Till Deceived Do We Part

I couldn’t see. I couldn’t hear. No! My mind had been screaming the same thing over and over for the last half an hour, and I still felt blind to the world. No! I would not leave Zane, and I would definitely not leave the base. This was my home, my sanction, and I would be damned if Dalton and Lincoln forced that away from me too.

Too much had already been stolen from me. The ability to go out alone, the ability to feel safe in my own territory, the reassurance of companions looking out for me, Zane who was my brother, and now, now, my home? No. Enough was enough. I could not take this anymore.

My life was shattering around me, and if I didn’t act soon, I wouldn’t have anything left. This was my life, and I was going to do things my way. I don’t care that Jake had been like a father to me, I don’t care that Flint had rolled over like an obedient puppy and had accepted Jake’s words. This was my life, and I was going to start treating it like it was.

For a moment my mind rejected the sounds coming into my ears. For so many hours the only sound it could hear was No! and now this new sound was invading. But as soon as the reality sunk in, I lunged. I don’t know why, I’m not even sure if I had a subconscious thought leading that action, but I did it anyway.

“Hello?”

“Hey.” His voice was like ice in my veins. It froze me, like a deer in the headlights. It washed out all of the other emotions and made me just feel... chilled. Fine. Like everything was going to be okay, but the only difference now was that I knew it wouldn’t be. If Jake got his way, Zane would be dead. I would be gone. And nothing in my life would remain as it was.

“Can you get away for dinner?” Dinner? It took me a moment to recall our previous conversation. So much had happened in one day it was unbelievable. Once again I was left in a dilemma, but for once I didn’t care. I was taking my life into my own hands, and if Jake had a problem with that... well, then he’d just have to kick me out.

As painful as that thought was, as much as that thought sunk like lead in my stomach, I knew it was something I would have to risk. I could not, and would not, live without Zane. And if he did die, which he was going to the way things were going, I would never forgive myself. So that meant disobeying Jake’s orders. So what was disobeying one order, compared to two? It’s the concept that matters.

“When and where?”

Normally, I shouldn’t be allowed to drive vehicles. I love speed. I love risks and I love taking chances; all qualities a driver shouldn’t have. And that’s normally. At the moment, I was pissed off and stressed. I was disobeying my father like figure, and I was suppose to be getting ready to get shipped away, something I had yet to find a way to avoid. So now I was even more so a hazard on the road, and I didn’t doubt it one bit. Nor did I act to change it. It was who I was.

I wasn’t entirely sure where I was going, only the general knowledge. I was to meet Dane at a park, then he was going to take me to some place he called, “very romantic... and free.” I was told to bring many sweaters, a blanket, and bug spray. Romantic. So I was left wondering, how dinner played a roll in this? Hopefully it did, because I couldn’t remember when I last ate. I’m sure I did... but it slipped from my memory.

It didn’t take long to find the place, and the fact he was waiting out his car leaning against his car, was not a dead give-a-way. It was, though, very delicious.

I parked a little ways behind him and climbed out, ignoring the sensations rolling through my stomach. Just the sight of him made me feel weak, made me feel alive. I grabbed the blanket from the back and shut the door before turning to him. This time, the sight of him made me laugh.

When I saw him against the car, he looked elegant, handsome and utterly sexy. His muscular legs holding him up, his strong arms crossed against his sculpted chest, and his delicious eyes staring at me. Now, well now he had all of those features still, obviously, but now... now his strong arms held a wimpy pink picnic basket.

He smiled his signature smile before grabbing the blanket away from me. He backed away for a moment, studying me, before speaking.

“You should spray the bug spray before we head out. Oh, and you owe me ten bucks. Half-ies.”He said, wiggling the basket of food. I laughed at that also, earning his smile to grow.

Have I ever mentioned that I hate bugs? Well, I do. With a passion. They buzz in your ear, they land where they shouldn’t, and literally, they eat shit. Gross. Even with bug spray, I was still bombarded with bugs. They didn’t land on me, oh no. They did that I’m not touching you thing. Where they’re close enough to annoy you, but not actually touching you, so you can’t complain. Yeah, that. And of course, that always annoys you more, because you just want it to be over with. Plus, they buzzed. All I could hear was buzzing... and Dane’s laughter. Stupid Dane.

“Are we almost there?” He laughed again before wrapping an arm around my shoulders, pulling my body against his. We walked like that, which was some what difficult to do in a forest, especially after tripping over shrubs and twigs.

“Close.” He paused and glanced down at me, in which I glanced up at him. This would be the time to qu the sappy music, move in slow motion and have that firework kiss. “You look like shit.” Who said romance was dead? Right, I did.

“Right back at you.” I responded, earning a very loud laugh from him.

“No, no. I mean, you look exhausted. Worn out. Drained, dead. Got it? Beside that, you look beautiful. Well, with the exception of the bugs in your hair.” I chose to ignore that last statement, for I wasn’t about to look like stupid trying to get the bugs out of my hair in front of him. Although I’m sure my eye did twitch when he said that.

“Thank you. Your compliments flatter me.” So what did he do? Laugh. Of course he did.

“You’re not going to refute your statement?” I looked at him and gave him the typical male version of a once over.

“Nope.” Of course another laugh, and a tight squeeze in the shoulders.

“So loving. Here it is.” I looked up. Trees, and more trees. They were still alive, not killed by any wildfires, nor turning orange and dying as they did in fall. They were bright green and swaying and sprouting non-stop. They were alive, and it was a nice scene. Even if a little bland.

“It’s... nice.” He smiled at my remark before gripping my shoulders and turning me.

“Oh.” Brilliant remark on my behalf.

There were only a few trees in that direction, and most were stragglers which were either tall and thin, or just plain wilt-y. But that wasn’t what caught my eyes. It was the scene, the picture that seemed almost too amazing to be real. There was a dip down, not quite sharp enough to be a cliff, but steep enough to be wary. It was marked with grass and random flowers, and down it seemed to lead to the bottom of the sun set. The whole scene in front of us seemed to be lit up with colours. Ranging from orange, purple and pinks to greens and blues. It took up the whole sky, and though I personally had never enjoyed something as trivial as a sunset, I found myself enjoying it. It was... breathtaking. It was the end to a day, and the sign of a new beginning the next day. It was beautiful.

His arm tightened, and I snuggled even closer. Never in my wildest dreams would I have guessed I would ever snuggle into someone. But here I was, snuggled into Dane, my face against his chest, and his arms around me. Despite most male intentions, he didn’t try anything. It was a perfectly innocent night, with take out fast food and some hot chocolate. Then, we laid down, and pulled a blanket over us, and watched what was left of the sunset. He asked if I could stay the night, and I agreed. What did I have to lose? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

It was too early to get up, but that wasn’t stopping the sun. Nothing stopped the sun. It was now peaking up, just barely shining on us. But it was there, and my eyes were extremely annoyed. This had to be one of the best sleeps in a long time... despite the hard lumpy ground.

He grumbled something I didn’t make out, before leaning over to plant his lips on mine. My lips were still tingling from last night, but I revelled in the feel of his morning kiss. It was sleepy, tired, and exhausted. But it was still amazing. It still set my body on fire, and made me feel like anything but myself. It was a Dane kiss.

“Stupid sun.” He finally mumbled out, even if the syllables were slightly slurred together. I smiled.

“Not a morning person?” At this, I got a playful glare from him, and a tight squeeze.

“Hmm.” He said, not even bothering to form a word. I leant back down against him for a moment before letting out a sigh.

“I have t-“

”Sorry? What was that? Speak louder?” This time I glared at him.

“I have t-“ this time, he interrupted me with a different method. And a much more productive one; his lips.

Two hours later, a lot of laughter, and bruised lips, I was finally driving down the road. My phone was beeping non-stop, but I ignored it. No doubt they would have noticed me gone by now. But did I care? No.

Dane’s smell, his looks, his presence, and his very essence was still swarming through me, so needless to say, when I first saw the car, my first thought was stupid car. It wasn’t until it was ‘subtly’ going in the same direction as me, did I really notice it.

A sleek black car, built for speed. It was a perfect tail car, only it was anything but inconspicious. Millions of thoughts were running through my head, each one being picked, then discarded as soon as it came. So, how to handle this?

I could call Jake. That would go over well. “Hi Jake! Yes, you see, I snuck out to spend the night with Dane. No, we didn’t have sex so you don’t need to worry about baby Drake assassins, but I do have a tail. Can you bail me out?” Yeah, that would go over smooth. I could call Flint... well, that thought was discarded as soon as it came. I could try to outrun the car, but though my car was fast, it wasn’t faster than his. Or hers, you never know. So that left me with either getting beat up again... or flipping the tables. Ooh, now that thought appealed to me.

So I did the easiest way to stop a tail... though usually it’s considered a no no. Jake always said that being tailed is not a good thing, so avoid it or get out of the situation. Now tailing someone is different, but the positions weren’t switched, so I ignored those thoughts. I concentrated on what I was about to do, and did my best to get in the zone. My eyes focussed harder, my hands seemed almost fluid, and my mind relaxed into my inner state, allowing my anger to come out and rule.

I slammed on the brakes, jerking the car so harshly that for a moment I wondered if maybe sustaining whiplash would be worth what I was hoping to accomplish. The car behind me screeched, and that’s when I spun the wheel. Now I don’t know much about cars, or their functions and how they work, but I know I was intending to fishtail, and I succeeded. But since I had angled the car correctly, my back end spun the opposite direction of the car, pulling me to the other lane. The car smoked and sputtered a little before groaning to a complete halt. I was out of the car before that, my trusty gun in my hand. The car behind me had stopped a little ways up, and would have slammed into me if I hadn’t gotten it into the other lane. As it was, I just made them stop.

I reached the car quick, and slammed the but of my gun into the window before the man, as I could clearly see now, could react. I had the lock switched off, the door opened, and my hand around his collar before he could even gasp. I yanked him hard, not bothering to be nice around his head wound, or glass wounds I inflicted upon shattering the window.

I dragged him out of the car and slammed him face down into the asphalt, immediately putting a knee to his back, and the muzzle to the back of the head. Now, let no vehicles come, and I was set.

He let out a strangled gasp before I shoved the gun harder against him. My blood was boiling, and my fists were just aching to hit him. He was with the scum who had Zane. He probably helped subdue him, he probably helped kill my comrades! I wanted to kill him, to make him pay, but I resisted. I needed him alive. He was worth more. Or so I kept repeating in my head.

“Just kill me, bitch.” He said, through a weak, pain filled laugh.

“But I’m not going to kill you,” I said in my fakest sweet voice I could muster. He stilled at that comment.

“Go ahead. Torture me. Won’t make a difference. In the end, dead is dead.”

“Torture? Why do you think the worst of me? Have I earned such a reputation?” I didn’t let him answer. Instead I lifted his head, and slammed it hard against the ground. I heard a crunch, but that could have many things. Maybe his nose was broken, maybe it wasn’t. That didn’t matter to me. “Now, I’d like you to remember that I could do a lot of bad things to you. Things that would send such a chill through you, that you’d wished I took mercy on you and did simple torture. Don’t ever doubt for a second, that I will hesitate to cause you that pain. Got it?” I asked, my voice low and angry. He made a small squeak that I took as a yes.

I’ll admit my plan wasn’t full-proofed, or too thought out. But it was all I had, and I was not going away. I’d rather be dead, which this plan may end up causing.

Out of all my thoughts, one course of action had stirred, one jumped out, and one just... just stuck out. Maybe it was the promise of facing down the men responsible, or maybe I truly was suicidal, or maybe Flint had hit me on the head one too many times. Or maybe, I should start taking responsibility for my own actions. This was stupid and idiotic, but it was something I had to do. For my own mind, for my own body; for my own self knowledge. If I died, it was my fault. If I got someone killed, it was my fault... and if I succeeded? It was my fault. For if I did this, which I was sure going to try to, I wouldn’t have anyone to blame except me. This wasn’t an order from the base, this wasn’t an order from Jake, this was just me acting. And it was going to be the stupidest thing I ever did; I could feel it.

“Tell Lincoln to call me.” I hissed my number to him and one last warning, before I was gone.