Sequel: Slip

What We Left Unsaid

T W E N T Y - S I X

“It’s four in the fucking afternoon and you’re drunk right now.”

“Well I don’t know if I’d use the word drunk to describe my current level of inebriation, but call it what you will!”

Two dark eyebrows rose in feigned surprise. “Oh, in that case... I’m calling it drunk. Not quite shit-faced -- yet! -- but you’re well on the way, aren’t you?”

After taking a moment to pointedly sip from the glass of amber liquid, the woman turned her body a bit so that she was facing the man. Her head tilted and one of her eyebrows arched. “I’m sorry... are you judging right now? Seriously?”

His expression remained serious for just one moment before he cracked a grin and shrugged his shoulders, dropping right down onto the leather sofa beside her. “I just distinctly remember you mocking me a few weeks ago for being drunk by four. It’s ironic, is all, since right now it is also four o’clock in the afternoon -- on a Thursday! -- and Ava Rinaldi is drunk.”

Her lips pursed as her eyes narrowed a bit. “And you’re... not,” she commented, earning a look from the guitarist that told her exactly how intelligent he thought that particular comment was. But, paying his obvious judgement no mind, she cracked a sideways grin and leaned forward conspiratorially. “Do you want to be?”

He barked out a loud laugh, taking a moment to just sit there with a small smile on his face and just observe his lifelong friend. “Are you going to pour me some of that, or what?” he finally asked, his grin spreading when she happily reached forward and poured him a glass of that same amber liquid. The smell when he lifted it to his nose told him it was most definitely whiskey, but the label was turned away and he didn’t exactly recognize the specific scent. Had she managed to find that in their liquor cabinet? “What’re we drinking?” he asked after taking a taste and arching his eyebrows at the strength in it. But he really shouldn’t have been surprised, he knew, because the only alcohol she didn’t mind light was Champagne.

“Just some top notch stuff I may or may not have stolen from Chase’s stash before I left. It’s not even his taste, really, so I doubt he’d miss it... even if we hadn’t signed his death warrant the other day,” she explained with an expression completely unsympathetic, rolling her shoulder in indifference at the fact that they had most certainly gotten the former alpha pair killed. He was personally all for it, so his little grin was also very unsympathetic. “I just can’t stand that cheap shit you guys keep in here,” she added after a moment. “I mean, it’s great you guys like it, but I just... I can’t. Especially that Jack Daniels.”

The way she shuddered at the mention of it had his eyebrows raising in surprise, his expression morphing into one of amusement and slight worry. “You helped yourself to some of Zacky’s liquor? He’s gonna kill you!”

She only rolled her eyes. ”No,” she objected, “I did not. He gave me a glass, and it was just as horrid as I remembered.”

Brian had no understanding of how she could sit right there and say that and not realize exactly how unbelievable that sounded. So he waited a moment and took a particularly deep sip of the whiskey before he turned his attention back to her, still shaking his head a bit in disbelief. “He gave you a glass? Why?” he added, expression morphing instantly to suspicion. “Wait, what’s going on?”

She only rolled those eyes of hers once again. “Nothing,” she told him pointedly. “He was just pouring himself a glass and I happened to be looking through your cabinet at the same time, so, he just poured two. We didn’t sit down and confess our love for each other if that’s what you’re thinking.”

He snorted at the thought. “What has been going on with you two, though? You actually haven’t been trying to kill each other lately... which is weird.”

She arched an eyebrow right back at him, giving a little snort of her own. “Just because you haven’t seen it, doesn’t mean it hasn’t happened, you know,” she told him, before sitting up a bit and pulling her shirt up to reveal a nice purple bruise just over her lower ribcage. When he winced, she flashed him a grin and let the fabric drop back down. “I broke two of his in that fight, just to be clear. And I won.”

His eyes twinkled in amusement at that particular addition, his lips pulling into a little smirk as he lifted the glass to his lips again. “But did he submit?” he teased, knowing she’d catch the reference easily enough. He knew the two of them well enough to know that neither of them would ever submit to the other, despite what Zacky had been boasting of to the rest of the pack.

“Fuck you,” was all she said in response, before downing the rest of her drink and discarding the glass on the table for a moment.

He laughed, leaning forward and putting down his glass as well -- though it was far from finished -- before he shifted a little bit in his seat so that he could better face her. He took a moment to glance over her before he figured out how he wanted to broach the subject of why on earth she was drinking this early on what had seemed to be a pretty damn regular day. “Ava, I know I promised to stay out of it and all, but I--”

“And you should stay out of it,” she interrupted before he was even sure he had figured out what he was planning on saying. He opened his mouth to object, but she had already lifted a hand in dismissal and fixed a warning glare in his direction. “I mean it, Bri. I tried to tell you this before, but apparently I didn’t use the magic words. Baker was right; our own issues don’t concern the rest of you, and no good will come from you trying to involve yourself. Everything is just fine how it is, and there’s nothing to even--”

“Damn it, Ava, nothing is fine,” he corrected a little less gently than he had intended. Giving a little huff and forcing himself to calm down a little, he looked back at her with worried eyes. “I know what I promised, but I’m not trying to involve myself right now; I’m trying to have a heart to heart with a good friend who clearly needs to open her eyes. Actually, fuck that, I want you to close your eyes right now.” When she only blinked at him, he narrowed his and gave a warning growl. “Close your eyes, seriously. Right now.”

“You’re being ridiculous.”

“Just close them, damn it!” And, while she huffed out an obviously irritated breath, she did as instructed and blinked them closed. “Ten years from now, I want you to picture it. We’re living in a bigger fucking house, because the rest of us have settled down, and Matt’s got five little pups running around... or maybe not-so-little, I don’t know. Johnny’s got pups on the way. Both of the Berrys are thinking about trying. I’m trying. Forget about Zack for a minute, and just think about you. What about you, Ava? What about--”

“I don’t need pups, Brain, and this is ridiculous. I’m just happy to spend my time with my pack and I’m more than happy to teach Matt’s pups everything he wants me not to.”

She had opened her eyes again, and the expression on her face easily conveyed her irritation. He gave his head a frustrated shake. “And that’s fucking good enough for you, Ava? Okay, fine, whatever! Forty years, then. The kids have moved out, and Matt’s daughter’s got three pups of her own now, and they’re on their way to growing up. We’re not touring anymore, and everyone’s just sitting around this table right fucking here, enjoying spending the days with their mates again. And no one’s fucking sitting next to you, Ava! What then, huh?”

She took a long moment to just stare back at him, before simply blinking at him again. “I thought we moved,” she finally said. “So... how are we sitting around this table right here?”

”Ava--”

“No!” she snapped, her blue eyes flashing amber. “Damn it, Brian, this is fucking stupid! You’re sitting here trying to ask me questions about the future but you’re acting as if we’re living in the past right now! I can’t sit here and talk about where I pictured myself being in ten or forty years. I can’t play this fucking game with you right now. Because unless by ‘forget about Zacky’ you meant ‘pretend he’s dead’ -- unless that’s what you want me to do right now -- it’s too fucking late to talk future goals. He’s my mate, and that’s not going to change.”

“But I just want you to--”

“It’s too fucking late, aright!? It’s too late. What do you want me to say here, huh? Do you want me to admit that I fucked up? That I didn’t think things through when I suggested he and I be mates? That I should have thought about my future dreams and shit? Because it’s not like I had a lot of options, Haner; we’ve talked about this! It was the best choice I had, and I don’t regret making the decision. So please stop with the Big Brother Life Lecture, and just accept it as what it is; I have.”

“It might be too late for dream endings, you’re right! But you know what it’s not too late for? You to still be happy! He’s a good guy, Ava! He--”

“Drop it, Brian.”

“No, damn it! Ava, I know you guys have your differences, but come on. There’s a fine line between love and hate, you know, and--”

“And you’re crossing it right now, Haner. I’m warning you.”

“I know! And I’m sorry, but I just need to say what I’ve been trying to say to you for weeks now! I’m just saying that you can still have something more than you do right now. I know you want more, okay? And maybe you can’t have what Matt and Kat have, and maybe you can’t love Zacky, but you could still love your pups, Ava! You could still have them, if that’s something you want. I just don’t want you to cross that off of your list of future possibilities just because you and Zack don’t get along, okay? I don’t want--”

”Haner!”

She was done with the conversation -- he could see that in her eyes and hear it in her tone -- but, as always, he wasn’t. He wanted to keep talking to her about this, he wanted to keep pushing her until she finally was willing to actually open up, and he wanted to help, but he knew that he couldn’t do any of those things. He knew that she wouldn’t let him. So, fixing a stony expression on his face, he forced himself back in the seat, crossing his arms over his chest and shrugging his shoulders once in defeat. “Fine. Whatever you say, Rinaldi.”

Her eyes were on him then, the amber remaining for another moment before they slowly drained and she was left just scowling in his direction. Pointedly, she turned away from him and refilled that glass of hers, taking another large gulp of the whiskey before she was willing to look at him again. “You think I’m wallowing,” she finally said, her lips twitching a little bit as she spoke.

He rolled his eyes, because of course she was. “You’re getting drunk in the middle of the day,” he chose to tell her instead, deciding that being less than polite might not have been the smartest decision, considering her current mood.

And that was when she laughed, a wide grin appearing on her face as she leaned forward, her spare hand lifting to cover her mouth a little as she did. “Brian!” she chastised jokingly, giving her head a shake. “I’m not wallowing. I’m celebrating.” His confusion must have been obvious, because she quickly supplied more information. “It’s the last day of dealing with any of our... visitors! I don’t have to go to even one more stupid meeting with any Councilmen, because they’ll all be gone bright and early tomorrow morning. I can’t even think of a better reason to celebrate.”

“Your brother’s death,” he suggested easily, earning an expression of contemplation and a definitive nod of agreement.

“That would be better, you’re right! You wouldn’t happen to be here to inform me that my dear brother has met his timely demise, would you?”

He only frowned in response. “You do realize that the Councilmen leaving only means Drake is all the more likely to plan a new attack, right? And we have no idea what he could be planning.”

She only rolled a shoulder. “Well, why don’t we try to figure out what he’s planning, then? Come on, put your Drake Rinaldi Cap on with me!” she suggested in a way that was all too excited for her to be anywhere near as sober as he thought she had been. For fuck’s sake, she had put the glass down and clapped her hands at the idea. Exactly how much had she drank? He could never tell, because she had a damn good sober face when she wanted to.

But he couldn’t deny it was a good idea, so he didn’t bother to comment on her lack of sobriety. “Obviously I want you and Zacky dead,” he started, not finding it all that difficult to slip back into a pureblood mindset for a moment, “because that’s well beyond the kind of disgrace that gets to walk away simply disowned. You both need to die, and preferably much more painfully and prolonged than by a shot to the heart.”

“That’s the part that’s easily prepared for. No one goes anywhere alone, because even though I’ve got two -- possibly three, because you’ve also pissed me off a bit -- targets and I really don’t give a damn about the rest of the pack, I’m not at all above using them as bargaining chips. Pair up at all times and pay extra special attention to everything, and there’s not much I can do.”

Brian nodded in agreement. “Even less now that they’re going to be extra careful when they’re out in public. But I risked tipping them off to my plan because I needed to test something. But why?” For a few minutes, his question was met with contemplative silence.

“Oh, that’s clever!” Ava said with half a grin on her face, and it took him a moment to realize she wasn’t praising him. When she did turn to look at him, there was a twinkle in her eye and she was smirking. “When they passed that little test, I found out a few very important things. They weren’t paying attention to everyone around them, and I managed to get something slipped into a drink while two of them were standing right there. It almost seems like they failed, but then someone else swoops in at the last second and they passed. And I’m a little pissed that it was the Mutt that passed the test, compared to all of the others there, but that’s not the point. The point is: I’m dealing with a pack that always has eyes on each other, even if they don’t have them on themselves. Even in a crowded bar in a place they’re all feeling pretty safe at, they’re all in the same room, and they know where the rest of the pack is at all times.”

It all made sense, but what she was saying didn’t give him any clue into what exactly Drake could possibly do to counteract that new knowledge. “But I already wouldn’t have planned on attacking them as a group. Maybe now I know that I can’t snag one when they’re all in the same place, even if they’re separated, but that’s not going to help me plan an actual--”

“No! Now I know I can’t immediately snag one of them, and now I know everyone is going to be keeping their eyes on the two they know I’m after, and probably on the alpha female that hasn’t yet figured out what game I’m playing. But who’s watching the backs of those other little pack members, huh?”

And then he understood. “Fuck!” he exclaimed, a grin spreading on his face as well. “That’s my play! Plan A would be to just cause some kind of distraction by going after one of the others when no one’s looking, but that requires a pretty opportune set up. Plan B would be to use one as a bargaining chip, but I’ve got to figure that’s got a pretty low chance of working.”

“So Plan C is just to sit around and wait, crossing my fingers and hoping that one of them fucks up. I can’t wipe out an entire pack and not draw way too much attention, so I don’t really have a choice but to wait for one of those situations to pop up. And I really don’t want to use Plan B unless it’s absolutely necessary, because that’s just messy as fuck.”

“That’s good,” the guitarist declared with a sharp nod of his head. But as he reached for his glass to take another swig of that whiskey, he realized there was one major variable they were forgetting. “But what am I worried about the attention for? What was the master plan before all of this hell broke loose, anyways? I didn’t want my sister dead; I wanted her mated and back home living happily with me. Why?”

They were both silent a moment as that question hung in the air, but after a little bit of thinking, the blonde snapped her fingers in sudden enlightenment. “I wanted her mated with the last Haner, not just anyone! And the only reason I’d be even remotely interested in a disowned Haner is because his family wants to have an heir once again, and I need something to get them on my side. Whatever I’m doing, I need their support.”

“But what the hell could he need my family’s support for?” Brian asked, running a hand through his hair as he tried to think of anything. “My family doesn’t have any pull with the Council. Hell, we barely talked about the them growing up; I didn’t even really understand what the Council was until Larry clued us in more. What could he possibly need my parents’ support for?”

“I... don’t know. I honestly have no fucking idea.”

And just like that, their spur of bright ideas ended.

He had to crack a little smile at her at that. It wasn’t every day that the great Ava Rinaldi admitted something like that. “Well,” he decided with a roll of his shoulder, “at least we know what our game plan needs to be to combat the whole revenge-scheme thing. We’re not going to magically figure out what the hell Drake’s up to, so... there’s no reason to worry about it, I guess.”

“And just what do you propose we do instead of worry? You’re so good at worrying!”

He sent a little, unappreciative sneer her way. “Alright, Hot Stuff, let’s go play some Rock Band with the rest of the pack, then! Because I am good at that, and you sing worse than a drunk Johnny Christ!”

And, probably because she was drunk, the blonde actually agreed.

Oh, this was going to be one hell of an amusing night.
♠ ♠ ♠
A great big thank you to everyone who commented on the last chapter: MoMo_92, SynysterVengeance13, Bunny-on-Drugs, VixonJade11, Total Nightmare, Miss.J.isamonster, Ailurophile, mforaker, LouellaBelle, Ravenhair24, trashlee_F, Liera_Fufu, and OMFGitsBeckiie!

Also, I noticed through some comments and messages that I received that a good portion of you might have missed a key element of the last chapter that I had thought was more obvious than it apparently was. If you read the last chapter and came to the conclusion that Ava was way out of line with some of the things she said to Zacky... you might want to reread a little bit closer. Just a tip.

I love you all! (: