Chapter 10

Bo was trying to recreate the evening. She was trying to find the reason why everything twisted into this weird mushy, jelly-like sludge inside her chest she now had to overcome.

It made her feel anger.

No seriously, she had been in an amazingly awesome mood with cream and a cherry on top when she left the bathroom. She was ready to get into the final round and kick asses because she knew she already had the jackpot in her pocket. No matter if she won or lost this match.

Winning meant money and losing meant cheering up kisses from a certain blonde. Or at least that's what she was hoping for.

"Wrong!"

Bo shifted on her mattress in the semi dark of her apartment. She couldn't get comfortable. She couldn't fall asleep. She couldn't understand.

"Gosh, dammit!"

A lazy cat's eye was staring at her, reflecting the dim light of the moon.

"Don't judge, Bane! I didn't do anything wrong, okay?! She kissed me. Okay? Well, first. She kissed me first. And it was... uuuuh!"

Bo sighed and sat up. Her hair was a mess from rolling around in bed the past two and a half hours. Every time the pictures flooded back at her, her stomach tightened, her heart bounced out of rhythm and her palms felt damp.

"It was probably the most erotic few minutes in my entire life, Bane and I mean, she barely touched me."

The red furred companion seemed to have enough of the struggle of its two-legged owner and left the bed with an elegant, soundless hop on the floor. With his tail straight up in the air he left into the kitchen.

The hum of the fridge broke the uncomfortable silence of the apartment.

Bo was yet again back in that club, at that table, playing that final round.

She felt hot. Really hot.

Every time she looked up after trying to concentrate on the match, she saw that blonde, slender woman with those warm and glowing light brown eyes smiling back at her.

The crowd of people around her were shouting and laughing and pointing at Bo with every ball that rolled into the right place. But all the brunette cared about was Lauren.

Bo felt amazing.

Especially because her enemy was so damn sure of themselves.

Lone.

What name was that anyway?

No offense.

Bo just didn't like people that got ahead of everything and thought they were something better than the rest of the bunch.

Lone. Mone. Shlone. A-lone.

Yeah. That's what she felt now.

Alone.

Bo remembered looking up into the audience trying to find her. She was standing a little bit to the left side watching Bo with a smile on her lips and a spark in her eyes.

Lauren, her Boss.

It made the brunette feel even better in her own skin knowing that the blonde was with her. Focusing on her. It set Bo on fire in very specific parts of her body. She was burning. The thought of her Boss looking at her like that.

Indescribable.

"Argh!"

Bo stood up and started pacing from wall to wall.

She had felt so good.

All night she had felt so freaking good.

And when the black eight hit home it was like fireworks lit up in her chest and broke through her head to explode at the ceiling of the club.

Until she looked back to the place where she expected those glowing orbs and inviting lips to holler back at her.

But they didn't.

Bo was searching through the mass of clapping people, but she didn't see any hint of the blonde.

Confusion turned her fireworks into fireballs and a painful twist in her stomach shut off everything delightful and when she got the trophy money the brunette couldn't really enjoy it much.

So, she went home.

A glimmer of hope washed over her when she saw a familiar back of a blonde head near the exit of the dance bar, only to find out it wasn't her at a second glance.

The question running through the brunette's head was how to go on from where she was now.

The facts were simple.

Lauren was her Boss.

Bo was the Driver.

They had a working contract and Bo definitely needed the money.

But that kiss changed a whole lot.

At least for Bo.

It had felt different than other kisses and it left Bo more confused than other first kisses ever did.

It was Sunday already. Pretty early still, but not late enough for Sally to yell at her, yet. Bo stopped pacing and looked at Bane staring back at her from the kitchen counter.

"I'm gonna confront her. Yes, I will."

A yawn left the brunette. Finally, she felt sleepy.

"First thing in the morning."

Bane stared on unfazed.

"Well it's still Saturday in my world. As long as I didn't sleep it's no such thing as the next morning. That are the rules. Don't blame me, I didn't make them."

Bo went to the edge of her bed and fell onto the mattress.

"Holy sleep. Come and get me!"

It didn't take long after that and she fell into an almost comatose state.

Again. She didn't snore! She just didn't. But when she woke up around noon, confused and with her tongue glued to her gums her throat was dryer than the blue chalk dust she had used yesterday.

She craved water, well, and a steak but her fridge said no, so she went with water and a slice of bread.

If she thought about steak hard enough maybe the bread turned its taste in her mouth.

But it didn't.

She finished what she called noon-fast, since it was too late for breakfast and too shabby to call what she had lunch and checked on Sally.

Noon meant, she had either been too far away to hear her cry or she ran out of battery since Bo forgot to charge it for some time now.

"Bingo!"

The brunette's own reflection starred back at her on the black screen in her hand. On her way to the bathroom, she plugged the charger in.

The display lit up again after a few seconds and she inserted the pin.

„No messages. Why am I not surprised?"

While the water in the shower ran, Bo stopped in tracks when she saw herself in the mirror.

"Oh boy."

Her hair was a nest, her skin still covered in the mosaics of her bed sheets and the black shadows underneath her eyes reminded of those little bear-ish animals.

A raccoon.

After poking into her left cheek and stretching the black area downwards with her forefingers, Bo jumped into the semi warm water of her shower.

"Time to morph back into that Bo from last night."

Searching in her closet, or better said the non-dirt-pile in the laundry basket, she found some black, low cut jeans and a dark green shirt.

It took her a little while to put on her face. Like make-up wise. She really wanted to look not just good but open-mouth-good.

The inside of the Hummer was warm even though it was standing in the shadows. For the first time she really appreciated the cool wind of the air condition. She didn't want her perfectness to melt down to the floor.

So, the brunette put on her sunglasses and drove off.

With one last look over her shirt, a little readjustment of her black leather jacket and a light stroke through her hair falling in soft curls over her shoulders, Bo pushed the button next to the security screen at Lauren Lewis' front door.

"Easy peasy, Bo. Just be yourself. Or the light version of yourself."

She knew she came across a bit, well, strong here and there.

A light buzz and the door opened. The brunette stepped in and found herself back in that flagged hallway. When the front door closed itself with a soft pop, Bo walked on to the next door on the left.

"Guess I wait, or...?"

Unsure of what to do, Bo just waited while snapping her fingers and shifting uncomfortably from toes to heels and back. She didn't like that hallway much, nor waiting in it.

"I'm not gonna die in here."

Singing in a soft but high voice Bo had to think about that damn movie she had to watch with a friend of hers.

The one with zombies and a house that was intelligent and that hallway which turned into a laser-trap, which would cut you into little tiny cubes. She was basically waiting for that little hologram-girl to pop up. What was this movie called again? Resident something?

After what felt like hours, the lock clicked and the door swung open slowly. Bo was peeking into her Boss' apartment with every centimeter the door revealed. Lauren was standing across the room at the piano with a glass of clear liquid in her hand.

By the sight of the blonde Bo forgot all the anger she felt earlier. Lauren looked like Bo's favorite song sounded in her ears and it made her feel that heat again.

In her chest, in her stomach and her head was clearly not in this world right now.

Lauren's hair was straightened down and the light coming in from the window made it shimmer golden. A white long button down hung loosely around her curves and her dark jeans hugged her legs tightly. With her bare feed crossed she was leaning against the dark wood.

"Why are you here?"

Bo snapped out of her own symphony and stepped forward.

"Can I come in?"

"It's Sunday and I didn't tell you to come."

"I guess that's a yes."

Bo closed the door after her. Walking towards the blonde, Bo could see that the Lauren from last night was hidden back again behind the cold and stony facade of Miss Lewis.

"I didn't see you anymore last night."

"You're not supposed to be here without an invitation."

"I won you know?"

Bo walked closer while they were throwing sentences against each other.

"You're not even supposed to be in this room."

"You just left."

The blonde didn't move a muscle. She just watched the brunette coming closer.

"I didn't ask you to come."

As frustrating as this non-versation, Bo felt that pull towards this woman in front of her. Pictures of yesterday flashed through her mind and the feelings she felt came back full force and with them disappointment and then anger again and Bo stopped a few steps in front of the blonde.

"Why did you leave last night? Why did you leave without a word?"

Bo held eye contact. It felt like a battle she didn't want to lose. The room fell quiet. Painfully quiet. Non of the women dared to move.

"Here goes nothing."

With that, Bo looked away and let out a deep sigh. That's not how she would get through that thick wall of resistance.

Her Boss took a sip of her drink and placed it on a leather coaster on the piano.

"You should go."

Bo ran out of patience.

Whatever!

"You know, I came here to talk, to understand what happened yesterday. I thought we had a good time. I thought we, well, I don't know what I thought. You just left and that sucked ass."

Bo stopped herself. It didn't help losing her temper.

‚Light version, Bo. Light version.'

A few seconds went by and the brunette gathered her thoughts.

"You kissed me first, Lauren. And when I kissed you, you kissed me back. So don't try to play the innocent here. You started this. And I can't say that I didn't like it. But I also won't beg."

For a millisecond, there seemed to be a flicker in these arctic like features of her Boss. Bo herself tried hard to keep her cool or make it look as if she was, because her insides were screaming and crying like little children begging for a reaction.

„That was a mistake and I apologize for my unprofessional behavior."

Bo didn't want to believe what she just heard. If she tried hard enough maybe she could flip the words around in her auditory canal before it hit her brain.

„Excuse me, what?"

Lauren straightened up a bit more. If that was even possible. Her hands were now folded in front of her. Bo could see the white spots on her Boss' knuckles.

„It won't happen again."

All Bo could do was nod.

„So what now? You want me to sign another of those papers or?"

Anger and disappointment were holding hands and walked down her throat to her chest. The brunette couldn't believe it but maybe deep down underneath the thick layer of hope there was this nagging discomfort of realism.

She was the Driver.

Lauren was her Boss.

Simple as that.

„I figured that wouldn't be necessary but if you…"

The blonde was moving towards a little sideboard to pick up a pen and some paper when Bo stretched out her hand in front of her.

„No, Lau-…"

Her Boss' head flew sideways to look at her employee. That's what those eyes told Bo. She was the employee.

„That won't be necessary, Miss Lewis."

The brunette walked to the door and put her hand on the handle. The cold steel quenched her burning skin.

They looked at each other and Bo was hoping so bad for Lauren to say something, to do something. But after a while the brunette realized that she wouldn't.

"Okay."

The brunette never felt as rejected in her whole life as she did right now. She opened the door and walked into that flagged hallway. Her steps echoed in between the walls. When she made it to the front door Bo frowned.

There was no handle.

"The heck...?"

Bo pushed against the heavy wood but nothing happened. She searched the wall for a button or anything that looked like something similar that would open that damn door.

"No one gets in or out without my consent."

Bo closed her eyes and tilted her head down.

"Just great."

Bo didn't turn around. She didn't want to look at her Boss again. It was hard enough to go in the first place.

"Would you then please be so kind?"

She pointed at the exit she wanted to go through so desperately.

"One second."

Bo winced when she heard the blonde's voice right next to her ear. When did she get that close? Bo turned around and squeezed herself against the hard wooden door. Two light brown orbs were staring back at her. Bo gulped down the urge to stare for longer. So she looked away.

As much as she felt trapped, she also felt a whole lot of different feelings which didn't help her situation much.

„I have to use the finger detector on the wall."

The blonde nodded towards a little screen next to the door that Bo was now glued to.

The scent of Lauren's perfume, shampoo and everything Lauren made it's way up Bo's nose and into her system. It made her weak in the knees. Lauren's eyes scanned Bo's face just for a second but long enough for the brunette to notice.

„I need to…"

The blonde spoke up. The edges in her voice lost their sharpness and made her words sound softer than before.

Bo looked up again and to where her Boss was nodding towards.

„Yes, sure. Sorry."

Bo squeezed herself along the wall and around the woman she really, really wanted to touch. Just somewhere, anywhere. Just some skin. Or a strand of hair. Or just that button down that fitted her body so darn well.

A quiet peep followed by a dull click and the door opened.

„Thanks."

Bo squashed herself around the corner and into the spacious lobby area. Finally she could let out that breath she wasn't aware she was holding until she felt the intake of much needed air in her lungs.

The brunette needed to get away from her Boss. From the smell of that perfect symphony of scents and that voice which touched her eardrums in such a stimulating way.

She couldn't think clearly when she was around Miss Lewis. Even if she was angry. And even if she had been so determined to confront her Boss when she left from home. All she wanted now was get away from there before she did anything stupid.

Usually when she did go back and into a situation, her rational mind had a coffee break and her guts took over.

Usually that led to words and sometimes actions she would regret later or at least the consequences resulting from carrying her heart on her tongue.

Well, she didn't regret all her guts had to say.

Like that time when she told her English teacher that poems had more than one interpretation and if his brain was too wizened to be open for new impulses, he should consider early retirement.

Bo hated narrow minded people.

Especially when it came to people who took their position as an argument to suppress and keep other people small or think that their answer was the one and only right one.

See?

If Bo had been more aware of the way her guts reacted that day, she might not have needed to see the principal with her parents, again. Maybe she could have found a different way to tell that bovine shrimp to let fresh and new minds blossom.

But she grew older and became at least somewhat wiser to know, when it was worth a suspension and when not.

And right now, she knew she needed that job. That money that came out of that job. So, she swallowed her words and her heart down and her pride and turned around one more time.

„See you on Monday."