4338.211 · July 30, 2018 AD
Beyond Restraint
Karl doesn't drive towards Gladys's house. He drives towards the darkest corner of an empty car park, windows already fogging, and when his seatbelt jams mid-kiss, Sarah makes a choice. She pushes him back, takes control, and months of withheld emotions shatter in the confined space. What happens isn't negotiated or gentle. It's the complete obliteration of every boundary they'd been pretending still existed. The investigation waits outside fogged glass. The reckoning comes later. For now, there's only this.
Karl drives away from the investigation. Away from Gladys. Towards the Entertainment Centre car park—deserted, dark, furthest corner possible. Engine dies. Silence thick with everything unspoken.
Sarah's voice cuts through: what are you doing?
Karl leans to kiss her. His seatbelt locks, trapping him inches away. He tugs, curses, fights the mechanism. She watches him struggle—controlled detective wrestling with automotive safety—and something inside her snaps.
She shoves him back against the seat. Her seatbelt clicks open.
What follows isn't tentative. Months of denied attraction exploding into desperate intimacy. Her hands rip his shirt open. Buttons scatter into shadows. His hands find her skin beneath damp fabric. Temperature contrasts—her cool palms on his feverish chest—creating electricity.
The car rocks. Windows fog completely, amber security lights diffusing through condensation into isolated universe where only they exist.
Karl's thought cuts through sensation: he can't imagine losing her. Not just partnership. Her.
Afterwards, still connected, breathing synchronized, reality waits beyond fogged glass. What they've done can't be undone. Investigation abandoned. Claiborne's orders defied. Professional boundaries obliterated.
The windows will clear eventually. The consequences won't.
