My response to
You Judge:
Dorian rolled over in her bed, half asleep, groggy, uncomfortable. She threw her arm across the bed to grasp the pillow on the other side and pull it to her, but it landed on another body.
That woke her up!
Startled, she sat up in bed and yelled out.
"Dorian, it's me!" David whispered loudly. "Shh!"
"David, what the hell are you doing in here?" she demanded angrily.
"I was hoping you'd figure that out on your own," he said seductively, pulling her back against the pillows with one of his arms under her.
She was exasperated, but somewhat relieved that it was David in her bed and not some sexual predator. "David! You can't just sneak into someone's bed uninvited ... and then just expect her to... to...."
"Why not?" he asked, surprised. "It has always worked for me before."
She laid one hand on his chest, keeping them separated as he leaned over her in the dark. "David," she whispered. "Please."
"I will take that 'please' as to mean 'yes.'" He grasped her wrist and removed it from his chest, pressing it back against the pillow as he kissed her.
It wasn't that she didn't like the attention and the affection, but she did not approve of the way David was treating her. She struggled against him, sliding to the side of the bed as he pursued, his grip still firmly on her wrist. "David, stop. I'm serious. Stop." She stood, her bare feet on the floor as she tried to free her wrist. "Darling, please."
"Hmm, I love it when you play hard-to-get." His grin was apparent in his voice as he gently nudged her back into one of the chairs next to her bed and leaned over her again. "C'mon, baby, you know you can't say 'no' to this."
"David, NO." She said reluctantly, both of them too busy to notice her bedroom door slowly opening.
BOOM! The shot echoed through the house as David screamed. Lights flipped on up and down the hall as baby Hope began to cry in a nearby room.
Dorian rushed to flip her own light on as her family panicked and checked on each other, making their way to her room.
"Ray!" she called out, unsure how to respond. He stood angrily over David, who was now crumpled on the floor, writhing as he grasped his leg. "Ray??"
Ray sighed and tucked his pistol into the back of his belt before smiling up at Dorian. "Hello."
Dorian was flabbergasted. "What... you shot him!?"
Her family appeared in her doorway, Starr cuddling Hope, gasping and crying out in shock.
Ray eyed Dorian (in her nightgown) up and down. "You said 'no,' did you not?"
Dorian looked back and forth from David to Ray as if her family that was watching in the doorway wasn't even there. David looked up at her desperately. "Ray," she stated emphatically, as if Ray were not understanding what she said, "You shot him."
"I never really liked this guy anyway," Ray stated, throwing a glare at David. "Besides, you're a doctor, right?"
"Dorian, help me," David groaned.
Dorian dropped to her knees on the floor to check David's wound. The bullet had grazed the back of his leg. She pressed her hand on the wound. "Damn," she muttered breathlessly. "Langston, um, will you get some gauze out of my medical bag, please?"
Dorian looked at David disappointedly and apologetically as she waited for the gauze, and then looked up at Ray. Ray was staring at her as if he had just returned from war. She got lost in his eyes for a moment, but her reverie was broken when Langston returned.
"Call 911!" David cried.
"Oh, David, stop being so dramatic," Dorian demanded as she bandaged his wound. She smiled up at Ray and he smiled back lovingly.
Dorian helped David to his feet. "Better?"
"I'm pretty sure I'm bleeding all over your carpet," David said hatefully, more in Ray's direction than hers.
Dorian cringed. "The wound was superficial David. Now then, everyone back to bed." She clapped her hands once and shooed everyone from her room, a bit on edge with the excitement. "Everything is just fine," she said, assuring herself as much as them. She closed the bedroom door and turned. Ray was still standing there.
"Ray?"
"I'm sorry I didn't call," he offered.
She inspected her carpet and looked around for a bullet hole. "You could have killed me!"
"No, Dorian, no. I would never put you in danger. In fact, I was aiming a bit higher than his leg ... but that was too dangerous."
She tried to look mad. "Where have you been?"
"Lost," he answered. "Without you."
"Is that why you came back?" she asked, hands on her hips.
He stepped toward her slowly, taking one hand from her hip gently and grasping it softly in his hands before kissing it.
She felt her blood rush and her heart beat faster. She sighed. She loved Ray. She couldn't help it. A smile slowly crossed her lips as she melted. "You shot David for me?"
"Next time he doesn't respect you, I'll shoot him for real."
Ray lifted her into his arms and kissed her deeply. There was no need for either of them to say more.
(Ha! Sorry, just threw that together really quickly.)
