It was 11.47 p.m. when Owen finished all of the paperwork. He looked at the clock. It was way too late to be calling Cristina. She was probably asleep.
In fact, she was not. She, Jackson and Meredith were now returning from Brewster. After the movie ended around nine, the three of them decided to go and grab something to eat. He was now dropping them off at the cottage. They were all giggling.
"I have had such a good time," Cristina said. "It's good to hang out with people your own age."
"Yeah," Meredith agreed, as they got out of the car.
"So why are both of you dating older guys?" Jackson asked. "If you like hanging out with people your own age."
Meredith and Cristina looked at each other. "I guess the heart wants what the heart wants," Cristina said. "Anyway, J, why don't we do this again, sometime?"
"We can go next Tuesday. That's the day the movie tickets are discounted," Jackson said.
"Cool, it is a date for all three of us," Meredith said. The two girls waved at Jackson and went into their cottage.
"Are you going to call Owen?" Meredith asked, wondering whether she should call Derek.
"No, he is probably asleep," Cristina said. "Don't want to wake him. He is probably tired from all of that paperwork."
Meredith also changed her mind about calling Derek. After all, he was under so much pressure from the murder case. They both turned in and were quite sleepy when they woke up at 7 a.m. the next morning to go to work.
"I need coffee," Cristina said, as she set the coffeemaker to percolate.
"Yeah, me too," Meredith said. They were already dressed for work and they just needed the coffee to give them the energy to walk into town.
Half an hour later after being freshly caffeinated, they set off to work. Meredith reached the lawyer's office first. Ms. Bailey was already there. "Meredith, good you're here. I need all these files put away and I need you to take some dictation."
She groaned, inwardly because it seemed Bailey was in a mood. Several of the people who had been re-interrogated by the sheriff had contacted Bailey about representing them, in case they were arrested. People in the town were worried and they were passing on their anxiety to the sole lawyer in town.
Cristina walked two more blocks before she made it to the Mercantile. She headed straight to her office. Usually, Jackson would leave a bagel and cream cheese there for her. There, sitting on her desk, with a napkin over it, was the bagel. That boy was a godsend, she thought. She started munching happily, letting the cream cheese slide over her tongue.
Her phone rang. It was Owen.
"Hello gorgeous," she said. "How are you?"
"Fine. I finished up all that paperwork. So I can come over tonight," he said. "Give you some loving."
"I am always up for some loving from you," she said, giggling. "Will I see you at lunchtime?"
"Of course," he said. "Oh, by the way, before I forget, I will be in Des Moines next week Tuesday, meeting with buyers, so I won't be in town that day and I will probably be back late. I won't be able to see you that day."
"That's okay," she said. "See you at lunchtime." She hung up the phone. With Owen going out of town, she, Meredith and Jackson could go to the movies again. That worked out fine. She felt a little guilty that she didn't tell Owen that they were going out with Jackson. It seemed that he disliked Jackson so it was just as well that she didn't tell him.
Next Tuesday morning, she was awakened by the buzzing of her cell phone. She rubbed her eyes and looked at the screen. It was Owen.
"Hey, baby," he said. "Heading to Des Moines now. Just wanted to call you before I left."
"Okay," she said. He had not spent the night at her place on Monday because he needed to leave early in the morning, so he thought it would be better if he left from home.
"I guess I will see you tomorrow, then," she said.
"Yeah, I guess. I will be back late and you would probably be asleep by then. Okay, bye. Love you," he said.
"Love you too," she said, as she hung up the phone.
It was a long day at the Mercantile. She had a lot of orders arriving at the store and she had to go through it all and place them in inventory. She was frazzled by the end of the day. It was good that she, Meredith and Jackson were going out that night. She needed a break. She headed home, took a nice, warm bath and went out to the porch and awaited Jackson's arrival. Meredith was already there.
"Meredith, can I ask you a question?" Cristina asked.
"Sure," her best friend said. "You know you can ask me anything."
"Did you tell Derek that we were going to Brewster to the movies with Jackson?" Cristina asked, still feeling guilty about not telling Owen.
"Yeah, I did. I called him before I left work and told him, so he wouldn't expect me to show up at his place tonight," she said. "Why do you ask?"
"Because I didn't tell Owen," she said. "I think he doesn't like Jackson and I think he would get upset if I told him."
"Well, it's just as well he is out of town. What he doesn't know, can't upset him," Meredith said.
"I guess. It's not like I am doing anything wrong," Cristina said. "We are just going out as a group of friends and hanging out. That is all. Nothing more."
"Yeah, nothing more," Meredith agreed. She saw a pair of headlights heading down their way. "There is Jackson."
The two girls got up from the porch and went out to the road. Cristina got into the front passenger seat, while Meredith got into the back seat.
"Are we ready, girls?" Jackson said. "Off to Brewster we go."
Owen was driving back from Des Moines. It had been a very productive day with buyers and he had got full orders for the harvest. He looked at his watch. He should make it back to Huntsville by 10 p.m. That wasn't too late, he thought. He could go to Cristina's place and she should still be up and he could spend the night there.
As he pulled up in front of Cristina's place, it was in darkness. That was odd, he was sure she would be up. He knocked on the door. There was no answer. Neither she nor Meredith seemed to be there. Cristina had not told him she was going anywhere that night.
He decided to give Derek a call. Maybe Meredith was over at his place. "Sheriff Shepherd," was the crisp response.
"Hey Derek, it's Owen, is Meredith at your place? I would like to speak to her," Owen said.
"No," Derek said with a surprised tone in his voice. Didn't Hunt know that Meredith and Cristina had gone to the movies with that Avery kid?
"Well, I just came back from Des Moines and I came to the cottage and no one is here," Owen said.
"Well, they're probably still out in Brewster. They went to the movies with that Avery kid," Shepherd said. "Meredith told me that on Tuesday, tickets are discounted by half at the movies so that's why they went tonight."
"Thank you," Owen said, trying to keep his voice steady. He was fuming. Why did Cristina not tell him any of this? His brain started to work overtime. Was that Avery kid making moves on Cristina? What machinations did that kid put in place to lure his girl away from him? He was seething by the time he saw the headlights coming up the road. He knew it was probably them.
Cristina saw the familiar SUV parked in front of their cottage. She sighed. It was going to be a scene, she knew. But in reality, she didn`t know why Owen disliked Avery this much. She saw him step out of his vehicle. She could see that his mouth was drawn into a thin line.
Jackson suddenly became anxious when he saw Hunt waiting for them. He knew that the man was not his biggest fan.
Cristina got out of Jackson's vehicle and came up with the cheeriest voice she could muster. "Hi Owen," she said. "I didn't know you were going to be back this early from Des Moines."
"Clearly," he said, in a cold tone. "Judging from where you're coming from." Meredith got out of the back seat and headed into the cottage. She felt the beginnings of an argument between Owen and Cristina and she felt she needed to give them some privacy, even if they were out on the road and possibly going to shout at each other.
"Well, we just got back from Brewster. We went to the movies," Cristina started, looking back at Jackson. Jackson wondered if he should drive off and leave them to their discussion.
"Yes, I heard," Owen said. "My question to you, Cristina, is why you didn't tell me you were going to Brewster to the movies? And why is it that you never mentioned that it was Avery, who was taking you?"
"I guess I better go," Jackson said, getting back into his car. "This seems to be a private conversation."
"Seriously? You're trying to get out of here?" Owen asked Avery. "Don't you think I know how you watch her everyday? Do you think I am blind?"
"Um…" Jackson said. Cristina had a confused expression. What was Owen talking about?
"Everyday, when I come to pick her up for lunch, I have watched you, watching her," Owen said. It was something Jackson could not deny. Cristina now understood why Owen disliked Jackson.
"But nothing has happened, Owen. He just took Mer and me to the movies. That's all," Cristina said.
Avery felt it was time to take his leave. He immediately got into his car, started his engine and drove off. "Yeah, run, kid, you're not wanted around here."
Cristina shook her head. She started heading towards the cottage door. "You still haven't answered my questions, Cristina."
"I think the answers are clear. I knew you would get upset if I told you that we were going to the movies with Jackson. I know that you didn't like him and you would get upset," she said. "I guess I was right about your reaction but I guess I was also wrong not to have told you.
"I am not going to say any more on the subject, Owen. Other than not telling you, I did nothing wrong. I went out with my friends and I had a good time," she said. "So you have to make up your mind. Are you going to come inside and spend the night with me or are you going to go home and sulk?" She opened the door and went inside. She headed to her bedroom, stripped off her clothes and went into the shower. The warm water soothed her heated brain.
She heard the door of the bathroom open. She looked up to see Owen. He took off his clothes and stepped inside the shower. He opened the shampoo bottle and started to lather her hair. It felt so relaxing as he massaged her head.
"If you have something to tell me, please tell me even if I am going to get upset. Maybe I overreacted but I guess that probably came from a mixture of jealousy, fear and insecurity. If you had told me, I would still have reacted but not to the extent that I did," he said. "It felt like you were hiding something from me and that is not a feeling that I want to have."
He washed off the shampoo out of her hair and massaged in the conditioner. "So you will tell me from now on. Please." She looked up at him. "Yes, Owen." As he washed off the conditioner, he lifted her hair and kissed her neck, which actually deepened to a love bite. She knew she was going to get a hickey but she didn't actually mind. She could feel the swift hardening of his member, pressing against her. She was getting quickly aroused and excited.
He turned her around and pushed her against the wall. He crushed her lips under his, as their tongues quickly found each other's. He reached down to feel whether she was ready for him and she was. This was not going to be pretty. There was going to be very little foreplay. His breathing came shallow and fast, as he pushed her legs up so he could enter her. As he thrust deep and hard into her, she wrapped her legs around him and held on tightly as their lips never came apart. He fucked her with a ferocity that was born out of the anger and the frustration he had just felt. When they both came, it was a release from the heated words and the hurt feelings.
He gently kissed her as he slowly let her down. He held her close. "Please don't ever hide anything from me, again. I can't take it," he whispered.
"Okay," she said, as she rested her head against his body and wrapped her arms around him.
A/N: Please leave your reviews. Thank you for your comments. I do appreciate reading them because they help me want to continue.
