Leaving the Sanctuary

“What would you say to getting away from here for a few days?” JC asked Ciel over dinner one evening.

She frowned. “Wherever would I go?”

He chuckled. “I meant the two of us.”

“Oh.”

“I have a party invitation. I’d like to go.”

“I could stay here.”

“Uh—no, I was sorta hoping I could convince you to come with me to LA.”

“You want me to go to this party?”

“Well, yeah.”

Her wardrobe was limited to the jeans and tee-shirts he had purchased for her on the first day. Didn’t ‘party’ mean dressing-up? “I would have nothing to wear.”

“So? I’ll take you shopping.”

“Joshua—“

He held up a hand to stop any argument she might make. “I know shopping isn’t one of your favorite things to do. You’re amazingly easy on my wallet. This is something I’d like to do and I was hoping I wouldn’t have to go alone.”

Alone. The one word he could use to trigger her sense of duty. “I suppose I could go, if you really want me to…” she murmured.

“I so want you to go, Ceely.”

“I don’t know how good I am at parties.”

“I’ll stay beside you all night,” he promised.

She supposed she could make this one concession for him – after all, JC had given her so much. “You’ve got yourself a date, Mr. Chasez.”

“Good. Thanks.”

“When do we leave?”

“Tomorrow. I figure that gives you two days to shop.”

“I have no luggage.”

“You can borrow mine. Pack for three or four days.”

“Where will be staying?”

“I have a home in LA. I’ll call ahead for it to be opened and aired for us.”

Ciel nodded. Frankly, she was uneasy about leaving their seaside sanctuary. Afraid of what she might discover about herself elsewhere.

“Ceely, you’ll be fine,” JC assured her.

“Are we driving?” She had no idea where this LA was from where they were.

“That’d be some drive. No, we’ll be flying.”

“Flying?”

“You don’t get airsick, do you?”

“I have no idea if I’ve ever flown before.”

“Another new adventure for us,” he declared with a smile.

Ciel didn’t like the crush at the airport and stayed at JC’s elbow. He didn’t tease or make fun of her; he took her hand securely in his to guide her along. He didn’t let go until they were seated on the jet taking them to Los Angeles.

“Would you like the inside seat so you can look out the window?” he asked.

“Yes, please.” She didn’t so much want to look out the window as have JC be a barrier to the other people on the aircraft.

Releasing her hand, he took the seat beside her. “I usually sleep on flights, but I’ll stay awake to keep you company.”

“I can entertain myself. I brought a book like you suggested.”

“You sure, Ceely?”

“I know you think of me as a helpless child—“

“No, I don’t, baby.” Everyday he thought of her more as a woman. It was Ciel who treated him more like a father figure, especially in public.

“You rest. I’ll be fine. If I need something, I promise to wake you.”

“Okay. When they bring refreshments around, I won’t want anything. Just tell them what you want.”

Ciel nodded.

“Your boyfriend?” A young man leaned over the back of the seat in front of Ciel and indicated JC.

“Joshua? No.” She didn’t know how to describe their relationship, but it wasn’t romantic.

The blonde stranger offered his hand. “My name’s Kyle.”

“I—um—Ciel,” she said as she shook his hand.

“Heading to LA?”

“Yes. Joshua has business there.”

“That’s cool. Go there often?”

“This is my first trip.”

“I could show you around.”

JC had heard the start of the conversation. An unknown jealousy clawed at him. He thought of Ciel as his.

“She doesn’t need to be ‘shown around’,” JC growled. “She’ll be with me the entire time.”

Kyle didn’t miss the possessiveness in the other man’s voice, even if it was lost on Ciel. “Nice talkin’ to you, Ciel,” he murmured before he resumed his seat.

Confused, Ciel looked to her companion. “Joshua?”

“He was gonna hit on you.”

“Hit me?”

“No. Hit on you, ask you out.”

“Oh…and I wouldn’t like that?”

He shrugged. “I didn’t think you wanted to be out with anyone but me.”

“You’re right. No one understands me as you do.” She gave him a shy smile.

Okay, so he hadn’t made a complete jackass out of himself…”I kinda feel responsible for you – and you look out for me, too. It’s a mutual thing.”

“So, I am not a horrible burden?”

“I never think of you that way. We’re friends. It’s give and take. I watch your back and you watch mine.” He put an arm around her to bring her head to his shoulder.

“Mmm…I like the way you smell,” she purred.

“Maybe I should bathe in Envy,” he said of his cologne. She did seem to appreciate it.

“No, however you do it now is just right.”

“You’re a treasure, angel girl.”

“How is that?”

“You’re beautiful and totally without vanity. You enjoy simple things in life. Money means nothing – and you say the nicest things honestly.”

I don’t know how to be any other way.”

“I don’t want to change you – I adore you the way you are.”

“I’m glad.”

“Are you ready for our next adventure?”

“Which is?”

“Shopping.”

She wrinkled her nose. “I don’t like shopping.”

“I know. We’ll get you a couple of outfits. We won’t spend hours at it.”

“Thank you.”

Ciel was a rare woman indeed! “And to give you incentive, I promise a bag of Oreos when we’re done.”

Ciel giggled. “That is some incentive!”

“Mr. Chasez, I think you had better come in here.”

JC had just settled in a chair to await Ciel’s style show when the clearly upset saleswoman reappeared. He was on his feet immediately. “What’s wrong?”

“I—I asked her about the terrible scars on her back and she burst into tears.”

Scars? He didn’t know about any scars. Damn! And he had chosen some backless dresses for her to try on.

“Ciel?” He knocked on the locked dressing room door. He could hear her sobs and it tore at his heart.

“Go away!” came her muffled reply.

“Ceely…angel…Let me come in, baby.”

“I’m horrid.”

“No. You’re always beautiful to me, angel girl.”

The handle turned, allowing him in. Once in the small enclosure, Ciel, naked from the waist up, fell against him, sobbing inconsolably. He held her close, making soothing noises.

“Shh…baby, it’s okay,” he crooned. His gut clenched when he saw her slender back marred by two, ropey, long scars running from her shoulder blades to the middle of her back. They looked fairly new. “Do they hurt?”

“No. I—I didn’t know…I don’t know…”

These were not precise cuts of a surgeon. These looked cruel and deliberate. That answered the partial question of how she had come to be with him. She had obviously run away!

“I want the bastard that did this,” JC growled. She was so little; so precious…Who could do such a thing?

“We—we would have to know who I am.”

He would have to tell the investigators to go easy. He would not see her returned to someone who had abused her. With Ciel, things just didn’t add up.

Finally, she lifted her tear washed eyes to his and offered him a tremulous smile. “You are good to me, Joshua.”

Wiping the tears from her cheeks with his fingers, he murmured, “It’s easy to be good to you, angel girl.” Dropping a kiss on her forehead, he held her a little away from him. “Strapless and backless is out. I’ll go pick out a couple different outfits for you.”

“Thank you.”

Backing out of the dressing room, JC beat a hasty retreat with the inappropriate garments. Damn! Did she think he was made of rock? That he couldn’t feel or see her sweet little breasts? His palms itched to cup them, to feel her eager nipples peak at his touch. And he was more or less, her sexless protector in her eyes! He passed the discarded clothes to the saleswoman, saying, “I’ll pick some more things out for her.”