Chapter 6---Here's the latest of this FF story. I hope you enjoy it and thanks for reading and the reviews!
C.J. woke up the next morning and dug her face under the pillow after remembering last night. She knew she should get up because she and Gracie had planned to return to the beach for another day of relaxation under the sun. She got up to shower, remembering to wrap up her arm in plastic before getting in so that her stitches wouldn't get wet.
She went to the kitchen to get some coffee and saw Gracie up and making some eggs.
"You're cooking breakfast…"
Gracie smirked.
"Yes, I can cook," she said, "It looks like a great day to soak up some sun on the beach."
"I've got to stop by the office and check my messages," C.J. said, "I promise we won't stay there long."
Gracie sighed.
"Okay," she said, "I'll kick your butt if you weaken and decide to work on this beautiful day instead."
C.J. felt pretty sure she wouldn't want to stay in the office too long but she just had to drop in for just a few minutes. She always felt uneasy being out of the office for more than a couple of days unless she was out of town on vacation. Matt had just been shot himself and she didn't want him to get stuck with all the work when he needed his rest. She knew that Uncle Roy and Chris would help with the workload but she still felt there was work she needed to do. Still, she wanted to hit the beach and get away from it all with her friend and forget about the last couple of months.
"I'll only be there a few minutes," she promised.
"Are you sure you want to bump into Matt after last night?"
C.J. opened the frig to get some juice.
"I don't know how I'm going to avoid it," she said, "I'll just apologize for giving him a tough time and everything should be okay."
"Yeah, he only did come running down there to see if you're all right."
C.J. stared at Gracie.
"Why did you call him?"
Gracie shook her head.
"Honestly, because I was concerned about you being locked up in jail and about Ginger being locked up with you," she said, "Jails are not very safe places."
"I know that," C.J. said, "But I don't want my whole life to be about Houston coming to my rescue when I don't need it."
"He's there because he cares about you," Gracie said.
C.J. ran her hand through her hair.
"I know he does," she said, "but he's got to focus on his own life and if he gets married, then that's where his attention needs to be."
Gracie scooped the eggs on to their plates.
"I think he is able to decide where to focus his attention," she said, "and like I said, if he really was in a hurry to marry Elizabeth, they'd be halfway to Vegas by now."
"You don't know that."
"I think you know it too," Gracie said, "You know that he's just trying to find a way to let Elizabeth down easily and let her go."
C.J. took a bite of her eggs.
"She wouldn't be here unless she felt she had hope of getting him back."
Matt sat in the sofa in the penthouse suite drinking his second cup of coffee. He had tried sticking to one this morning but after the activities of the previous night, he hadn't gotten much sleep. Uncle Roy had walked in and had seen him sitting with his spreadsheets on the table in front of him.
"So how's work going this morning," Roy asked.
Matt grimaced, looking up at his uncle.
"I'm trying to concentrate and get this paperwork done because it should have been finished days ago," he said, "but I'm having a hard time concentrating on it."
Roy poured himself some coffee and joined Matt.
"Did you get any sleep last night?"
Matt shook his head.
"Not much," he said, "I got home late after C.J. and Ginger were released from jail but I had a lot on my mind."
Roy just nodded.
"Elizabeth wants to resume our relationship and get married," Matt said.
"But you want to put the brakes on it," Roy guessed.
"I think our window of opportunity on getting married had already closed," Matt said, "But I'm not sure how to tell her that without hurting her."
"You can't."
Matt sipped his coffee slowly.
"I know," he said, "And I really don't want to hurt her, I just can't marry her."
"You're going to have to tell her that," Roy said, "And when you do that, you're going to hurt her. There's no way around it."
Matt sighed.
"I'm trying to find the right words."
Roy shook his head.
"There aren't any," he said, "But if you don't tell her now, there will just be more heartbreak down the road."
Matt knew his uncle was right and he dreaded being in that position of having to break his ex-fiancée's heart. He started to get up to head to his office.
"I'll tell her tonight," he said.
"Oh C.J. called," Roy said, "She's dropping by for just a few minutes."
"She's not supposed to be working," Matt said, "I told her to take it easy."
Roy sipped his coffee watching his nephew.
"She's not staying long," he said, "She and Gracie are spending the day at the beach. It's a great day for it."
Matt nodded.
"I just hope they stay out of trouble."
Roy chuckled.
"As long as Ginger stays out of the picture, they should be all right."
Matt grimaced.
"She and C.J. nearly came to blows last night."
"I'm not surprised," Roy said, "I sensed a tension between the two in recent days."
The elevator door opened and both men heard Chris talking to several people. C.J. and Gracie walked into the lobby dressed in beach gear.
"Uncle Roy told me you were coming here," Matt said.
She smiled at him on her way to her office.
"Just for a few minutes," she said, "Then we'll be out of your hair."
"C.J., you're never in my hair," he said, "How are you feeling?"
"I feel fine," she said, "I think taking a few days off has been good for me."
Matt paused.
"We need to talk," he said.
She shrugged.
"We can do that later," she said, "There's no rush."
"I've got dinner plans with Elizabeth tonight…"
She and Gracie helped themselves to some guava juice.
"Of course," she said, "I'm sorry about interrupting your dinner date last night."
He sighed.
"C.J., you don't have to be sorry," he said, "I just wish you had felt more comfortable about coming to me."
She bit her lip.
"I explained that last night Houston," she said, "You've got your own life and I don't want to get in your way."
"You weren't in the way," he said, "You were never in the way."
Something flickered in her eyes but then she looked away again.
"Look, we're both very busy so I'll just do what I need to do here and I'll be out of here," she said, walking into her office.
Matt watched her go.
"A little bit touchy don't you think," Roy asked.
Matt turned to Gracie.
"What's going on here?"
She just looked at him.
"You need to ask her that," she said simply.
"That hasn't exactly worked," Matt said, "She won't really talk to me."
Gracie shrugged.
"She thinks you're busy trying to patch things up with Elizabeth."
"Because I've been spending time with her," Matt said.
"Well…yes," Gracie said, "Really Matt, I don't remember you being this clueless in college even though you were a jock."
"What the hell are you saying?"
She took a deep breath trying to will some patience into herself.
"I'll just say this," she said, "What she said she was afraid she'd become during that little conversation you two had not too long ago, came to pass. Think about that."
Gracie joined C.J. in the office. Matt just blinked his eyes as she left.
"Did what she say ring any bells nephew?"
Matt looked down for a while and then he nodded.
"It sure does."
Gracie and C.J. lay on their towels on the beach, listening to the ocean crashing its waves over the rocky jetty. They had left the office nearly as quickly as C.J. had promised and headed down to the beach to unwind. Few people had gathered at the spot where they had chosen to relax and there weren't many surfers trying their luck with the shallow waves.
C.J. sat up.
"What did you say to them when I left," she asked.
Gracie sipped her iced tea.
"Why do you assume I said anything?"
"Houston looked at me so oddly when we were leaving," he said.
"Maybe he just likes how you look," Gracie said, "We just talked about college."
C.J. gazed at her friend, furrowing her brow.
"Just as long as you didn't tell him about anything that I've told you," she said, "I don't want him to know."
"Are you going to talk to him," Gracie said, "or are you just going to avoid him indefinitely."
C.J. trailed her fingers in the sand.
"There's nothing to talk about," she said, "He working on getting back with Elizabeth and maybe he'll think about giving up his agency again and doing something else with his life."
"Is this the same woman I sat in the bathroom with yesterday with a bunch of dip stick tests?"
C.J. sighed.
"They were all negative," she said, "I'm not pregnant and it's probably a good thing."
"What if you had been?"
C.J. thought about it and once again, found a myriad of emotions flooding through her.
"I don't know," she said, "I guess we would have worked something out between us and it wouldn't have messed up his plans with Elizabeth."
"Would that have been enough," Gracie said, "to have the father of your child on the fringes of your life?"
C.J. grew exasperated.
"It would have to be," she said, "Besides, this type of thing happens all the time. A lot of women raise children without the father in the home if it doesn't work out between them."
"I know that," Gracie said, "but I don't think Matt's that kind of guy."
C.J. shrugged.
"Maybe not but as I've said, it's moot now," she said, "Nothing to worry about."
Gracie smiled.
"I'm not worried," she said, "I know the two of you will come around and at least have a discussion about what you shared during your holiday."
"There's no point," C.J. said, "Not when he's in love with Elizabeth and she with him."
Gracie shook her head.
"I don't think that's the case at all," she said, "I think he wants to make things right with you."
C.J. sipped her tea.
"I'd like that too," she said, "It's not been the same since Tahiti. I was so worried that it would mess up our friendship and that's what happened."
"Only if you let it stand between you," Gracie said, "rather than being honest with each other about your feelings."
C.J. ran her hand through her hair.
"I'm having problems being honest to myself," she said, "let alone honest with him."
"What do you want, C.J.?"
She looked up at her friend.
"I want what we had at least," she said, "but I think I screwed things up."
Gracie saw the regret in C.J.'s eyes.
"No you didn't," Gracie said, "You just acted in a very human way and there's nothing wrong with that."
"He's the most important person in my life," C.J. said, "I don't want to lose him."
"If you talk to him and tell him how you feel, you won't."
C.J. sighed.
"Easier said than done," she said.
Gracie shrugged.
"Who said the most important things in life were easy?"
"Certainly not me," C.J. said
Gracie sipped her drink.
"Well there you go," she said, "but you have the chance to build something really special with a great guy and you're letting it go."
"Even if I did want to do that…"
Gracie interrupted.
"I know you do C.J.," she said.
C.J. took a deep breath.
"Even so there has to be two people committed to doing that and he's not committed," she said, "He's getting back with Elizabeth."
Gracie looked exasperated.
"So you think," she said, "You never asked him about it did you?"
C.J. pulled her hair back.
"I think he's made it clear," she said, "who he wants to be with."
Matt stopped by the police station and ran into Jason sitting in his office.
"What are you doing here," Jason asked.
"I'm trying to find out if there's any information on the guy who shot me the other night."
Jason looked through some files on his desk.
"Not much," he said, "Not even any other aliases."
Matt looked at his watch.
"So you've got nothing on this guy?"
Jason sighed.
"Nothing," he said, "but on the bright side, we did find the disgruntled ex-employee who threw the Molotov cocktail and the two art thieves are being extradited back to France."
Hoyt walked into Jason's office and frowned when he saw Matt there.
"What are you doing here?"
"Nice to see you too Hoyt," Matt said, "I'm just checking in to find out if you know anything more about the man who shot me. You did tell me to stay out of it and let the police handle it."
Hoyt waggled his finger at him.
"We're doing the best we can with very limited information," he said, "We're keeping our eyes open especially since he's started killing people…"
"You think Hoyt," Matt said, "We don't know if he's just getting started or if he's a professional hitman."
"Immigration control and Customs haven't come up with anything on him either," Hoyt said, "and he's probably only been in the country for a little while."
Matt nodded.
"He's making his stay here a memorable one," he said, "and we don't even know who his next target is."
Hoyt folded his arms.
"We're doing the best we can Houston," he said.
Jason turned around from the window.
"He's right Lieutenant Hoyt," he said, "It's not enough. If he's a hit man then he's in the country to carry out a job."
Matt rubbed his jaw.
"But if that were so, wouldn't he keep a low profile until the time of the hit," he said, "Why draw attention to himself shooting someone like me?"
"Maybe he's not entirely stable," Hoyt suggested.
"Maybe it's not professional at all," Matt said, "Maybe his target is personal."
C.J. and Gracie walked on the pier, taking in the sights of the booths and the fishermen standing in a row at the end of it casting their lines into the ocean, hoping for a bite.
"So what's on the schedule," Gracie said, "Any way for us to cause more trouble?"
C.J. chuckled.
"We could go do something tomorrow," she said.
"We could hit another jazz club," Gracie said.
"Yeah," C.J. said, and then she remembered, "Oh not tomorrow, Houston and I got invited to some gala at some estate. It's a charity function."
"Are you going together," Gracie said.
"I'm sure he'll want to take Elizabeth," C.J. said, "Why don't you and I go stag?"
Gracie smiled.
"Okay," she said, "I think I packed a nice cocktail dress."
"Perfect," C.J. said, "It'll be fun. I think they're hiding a band."
Gracie smiled.
"Then that's settled," she said, "We'll get dressed and go to that party and have a blast."
C.J. laughed.
"Just as long as we don't wind up in the social columns," she said.
They continued walking on the pier and then C.J.'s eyes narrowed.
"What is it," Gracie asked, looking in that direction.
C.J. pointed her finger.
"It's that man," she said, "He looks like the one who shot Houston."
Gracie looked incredulous.
"You can't be serious."
C.J. studied him more carefully.
"I am," she said, "I know it's crazy but it looks exactly like him."
She began to walk closer.
"What are you doing," Gracie asked, "You have to be careful with this man. He's a killer."
"I just want to get a closer look," C.J. said.
"But he'll see you," Gracie protested, "Maybe you'd better call Houston."
C.J. turned around to face her.
"If I do that, I'll lose him," she said.
"Maybe that's not such a bad thing."
C.J. ran her hand through her hair.
"He could hurt someone if the police don't bring him in," she said.
"He could hurt you if you follow him," Gracie said, "and Matt's definitely not going to be happy about that."
"You stay here," C.J. said, "I'll be right back."
Gracie rolled her eyes.
"That's what you said last time."
C.J. crept slowly up to where the man stood next to some fishermen at the end of the pier. He didn't appear to notice her arrival. She hid behind an empty kiosk and watched as another man walked up to him. They seemed to be carrying on a conversation and the guy that shot Houston passed received a folder from the other man before handing him some pieces of paper. She winced, wondering if he would be shot dead like the other guy had been but they just continued talking until the other man walked away. As the man who shot Houston walked in her direction, she tried to make herself smaller behind the small shack. He walked quickly by but not without dropping a small piece of paper near where she hid. He stopped and she thought he would soon retrieve it and she nearly stopped breathing. But he just looked around and kept going.
She sighed in relief then stepped out, and after looking in both directions picked up the piece of paper. Her eyes widened when she saw what was written on it.