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| VOYEURS BY BEESA |
CHAPTER 15 |
Todd watches the sun rise from the park bench he has been sitting on for the past few hours. After Téa kicked him out, he knew he couldn’t stay in that building, not with her just across the hallway from him. She would be just a few feet away from him physically but miles away from him emotionally, and he just can’t deal with that right now. It hurts too much. He can’t help but grin at the thought that Téa is giving him a taste of his own medicine.
He closes his eyes and leans his head back, as he replays the events of last night in his mind for the millionth time. He can almost feel her skin against his, feel her lips on his, feel her body under his, hear her labored breathing mingling with his. He wants her right now, desperately, but he knows in his heart that she will never allow him to get that close to her again.
Hearing noises, he opens his eyes and watches as some early morning joggers run by him, knowing that the daily breakfast meeting is about to start in Téa’s apartment. As much as he dreads seeing Téa after last night, he dreads not seeing her even more, so he stands up and stretches, before heading to the bakery to get breakfast for the meeting.
Minutes later, he meets Del in the hallway. "Hey, Manning, I was just heading out to get breakfast."
Todd holds up the bags he’s carrying. "Beat you to it."
Del gives him an impressed look. "Alright," he says, nodding and grinning. "Saved me the trip...and the cash. Cool. Did you remember to get a cinnamon and raisin bagel for Téa? She doesn’t like the plain ones as much."
"I know what Téa likes...trust me." He grins at the memory of the reaction he got out of Téa the night before, as they walk toward Téa’s apartment.
Del knocks on her door, but there is no answer. He knocks again, a little louder this time, but there is still no answer. After a third unsuccessful attempt, Del takes out his cell phone and calls Téa. After the fourth ring, a groggy Téa answers her phone. "What?"
"Mija! Open your damned door already!"
"Del?"
"Yes, it’s Del. Open up. It’s time for our meeting. Todd’s with me, and he brought breakfast. Were you still asleep?"
"Uh, no, of course not."
"Yes, you were. I can tell by your voice that I woke you up. Did you take something to help you sleep last night?"
"No. Why?"
"Well, I was just wondering what caused you to relax so much that you fell into such a deep sleep that you didn’t hear me pounding on your damned door! Now, open up!," yells Del.
Even though Todd can only hear Del’s end of the conversation, he has heard enough to cause a smile to spread across his face.
"Quit screaming in my ear! Did you say Todd is there with you?"
"Yeah, Manning’s here."
"Well, would you please stop discussing how deeply I slept last night in front of him?"
"Why? What’s your problem?"
"I don’t have a problem. Look, I’m about to unlock the door. When you hear it unlock, give me a few seconds to run into the bathroom. I need to shower quickly, before breakfast, okay?"
Del rolls his eyes. "Fine. Just unlock the door...now! I’m hungry! Bye."
Del hangs up and turns to Todd. "She’s going to unlock the door, but she wants us to give her enough time to make it to the bathroom, before we open it. Don’t ask me why."
"Chicks," mutters Todd.
They hear the door being unlocked.
"I hear ya. I woke her up with my phone call, but she said she didn’t take anything last night to help her sleep. Maybe she’s coming down with something? Dammit, she’d better not get sick now, we’re too busy for anyone to get sick."
"You’re all heart, Del."
"No, I just mean that we can’t afford to be short a person right now."
"I wouldn’t worry about it. I don’t think Téa’s coming down with anything. She seemed perfectly healthy last night." Todd thinks about the way she looked and the way she felt. Perfect, indeed.
The men enter the apartment and set up breakfast. Téa soon joins them. Her hair is wet and she isn’t wearing any makeup, yet Todd can’t take his eyes off of her. She doesn’t look directly at Todd, choosing instead to concentrate on her bagel.
"You’re awfully quiet, mija. Is everything okay?"
"Yeah, Del, everything’s fine."
"Are you feeling okay?"
"I’m fine."
"Well, you never oversleep, so I’m worried about you."
"Don’t be. I was just really tired."
"All that activity must have worn you out, huh?"
Téa chokes on her coffee. Todd nearly does, too. "What?," asks Téa.
"Manuel’s birthday party. Those kids were exhausting to be around. Plus, you had to deal with Steve and all the family. Then, we had the long drive home, followed by a stakeout. It’s understandable that you’d be tired."
"Oh. No, I’m fine."
"Okay. If you say so."
"I do."
"Well, do you feel up to another stakeout tonight? I want you to keep a close eye on Vickers, to see if he does that winking thing again."
"So, you do think he winked at me?"
"No, I’m not saying that, but he sure makes it a point to position himself and Mrs. Barker in front of uncovered windows, you know? I mean, every single time you two have been taping their activities, the two lovebirds have been doing the deed in full view. Now, maybe they’re just a couple of exhibitionists, or maybe Vickers wants to make sure that they can be seen and recorded?"
"Maybe he wasn’t winking at Téa?," asks Todd.
"What, you think he was winking at you?," asks Téa, sarcastically, making eye contact with him for the first time since last night. Todd merely winks right back at her, causing her heart to skip a beat and her cheeks to get hot. She quickly returns her gaze to her bagel. Todd grins, knowing that he’s getting to her.
All this goes unnoticed by Del, since he’s busy staring off into space, forming theories in his mind. "You may have something there, Manning. What if Vickers has known all along that he’s on Candid Camera? He just doesn’t realize he’s on two sets of cameras...ours and somebody else’s. Maybe he’s planning on blackmailing Sheila? Or, Michael somehow? If so, then who’s running camera number two...and have they seen you guys? Shit."
"And, where is Michael? All we ever get on this case is more questions. We never get any answers," says Téa, as she absentmindedly picks raisins out of her bagel.
"Well, I want you two to pay extra close attention tonight. I want to know every gory detail, understood? We’re missing something, and it’s pissing me off. I don’t want either of you taking your eyes off those two all night, got it?"
"Got it," says Téa.
"Yeah, got it," says Todd.
"Let’s head downstairs. We’ve got a lot of stuff to do," says Del.
"I’ll be down in a few minutes. I need to finish getting ready. I won’t take long," says Téa.
"Fine. See you in a few," says Del.
Del and Todd walk out of Téa’s apartment, but Todd hangs back for a moment, peeking around the edge of her door. "Hey, Téa?"
"What?"
"Be sure to take the elevator to the office. I hear it’ll go down on you. Oops, I mean, for you. My mistake. See you in a few." He closes the door and leaves.
Téa runs her hands over her face and groans.
~~~
In the van
Todd and Téa are doing their nightly duty of watching David and Sheila doing their thing...over and over and over again. They both keep their eyes focused on the lovers, as per Del’s explicit instructions...besides, it makes it easier to be so close to each other when they don’t have to look at each other. Neither has said much all evening, and no mention of the previous night’s activities has been made.
Everything is going according to plan, until David makes a move on Sheila that causes Téa’s pulse to race, as the new activity reminds her of what Todd did to her last night.
Even though he keeps his eyes on the video monitor, Todd can tell that Téa’s breathing has changed slightly. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees her lower her binoculars.
She clears her throat and looks downward, refusing to watch the lovers going at it in this particular way. She closes her eyes, as she relives in her mind how it felt to have Todd do that to her. She opens her eyes and glances sideways at Todd, only to find him staring at her intently. She lets her eyes roam over his face and body for several moments.
Todd feels a shiver run down his spine, as he watches Téa check him out...but he must be mistaken. She wouldn’t be doing that...would she?
Without warning, Téa suddenly grabs Todd’s face and starts kissing him. Her breathing immediately becomes labored, and she moans softly. He doesn’t hesitate to return her kisses. She nearly knocks over the video camera, as she straddles Todd’s lap and leans into him. He wraps his arms around her, as they kiss and caress each other as best they can in the confined space of the back of the van.
Todd jumps when he feels her hand on him through his jeans. She quickly lowers his zipper and places her hand inside his jeans, inside his boxers. He gasps, as he feels her hand touch him. "God, Téa..." he moans.
"I want you, Todd," she whispers, in between kisses.
"I want you, too, Delgado."
"Good," she declares, as she slips off her pants.
He unbuttons her shirt and kisses her chest. "You don’t have to do that, Todd. I’m ready now."
"I want to, Téa," he says, breathlessly. He unhooks the front closure on her bra and takes one breast into his mouth, while his hand caresses the other. His mind can’t even process that this is happening. He never thought he’d have this chance again.
Téa unbuttons his shirt and pushes it off his shoulders. She runs her hands along his shoulders and up his neck, until she cups his face in her hands. She stops what he’s doing to her breast and covers his mouth with hers.
She reaches a hand down between them and guides him inside her. As they move together, they cause the van to rock, which causes various things inside the van to move and fall. They hold onto one another tightly, as the outside world disappears and they are only aware of each other. In this one perfect moment, there is only them. Just the two of them. Nothing else matters.
Afterward, they remain together, wrapped around each other, with their eyes closed and their hearts painfully open. Todd knows he shouldn’t say it, but he can’t hold back any longer. "I love you, Delgado," he whispers into her ear.
Téa stiffens slightly, smiles and leans back enough to look into his eyes. She smooths his hair and tucks it behind his ears. "I never believe a man who tells me that, right after he comes inside me."
Todd looks at her for several moments. "I mean it, Téa. I mean it."
"Okay."
"Hey, I’m not just some guy here, you know?"
"I know."
"Then what the hell did you mean by what you just said?"
"I didn’t mean anything by it, I was just telling you how it is." Téa removes herself from Todd’s lap and fixes her clothing. Todd does the same.
As Téa turns around to return to her normal spot, she notices that the camera has been moved and is taping the side of the van, not the people in the house. "Dammit! Todd! The camera!"
"Shit!," shouts Todd, as he quickly adjusts everything. As he brings Sheila’s bedroom window into view, he sees that it’s dark inside. "I think they went to sleep."
"Think again," declares Téa, as she lowers her binoculars and hands them to Todd. "Look at the driveway."
He does. "Dammit! Del’s gonna kick my ass. They’re gone!"
"Yeah, I didn’t see or hear them go, did you?"
"No, Delgado. I was a little distracted recently."
"We weren’t supposed to take our eyes off of them tonight."
"This is all your fault! You tell that to Del. You take the blame."
"Me?"
"Yeah, you. You’re the one who started this. I was just sitting here, innocently doing my job, when you jumped me!"
"I did not jump you! Okay, maybe I did. But, you didn’t offer any objections."
"How would you know? You had your tongue down my throat, so you couldn’t hear my protests that we needed to keep our minds on the job."
"Oh, please. Well, I suppose it was difficult for you to voice your protests with my breast in your mouth. Why didn’t you stop?"
"I couldn’t."
"Why not?"
"I didn’t want to...," he trails off, unable to stop the smile that forms on his face.
Téa looks at him for a few moments. "I’m sorry I jumped you, Todd."
"No, you’re not."
"No, I’m not."
She smiles at him, and they lapse into silence. She leans against the back wall of the van. "What are we going to tell Del?"
"I don’t know."
"I can’t lie to him. He’ll see right through me."
"Well, we won’t lie, we just won’t volunteer anything. We’ll just tell him that it was a repeat of all the other times. And, from what we saw, Vickers didn’t do any winking at you or anyone, so Del won’t bother to watch the tape, such as it is."
"Okay, that could work."
"It will work. Let’s go home."
"Um, Todd?"
"Yeah?"
"You can stay on my couch, if you want."
"But not your bed?"
Téa looks at him, but before she can respond, he says, "I’ll take the couch." He grins at her, as he packs up the camera.
to be continued...
