A/N: because of having a wonderful evening with the lovely madame_denna and making a new friend, I've been inspired to put the finishing touches on this chapter. enjoy and please review.
The law of gravity
.-.-.-.-.
We all fall
Chapter 5 - There's no one to catch me if I take a dive
Denna threw a couple of bills toward the taxi driver and slid out of the backseat as quickly as possible, shouldering her gym bag. She walked up the driveway toward Kahlan and Cara's house while checking her pants for any stains or dirt. The inside of that taxi had smelled worse than a bar and the driver looked like he'd just come from the same bar after drinking and smoking all night.
She shuddered lightly and mentally made a note to take a smell sample of any and all taxis before getting in. She brushed her hands along the arms of her light jacket before pulling on the collar of her shirt. A light blue scarf was wrapped around her neck, blending in with the rest of her outfit consisting of tight-fitting jeans, a white shirt and a blue leather jacket.
She walked up to the door and rang the bell. There was no answer. She knocked and waited but was again met with silence. Denna sighed quietly and tried the door handle. The door swung open quietly and she stuck her head into the hallway. "Hello? Cara?"
"I'm in the bedroom, get in here," Cara called back and Denna rolled her eyes as she stepped fully into the house.
She looked around and dropped her bag in the hallway before making her way up the stairs to the second level where the door at the far end was wide open.
"I thought we were leaving, what are you doing?"
"I'm getting dressed. I relaxed after my morning swim and fell asleep by the pool okay?" Cara answered as Denna slowly stepped into the room and looked around. Cara was in the process of buttoning up her dark blouse while sticking one foot into her brown boot.
"Can you get my bag from the closet?" she asked, nodding toward the large walk-in closet while she hobbled over to a large dresser to grab her phone. Denna nodded with an amused smirk and strolled toward the closet. She saw the bag in a corner and moved to pick it up when something red caught her eye. She cocked her head to the side and furrowed her brow as she picked up the article of clothing from where it was in its little space in the closet.
"What the hell is this?" she asked while turning the red leather in her hands.
Steps sounded from behind her until Cara was standing at the sliding doors of the closet, trying to see what Denna was referring to. She turned around and held the dark crimson leather suit up for Cara to see. It was held together by laces on arms, legs and in the back and Denna glanced behind her to see a corset with straps and buckles sitting beside the chair. She put the leather suit down again and grabbed two other items, a belt and something she couldn't quite identify.
"That's a neck guard," Cara supplied as Denna eyed the leather.
"For what?"
"To protect the… uh… neck?" Cara answered slowly, shifting from one foot to the other.
Denna narrowed her eyes at the belt in her hand and put the neck guard aside to pull a crimson leather rod out of its holster that was attached to the belt. "What the hell are you doing with these things?"
Cara cleared her throat and looked at anything but Denna. "Kahlan and I… we like to spice things up every once in a while, you know do some role play and stuff… just for fun."
Denna furrowed her brow until her eyes widened in understanding and she hastily shoved the leather rod back into its holster before putting everything back in place. "I didn't need to know that."
"But you asked."
"Still."
She grabbed the bag Cara had asked her to get and shoved into the blonde's arms as she marched back into the bedroom. Warmth was creeping up her neck as she took a quiet breath. She tried hard not to imagine Kahlan or Cara in that tight crimson leather outfit and failed miserably.
"Okay let's go," Cara said from somewhere behind her and Denna practically power-walked out of the room and down the stairs where she grabbed her bag and headed out of the door towards Cara's car.
She didn't meet Cara's amused smirk as the doors were unlocked automatically and simply dropped into the passenger seat with a huff.
"Honestly, I don't even know why you're being so weird," Cara said as they backed out of the driveway.
"I am not weird."
"Then what would you call it?"
Denna grumbled quietly and crossed her arms in front of her chest, leaning back into the seat. Cara laughed beside her and Denna vowed to wipe that smirk off her face, even if it had to be with a tennis racket.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Cara pulled into an empty parking spot while Denna gazed out through the windshield at the huge building. Dozens of cars were parked around them and it occurred to her that this might've not been such a brilliant idea. There were going to be people. Many people in one place.
She sucked in a quiet breath and felt a warm hand come to rest atop hers. She'd been grasping the material of her bag rather tightly in her fist and relaxed her fingers as Cara pried them away.
"You okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine."
"Listen, we don't have to go."
"No, this match is important to you and I said I would do it, so I will."
Denna opened the car door and got out, clutching the bag to her chest. She couldn't back out of it now and knowing that Cara was more than ready to call it off calmed her enough to see this through.
Cara led her through the double entrance doors and into the large mansion toward the changing rooms. Everything was made of dark rich wood and looked expensive. The spacious rooms led to an even larger area with showers. Luckily each shower stall was separated by blurry glass, thus allowing for some much needed privacy.
Denna quickly downed a Xanax with water when Cara went to reserve the tennis court for them so they had some time to practice before the match. She hoped it wouldn't throw her off her game completely but there was just no other way she could deal with this. She'd felt the walls closing in on her and the air becoming thinner as soon as they'd set foot into the changing rooms that weren't even remotely crowded.
She changed into white shorts and a polo shirt with a high collar after she'd made sure that no one else was around. Her hair was tied back into a tight ponytail and she was twirling her tennis racket between her hands, waiting for Cara to get back.
A small grin spread across Cara's face as she walked around the corner, letting her eyes travel from Denna's head to her shoes. "Not bad."
Denna glanced at the small white skirt Cara was wearing and raised her eyebrows. "Right back at ya."
With the Xanax slowly pumping through her bloodstream she felt calm enough to get through meeting Cara's match partners and the rest of the country club that seemingly gathered whenever Cara stopped for a moment to chat. Strangely enough it hadn't occurred to her before that Cara's family was probably filthy rich if they could afford a membership at this place. The house she and Kahlan were living in was not huge but it was comfortably big. Kahlan was a student and they surely couldn't afford such a place with what Kahlan was earning through her yoga lessons. The one time she'd asked about Cara's job, she'd cryptically said something about investment but now Denna quietly berated herself for not digging a little more when she'd had the chance.
Denna was standing a little off to the side in the large entrance hall of the building after she followed Cara out of the changing rooms. As soon as they'd attempted to cross through the hall, several women had stepped into Cara's way, smiling brightly at her.
She was still talking to them and Denna sighed quietly as she looked around.
The ceiling was higher than any town hall she'd ever gone to and there were marble statues all over the place. In the center of the entrance hall a fountain was continuously splashing and Denna stepped closer to it to watch the water drip back into the basin. She looked at the distorted reflection of her face when another person appeared beside her. She looked up and found a woman with red hair smiling back at her. The woman was probably a couple of years older than her and exceptionally attractive. Small wrinkles curled around the corners of her eyes and Denna found herself smiling in return. From what she'd seen of most of the women in the club they either were either wearing thick layers of make-up or had no facial expressions whatsoever.
"I don't think I've seen you around before," the woman said, briefly looking at the tennis rack Denna was still clutching.
"Probably not, I'm just here with a friend today," she answered, looking over her shoulder to find Cara gazing back at her. It seemed like she was excusing herself from the conversation she'd been caught up in.
"It's nice to meet you then, my name is Shota," the woman introduced herself and Denna's attention was drawn back to the red-head.
"Nice to meet you too, I'm Denna."
Cara appeared beside her and rested a hand against the small of her back. Denna raised an eyebrow at her but Cara only plastered a small smile onto her face. "Shota, it's been a while."
"It has indeed. How have you been? Is your girlfriend Kayla not here with you?"
"It's Kahlan, and no she's not. Excuse us, we're meeting with someone soon. It was wonderful seeing you."
Denna had never seen Cara smile or talk like that. It was polite but also as fake as Shota's nails. She let herself be steered away from the older woman and turned to Cara once they were out of earshot. "What was that?"
"I don't know what you mean."
"'It was wonderful seeing you'", Denna mimicked Cara's sickly sweet tone, "I mean really? You obviously wanted her to drown herself in that fountain."
Cara sighed. "She's a friend of my family. I have keep up appearances, whether I want to or not."
"Alright, I get that, but what makes you dislike her?"
"Because she fucking dared to hit on Kahlan the first time we were here, and the second time and the fourth," Cara hissed into her ear, "she's a cougar and if I hadn't intervened she would be having you for lunch right now."
Denna tried to hold back a quiet laugh and instead settled for a dignified clearing of her throat. "What makes you think I'm that easy?"
Cara stopped in front of two large glass doors that led outside and into the vast expanse of park and recreational facilities of the club. "I didn't mean it like that and you know it."
"Do I?"
"Alright, okay I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you feel like you couldn't have handled this by yourself but I get itchy when Shota wants something that is mine."
Denna raised her eyebrows. "What's yours?"
Cara groaned quietly and pushed her toward the glass doors that were opened by two men stepping inside. "Can we please just go play tennis?"
The two men were holding the doors open for her and Denna walked through them, uttering a quiet 'thank you'.
She decided to let it go for the moment but couldn't shake the warm feeling in her stomach. She never liked possessive or jealous people, but Cara was different, with her it seemed to be about protection rather than being selfish. She liked that and could vividly imagine Kahlan being just as charmed by it.
Stepping outside, Denna raised her hand to shield her eyes from the sun as she looked around. There were at least a dozen tennis courts neatly lined up on either side of her. Players taking a break were sitting on recliners all over the large porch that seemed to be completely made of marble. Waiters in white shirts and black slacks were hurrying between them, carrying water bottles and drinks. The tell-tale sound of balls hitting the ground and people yelling out their frustrations at every missed shot traveled through the air. Denna tightened her hold on the tennis racket and a familiar feeling of excitement coursed through her. Maybe this wasn't such a bad idea after all. On the court she would be alone with Cara until their match partners joined them and getting some exercise sounded exactly like something she needed.
She twirled the racket in her hand and turned to Cara who was watching her.
"Ready?"
"Let's do this," Denna answered with a small smirk.
One of the tennis courts was empty and Cara opened the gate in the fence to let her step inside. An entire basket full of balls was already sitting on the sidelines and Cara grabbed a couple of them before walking over to the other side of the court. "Some practice rounds first?"
Denna nodded and moved to her spot on her side of the net. She hadn't lied when she said she hadn't done this in years but after Cara had sent the first couple of balls in her direction she was starting to remember the movements and routines. Her first few attempts were pathetic and one ball even made it over the outer fence into another court, but after a little more than twenty minutes she was starting to get the hang of it again.
Cara and her had a pretty good match going by the time the gate opened again and two women stepped inside. Denna saw them from the corner of her eyes and without thought caught the ball Cara had hit with full force in her hand. Her mouth opened in a silent groan as her entire hand stung from the impact but she schooled her features back into a pleasant smile as soon as she turned to the newcomers.
Both of them were watching her with raised eyebrows but said nothing. The blonde even smiled a little and raised her hand in greeting as Cara jogged over to them. The brunette however only narrowed her eyes at Cara and dropped her bag to the ground.
"What happened to Kahlan?" the blonde asked as Cara reached them.
"She couldn't make it today, that's why I brought a substitute. Garen, Nicci, this is Denna."
Denna nodded and smiled as Garen and Nicci did the same. She held her hands clasped behind her body, one still gripping the tennis ball and the other curled around the racket.
"Nice to meet you," Nicci said as she pulled her blonde tresses into a ponytail. Garen only watched her quietly for several moments until she turned away to walk to the other end of the court. "We'll do some practice rounds before the match," Nicci said over her shoulder and Cara sighed.
Denna made her way over to one of the benches on the sidelines and plopped down, Cara soon following after her.
"How's the hand?"
Denna finally let go of the ball and flexed her fingers. "Fine. So what's up with Garen? She doesn't seem to like you too much."
"We used to be friends actually."
"What happened?"
"I slept with a girl she liked, I didn't regret it, at least not at the time, because I had no idea how much she liked her. After that it was just too late to make amends."
Denna hummed non-comittaly and looked up when a tennis ball started flying across the court. She followed it with her eyes for a couple of moments and looked over to see Nicci smashing it back sending it to the other side with brutal force. "Damn they're good."
"So are we."
Denna took the Gatorade bottle Cara handed her and sighed. She was good but not that good. The way Garen expertly curved the ball so that it hit the ground before Nicci could even get to it made Denna shake her head. There was no way she could help Cara win this match. Maybe if she had a couple of weeks, or months, practice they could've turned this around but as things were Denna already saw herself missing more balls than driving them back over the net.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
It turned out that she was right. After Nicci and Garen were done with their warm-ups, they began their little match. It didn't take long until she and Cara were behind, losing set after set.
Sweat was running down her back as she attempted to catch the balls that were just too far out of her reach. She even had to jump out of the way twice to avoid going home with egg-shaped bruises. Cara was beyond frustrated and Nicci eventually took pity on her, suggesting a partner change.
That was how she ended up standing beside Garen who glanced over at her with a small raise of her shapely eyebrow.
"Ready?"
"As I'll ever be," Denna mumbled and wiped the back of her hand across her forehead. She shifted her weight from one foot to the other while twirling the racket in her hands. She had a competitive streak, that was for certain, but it was nothing compared to how badly Cara seemed to be taking the loss. Her entire face had darkened and she was clutching the racket so tightly that her knuckles stood out white against her skin. Denna sighed quietly and waited for Nicci to serve the ball. It went right through her attempt to smash it back over the net and bounced against the fence behind her.
"You're holding your shoulders the wrong way," Garen commented from beside her and held up her hand to signal Nicci to hold the next ball, "here let me show you."
The brunette walked closer to her and rested her hand against Denna's fingers that were holding the racket, the other one pushing against her shoulder.
"Up and to the side, and when the ball comes at you the way it just did you reach back like this and hit it head on," Garen explained as she came to stand behind Denna to guide the movement of her arm.
She was too busy trying to commit the movement of her body and arm to memory to actually care about Garen standing so closely behind her. She furrowed her brow and nodded. It made sense that she couldn't get the balls that were aimed low because her swing was far too uncoordinated with how she was holding herself. "Thanks."
She briefly smiled over her shoulder at Garen before the brunette returned to her spot on the court. With a nod from her, Garen held up her hand and again they continued to play. She actually managed to send Nicci's serve back into the other half of the court but her overall performance didn't improve much. They lost and Denna slowly shook her head as they decided to call it a day. She'd not only ruined Cara's shot at winning but also established her complete and utter uselessness by losing alongside Garen as well. What a wound to her tennis ego. It wasn't fatal by any means but it would smart for a little while, that much was for sure.
Garen leaned into her as she grabbed her bag from beside the bench. "It was really nice meeting you, I hope you'll be back so I can get to know you better."
"It was nice meeting you too, but I doubt Cara is going ask me again to play a match after this disaster."
"You weren't that bad."
Denna raised an eyebrow at her and Garen laughed quietly. "Alright well, let's just say you need a little more practice."
They said their respective goodbyes and soon Denna found herself alone with Cara in the changing rooms. Cara wasn't speaking, she only yanked her shirt over her head angrily and stepped out of her skirt and panties before unclasping her bra. Denna averted her eyes as she wrapped a towel around her body and stalked off in the direction of the showers.
She was looking forward to the shower to get that sweaty and sticky feeling off her skin and followed after Cara. She stopped in front of one of the shower stalls and narrowed her eyes. Everyone else was walking around wrapped in fluffy towels, but she wasn't going to strip down in front of anyone anytime soon. Fortunately the shower stall was big enough for her to put fresh clothes onto a little shelf without them getting wet. Problem solved.
She closed the sliding door and quickly shed her clothes before stepping under the hot spray. The water hitting her face and shoulders felt heavenly and she sighed as she lifted her arms to stretch them. Playing tennis had been more strenuous on her muscles than she'd expected but then again she hadn't played in ages and wasn't in as great shape as she used to be.
She tiled her face toward the spray and closed her eyes. She wondered about Cara who was somewhere near her in one of the other shower stalls, probably still fuming. She'd never seen her that pissed before but Denna didn't feel like apologizing either. She'd warned Cara that she hadn't played in ages and wouldn't be that big of a help in a match. She really had no reason to be mad at her.
After the shower she stepped out of the stall fully clothed, receiving a couple of odd glances from the other women. She shrugged it off and returned to the locker where her bag was still waiting for her. Cara was sitting on one of the benches in the middle of the aisle, her hair still wet and hands clasped in her lap. She looked up when Denna reached for her bag and reached out to touch her forearm. Denna raised her eyebrows at the gesture and stepped back, noticing the frown on Cara's features.
"I… let's just talk for a moment okay?"
"Okay."
Denna slowly followed Cara out of the changing rooms and toward another area of the country club. They stepped out onto a wooden porch that had a beautiful view of a forest in the distance. Few people were sporadically seated at tables and some comfortable looking loungers were positioned right in front of the glass railing. Cara took lowered herself into one of them and Denna sat down right next to her. She leaned back into the cushion and sighed quietly as her muscles relaxed. Cara was watching her silently, her face still scrunched up in a frown.
Denna sighed quietly and crossed her arms, gazing at the vast expanse of trees and blue sky. This was not a bad place to relax after a stressful week at work but she preferred the solitude of her apartment to the expensively bought exclusivity of a country club.
"Denna… I'm sorry. I was being a complete bitch and it was completely uncalled for. If you want to go out with Garen, that's completely fine and none of my business anyway."
Denna turned her head sharply. "What?"
"What?"
"Why would I go out with Garen… what… how… I'm not sure what's going on."
"She flirted with you from the moment she walked onto the court, didn't you notice?"
Denna furrowed her brow and thought back to the previous match. Yeah maybe those looks and especially the way she had touched her while showing her the right position could be considered flirting but she really hadn't paid much attention to it. "Oh."
"Wait, what did you think this was about?"
"Well, you lost the match because of me."
"I honestly couldn't care less about that," Cara dismissed with a wave of her hand before her expression turned serious, "but I am really sorry. I wish I could tell you why I'm so weird about this, but I just…"
Denna sat up and leaned forward. "You just what?"
"I get protective over you, okay? I don't want Shota anywhere near you with how she has another boy or girl toy every week. And Garen, I just can't stand her. She's been holding a grudge for something that happened years ago. So please forget this ever happened and maybe you can accept my apology at some point."
Without a single word Denna got up and sat down next to Cara on her lounger. She wrapped her arms around Cara's waist and leaned into her with a smile. "There's nothing to apologize for, next time just talk to me okay? It's nice to know that there's someone willing to protect me, even though I might not need it."
Cara wrapped her arms around Denna and leaned back on the lounger so that they were both quietly looking out onto the forest. Denna closed her eyes and exhaled quietly. This felt good. She hadn't been that close to anyone since that night Kahlan and Cara had stayed over and it seemed like she just couldn't get a good night's sleep without them.
"Okay, so about that leather suit I saw," Denna said with a chuckle and Cara groaned.
.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.
Denna leaned down to look through the open car window. "Okay just let me know when you two are coming over and I'll get dinner started, sound good?"
Cara nodded and smiled. "Perfect. See you later."
Denna waved as Cara pulled away from the curb and merged with the traffic in front of her apartment building. She shouldered her bag and walked through the main doors, smiling at an elderly couple passing by her. She took the elevator up to the seventh floor and moved down the hallway to her door. She fished her keys out of the front of her bag and they jingled between her fingers with every step.
This had been a good afternoon, not only because of the exercise but also because she felt like she'd gotten to know Cara a bit better. Her protectiveness was kind of cute and Denna shook her head in wonder. What could have possibly given her the idea that she might be interested in Garen, let alone Shota?
She pushed the key into the lock when she reached her door and turned it with a quiet click. The steps behind her were audible before the person even spoke.
"It's you."
She froze on the spot. Her heartbeat sped up so quickly that she felt almost lightheaded. It felt like someone had punched her in the stomach and she squeezed her eyes shut for the briefest of moments.
"Hey," the man behind her said. She felt him moving closer. She would've recognized that voice anywhere. But it couldn't be, how was this possible?
Her hand was shaking so severely that she dropped the key as the door swung open. The noise of the keys hitting the floor shocked her out of her stupor and she lunged forward and into her apartment. She spun back around and attempted to push the door shut right into the man's face but he was quicker and pushed it open with much more force.
Denna wanted to scream but a chocked sob was all that made it past her throat. She stumbled backward and stared at the very man who was responsible for the scars on her body. Her survival instinct kicked in and she dropped her bag, turning on her heels and running for her bedroom door. This time she was fast enough and slammed the door shut before sliding its lock into place.
Loud knocking sounded through the room and she blindly stepped backward until she hit the wall beside her bed and slid to the floor. She cradled her head in her hands and squeezed her eyes shut, allowing the hot tears to run down her cheeks.
How was this possible? Was she going insane?
"Go away."
Her voice was only a whimper but the knocking ceased at length. She didn't move from her curled up position, she couldn't.