I AM SORRY! I KNOW I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN FOREVER! Thank you to everyone who favourited, rated and commented this story. As I have said before and will say again - it is what gives me the motivation to write more!! Sorry again that this update has taken so long, but this installment is longer, as promised, and includes a bit more character development! Stick with me I promise it will be worth it!
Enjoy
***
Warmth. Fleetingly sweeping over her skin. Her arm, her stomach, her cheek - she found her hand trailing after each mark of heat hopelessly trying to contain it. Whimpering, she angled herself in a desperate attempt to feel again the caress of the sun that should not exist in the middle of the night.
Then a single whisper had sent hot air fanning a fire along her neckline, before all trace of the warmth's mysterious source vanished.
"Soon."
***
Effie awoke with her hand on her neck, unsure of why it tingled with the most pleasant form of anticipation. She rolled lazily to see the dent in the hay where Ness' form had resided the previous night. After the first evening, she thought he would not stay again. But three more sundowns had occurred since then and still the agent insisted on remaining with her. A smile played the puppet-master and pulled her lips into that telling curve.
Becoming conscious of the unwilled action, she shook her head and sent her brunette locks into a frenzied swing around her. She placed her hands over her face and screamed into them in a girlish fashion.
I can't be falling for him.
Effie took a few deep breaths and composed herself, but put her hands down only to see a Ness laying a blouse and skirt on the chair before her. Without wanting to give another thought to the her confused feelings, she hastened to get off the bed and let the familiar routine of changing distract her from the coil of pleasure building within her chest.
"They've also got breakfast in the mess hall, but you really don't need to eat with those men again. I can always bring it here for you," Ness began to do that annoying this of his of late where he would over-accommodate for her.
"These aren't my quarters," Effie laughed as Ness turned to give her some small privacy whilst she put her clothes on.
"About that," Ness said, still facing the wall, "Do you need to contact anyone who you are staying with? Surely they must be worried that you haven't come home for some time now."
Effie awkwardly paused, before pulling her stockings up, "I'm sure no one misses me."
"You're presence is hardly undesirable," Ness offered, the flattery causing Effie's chest to blush a hot red until her doubt at his sincerity suppressed the feeling.
"Its, well, it isn't that," Effie spoke nervously as she adjusted her chiffon pleated skirt.
Ness turn now to face her as the clack of her heels signaled that her ensemble was complete for the day, "You surely can't mean that you live alone in the city, a girl like you..."
A woman, really. An attractive as hell beauty of a woman.
"Well actually," Effie said placing some rogue on her lips skillfully, "I don't even live in the city."
Ness chuckled, admiring her foolish eyes as he playfully entertained her unbelievable statement, "Oh really now?"
"Yes, as soon as my train got in I came straight to the office..."
"Wait, you seriously don't have a place to live?" Ness paced the floor towards her, realising she really was the fool those doe eyes made her out to be.
Effie couldn't help but feel exhilarated as he closed the space between them with his long and commanding strides, "I know of a cousin in the city..."
"A cousin!" Ness exclaimed, incredulous at the doll's spontaneity.
"More of a friend of a friend really," Effie mumbled as he was standing over her, his presence intoxicating.
Ness' eyes searched for any sign of sense or self-preservation or basic instinct in her ever-widening gems that completely captivated him every time he got a glimpse of them. She was too powerful for her own good.
"You shall stay with me then," he said, still standing just inches away from her.
"Surely it's improper for a single woman like myself," Effie protested, only causing Ness to reel in disbelief!
"Oh, so now propriety is a problem for you!"
"Well, no, but I had to point it out..."
"And what we have been doing the past few nights has been 'in decorum' has it now?" Ness said, bringing his hands up to cup her face.
"Sleeping next to you has been only of necessity," Effie remarked, blindly defending her innocence.
Ness squinted his eyes for a second as he remembered that only he had been privy to the subtle groping and torture that her body had inflicted on him night after night as he was compelled by a hidden duty to keep her safe and an untold desire to have her pressed up against him. She really was innocent despite their actions, well his mostly.
"And it is of necessity that I am telling you that you should stay at my place from now on, no objections," Ness concluded, removing his hands from her and turning to exit the room.
Effie watched him walk away and considered if his last words were an offer or a demand. She noted absentmindedly that his hands had been cool to the touch.
***
"I knew you were hiding something from me, but this - Christ! This is huge!" Detective Morgan adjusted his specks in disbelief as he stood behind his desk, reading over the contents of the Wolf's invitation.
Ness fumbled and combed his fingers through his hair nervously, still unsure if he had made the right decision by showing the document to the detective. Looking at the sweltering, round man in front of him, it was easy to miss the qualities underneath that Ness felt indebted to him for. His exterior reflected nothing of the brave, loyal man Ness knew him to be. The agent ruffled his hair again, trying to remember a time when Detective Morgan had flaming locks covering his scalp or a shirt that fit handsomely over his torso. The detective had been balding and putting on weight, well ironically, since he took Ness under his wing just over two years ago. Ness chuckled to himself at this - maybe he was the reason that this once respectable specimen of a man had let himself go. He had been a handful back then. Hell, he would be on the streets right now if Detective Morgan hadn't saved his career.
Yes, if there was anyone he could trust with showing the invitation, it was him.
"So she just had the note on her?" Detective Morgan was still fussing over the details of the night, recording them meticulously in his personal notebook.
That was the other thing. If there was one man in the world who was as dedicated to capturing the Wolf as Ness was, it was him. Ness knew that the detective's fascination with the notorious criminal, though not personally motivated like his own, stretched for almost double the time he had been involved.
"I found her at my desk, asleep, the letter in front of her..."
"Positioned how?"
"Detective, I really don't remember and I don't think it is important," Ness smiled at his pedantic nature.
"All details are important," the detective laughed at the impatient youth and continued to rustle through some papers, "And she doesn't remember any of it?"
"She still hasn't recalled any more details, no," Ness confirmed, the fact still bothering him.
The detective scanned the invitation once again before removing his glasses, "What is most striking though is that he calls her by her real name."
Ness froze at this. Even though he shared his knowledge of the invitation, could he also tell the detective about Effie's suspicions over who the Wolf was? To do so would be to reveal a connection that would have Effie inevitably involved in the investigation from this point out, if she already wasn't already in too deep. He pictured her vulnerable form sleeping in the sheets, the daintiness of her frame and how easily he could wrap his arms around her. How easy it would be for him to break her.
Why had she got herself involved in all of this? Why did she have to be the key to reaching one of the most dangerous men in the country? Ness' nostrils started to flare at the thought of the Wolf having Effie with him, the things he could have done to her...
"Did Effie mention any reason as to why the Wolf would call her by name?" Detective Morgan asked, taking a seat in his chair.
No. Ness would protect her. And that meant being able to remove her from the case if it became too dangerous. It would be too difficult to do that if the detective realised she could be the piece he had been waiting for.
"She had consumed a lot of the giggle water, I suspect she may have used her real name with any one she encountered later that night and not have known it," Ness told a half-truth.
"Hmph," the detective grunted as he looked Ness up and down, "You look like shit. Have you been getting night terrors again?"
Something like that
Ness thought as he took a seat in the chair opposite his boss, "No, it's just been a... difficult couple of nights."
Ness crumpled his brow and put two fingers to his forehead as he felt the pain that a lack of sleep left behind his eyes. The detective's mention of it had made him acknowledge just how drained he felt. He wasn't of any use to any one in this state.
"Holy crap!" Detective Morgan burst out unexpectedly.
"What?" Ness said taking his hand off his head, his eyes glaring in disturbance at the detective.
"Please tell me you have not been staying here with her..."
"What are you talking about," Ness tried to cut him off, not wanting to get into it. But he knew it wasn't going to be that easy.
Detective Morgan shook his head in disapproval, "You've been sleeping in the on-call room with the doll! I should have known that her show as a whore was a little too practiced..."
"DON'T YOU EVER," Ness stood up, slamming his fist on the desk and causing the detective to lean back in surprise at the intense reaction.
"Ah kid," the detective softened recognising the look in Ness' eyes, "You always got worked up when I called Alice such as well, but you have to realise that is what they are."
"She is nothing like Alice," Ness snapped back, his already dark eyes turning onyx with rage.
"These working girls are trouble, maybe your first instinct was right and she is employed by the Wolf."
