Don't Look Like a Seal Pt. 05

He fought hard to make it sound like a question and still failed miserably. Karly glared at him before Addison ushered her off to mingle. I nodded at him then at Michelle.

"On my way," I said to him then smiled at Michelle. "You really look amazing, Michelle."

"Thank you, Kenny," She smiled back then cut her eyes at Cassidy who was peeking at her cleavage.

"That is a great dress, Michelle," He commented as I walked away.

"You should see how it brings out my eyes," She commented. "Let me know if you ever get that far with your eyes."

She stalked away to catch up to Addison and Karly leaving a stunned Cassidy in her wake.

****

"Second floor clear," I checked in with Joe as I walked the upper hallways of the house.

"You can just call in if there's a problem you know," Alex grumbled in my earpiece. "And what are you doing on the second floor anyway? I assigned you the hall where the party is going on."

"Cassidy sent me up," I answered.

"Of course he did," Alex sighed. "Get back in there and if he says anything else to you I want you to deck the asshole."

"Alex, lets not get into a dick measuring contest at Mrs. Voss' party huh?" I answered him. "I'm headed back now but I'm staying on the second floor so he doesn't cause a scene."

"Addison is the one that's causing a scene," He remarked. "That dress of hers is hot!"

"Grayson only had eyes for Michelle," Joe chimed in with a chuckle.

"Thanks, Joe," I muttered as I returned to the second floor landing and slowly walked it while the party went on below my feet. "Is there anything you two jokers need or are you just busting my chops?"

"I need ten minutes with Addison," Alex said.

"In that dress of hers? I give you two minutes tops," I chuckled.

"Not for that, asshole," He stated. "I need to ask her some questions."

"She's getting surrounded by the majority of the male guests near the refreshment table if you feel like going in," I told him. "I've got overwatch."

"You aren't funny, Ken," He grumbled. "I'm not going to interrupt her here. I'll catch her afterwards. It's not that important."

"Smart play," I said. "Let her change out of that dress so you aren't staring at her rack the whole time you try and talk to her."

"I should have had you parking cars," He muttered then clicked off my earpiece before I could respond.

"Talking to yourself in the dark and being creepy again, Kenny?" Michelle asked from behind me.

I chuckled as I turned and gave her a smile.

"Caught me again, huh?" I asked. "Your creep meter must be well into the red where I'm concerned."

"Well you did manage to only take a quick glance at my cleavage in this dress before you looked into my eyes which is more than I can say about several of the other guys here," She said.

"Maybe I'm hoping for another look at those legs again," I joked then made a show of looking around. "No, wait. Where is your dad? He can't hear me can he?"

She gave my shoulder a slight punch then shook her head as I chuckled.

"He is in Karly's room," She answered. "I will be telling him all about this however so you're still in trouble."

"I can't see how I'm the one in trouble when you're the one that chose to wear that dress," I defended myself. "I can't be blamed when you look this gorgeous."

"You can blame Addison and Karly for this," She remarked.

"Blame? I think that you mean that I can thank them," I smiled.

"You're still impossible, Kenny," She smiled and shook her head but she gave me this look.

I lost myself in her eyes as I reached out and pulled her closer. She melted into my arms and it felt like she always belonged in them. I leaned down, watched those perfect blue eyes of hers close then our lips met. Everything around us seemed to stop in that moment. The sound of the party evaporated as we held each other in that embrace. Her lips tasted of champagne and strawberries and felt like warm velvet. She pressed her body closer to mine then moaned into my mouth for a brief second before everything changed. Michelle's hand gripped my shoulders and abruptly pushed me back. I opened my eyes and saw fear in hers.

"That shouldn't have happened," She whispered. "This was a mistake."

"A mistake?" I asked but she was already rapidly moving away from me toward the bedrooms. "Michelle, wait a sec!"

I called out but it was useless. She was already gone. I started after her but my name was called out from the top of the staircase.

"Grayson," Cassidy stated. "We're down a man at the gate. I need you down there. Now."

"I need a minute," I argued and started to move again but he stepped in front of me.

"You don't get a minute," he growled at me.

I thought about ignoring him. I thought about punching him out but figured that it wasn't worth the trouble that would bring so I simply nodded and headed downstairs figuring that I could talk to Michelle about what just happened tomorrow.

****

The Next Morning

I had traded my suit for my swim trunks and was seated out on the Voss' private beach in the hopes that Michelle would join me. The breeze was blowing steadily as I sat and waited. I heard the gate squeak behind after around a half hour of sitting there.

"She's not coming is she?" I asked without turning around.

"She's gone, Kenny," Karly answered as she approached. "She left for the airport a few hours ago. She's going to visit her parents. I'm sorry, I ... I tried to get her to see you but she... she just..."

"It's okay, Karly," I assured her. "I understand."

"What happened?" She demanded. "If you understand then you can explain it to me."

"Karly, just leave it," I tried but when I looked up and saw her with her hands on her hips with a glare in her eyes I shook my head. "It was a mistake. Just a mistake. Leave it at that."

That wasn't the answer that she wanted to hear and her body language reflected it but after a moment she softened then sat down beside me. My hand absently reached for the shark tooth that hung around my neck. I gave it a squeeze then held it and kept my gaze on the incoming waves.

"She'll be back, Kenny," She stated. "She'll be back and you can straighten all of this out with her."

"You sound pretty confident about that, Karly," I said.

"I do huh? That's good. I wanted to be reassuring," She told me.

I chuckled and nodded my head.

"Well you are," I smiled.

We both looked when we heard the gate squeak again. I think that we both expected it to be Michelle but it wasn't. Det. Young gave a wave as she started toward us.

"I was told that I might find you out here, Ken," She said. "Good morning, Miss Voss."

"Good morning, Detective," Karly greeted her. "Please call me Karly. I don't go for all that formal nonsense."

Det. Young stifled a chuckle and nodded.

"Noted," She told her then looked at my attire. "Morning swim?"

"Cancelled," I answered. "Early morning?"

"Late night," She responded. "We got a lead from the info you and Alex got for us. I thought you'd want to hear what we found."

"Shoot," I said.

"We ran down that company and while it was a series of dead ends we did find a payout to a rental property here in Myrtle," She shared.

"You've got eyes on?" I asked.

"Since we found it," She answered. "Bobby and I were on our way there but we wanted to stop by and loop you and Alex in. We thought you might want to take a ride with us and have a look."

"I think that I would," I answered. "Give me a few minutes to change?"

"We'll be by the pool when you're ready," She nodded.

I nodded, got to my feet and helped Karly to hers.

"We'll revisit this conversation when you get back?" Karly asked with raised eyebrows.

"Sure, Red," I answered and headed toward the guest house to change clothes.