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I hesitate for a moment but ultimately nod. She’s being so open and vulnerable, and my love for her is just as strong as ever. This is just another painful moment of metamorphosis for Elise, and sending her away just because she’s stumbling with it isn’t something that I can do. “Okay, I’ll give you some time. But know that I'm not going to wait around forever,”
Elise nods, understanding the gravity of my words. “I know, and I wouldn’t expect you to,” she says softly. “I really like our relationship and I need you in my life.”
I take a deep breath, pulling in the sweet smell of her perfume, and I ache to hold her. “Come here, El,” I rasp, my voice low, and she crawls across the bed into my waiting arms. My body responds to having her so close, but fucking her right now will just complicate things more. Still… I have to admit that the idea of make up sex doesn’t sound terrible right now.
“Elise, I love you too much to just send you away,” I tell her. “But I need to know, do you really want to give this a shot? I can't keep going through this back and forth.”
“Yes, Dan, I want to give us a shot,” she says firmly, leaning in to kiss me. But as our lips meet, a small voice in the back of my mind whispers,Sooner or later, this woman is gonna break my heart. I just know it. At the same time, I’m too helpless to stop it.
27
Dan
It’s beena week since Andries and Roxanne’s interview aired, and it’s all that anyone has been talking about. Something about the two of them––the tall, good looking heir to the Van den Bosch fortune and the stunning former escort––just captures the attention of the masses like nothing else. Finally, though, things have calmed down enough that Andries is comfortable appearing in public without being harangued, and he called me this morning, desperate for an outlet for all the nervous energy that he had been holding inside for the past few days.
“I love Roxie,” he told me over the phone. “But I need to get out of this penthouse. Can you help me out?”
“Of course. I’ll pick you up in a few hours, okay? Bring your foil.”
The fencing gym isn’t crowded when we arrive, and the people that are there are polite enough not to invade our privacy, no matter how many screens they might have seen Andries’s face on lately. That, or two men armed with foils aren’t the best targets to be bothered. Whichever it is, I’m fine taking advantage of it. Not only do I want Andries to be able to unwind, I’m looking forward to doing the same.
It feels great to be back after some time away, stiff muscles giving way to the easy, loose yet precise movements that are so familiar I can probably do them in my sleep. Things between my best friend and I have been tense in the past few weeks, but now that we've worked through it all, it feels like nothing has changed between us. Stepping onto the fencing strip, it feels like we’ve never been away from the sport.
The familiar weight of the foil in my hand, the sound of blades clashing, and the adrenaline rush of competition all come flooding back to me. We both know each other's moves so well and it's like we’re reading each other's mind. It's a friendly competition, but we’re both very accomplished fencers, so the intensity level is high. I’ve always been a few steps ahead of Andries, due to my age, I suppose, but I’ve noticed that he’s been closing in on me skill-wise. Either I need to step it up or just accept that he might eclipse me in the future, but I’m not ready to admit defeat yet.
Crossing blades, I can’t see my longtime friend’s face past the mask, but his frame has gotten tense and his movements jerky, and I can sense something is amiss.
“Let’s take a break,” I call to him, stepping off the strip and pulling the mask off my head. “I need a drink.”
Andries just grunts in response, but he follows suit, removing his helmet and sitting on the wooden observation bench next to me, pushing his sweat-soaked hair off his forehead before grabbing his water bottle and drinking deeply.
“What’s weighing on you?” I ask when we are both done drinking.
“Oh, you know. Everything,” he grumbles. “I thought this would make me feel better, and it does, but I also feel guilty because I’m out here enjoying myself and not focusing on the potential trial and all the fallout of the interview.”
I frown. “Hey, you need to relax sometimes or you’ll snap. There’s no need to feel guilty.” I can tell he’s about to argue, so I ask, “How’s Roxanne? Any new information about the case?”
He replies with a heavy sigh, “We are waiting for the lawyer's update, but nothing yet.”
“That’s rough.”
“Yeah. I wish I just knew either way what we need to prepare for. It sounds wrong, but I’d rather be preparing for a trial than sitting around doing nothing and waiting for someone else to make a decision.”
“I get it,” I say, patting him on the shoulder. “The helplessness is the worst part, I’m sure.” I search his face from the profile, since he isn’t looking at me, and make a decision. “Let’s go one more time and call it a day. I’m rusty, and I can already tell I’m going to be sore as hell.”
Neither of us hold back for the last match, and once it’s over, we’re both panting. Andries claps me on the back as we walk to the locker room, desperate for a shower and a clean change of clothes.
Out of my fencing clothes and rifling through my locker, I pull out my fresh clothing before turning to look at my suspiciously quiet friend. Andries has stripped from the waist up, but is frozen, holding his cell phone in his hand. As he reads whatever is on the screen, the color drains from his face, and I know something is wrong. "Andries, what's wrong? What happened?"
He looks at me with a mix of disbelief, and anger and replies in a low, ominous tone, “The prosecutor has decided to go ahead with the charges against Roxanne as the main suspect of the drug scandal.”
His words cause ripples of shock to hit me as well. We had all been under the impression that Roxanne had enough supporting evidence in her favor that it would be pointless to charge her.
I can see the weight of the world on his shoulders and I know this is the beginning of a long and difficult journey for him and Roxie. I vow to stand by him and help in any way I can, but deep inside I know, this is going to be a fight that no one is going to come out of unscathed.
“What? That doesn't make fucking sense!” I exclaim in disbelief as Andries relays news of the prosecutor’s decision. “We know the dancer was bribed by Karl and your dad. That's fucking nonsense,” I continue, my voice growing louder with each word.
Andries begins to pace the length of the locker room, his face etched with frustration. “Maybe he's got the prosecutor in his hand. God... I can't believe it.”
