Page 78 of Chasing Elliott
Marlowe was standing with her arms now folded over her chest, her head tilted back as she stared up at the sky, not a single star in sight, when the metal door flew open.
Startled, she jumped slightly but only cast a quick glance over her shoulder, wanting to remain invisible but also wanting to see who had joined her.
She didn’t immediately recognize the stranger, but she could tell he was furious. What could make someone that angry, she couldn’t even begin to fathom.
He walked towards the lounge area that rested in the center of the roof, grabbing one ofthe chairs and slamming it into the ground. Five swift swings and all that was left in his hand was one of the wooden legs.
Marlowe watched him with curiosity as he threw the leg into the metal door beforehastily stripping out of his suit jacket. He gripped his hands roughly in his brown hair as herested his back against the wall and sunk down so he was sitting.
“I’m sorry about that,” the stranger said, and it took Marlowe a moment to realize he was talking to her.
“Trust me, I get it,” she told him, releasing a sigh as she took a small step closer to theman. “Wish I would’ve thought of that, myself. Those chairs are hideous.”
To her surprise, the man in front of her chuckled, taking his hands out of his hair and resting his arms on his legs so he could look at her clearly. He didn’t miss how beautiful, yet sad, she looked, and he found himself wanting to know more about the blonde woman who stood before him.
“What’s got you all sad?” He pondered, immediately kicking himself for how ridiculousthat had sounded.
“You know, just pondering the great mystery that is life itself,” she answered, finding humor in how embarrassed he was at himself.
He raised a brow as he tilted his head slightly. “Oh, so nothing that important.”
“Not at all.” Marlowe couldn’t help it as she laughed, enjoying the ease with which hebrought her, making it easier to joke about the misery she was feeling. I mean, he was just a stranger,after all. “What’s got you acting like the Hulk?”
“I’m going to take that as a compliment, means you see a resemblance,” he told her, bringing an arm up and flexing which made Marlowe roll her eyes before he sighed. “But I’m just sitting here wondering how some people can be so greedy, cruel, and selfish and ruin thelives of others.”
Marlowe looked at the man carefully, already making a few conjectures about him. Heclearly was a business man of some sort on account of the suit he was wearing. Secondly, he obviously was someone who cared about others, and that made her take a steady breath. Lastly, she believed that this stranger had a good head on his shoulders and wouldn’t become whoever he was so mad about. At least she hoped.
“Seems like we both have a lot on our minds,” Marlowe commented as she began to walk towards the lounge area. She turned around so she was walking backwards, her eyes on the man still resting against the wall. “Care to join me and tackle these life altering issues together?”
“Don’t mind if I do.”
He hastily climbed to his feet just as she turned back around and approached the chairs.As she took a seat on one of the antigravity chairs and leaned back, he couldn’t stop himself from admiring every little bit of her while she stretched out.I am a man after all, and she’s beautiful,he thought to himself, justifying away his wandering eye.
Even though they hadn’t spoken much, he could tell she had a poise and commanding presence to her; she was strong and wellrounded, for sure. Blue eyes that could take anyone’s breath away on top of the aura she gave off was a dangerous combination, one that would stop any man in their tracks.
Jesus,he thought to himself as he huffed.You sound like some love-struck creep. Keep itin your pants, Romeo.
“You’re making me anxious,” Marlowe told the man, her head turning to see him stillstaring at her.“You can still admire me from a seat.”
“Can’t blame a guy,” he mumbled, his cheeks flushing from embarrassment, and he fellinto the chair a few feet away from her; close enough for them to touch if he were to try. “So, whose life altering issue should we tackle first?”
She mulled it over, already knowing she didn’t want to talk about herself, at least notfirst, but wanted to seem as if she was genuinely considering her options. “Tell me about this greedy, cruel, and selfish person you know.”
“Now, if I tell you that, I have to tell you the whole story,” he told her.
Marlowe pushed the chair so that it was completely flat and rolled onto her side, resting her head in her hand as she watched him intently. “I’ve got plenty of time.”
“It’s my father,” he informed her with a heavy sigh, thinking back on everything he had uncovered over the course of only a couple hours. “I know all parents are horrible, but he was something else.”
“Mine aren’t horrible at all,” she told him truthfully, thinking about her father who was probably sitting on the couch watching television with her sister, and her mom who she lost only a couple years prior who was nothing but the best.
The man sighed, a sense of jealousy and envy flowing through him as he wished fornothing more than to have the life that the woman before him must have had. “Well, you’re oneof the lucky ones.”
“Wait,” she suddenly said, cutting him off as her eyebrows furrowed together. “You said he was something else, not is.”
“Yeah,” he drew out, running a hand through his already messy hair. “He passed a few days ago. The funeral was today, actually.”
Marlowe sent a sympathetic expression his way, but she could tell by the look he gaveher in return that he didn’t want it, so she plastered a neutral face. “I actually came from afuneral myself,” she informed him with a heavy sigh. “But we’re not on me yet, we’re talking about you. Tell me about him.”
