The Blue Dress
Chapter Nineteen: Charcoal Hearts

Six days.

Six days since their meeting with Mr. Wilson on Monday. Six days since he came into that office and avoided her, not speaking, not even looking at her. Six days since she had discovered that he left not too long after their meeting. And six days since he had come back.

By the time Friday rolled around, she decided she had had enough and was going to seek him out herself. It was one thing to take a personal day. It was another to take off a whole week unannounced.

Holding a piece of paper with his address on it in her hand, she walked down through the streets of downtown until she reached a tall gray building. She looked down at the paper in her hand:

3457 Gotham Street NW

This was the place. She took a step toward the building but was stopped short when she heard a familiar voice call her name.

"Miss Roth?" She turned her head and saw Jason walking up to her, sweaty and slightly out of breath. He put his hands on his hips, coming to a stop in front of her. "What are you doing here?"

Without meaning to, her eyes swept over his form and God, how she wished she hadn't. He was wearing one of those black short sleeved Under Armor shirts that clung to his torso like a vice, showing the sleek muscular body that hide beneath his Blazers and button down shirts he wore in his office. And that wasn't the only thing that was hiding. There, on his right arm, was a sleeve of tattoos in various different lines going down to his wrist.

She took a deep breath to calm her now racing heart before flicking her eyes back up to his face.

"I uh…you- you haven't been at work all week," she stuttered out, embarrassingly, her face growing hot at the sight of him.

He shook his head. "No, I haven't been in the office all week. I choose to work at home for a little while."

"Oh," she blinked. "Your receptionist said that she canceled all your meetings, so I just assumed-

"She didn't cancel my meetings. She changed them," he interrupted, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "I've been meeting with all of them via Skype."

Her face scrunched up in confusion. "Then why wasn't I…"

The question died in her mouth, seeing him look down at the ground and sigh. The answer hit her like a ton of bricks:

He didn't want to see her.

"Oh."

"Yeah," he sighed, picking up his head to the sky, looking anywhere other than her. After a moment, he cleared his throat. "Is there a reason as to why you're standing in front of my apartment building, Miss Roth?"

"Um… Uh, yes," she nodded, holding her purse a little closer to her. "It's about the case."

"It always is," she heard him mutter before he sighed. He shifted weight again from foot to foot as if he was contemplating something, rolling his tongue in his mouth. He, then, sighed in defeat as if he had lost a battle to himself and started walking towards his building and pulling his keys out. "Come on."

Raven bit her lip as she followed behind him through the lobby and to the elevator. It was a silent ride up, memories of her last elevator ride with him swimming in her thoughts as he stood beside her, still looking anywhere else but at her. The normal tension in the air between them danced around, mixing with a different sort of tension, crippling them and making them unsure of what to do or what to say to each other.

Fortunately the ride was short, both of them sighing in relief when they reached his floor. Unlocking the gate to his door, he slid the heavy metal door to the side, revealing the inside of his apartment.

"Come on in," he mumbled, tossing his keys into a tray by the door and walking towards his kitchen.

Her heels clicked against the grey wood of his apartment floor as she took a few steps inside the loft. It was completely different than his office which was filled with books and files and earthy tones of brown and green and burgundy and comfortable looking furniture to make it feel more homey.

This place, however, felt cold. Almost void of emotion.

It was neat and orderly with an ultra modern, minimalist, industrial sort of spin to it. The furniture in the living room looked uncomfortable and hard to sit on. The ceiling was high, metal structures and pipes open and exposed there. He had large windows that started from the floor and reach up the way up to the ceiling, overlooking the streets of downtown and making it feel larger and emptier than it already was. The walls were charcoal black save for one wall that had a giant bold red X across it, reaching out to the corners of the wall.

With the exception of an abandoned shirt by the stairs, a jacket hung over the banister upstairs, and the few dishes that sat in the sink in his kitchen, his apartment felt very…Impersonal.

"You said something about the case?" He asked from the kitchen, shaking up a jug of orange juice in his hands.

Blinking again, she turned to face him and nodded before walking over to the large kitchen island that separated them."Yes, I found the purchasing reports and receipts of sales from the 2012 files down in the archives."

She dug her hand into her purse and pulled out a yellow folder, sliding over the counter to him. Stopping it, he regarded her with hard eyes before looking down at the file and opening it, lifting the jug in his hands to his lips and drinking from it.

She bit her lip awkwardly as she waited for him to read it, unsure of what to do yet again. She considered sitting on the stool at the counter but she wasn't sure if she should even bother trying to get comfy. She looked around for anymore traces of personality in his home but found none. Not a picture, not a poster… Nothing. Just that glaring red X on the wall.

She flicked her eyes back to him and caught sight of his tribal tattoo that ran all the way down to his wrist again, feeling her blood rush to her face.

She rarely felt attracted to men with tattoos of any sort but on him… It was almost drool-worthy. Hearing his hum snapped her back into reality once again.

"Alright, I'll read over this and send you my findings by the end of the weekend," he said, turning away from her to put the jug back in the refrigerator.

She gave a quick nod of her head but made no moves to leave, feeling stuck in her spot on the floor. He turned back around with a bored expression, a sigh of agitation passing his lips.

"Is there anything else, Miss Roth?"

"Um…" She stuttered around him again, searching for something to say. What could she say? She came over here because of work. Nothing more. She pressed her lips and shook her head. "No, that is all, Mr. Todd."

"In that case, have a good day, Miss Roth," he nodded his head to the metal structure that was his door.

She felt as if she had been slapped across her face, her soul stinging a little at his dismissal of her and how easy it was for him to do so. Rolling her tongue, she turned around and began to slowly walk to the door, her heels sounding like bombs in her ears again as they clicked against wood. A strange sense of disappointment settled in her stomach, making it twist and turn in the most uncomfortable of ways. She tried to dismiss it but it was there and it was so very real.

She would never admit it but she quickly found herself missing their teasing and their little spats. She missed his infuriating smirks and his sly grins. But most of all… She missed his eyes and the way they looked at her, not like now where he looked at her with boredom and agitation. But before, he looked at her like she was something to be marveled, to be treasured and worshiped. Like she was a wish that had come true.

Feeling a quick surge of either bravery or madness, she turned around to face him again, walking over to him on his side of the island. "Mr. Todd?"

He slowly lifted his head up and sighed, his expression stoic and unreadable. "Yes, Miss Roth?"

"I uh…" She started, feeling the surge run away from her under his gaze just as quickly as it came. "The other day… That is… You… You just left and didn't say anything."

"I wasn't in the mood to hear you talk to your new boyfriend, Miss Roth," he growled, his voice like poison down her spine.

"He's no-," she stopped, pressing her lips together in a hard line. She wanted to tell him that Gar wasn't her boyfriend, that he was just a guy she was casually dating and nothing more. But she resisted telling him that truth. Would he have believed her anyway? Doubtful.

She straightened her jacket and cleared her throat instead. "Anyway, I…wanted to apologize."

He raised an eyebrow. "For what?"

She shrugged, looking away from him as to help force the words out. "For…dismissing you the way I did-

"Oh, you mean when you ran away and swept everything under the rug?" He bit, sarcasm dripping in his tone. He frowned. "Is that what you're talking about?"

She tried not to roll her eyes at him, her tolerance forthis Jason Todd wearing thin on her. "Yes… I'm sorry."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, kettle," he sighed, walking back over to his refrigerator. "Apology accepted. Are we done now?"

She felt another slap sting her soul and that's when she realized that she had enough. She slammed her purse down on the counter and threw her hands on her hips. "What the hell your problem?"

"Excuse me?" His brows furrowed, his hand barely tugging on the door.

"I'm trying, okay? I'm trying to apologize and be cordial to you and you're being all pissy at the world!" She threw her hands up at him, feeling quite angry and frustrated at his attitude.

"What the fuck do you want from me? A gold star? You want me to pat you in the head and say 'Oh good for you, you tried!'" He scoffed at her. "Please. I accepted your apology, didn't I?"

"Horribly so," she crossed her arms, walking up to him. "And at least I'm trying, unlike you who hasn't even tried to apologize for-

"I will not be sorry for that!" He seethed with his teeth bared, moving dangerously close to her face. He smelled of soap and sweat from his earlier workout. Good lord… Even when he was covered in sweat he smelled good.

Focus, Raven.

"I refuse to apologize for what I said in my office the other day because I meant every word I said," he stalked towards her like a predator to his prey until she was backed against the island counter.

She looked into his eyes and saw that dark flicker in his eyes. The one that lit a match and set that hellfire between them aflame and all she could do was stand there and burn with him.

"And I especially refuse to apologize for kissing you or fingering you or fantasizing about you," he growled in his chest, his hands sliding around her waist while his form pressed against hers.

It was then, she realized how much her body had missed this contact with him. A gasp parted her lips, her chest heaving with shallow breaths, his closeness suddenly making it hard for her to breathe. Her hands found his torso, her fingers curling into the black stretchy fabric of his shirt, feeling the toned muscles underneath. Her eyes flickered between his face and lips, the memories of them on her playing in her head like a film.

She watched as his eyes swept over her in silent appreciation and licked his lips. She felt one of his hands slide up from her waist to her neck, bunching her hair and pulling her head back slightly. His nose flared and his body shook as he gazed at her chest, breathing through his teeth as if he was waging a war within himself before he looked back up to her.

"I refuse to apologize for wanting you as badly as I do…" He spoke through gritted teeth, his body still trembling against hers.

She could feel every whisper of his steady breath along her skin as they locked eyes. Staring, questioning, challenging… Waiting.

Her eyes left his to look at his barely parted lips set into a thin line as he assumed she was averting her gaze.

"Go on, then, Miss Roth," he spoke suddenly, surprising her. His voice was so husky it made her shiver. "Tell me to back off."

She didn't. Her eyes flew to his with a look of blissful acceptance and brazen fingers she reached for his face.