They were escorted back to their car and got in. They drove in silence back to their home. As the car stopped outside their home, Charlie turned to Alex.
"How long have you and Ray been seeing each other?" she asked her.
Alex shrugged and opened her door.
"We're not." She said, getting out and closing the door.
Charlie sighed and opened her door and got out. She looked around and somehow, it all seemed like an empty shell. She went into the hotel and got into the elevator with Alex. When they reached the top, Alex and Charlie went to their separate penthouses.
"See you at dinner?" Alex asked before unlocking her door.
"No, I think I'll just order something. I need to think for a little bit. Good night." She said, unlocking her door and walking in.
She closed the door behind her and walked over to her couch. She sat down, pulled her throw over her and cried. She cried until the sun was setting and then she saw how beautiful the sunset was and got up. She walked to the balcony doors and opened them. She watched the sunset and then she watched as the blue lights from the Eiffel Tower lit up the park. She felt a chill in the air and went back inside. She locked the door and went back to her couch. She turned on the TV and then she heard a knock on the door. She got up and walked over and opened it. Alex was standing there with bags of food.
"Chinese, sushi and ice cream and chocolate sauce. It that okay for a broken heart?" Alex asked, walking in.
"Perfect." She said, closing the door.
Alex put the food down in the kitchen and showed her the movie she had rented.
"Mamma Mia! Great, just what I need." She said, popping it into the DVD machine. They had dinner and had a good sing along to a good movie. Close to midnight, Charlie's phone rang. She picked it up.
"Hello… really…oh…well okay, send him up." She said hanging up the phone.
"Who was that?" Alex asked, finishing the last of the chocolate sauce.
"Umm, Stanley Dickinson. He told the front desk he wanted to talk to me about promoting something or other." She said, sitting down.
"Maybe you should leave before you get roped into this; I know how much you hate the PR side of this." Charlie said, finishing her ice-cream.
"Do you mind?" she asked Charlie.
"Go, he'll be here soon. Night. And… thanks for this." She said as he sister dashed for the door.
"Night." She whispered and ran off after closing the door.
After a few seconds she heard the elevator ping and the doors slide open. She heard the foot steps as he walked up to her door.
Knock knock.
She sighed and got up off the couch and walked over to the door. She took a deep breath, felt for Anukis in her pocket and opened the door.
"Hello Tala." She said as he stood there in the hallway.
"I said I would find you." She said as she stepped aside and let him in.
"What are you doing here?"
"Sorry, but I couldn't wait any more. I know Kai left today, and I thought…you might need some, comforting." He said, looking around the room.
"Nice. Penthouse?" he asked, turning to face her.
"Of course. Wine?" she asked him, turning away from him.
"No. I'm not much of a drinker." He said, walking up to her and touching her cheek. She turned around and watched him as he came closer to her and kissed her. She kissed him back, figuring it was time for that fun Kai spoke about. He kissed her deeply and soon she felt his hands lifting up her shirt. She broke the kiss and stopped his hands. She looked into his ice blue eyes.
"I'm not… the same." She said to him, hiding her face.
"You're forgetting, I'm the one who did it to you. I know about the scars." He said, lifting her shirt up over her head. She was wearing a white bra underneath. On her silky soft skin were red angry cuts, scars in the making. He ran his hand slowly over the long one over her torso. He walked over to the light and switched it off.
"See, now you can't see them." He said, walking up behind her and wrapping his arms around her waist.
He felt a tear hit his forearm. He moved around to her front and she was crying. He wiped her tears away and held her hands.
"I hate you for doing this to me." She seethed.
"I'm sorry. Look, I also have scars. A few new ones too." He said, taking off his shirt. He had a long cut from where his liver was down his side to his hip.
"What happened?" she asked him.
"Boris decided that I needed to be punished for running and not staying to fight you guys back in Russia. He did this to me, and then I got out. I left Biovault. That's why I'm here now. I'm looking to start a new life. With you." He said, reaching for her cut up stomach.
"We are both scarred and damaged. That's why we need each other." He said, pulling her closer to him.
She felt her skin touch his rough cut.
"How do you handle the pain?" she asked him softly.
"I'm used to pain. I've been in pain since I could breathe. It's my fate." He said to her, taking her hair out of the ponytail it was in. She shook her hair out and leaned against his shoulder.
"I'm so lonely. Please stay the night." She said, hugging him.
He kissed her neck and wrapped his arms around her waist.
"Of course." He said, looking down at her.
"Tala, I meant to ask you, how did I end up in Kai's cell? The last thing I remember before that, I was in bed with you." She said to him.
"Voltaire ordered that you be given back to Kai as a birthday present. Boris made me do it." He said, brushing her hair off her shoulder.
"Wanna go to bed now?" he asked her.
"Yeah." She said, leading him to the bedroom.
He walked in and closed the door behind him. He watched as she slipped her jeans off and stood naked in the moonlight. The silver light and shadows from the trees outside danced on her skin as the wind blew the trees and he felt himself fall in love with her. She reached out for him.
"Come to me." She said to him.
He walked up to her and pressed his body up against hers. He slowly pushed her over onto the bed and kissed her smoothly, confidently. She kissed him back. She broke the kiss and smiled at him as she caught her breath.
"Tala, don't be gentle anymore." She whispered to him.
He smiled sadistically and reached down to her cut and gently squeezed the skin. She felt the skin open up slightly and cause her pain. She arched her back and enjoyed the addictively exquisite pain only Tala could cause her. She reached for his cut and pushed her hand against his ribs. He closed his eyes and frowned.
"I hate you for loving me." She whispered to him.
He opened his eyes and smiled at her.
"I love you for hating me." He said, plunging deep into a fervent kiss.