You wouldn't be seeing this if it weren't of the utmost importance. Watch now, and remember.
Obediently, Carly turned back to the erotic tableau in front of her and sucked in a breath. Not only could she see what was happening, she could feel it. Her lips tingled with every brush of Bo's mouth over Katerina's. Wherever his hands trailed over her dream self's body, Carly felt the caresses on her own. Her heart began racing, her breath coming in shallow pants, until a white-hot burst of light momentarily blinded her.
When the light receded at last, Carly could once again see into the hotel room. Bo was sprawled on his stomach on the bed, the sheet pulled haphazardly up to his pelvis. He was facing the window, and Carly held her breath as Katerina awoke and took in her surroundings.
The seventeen year-old version of herself squeaked at the sight of a naked man's back and hastily rose from the bed. Bo must've been out because he didn't even flinch, his snoring deep and rhythmic.
Katerina pulled on her clothes and grabbed her bag, leaving the empty bottle of absinthe on the floor. She stumbled through the door of the hotel room, obviously still feeling the effects of the Absinthe as the sun was peeking over the horizon. Her only thought was getting out of there.
Carly backed out of the room, closing the door behind her. She was once again in that dark hallway. She leaned against the wall next to the door she had just closed and took a deep breath, still in shock from what she had just seen. How could I not remember him? Then she thought of the dreams. Ever since she had run away from Lawrence she had been having these dreams of a nameless, faceless man. The man in her dreams always had long hair and was fit and built but that was all she knew about him. That and he made her feel safe. But those had just been dreams.
Carly realized in that moment that she had been dreaming about Bo all these years, because of that night, the one night of her life she had never been able to remember. That explained the connection they had. It explained how she could have fallen for him so fast and so hard. Does he remember?
Carly took another deep breath and just stood there for a few minutes not sure she could continue after the shock of knowing that at age 17 she had slept with Bo, who was married, while his wife waited for him on their boat. She shook her head to clear her thoughts and looked down the seemingly endless hallway of doors. She pushed herself away from the wall she had been leaning on and continued her trip through her memories.
