The door hinges creak open, her head turning to see Dallas walk through the door. Her head slowly looked towards the sound of the noise. Once she realizes who entered the condo, her head tilts back again.
She wasn't in the mood for greeting him, due to the intense pain she was in. He understood most likely, his footsteps only getting closer. The sound of a bag dropping onto the floor, the weight of the cushion moving.
"When did you decide to take a bottle of the whiskey?" Dallas asks calmly,
Amelia sighs, head pulling up to look at him. "When the pain started messing with my head." She leans forward grabbing the entire bottle. Throwing her head back, she takes a large gulp. "Whiskey won't hurt me, one of my less deadly habits."
"Amelia.."
"It was him, you know." She chuckles, swinging the bottle in her hand to the other side of her. Looking towards her partner, his face conveying no emotion. "Jake mother fucking Parker: Is alive."
She could say that much to him, hebhad known her suspicions from the beginning. The signs all pointed to Jake being alive, neither of them wanted to believe it at first. The longer the deaths went on, the more likely it had become. How could she have been so careless, how could she have just not known how to aim a god damn pistol?
Younger Amelia was the downfall of the present, if she had aimed farther to the left. Possibly shot more than three times, he would have died in the field. There was not enough alcohol in the world to numb the feeling of despair, regret, and guilt.
Another swig, shaking her head. Slowly bringing her hand to wipe across her mouth, her hair coming down over her shoulders. Amelia was a wreck, the secrets were eating at her. "If I just shot the fucker better. He would have died, he should have died." She grits her teeth together.
"You were young, Amelia." Dallas leans forward, lightly taking the large bottle from her tight grip. He places it down, scooting closer to her. His hands place on top of hers, "You had thought he was well enough dead, even with you missing.. He would have bled out."
He didn't, that was the problem. Jake hadn't died like he was supposed to, it was a never ending nightmare. A continuous tug of war between the two of them, neither going out without the other. A string of fate that had nothing to do with love, with tender care for each other. Amelia wanted him dead, stomped down under her feet.
So badly yearning to cut the red thread that bound her to him, as if detaching a limb in its entirety.
"That's the problem, he didn't." Her head turns towards him, shoulders slumping down. "If you had seen him..What he looks like." She stops, shaking her head.
Dallas rubs his thumb on top of her hand. "You don't have to explain it to me. You don't have to say another word."
There was no way in this world she was going to keep what she saw a secret, even if it was in the simplest of terms. Dallas had to know something, to the point her terms of the deal were not broken. Knowing Jake, he would want that form of attention from the man who stole her away.
"His face was terrifying. Disgusting, vile, something from a nightmare." She can feel the goosebumps on my skin. I'm a grown woman Dallas, but the sight of him had me petrified."
Flesh melting off of the bone, skin tearing at the seams. It was still fresh in her mind, Amelia would never be able to forget it. If not for the hole blasted into his face, he would have looked the same. The dashing, cocky criminal who chased her around for days on end. Losing half of his face only showed how disgusting he was inside and out. The outside matched the inside, something beyond terrifying to even the old and gray.
"His voice, his smile, everything about him had my skin crawling. I don't know if this is God's way of punishing me for trying to kill him in the first place but, I can't escape him." Amelia shakes her head, leaning forward to grab the bottle from Dallas.
He catches her hand, his large palm gripping against her wrist. The stare between them was intense, neither pulling their eyes from the other. Amelia felt her heart racing against her chest, the pain pulsating throughout her body. He was analyzing her, he could sense there was more to what she was saying. Amelia wouldn't utter a word, not even a peep.
Dallas leans to his side, placing the bottle back onto the counter. With a deep breath, he holds her hands in his own. "You did escape him," He starts, squeezing her hands. "You can do it again, you aren't alone in this Amelia."
She was alone, he had no idea of the deal she had placed on her own head. Dallas would have no chance to help her, even when death would be drawing near. Even when his arms would envelop her, his kisses would warm her skin, she would still be cold within.
One day he would be subjected to losing her, blood draining from her body. Face lifeless, pale, mumbling her final words before the bitter sweet end of her life.
Amelia could never say all of that to him.
"I know.." She mutters slowly, grabbing back onto his hands. "I know, the pain is really just getting to me." Amelia sighs, leaning forward to lean her head against her lover's chest.
Dallas wastes no time in wrapping his arms around her, rocking back and forth with the small woman in his arms. He doesn't say anything, only humming a light little tune on his lips. Breathy, but able to hit the notes with his low voice. It was soothing, he was calming no matter what he did.
The smile pulls on her lips, albeit the immense pain smiling brought her. "Killing Me Softly, you remember that song well don't you?" Amelia questions, her lover chuckling. She can feel the vibration of his chest against her cheek.
"How could I not, it was the first song we slow-danced to. In the kitchen, just the two of us together alone for the first time." He shuffles, leaning back to let Amelia lay on his chest. She does so welcomingly, rubbing her bandaged hand on his chest.
Home, he was home. It wasn't a place with four walls, a roof over their heads. Dallas Eric Linch became the home she longed for, but never knew she needed.
"Looking into your eyes, that sparkle you have even now. My love for you grew even more having you so close to me." A pause, his grip tightening around her. "Knowing you were mine, and I yours."
Love so tender, so sweet: Did she deserve it? Warmth held her, caring words blessed her. How did she end up with a man like Dallas, how did he end up with such a disaster like her? Had he not met her, would he have fallen for someone much better. Someone without the type of past that could get him killed, having her torn away from him. Amelia didn't want to cause him any pain, she wanted to let him live the life he always imagined.
It was too late to change his vision now, she knew she was a part of it. Only what ifs, never able to go back and save him the grace of meeting her under that yellow tape.
Amelia sighs, lifting her head to look up at him. "You're so poetic, you never change." Her words curl a smile on his lips, leaning forward to place upon her a kiss.
"You're so daunting on me, you never change either." He teases, Amelia chuckling at his words.
She presses her head back onto his chest, with nothing more to say there's a silence between the two. Until Dallas begins to hum their shared tune once more, rubbing his hands up and down her back. Amelia knew a moment like this would never last forever, absorbing it all was the best thing she could do for herself.
No overthinking, no worrying about what was to come. Healing, becoming stronger, doing what she had to do for those she loved. That was what she had to do for herself, listening to the beautiful hums of her lover.
What she wouldn't give to go back to their simple dance, through the dimly light corridors of their home. The view of the beautiful life they had made together just outside their windows, a natural existence.
Amelia would give anything to just go back, to when everything seemed to look up for them– For her. Humming had only so much power, but it relaxed her. Muscles once tense now dropping down, eyes fluttering shut against his clothing.
Maybe sleep this time would not be haunting, maybe Dallas would fill up her dreams. Her, him, and that shared tune mixed with faded laughter.