Tangled Hearts

Never in Rhett’s life did he think that Rolf would be on his side. When they were hard rivals, it seemed like Rolf hated Rhett more than anything in the world. Most people who weren't within his circle did, and even a few people in his circle. However, especially after stepping down from his position in the military, it seemed like everyone had accepted him again. Not just that, but the sudden common enemy made them all the best of friends. No one wanted to tear Greyson down like they did, and they didn't intend on being clean and proper about it.

A few of Rolf’s boys knew about Greyson’s place, which was quite literally underground. It acted like a pub of sorts, exclusive to those who were invited only. There were some men standing outside, but they were easy to take care of. Rhett had at least ten men behind him, and Rolf was the size and strength of three men on his own. Inside, it was just as disgusting as Rhett always suspected Greyson would be. There were girls everywhere, ranging in age from 16 to their mid-twenties, dressed in slinky pieces of fabric that were sad excuses for dresses. The worst kinds of people were ordering drinks from them, harassing the girls while they were at it. And right up there on a self-made throne sat the garbage King himself. Lara was sitting on the arm of his chair, dressed in one of those slinky silk dresses and looking positively miserable. Neither of them had noticed Rhett and the others among the crowd yet, and Lara seemed to be staring at every blank space on the wall she could find for the sole purpose of not having to look at anyone. Greyson kept a hand on her thigh, which was exposed thanks to the slit in the side of the dress, and the higher up that hand moved, the more infuriated Rhett got.

He moved to shove through the crowd and get to them, but Rolf put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. He gave him a look as if to remind him how outnumbered he was if he marched off on his own.

“There's several men here acting as guards,” he said quietly. “The ones with the green bands around their arms. They're mixed in with the crowd. We’ll get a man beside each one of them to take them out, and then you go for Dampierre.”

Rhett nodded and watched as they all did as Rolf said, casually picking up drinks and hanging around the guards without being too obvious. No one noticed or cared about Rhett as he pushed through the crowd, assuming he was just some other bum with an unshaven face and shaggy hair in desperate need of a cut. When he approached Greyson and stepped up onto the platform he was on, Greyson just laughed. Lara's gaze snapped right to him and she shot up out of her seat as if to go to him, but Greyson yanked her back down. Rhett didn't say anything, but gave her a reassuring look so she didn't fight it anymore.

“Congratulations,” Greyson said loudly, making the whole place quiet down and watch. “You're a free man. A free man with nothing, but a free man nonetheless. Though I guess you're suicidal, now that you're pulling a stunt like this.”

“She doesn't want to be here,” Rhett said calmly. “Just let her go, and I'll take her home.”

“What makes you think she doesn't want to be here?” Greyson laughed. “At her own engagement party?”

“Engagement party?” Rhett frowned. “That's new. Who's she marrying, the guy watching the door? Because he was her type, honestly. I'm actually kind of sad he's unconscious. I didn't know he was getting married.”

“She's marrying me,” Greyson growled.

“Oh, well that's a whole different story,” Rhett shrugged. “I can let that happen, unfortunately. You're old. And a felon. And you'd be a bad influence on her. So I'll just take her home now.”

“I don't think so,” Greyson muttered. “You're outnumbered here.”

“Actually, your security is asleep at the moment,” Rhett informed him.

When he said this, there were yells and cries of pain as all of those men siding with Rhett knocked out the guardsmen, making people scream and yell. Greyson's eyes widened and he glared at Rhett, standing up from his seat and getting in Rhett's face.

“What're you going to do, huh?” he growled. “You're going to fight me?”

“It doesn't have to come to that if you cooperate,” Rhett told him.

Greyson wasn't about to cooperate. He drew back a fist and punched Rhett square in the nose, making him stumble back a bit. Everyone gasped and Lara got up to run to him again, but she jumped back when Rhett surprised everyone and punched Greyson right back. No one had seen that one coming. The boy who was so devoted to his peaceful religion had given Greyson a nosebleed to match his own. It was just then that Greyson seemed to realize that Rhett was taller and physically stronger than him. He held his nose, narrowing his eyes when Rhett grabbed the collar of his shirt and drew back to hit him again.

“What about the Light?” he asked with heavy sarcasm in his voice.

“Under the circumstances, Light will just have to understand,” Rhett told him, punching him once more.

This time, Greyson fell back and hit the floor. Rhett shoved him down and put a knee on his chest to hold him down as he threw one punch after another, watching Greyson get bloodier and bloodier. People were trying to intervene, but Rolf and the boys had started a fight down there, distracting them all with a full blown bar brawl. Greyson's servant girls screamed and cried out his name, but huddled in a corner so they wouldn't get hit themselves.

Out of the corner of his eye, Rhett noticed Greyson reach for something shiny, and realized it was a dagger. He swiftly disarmed Greyson, holding the blade to the sleazy man’s neck, and all of a sudden everyone went still. Greyson was almost unrecognizable with how bad Rhett had beaten him. He heard Rolf yell out from the back of the room.

“Just slide it across!” he called. “It's easy to slit a throat.”

“Just do it,” Greyson said between clenched teeth. “Kill me. What'll that prove? That you're not to be messed with?”

Rhett stared at him, fist clenched around the handle of the blade. Then he felt someone else grab his shoulders and start to pull him off. It took everything for him to look away, seeing that Lara was trying to pull him off. She knelt down next to him, slowly putting her hand over the one that held the knife.

“Let it go, Rhett,” she said quietly, running her other hand through his hair. “This isn't you. You'll regret this. Just drop the knife and let's go home.”

“I'm doing this for you,” he mumbled.

“This isn't what I wanted,” she told him. “I wanted to be with you. And you came back for me. And that's all I could have ever asked for. You don't have to do this. I know you don't want to.”

He looked back at Greyson, who was waiting impatiently for Rhett to slit his throat. Rhett moved off Greyson and threw the knife aside.

“Get out of here,” Rhett warned him. “Don't let me see your face around ever again. If you try and steal anything from anyone ever again, I'll come back and finish the job.”

Greyson didn't say anything. Rhett grabbed Lara by the hand and pulled her out of there without looking back. Everyone who came with him dropped what they were doing and followed after him. No one tried to stop him. Even Baby trotted alongside him with his head held high.

Lara said nothing, but clung to Rhett's arm like her life depended on it. He didn't tell the rest of the group before splitting off from them, removing his coat and putting it around Lara's shoulders to help her cover up a little bit. She put her hands on her face, but seemingly didn't recognize him when she looked at him.

“Calm down,” she told him. “The war is over, Rhett.”

“I'm taking you home,” he said, ignoring her comment.

He kept an arm around her as they walked, until they finally made it there. Gina swung the door open as soon as she saw them through the window, and Baby bounded over to her. She hugged the dog but was staring at Rhett and Lara with wide eyes.

“Miss Lara I'm sorry! I swear Rhett is the one who broke the window and I tried to-”

“Go home, Gina,” Rhett said.

“What?” she frowned.

“He's tense,” Lara explained. “I'm sorry. Thank you for watching the house. You've been a great help. You can take Baby if you feel safer with him. I'll come get him in the morning.”

She slowly nodded and left. Baby seemed reluctant to leave Lara's side, but at some point had come to trust her with Rhett and knew that Lara wanted him to walk Gina home at that late hour. Gina left with her hands clenched in Baby’s fur as she went, looking back at Rhett once more to find that he'd already led Lara inside, not to deal with any more questions. She followed him up to her room, taking the coat off.

“You probably want to change,” Rhett mumbled.

“I'm happy to see you, Rhett,” Lara told him. “I just wish you were a little more yourself. I've never seen you like this.”

He stayed quiet, getting a wet cloth and handing her the cloth.

“I can't see you under all that paint,” he said.

She started wiping it all off, stiffening slightly when Rhett started undoing the back of the sad excuse for a dress. He stopped until her shoulders relaxed a little bit.

“Is this okay?” he asked.

She nodded, wiping her face again as he finished undoing the back of the dress, letting it fall around her ankles as he started pulling pins out of her hair. She turned to face him, raising a brow at him. She tried to tug his clothes off but only managed to get his shirt half unbuttoned before he stopped her.

“You've got me completely naked in front of you and you're not going to say or do anything?” she asked.

“Not unless you say so,” he answered, rubbing some smeared eye makeup off her cheekbone. “You look-”

“Delectable?”

“Beautiful,” he corrected. "Cream puffs are delectable. You're beautiful."

Her expression softened and she pulled him down into a deep kiss, pulling away and resting her forehead against his.

“As for ‘doing’ things,” he continued, “I think we should both just go to sleep tonight. And I mean actual sleeping.”

“As long as you stay,” she said.

“Yeah, I'll stay wherever you want me to.”