#knife passing through a rose. she told me she thought there was romance in severing so i kissed her some more.

[faaun]

my research partner and i are huddled in a blanket in paddington waiting for a too-late train i already miss you and you and you

[anime-alyssa]

my ghost - dabi x hawks

Not a day passed by where Keigo Takami didn’t think of Toya Todoroki - his best friend that he fell in love with. One day, he swears he’s seeing a ghost - but it's not a ghost at all. 

i posted this on ao3 last night but forgot to cross post here cause it was late - my bad. 

smut below the cut - if you enjoyed consider a lil tippy tip

He remembered it like it was yesterday. 

The teacher coming in with a somber look on her face, eyes slightly glazed over as she told his class that one of their classmates had passed away. She had looked to Keigo sympathetically as he sat in shock - the news not quite hitting him until much later in the day, when the P.E teacher found him in the locker room crying.

Not a day passed when Keigo Takami didn’t think of Toya Todoroki - his best friend that he fell in love with. At the time of his death they were only teenagers, new to the idea of love and romance and not even sure what they liked. As the years went on and more people tried to advance on him, Keigo couldn’t help but let his mind wander back to Toya - making him realize that he was in love with his deceased best friend.

The publicists at his agency thought it would be best if he kept his sexuality a secret. Part of his attraction as Hawks was his looks, he knew that - imagine how much his attractiveness as a hero would go down if society found out he was gay. He always fought with them and told them that they could shove it - but he knew that they were right. There would always be one asshole who would try to tank him for it. 

Everything he did to become the number two hero, he had done with Toya in mind. They had always said they would become heroes together, run their own agency to protect the world from villains. But now here he was, standing on the stage next to the new number one, the person who could no doubtedly be blamed for the death of his best friend - Endeavor. 

Toya hadn’t said much to Keigo about his father - but the scars and bruises were enough to prove to him that the hero wasn’t all he was cracked up to be. But even now, what could he do about it? He had to just smile and put on the show for the cameras - something he was good at. He had been hiding his sexuality all these years, he could pretend to like Endeavor. 

Keigo couldn’t get out of there fast enough - answering the absolute bare minimum of questions that would get the publicists off his back before flying out to his patrol post. The sun was setting by now - the ranking announcement taking way longer than it should have. As much as he wanted to fly back to his penthouse and drink away some of his feelings, he had a job to do - the job that he and Toya always said they’d do together. He wondered how much things would be different if Toya was here - would they be heroes together? Would they be together? Keigo ached to know, even though he would never find out. 

Shouts of commotion from below got his attention as he sighed, standing up and flying downwards. There was a group of thugs confronting a singular villain - trying to go after him. One of them looked up wide eyed, dropping his weapon and dashing away. 

“Oh shit - it’s Hawks!” With a snap of his fingers, Keigo let his feathers fly free, injuring the thugs and letting them fall to the ground. Hawks pressed the police button on his costume to alert the police of the incident before turning his attention to the villain. He landed himself in the middle of them before turning around to face the villain that was causing all the trouble in the first place. 

“Well, well - if it isn’t the number two hero himself. Hawks, right?” he asked. Keigo turned around and his eyes grew wide, meeting the gaze of the villain. No, it can’t be - “What’s the matter, number two? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.” the patch work cremator said with a smirk. Keigo knew the blue of those eyes anywhere - the snarky attitude, that face, despite all the staples and burns - he dreamt about it for years. Police sirens started to get closer and closer to the duo before he sighed. “Good talk. I’m gonna take my leave now - thanks for disposing of these worthless thugs for me. Using my quirk is a real pain.” with that, he turned on his heel and started walking away. 

“Toya!” Keigo shouted before he could stop himself. He saw the man stop for the briefest of seconds, turning back towards him. Keigo felt his breath get stuck in his throat - it couldn’t be him, could it? Icy blue eyes locked back on his, a small smile turning his cheeks upwards. 

It was him.

“The name is Dabi now, Keigo. I’ll be seeing you real soon.” Dabi rose his hand and within seconds, Keigo was up in the air avoiding the blue flames. The screams of the captured thugs echoed off the walls as the police arrived on the scene, calling in for back up. By the time some of the smoke and flames cleared, there was absolutely no sign of him. 

Toya’s alive. After all this time, Toya’s alive - 

“Hawks, thank you for calling this in. Where did the flames come from?” a police officer asked the number two. Snapping out of his trance, Keigo turned around to face the police officers, seeing the medical team retrieving the charred bodies of the thugs behind them. With a sigh, he answered.

“Dabi, from the League. Unfortunately, he got away this time. Flames were too quick.” He said back. The police officers looked at him with unease - Hawks was the quickest one around, too fast for his own good, but they didn’t question his answer. For whatever reason, today Hawks wasn’t quick enough to get Dabi. 

After cooperating with the police, he decided he was done for the day. He sent his sidekicks out to patrol some areas while he flew back to his penthouse, landing on the balcony outside the living room and strolling in. He shrugged off his jacket and threw it over a chair before walking over to his bar and pouring himself a drink. 

Keigo had spent the better part of his life trying to deal with Toya being gone - trying to deal with being in love with him - but he had been alive all along? To make matters worse - he was with the League? What the hell had actually happened that night? To his knowledge, Toya had gone up to the mountains to practice using his quirk, and just never came back - burning to death. There hadn’t even been a body found - so how in the hell was he here now?

“You should really have better security up here. Anyone could just… walk in.” Keigo’s feathers acted quicker than he did, several flying out and landing just inches before Dabi’s - Toya’s body. He let out a laugh as Keigo turned around to meet his gaze.

“How?” Keigo asked, voice cracking. He inwardly cringed at himself - if only the public could see him now. Hawks, the number two hero, a bloody mess because his best friend and love was back from the dead. 

“I lived. Clearly - but look at you! Number two hero, all buddy-buddy with Endeavor today. It made me sick.” Dabi said, walking over to Keigo and helping himself to his own drink at the bar. Keigo let out a snort as he refilled his own cup. 

“I meant how did you live. See your attitude is still the same.” Keigo said back to him, turning around to face him sideways. 

“Well, God didn’t want me and Hell didn’t either, so here I am.” Dabi retorted, drinking while eyeing the number two.  “So? Are you now best of buds with dear ‘ol dad?” he asked him. 

“I’d rather tell him to go kick rocks - but unfortunately, I need to pretend to like him. For the public’s sake.” Keigo admitted to Dabi, who hummed in acknowledgment. He watched the scar tissue on his neck bulge as he drank, clearing his throat as he put the glass down after drinking. 

“Yeah, that’d look real fuckin’ bad, right? I hear you’re great at pretending, anyway. If you can pretend to be straight, then I guess you can pretend to like my shithead dad.” Keigo almost spat out his drink at the comment, earning a raised eyebrow from the villain. “Something I said, Kei?” he asked, the two of them putting their glasses down and now looking at each other. 

“How did you find that out?” Keigo asked through gritted teeth. 

“Come on, like it wasn’t already obvious when we were teenagers. Every stupid 13 year old girl in our class threw themselves at you and you could have given a shit.” Dabi said to him smuggly, taking a step closer to the winged hero. “You know, back then - I knew I was too, you know. At first, it was going to just be spite to my old man - imagine him knowing his oldest son was not only a failed experiment, but also gay.” he said with a chuckle. 

“Oh really? Just spite?” Keigo asked, cocking an eyebrow. 

“Well at first - until after I ‘died’, when I started watching you from the shadows. Saw how bent out of shape you were, really, you were a mess. It actually hurt my heart a little, not gonna lie.” Dabi was walking closer and closer to Keigo slowly but surely, almost on top of him. Keigo made no sign that he was going to move, or was displeased, so he kept going. 

“Huh, so you still have a heart.” he said back with a smirk. Keigo tried to mask how Dabi’s close proximity was affecting him - his heart racing a mile a minute. “What do I have to do with this little story of yours? What, took one look at me and realized you liked men more?” he asked, keeping up the smirk. 

“And if I did? What would you do then?” he asked, voice gravelly as their chests were nearly touching. He could feel the heat coming off of him - body warm from his quirk, that’s how close Dabi was to Keigo. The tension could be cut with a knife, the air thick with it and surrounding the two men. 

“I’d tell you that you were my reason too.” Keigo said honestly, quietly. 

“Well, ain’t that a relief.” Dabi said back to him. Without a second thought, Keigo grabbed Dabi by the shoulders and closed the gap between them, the villain letting out a grunt as their lips met each other. Keigo’s hand went around the back of Dabi’s neck, pushing their mouths impossibly closer together as Dabi’s went around Keigo’s back to crash their bodies together. They both moaned into the mouth of the other as their hips met, each of their bulges harshly pushing against the other. “Where the fuck’s the bedroom, Kei?” Dabi hissed out in Keigo’s mouth. 

“Hold on to me.” Keigo said back, using both his hands to slightly lift Dabi off the ground and fly across the penthouse and into the bedroom. Their lips met once more after Dabi’s back hit the mattress, Keigo moaning as Dabi’s hips bucked upwards to meet his. Dabi used all the force in his body to turn Keigo over, flipping him on his back and panting for breath. His pupils were blown out, barely any blue left to his eyes as they stared down at Keigo’s, in a similar state. 

“Looks like you have a problem there, number two.” Dabi said, voice low and deep as his hand cupped the tent in Keigo’s pants. He let out a pitiful moan as the villain chuckled above him. “Allow me.” 

With that, Dabi unbuckled Keigo’s belt and started to unzip his pants. Once he had those shrugged down enough, his hand went under the waistband of Keigo’s boxers and pulled out his hard cock. Keigo let out a moan as he squeezed it gently, thumb gliding over the slit at the head and spreading the precum that had leaked out. Keigo tried to keep his eyes on Dabi, before they rolled back into his head as the villain’s tongue licked up the underside of his shaft. 

“Fuck…” Keigo moaned, feeling Dabi’s smirk as he took his cock in his mouth. Warmth encased his member as Dabi began to suck his cock, taking as much of his lengthy member into his mouth as he could before his staples started to pain him. What he couldn’t fit in his mouth he wrapped a hand around, starting to pump him. His tongue flicked over Keigo’s head with every bob as his hand pumped him and let out gentle squeezes to his balls, sending jolts of pleasure up his body. Every muscle in Keigo’s body simultaneously tensed up as he felt his cock harden more in Dabi’s mouth. “T - Toya - ” he stuttered as he started to twitch in Dabi’s mouth. 

“Cum, Keigo.” the villain said from below. Keigo let out a guttural moan as he felt himself release inside of Dabi’s mouth. The villain swallowed all of it as Keigo panted and moaned his way through his release, death gripping onto the sheets below him as he felt himself relax. When Dabi stood back up, he shrugged his jacket off and let it fall to the floor, bringing his lips back up to meet Keigo’s. They kissed with a sense of urgency, Dabi’s rock hard erection pressing into Keigo’s still hard cock. “Need you.” Dabi panted as their lips parted, the two men pulling each other’s shirts over their heads. 

“Then come and get me.” Keigo said back as he now tried to unbuckle Dabi’s belt, managing to get it completely undone and pushing his pants down and off. Dabi let out a moan at the actions as he pulled Keigo’s pants the rest of the way off as well and shoved him backward against the mattress once more. Their lips met again as the two were now naked, bodies pressed together and sweating as Keigo felt Dabi’s cock prod at his hole. Dabi guided himself in, pressing into Keigo gently as the latter hissed at the sensation. 

“Relax, Kei - fuck…” Dabi breathed as he continued to settle in. Dabi was losing himself in the feeling - Keigo was so deliciously tight around him and he had been waiting for so long to finally be able to fuck him right. He was inserting himself slowly, savoring the moment as he finally bottomed out.

“I’m not made of glass Toya, so how about you start - fucking shit - ” Keigo was cut short as Dabi started to thrust, a moan falling off his lips as the villain’s pace started out quick and deep. Dabi let out a chuckle as he pounded into him.

“What were you saying?” he asked, a moan of his own falling out of his mouth as Keigo squeezed down on him. “Shit Kei - you do that again and I’ll - ” Dabi moaned again as he felt himself harden inside Keigo, the other man’s cock twitching between their bodies. Keigo was still sensitive from his last orgasm, a moaning and desperate mess for the man above him. Dabi’s pace increased once more as he thrust into Keigo so deeply the hero was seeing stars above him, feeling his second orgasm starting to come up and almost at the bursting point. 

“Toya - I’m gonna - gonna cum - ” Keigo said. Dabi let out a loud moan as his hips kept slapping against Keigo’s ass, the sound of his name coming off the hero’s lips like music to his ears. Dabi’s cock started to twitch inside him and he knew that he was not far behind.

“Cum - cum with me, Kei - fuck!” Dabi cursed, bringing his lips down to meet Keigo’s. Keigo let out a loud moan into the villain’s mouth as he came over his stomach, Dabi moaning back as his hips stuttered into Keigo once more before releasing inside him. They moaned into each other as their releases continued, eventually kissing as Dabi slipped out of Keigo. After a few minutes, they laid next to each other in the bed, Keigo finally speaking up to cut the silence. 

“So, now you gonna disappear on me until you need a fuck again?” he asked the villain. Dabi scoffed as he rolled to face him, eyes narrowing. 

“You want the world to know you just fucked a villain?” Dabi asked back. Keigo humed in agreement as Dabi pressed a kiss to his lips again. He did have a point - obviously, no one could know. 

But even if it was just for a night, for that moment, everything felt… right to Keigo. 

[jackoshadows]

The case for JonSa and why it will happen in the books.

This post looks at all the foreshadowing, text and hints in the books to make the case that GRRM is heading towards a Jon Snow x Satin Flowers or JonSa ship/endgame in the books.

Now it’s very likely that this relationship would have been the endgame in the show as well considering Jon ended up single and exiled to the NW and extrapolating this to the books would mean that he would have met up with Satin Flowers. It’s possible that Emilia Clarke disapproved of this because it disrupted the Jon/Dany ship and she convinced D&D to not write in the character of Satin Flowers.

Now before we start, remember that the Night’s Watch brothers can take no wives. But there is no clause in there that says that they cannot take husbands.

So let’s take a look at Jon and Satin and the love story between the lord commander and his steward.

First, we have had no confirmation one way or other of Jon’s sexuality. Cersei is written as being bi-curious and so is Dany. So Jon could be as well.  We get the hints right off the bat in the first AGoT Jon chapter when he is unimpressed by Cersei while at the same time being quite taken by Jaime.

This was his description of Cersei:

She was as beautiful as men said. A jeweled tiara gleamed amidst her long golden hair, its emeralds a perfect match for the green of her eyes.

This was his description of Jaime:

Ser Jaime Lannister was twin to Queen Cersei; tall and golden, with flashing green eyes and a smile that cut like a knife. He wore crimson silk, high black boots, a black satin cloak. On the breast of his tunic, the lion of his House was embroidered in gold thread, roaring its defiance. They called him the Lion of Lannister to his face and whispered “Kingslayer” behind his back. Jon found it hard to look away from him. This is what a king should look like, he thought to himself as the man passed.

Out of the two, it’s clear who he is more enamored with...

This then leads into Jon’s strong canon crush on Satin and attraction to him. Every time Jon mentions Satin, he always makes it a point to comment on Satin’s appearance, smell, beauty and youth. That can only mean one thing.

“It was the priestess we were laughing at,” said Satin, a lithe and pretty youth.

It shall not end until my death.” … He could smell the sweet scent Satin combed into his beard

Satin’s voice was sweet as song.

The word ‘sweet’ appearing in Jon Snow chapters is strong foreshadowing for his romance with characters where the word ‘sweet’ appears in their chapters as well. Why you may ask? Because fandom decrees it so. And ‘sweet’ makes an appearance several times with Satin.

Jon also thinks that Satin’s voice is like a sweet song. This connects to his father being a bard who sang pretty songs. This is foreshadowing Jon falling for Satin like Lyanna falling for Rhaegar.

What’s in a name?

Jon Snow has a strong association with flowers. The blue roses that his mother loved is often mentioned. Remember this from Eddard:

“I bring her flowers when I can,” he said. “Lyanna was... fond of flowers.”

And what’s Satin’s last name? That’s right, Flowers! The foreshadowing here could not be any stronger. GRRM is basically shouting it right to our faces – and anyone who cannot read this truth are just fools at this point.

The connection with flowers combined with Jon using the word ‘sweet’ to describe Satin’s smell and voice indicates that Dany’s vision in the house of undying about  – ‘A blue flower grew from a chink in a wall of ice, and filled the air with sweetness’ is about Jon and Satin’s love for each other at the wall. The blue flower growing from the wall is Satin Flowers and that sweet smell is the sweet scent of Satin that Jon often mentions.

Here is Jon’s feelings for Satin peeking through once again…

The boy claimed to be eighteen, older than Jon, but he was green as summer grass for all that. Satin, they called him, even in the wool and mail and boiled leather of the Night’s Watch; the name he’d gotten in the brothel where he’d been born and raised. He was pretty as a girl with his dark eyes, soft skin, and raven’s ringlets. Half a year at Castle Black had toughened up his hands, however, and Noye said he was passable with a crossbow. Whether he had the courage to face what was coming, though

Jon is often thinking of how pretty Satin is and his description of Satin here borders on the sensuous. By the way, how does Jon know about Satin’s soft hands? Hmm? Has he mayhaps held them at some point? There’s things that GRRM is hinting at here.

Here is Satin busy warding off attacks and in the midst of all this, Jon is still captivated by his appearance:

“Satin was loosing quarrels at the wildlings on the steps, then ducking down behind a merlon to cock the crossbow. He may be pretty, but he’s quick.”

Notice the choice of words that GRRM uses here? ‘Cock the crossbow’? Crude, but GRRM is an expert at using words to connect characters and tell us something.

When his top men at the Watch object to Satin being appointed as Jon’s Steward, Jon’s ardent love for Satin makes him object vociferously.

Septon Cellador spoke up. “This boy Satin. It’s said you mean to make him your steward and squire, in Tollett’s place. My lord, the boy’s a whore … a … dare I say … a painted catamite from the brothels of Old-town.”

And you are a drunk. “What he was in Oldtown is none of our concern. He’s quick to learn and very clever. The other recruits started out despising him, but he won them over and made friends of them all. He’s fearless in a fight and can even read and write after a fashion. He should be capable of fetching me my meals and saddling my horse, don’t you think?”

“Most like,” said Bowen Marsh, stony-faced, “but the men do not like it. Traditionally the lord commander’s squires are lads of good birth being groomed for command. Does my lord believe the men of the Night’s Watch would ever follow a whore into battle?”

Jon’s temper flashed. “They have followed worse. Whatever Satin may have done in Oldtown, he is our brother now, and he will be my squire.”

Look at how angry Jon gets at Satin being insulted by these fellows. Compare his reaction here to when Stannis dissed Sansa as Lady Lannister and vowed that she would never get Winterfell. He could not care less there. But here? He gets emotional and defends Satin’s right to that position. This is not about doing the right thing, oh no. This is all about Jon’s romantic feelings and love for Satin.

Here is Jon once again itching to jump to Satin’s defense in case, Selyse’ knight dared speak wrongly about him:

“Satin, show Her Grace to her place,” said Jon.

Ser Malegorn stepped forward. “I will escort Her Grace to the feast. We shall not require your … steward.” The way the man drew out the last word told Jon that he had been considering saying something else. Boy? Pet? Whore?

And while Jon is openly appreciating Satin’s ‘grace’ we can clearly see his jealousy and protectiveness over Satin peeking through:

Satin was all grace, dancing with three serving girls in turn but never presuming to approach a highborn lady. Jon judged that wise. He did not like the way some of the queen’s knights were looking at the steward, particularly Ser Patrek of King’s Mountain. That one wants to shed a bit of blood, he thought. He is looking for some provocation.”

He is already so possessive of Satin, that he dislikes the queen’s knights even looking at him.

In conclusion I think there is some pretty strong foreshadowing for this relationship and we could see it moving forward at full speed in the next book after Jon is resurrected and Satin is going to be around to help. If we align Jon Snow’s show and book ending, then he ends up at the wall or beyond and is no ruler, leader or king. The reason he ends up single could be because Satin Flowers was not present on the show. But looking at all the strong foreshadowing in the books for these two, there’s no way this is not happening in the books. All the foreshadowing is right there.

[klaumiel]

You are all I’ve got,Austin.//Chapter 10: Mother Karma

I felt a sharp pain before landing on the ground. My neck was bleeding, Bennie’s knife was so close to my skin that even though I managed to release myself from him, he still cut me.

At first, I thought it was just a small scratch, so my eyes landed on Austin who’s fists continuously crushed Bennie’s face. Austin’s face was terrifying full of hate and fury; he completely lost control of himself. A small part of me was scared of him in this form, was this Austin from the past? Is that who he was? He talked about this so many times, how he had to fight with himself, how horrible he felt every time he had. to hurt someone.

I called his name a few times, but he didn’t listen just kept throwing punches one after another, like in the trans. For a moment I thought he would kill Bennie, there was no way he could survive this. Everything was happening so fast, but at the same time felt like forever.

Suddenly I saw Bennie reaching for his knife, that was not far from his arm when I was about to get up, I felt a metallic taste in my mouth, and in a split of a second I started to choke, I couldn’t catch my breath. I pressed my hand on my neck, desperately trying to stop the bleeding.

Austin looked at me; his eyes were filled with tears; I tried to warn him, but I couldn’t make a sound until it was too late. Bennie thrust his knife right into Austin’s chest; I was too weak to get up, too weak to scream or even cry. I felt hopeless, watching him collapsing on the ground hurt more than anything. I heard him yelling my name, but I couldn’t do anything. I watched my boyfriend bleed, and there was nothing I could do.

I saw two guys taking Bennie, dragging him away, he yelled to finish us off, but police sirens stopped them from it, I saw them running away before everything went dark.

----

I woke up hearing familiar voices. I opened my eyes and saw my Dad’s face, smiling. Everything felt like a dream, faded.

‘Maya, sweetie’ I heard him say.

I looked around I was laying on the hospital bed, surrounded by familiar faces, Shaun, and Dad. I tried to move my head, but sharp pain followed, and then everything came back to me.

‘Where am I?’ I asked, barely making a sound, I cleared my throat and tried again, this time more successfully ‘Where am I?’ I knew exactly where I was, but I needed that confirmation. I needed to know if I’m awake or this is just a dream.

‘Sweetie, you are in the hospital. Thank god you are awake, we were losing our minds… Don’t force yourself … Shaun, go to get the doctor.’ My Dad said, holding my hand.

‘Where is Austin?’ I shifted nervously looking around. I had no idea if he was even alive. I passed away right after Bennie’s escape, and he was badly wounded’ Please tell me he is OK… Dad, where is he ?’ I panicked, my eyes filled with tears by the thought that he didn’t make it. Please don’t tell me he is dead!

‘Shh... Hey!... calm down. He is here, few rooms away.’ He said, trying to calm me down, but his face was serious, I knew that look. That wasn’t very reassuring.

‘How is he? Is he awake?’

‘I don’t know the details; your Mum spends a lot of time with him. She told me he is fine, but doctors can’t say much until he is awake. You were a bit luckier than him’ He said, stroking my cheek. I knew he isn’t telling me the whole truth.

‘How long we’ve been here?’

‘Six days’ He said ‘ but that doesn't matter, you are OK, and that’s all it matters.’

‘What about Bennie? Please tell me they found him, he couldn’t go far.’

‘No sweetie, they didn’t fund him. Police are looking for him; he seemed to vanish.’

‘What you mean, vanish!? In a puff of smoke!? He is a person, not a wizard! I saw the police arriving when he was escaping Dad!... he couldn't go far. He needed medical assistance, did they checked hospitals? What about his old house?’ I felt anger build inside me. ‘ How did he even managed to escape the prison!?’

‘One of the guards helped him for a reasonable sum of money, and few others were covering his ass…they will find him, Maya. Stop worrying now; they know what they are doing.’

I doubt that very much.

At that moment, I saw a doctor coming into the room with a nurse. Alex was a young and handsome doctor; he looked after me after my accident. Also, we had a history of short but very steamy romance back from the Uni times. After my accident, we met a few times for how they called it – Netflix and chill, but after a few dates, we called it a day as our relations were strictly physical. We decided to be friends, and while we were single friends with benefits. Last time we saw each other was a few months ago just before I met Austin.

‘And who we have here? Maya Clark decided to wake up finally. You do like to keep us waiting, huh?’  He smiled coming closer; the nurse started to remove the bandages from my neck. ‘ We did our best to stitch you up nicely, wasn’t a deep cut, but very messy. It was mostly superficial, but there was small damage to the carotid artery and jugular vein, where the substantial bleeding came from. You will be fine. You will be able to go back home in a few days.’ He said, looking at the cut, he brushed his fingers on my neck shooting me a glance, I knew he still had hots for me, unfortunately for him, from my side, there was none left ‘Is starting to heal nicely.’ He smiled, touching my neck for a little bit too long.

‘And what is Austin’s situation? Will he be alright? … but Alex, be honest, please’ I looked him in the eyes.

‘Well, that’s a bit more complicated. Austin’s wound was deep, causing severe internal damage. The knife missed the heart but didn’t spare the lungs; we managed to patch him up, but the internal bleeding did more damage than we thought. So far he is functioning well, but we need to wait for him to wake up to have a full diagnose… I am optimistic; he is very strong.’ He said, rubbing my arm reassuringly.

‘What you mean by more damage?’

‘So far, all his organs are functioning correctly, and we are monitoring it, but I will be honest with you Maya, the possibility of coma is strong. The fact that he didn’t wake up yet points to it, but we are giving him another few days to be sure’ Alex said

‘Coma!?... No, no… I need to see him now!’ I said starting to get up but suddenly felt dizzy and fell back on the bed.

‘Easy there … Not yet, you should be resting. We will have you checked today, and we will see tomorrow, I will keep you updated on him, I promise’  He said with a smile, helping me lay down.

‘Alex please, I need to see him now... do you want me to beg?’ I said. He knew that if he didn’t help me, I would go one way or another.

‘Ok…I will have a nurse to take you there in few. I need to check on him anyway so I can keep an eye on you as well’ He smiled

‘Thank you Alex’ I said

‘It will sound bad, but I didn’t want to see you here again so soon. You two were very lucky; few more minutes could’ve been too late.’  he said and walked off the room.

My mum stormed into the room, wearing sweat pants and hoody, she looked so tired, her hair was messy, no make-up. She smiled when she saw me.

‘Maya, sweetie’ she cried and wrapped her arms around me ‘ you give us a proper scare’ she said, kissing my forehead ’how are you feeling, love?’

‘I’m good Mum, my neck is a little bit sore, but Alex said it would heal well’ I smiled

‘You have no idea how we were all worried about you two. Shaun called us when we were at the airport, waiting for our flight to Paris. He said you would be fine, but Austin… ‘ she stopped and looked at me, her face was full of worry.

‘Mum?’

‘You should go to him, Alex said that he could hear everything, maybe if he will hear you he will get better.’ she said ‘I’m sure he is sick of hearing my voice’ she laughed.

‘Maya...’ Alex’s head pop through the door ‘ Ready?’ he asked.

I nodded, the nurse brought the wheelchair and helped me sit, a few moments later, we entered the room.

‘I will leave you here for a moment; I just need to check on him.’ He said. Austin’s chest was wrapped in bandages; I was so glad to see him in one piece.

‘He’s heartbeat is slow, that’s not a good sign.’  I heard Alex whispering to the nurse; he saw me staring and turned away and said something to her; she walked off the room.

‘Alex… should I be worried?’ I asked.

‘No Maya, everything is ok’ he give me a reassuring smile.

I turned to Austin, grabbed his hand gently in both of my hands ‘My mum told me that he could hear us? Is that correct?’ I asked.

He nodded, I pushed myself up from the chair and brought my face close to his, I kissed his temple still holding his hand ‘Austin… honey… I’m here’ I whispered to his ear ‘ don’t you dare to leave me, you hear me? I need you to wake up.’ I heard the cardiac monitor beeping faster. I turned my head to Alex and smiled; he smiled back.

I’ve put my hand on Austin’s chest gently rubbing his skin ‘Come back to me.’ I whispered.

‘Whatever you are doing is working’ Alex said, stopping the nurse from injecting some medication to Austin‘ Rose, I don’t think we will need that, for now.’ he smiled.

‘Can you move me to this room?’ I asked, looking at Alex.

‘If that will make you rest, I will have that arranged … you are still weak, and I know how annoyingly stubborn you are, if I don’t agree to that I will never see you in your bed resting, but I trust you know what you are doing’ he said.

‘Thank you, Alex.’

‘Before I leave, there was a guy, he came here a few times asking to visit, but we didn’t let him in. I asked your parents, but they didn’t know him, Skylar Quinn? Sounds familiar? black hair, blue eyes, looks pretty young.’

‘Yes, he is a friend’ I smiled ‘ I will text him and tell him to come over.’

‘Great, I will pass that to the reception.’

The same night my bed has been moved to Austin’s room next to him. I knew that me being close to him will help in his recovery. My parents finally went home to get some rest

I texted Skylar letting him know we are okay and that I need to talk to him urgently.

I needed Skylar’s help; I knew that police wouldn’t find Bennie and I had to do it myself, for our own sake, so we could finally have some peace.

This had to end, Bennie being around had to end. After that event something in me broke, I felt pure hate and rage every time I thought of Bennie. It wasn’t just about what happened that night; it had more to do with Austin’s mother, his face when Bennie mentioned her was so full of pain and sadness, I knew deep down that this bastard had something to do with it, and I had to know what exactly happened.

I decided to relax and buried my mind into the Outlander, checking every now and then on Austin. The room was utterly silent; I could hear only beeping of the machines. I was deep into my book when I heard a quiet gasp, I turned my head and put my book down, Austin’s eyes were openly looking right at me.

‘Baby’ he said quietly. I jumped off my bed and sat next to him, grabbing his hand. I smiled wildly; I was so happy to see him awake.

‘Careful, love.’ I said when he started to move around, trying to get up. ‘Don’t move; I will call the doctor.’ I said, pressing the button on the side of the bed and smiled, I turned my head back to him and rubbed his face with my hand.

‘I’m so happy to see you alive Maya’ he said quietly ‘I thought I’d lost you.’ His voice was soft and warm.

‘I’m stronger than you think’ I smiled, happy tears falling down my face ‘But we are both fine, and that’s what matters now.’ He moved my hand from his cheek to his lips and kissed.

‘I love you so much baby, I felt like the world shattered in a million pieces when I saw you there.’ I saw a single tear falling on his cheek.

‘I love you too. And I’m fine.’ I smiled

‘Did they catch Bennie?’ he asked.

I tried to keep my face straight, but he knew, he could read me right through.

‘Austin…let’s see what the doctor says first and then I will tell you ok? You are too weak yet; you should rest.’ I said, knowing that wasn’t convincing at all.

‘Maya… please, tell me. I need to know.’

I took a deep breath ‘He escaped…but police are looking for him, they are close’ I said trying to calm him down.

He didn’t say anything, but I saw the anger in his eyes, the same anger I saw that night.

‘Welcome back’ Alex smiled ‘Is good to see you finally with us…Maya could you give us a minute, Alex asked smiling touching my hand, the way he definitely shouldn’t  I pulled it away quickly. What the hell was that about?!

I kissed Austin gently on the lips, grabbed my phone and walked out the room.

I called my parents to tell them that he woke up. Mum wanted to come over right away, but I told her that he needs to rest, after all, it was the middle of the night.

I sat in the corridor deep in my thoughts, completely lost the feeling of time. Something was bothering me; something I had in my head ever since I woke up. Austin’s face, when Bennie mentioned his mother, did he really watched her die? Is this his last memory of her? And what Bennie had to do with it? I knew she died when he was only a kid and that he didn’t remember her for a long time, but what exactly happened? All those questions in my head, I needed to know the whole story, soon. I needed to decide on what to do. Next, I couldn’t just let it go. I found Bennie before, I could find him again.

I felt tapping on my shoulder; I looked up, it was Alex. He sat next to me and smiled.

‘Everything is on order; he is like newborn, we will need to keep an eye on him for at least one more week to make sure everything is healing nicely, but I don’t see any complications. Everything is absolutely fine Maya.’

‘You have no idea how glad I am to hear that, thank you.’ I smiled and hugged him.

‘Couple of days.’ he said, getting up.

I went back to the room, Austin was sitting on the bed, smiling.

‘They unplugged me.’ he laughed and extended his arm to me ‘Come here you.’

He wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me close; he pressed his head on my chest. I kissed the top his head burring my fingers in his hair. He held me tight, rubbing my back. He looked up and pulled my chin gently to him, I cupped his face and kissed him deeply; everything around stopped to exist; it was just us. The kiss was different from any others, stronger, more intimate, but not in a sexual way. There was something different, like a magical dose of happiness spreading through my whole body. Austin pulled away looked in my eyes.

‘I’m sorry baby’ he said.

‘What for?’ I was a bit confused.

‘I failed you … I promised I wouldn’t let anything bad happen to you, I should’ve reacted sooner… but the feeling of him having full control… the fear of losing you completely took control over me.’

‘Austin, stop it! Don’t even go there … there was nothing you could do, we are alive. That’s the most important; you didn’t fail me, you are still here, you didn’t give up.’ I said, rubbing his face.

‘I should've protected you better.’ he looked down.

I pulled his face up ‘You protected me the best you could… for god sake, you nearly died, Austin, how can you talk about failure? You would’ve failed me if you died… leaving me alone … that would’ve been a failure. Because guess what smart ass, I would die without you, do you understand?!’  I said with a serious face.  How can he even think like this?

‘Bennie is going to pay for this, for everything he did. I will make him pay for this.’ He said with anger. I felt like it was time for him to tell me what I needed to know before he does anything stupid and irrational.  Like what I planned to do? Such a hypocrite Maya!

We laid together on his bed wrapped in each other, enjoying the silence. I decided it is time to start “that” conversation.

‘I had so many dreams in the last few days. I didn’t know if I am alive or dead, but the dreams were so real, none of them made any sense. Did you dream about anything?’ I asked, tracing his chest gently with my finger.

‘I did, about many things. Mostly about you, all of our happy moments, about prison and my childhood, but there was one thing that kept repeating.’ He said but didn’t continue; he looked into the distance, his face was sad and full of pain.

‘What was it? I asked, looking at him.

‘My mother, she was wearing the same clothes when I last saw her, she stood in the middle of our old garden, smiling, she kept repeating my name and my pop’s name like she was calling us, then I heard a gunshot, and she was gone. It was a brief moment, but for some reason, I felt weird like happy to see her but also scared, the same way when she died the same type of fear. ’ He said, still looking at the distance. I grabbed his hand; he turned his head towards me and looked at me. ‘ What is wrong? Tell me, I can feel you want to tell me something, but you are holding back.’

‘Well, I dreamt about many things as well, but mostly Bennie, his voice that night, when he spoke about your mother. Just the pieces of the whole situation with his voice, what he said and how he said it. Also your face at that moment, honey, what happened to her? You never told me…, and I have this horrible feeling that Bennie had something to do with this.’

He once again looked away, for a moment didn’t say anything. I let him take his time; I knew he wanted to tell me. After a couple of minutes, he took a deep breath and held my hand tighter, still looking away.

‘I was eight years old when that happened. Bennie was already a teenager; he was old enough to be involved in the business with pop. He was always jealous of me because pop treated me better; after all, I was younger and less problematic. His mother was a drug addict; she died when he was no more than two. Pop decided to move on and met my mother; she was an average person, a nurse, with a golden heart and face like an angel. Pop told me that it was difficult for her to get into his lifestyle, but everything changed when I was born. She raised Bennie like his own son, at least she tried. She treated us equally no matter which one of us was at fault she punished us equally, but he hated her for some reason, and he hated me more than anything. He made my life difficult every chance he got; Pop didn’t have time to discipline him he wasn’t home very often, so we were left with mum, I know she loved him, she was a good person, she never hated anyone… She always said that nobody is perfect, but everyone can be fixed …One day she went to chop shop to talk to pop, but she saw something that she shouldn’t, few guys from the other gang tried to rob my Pop’s shop, she saw their faces but managed to escape home, not for long. A few days later we were home, waiting for Pop to come back when they showed up, I don’t remember in detail what happened but… they questioned her first and even though she said she wouldn’t say a word to anyone about what she saw, they slit her throat in front of my eyes, only because she saw them, she had no idea who they were and what they were doing there. Only years later, I’ve learned that Bennie was the one who told them who she was, he also told them that she worked with pop, which was a lie…they killed her because of him, Maya, he hated her and found the way to get rid of her, and hurt me in one go, after everything, she’s done for him …’Austin’s eyes filled with tears, which he quickly tried to wipe. He turned his had to me and looked at me ‘ He took everything from me, exactly the way he always said he would. Mum, Pop, my freedom, and he tried to take you.’ He rubbed my cheek with his thumb wiping my tears.

My heart dropped, the pain I saw in his eyes was heartbreaking.

‘I’m so sorry, baby; I can’t even begin to imagine how you felt, and how you feel right now. But know this… You have me, and I love you. That will never change.’ I said, pulling myself up and wrapping my arms around his neck.

‘You are all I’ve got, Maya. All I care about.’ He said, burying his face in my neck, I felt him crying, he tried to hide it, but I squeezed him tight and rubbed his back; he relaxed and finally let it go, the hate, the rage, the pain everything built through the years. Hear him cry broke my heart; I knew that I was the first and the last person to hear this story from him.

I realised that I never hated anyone as much I hated Bennie, I never wished anyone death before, but at this moment I wanted him to die in pain, with whole this pain that Austin felt.

We talked for hours, he told me about his mother's good memories, all the happy things he remembered.

I didn’t sleep for the rest of the night; I was busy planning my next move.

‘There you are lovebirds… I walked past this room at least three times’ I heard a familiar voice in the room, I was so deep into my thoughts that I didn’t hear anyone entering, I’ve put my book down and saw Skylar hanging his jacket on the chair.

‘Skylar!’ I got out of bed and hugged him. ’So good to see you’ I smiled.

‘How are you doing you, bastard? You gave me a proper scare; I thought for a moment that you were gone, but ambulance came just in time.’ he said, looking at Austin.

‘I’m tougher than I look. ’Austin smiled.

‘How come you were there?’ I asked.

‘I followed Bennie’s thugs; I arrived seconds after they escaped with him.’ I saw Austin’s jaw clench.

‘Let’s go to get coffee; Alex said you couldn’t stress.’ I said, rubbed Austin’s arm and whispered in his ear ‘I will be back to you in just a moment, I love you.’ I kissed him, stroking his hair gently.

‘Bring me coffee, ok?’ He smiled.

‘I will be back soon, mate, ladies first.’ Skylar laughed

I took Skylar to the cafeteria; we sat far from others. I didn’t want anyone to overhear what had to tell him. We ordered coffee, and I cut to the point.

‘I have a plan… but not a word about this to Austin ok?’  Skylar raised his brow and leaned closer. I knew he would be interested. ’Will you help me?’ I asked

‘I will’ he smiled

‘I need to find Bennie; the police is useless’ I said, he rolled his eyes laughing.

‘Yeah, no shit Sherlock … you are lucky because I know exactly where he is’ he smiled and sat back in his chair sipping his coffee.

‘How come?’ I asked, surprised.

‘I told you before; I followed one of his thugs. Right after the ambulance took you two, I went after them. My friend Seth hacked this idiot’s phone and installed a tracker; he never leaves Bennie’s side so wherever he is, Bennie is close’ He said showing me the app on his phone with Bennie’s location.

‘Can this information be wiped? Can anyone find out that this guy’s phone is tracked?’ I asked he looked at me trying to figure out what am I talking about.

‘Well yes, once Seth disables the tracker, there will be no sign of it… Maya, why do you need to know this? What the fuck are you planning?’

‘Do you trust him?’

‘Yes, we helped each other a few times; he is a great hacker. He hacks everything and does what he wants with it.’ He had no idea how valuable that information was for me.

‘Great, we will need him… I need you to keep tracking Bennie. I will be out of the hospital in two days. I need you to be ready the same evening.’ I said

‘Maya, what the fuck are you planning? And why I have a feeling this is something crazy?’

‘We are going to pay Bennie a visit … and finish it once and for all.’ I said, making sure nobody is listening.

‘Elaborate … I don’t think I understand this correctly, what you mean by the ‘’finish it’’?’ Skylar looked a bit worried.

‘Bennie won’t stop hunting us, even if he goes back to prison, he won’t stop. He has people working for him, but they are loyal because he pays them. Austin told me all about the whole gang business; everything will stop once Bennie is gone, and I want to make this happen. Also, there is something else, but I don’t want to talk about this right now.’

‘You are going to turn him in?’ He knew exactly what I mean, but he tried to make sure we are talking about the same thing.

‘No’ I said looking Skylar in the eyes, he understood ‘ How many thugs are with him?’

‘Two, he keeps a low profile …Maya this is crazy you know that right?’

‘I know, but that’s the only way. I need Austin to have some peace… Skylar I nearly lost him, and that’s not the first time. Bennie is responsible for so much pain in his life; he killed his father, was the main reason for this mother’s death, and tried to kill me. If this is not a good reason to finish him, I don’t know what is. If I don’t do it, Austin will, and I can’t allow it, that’s why I need to you stay quiet, don’t tell him anything until it is done.’ I said in a quiet voice.

‘Are you sure about this? I am not the best bodyguard, you know?’ He laughed

‘Darling, my father is a first rank Capitan, me and Shaun had self-defence classes since we were toddlers, with a good plan this will be easy. Plus Shaun will be there as well you just need to make sure that your friend Seth takes care of all the cameras around the area for at least two hours.’

‘You have it all planned out … you cheeky...’ he laughed

‘You underestimated me, Skylar Quinn.’ I laughed back

‘You know that Austin will be furious when he finds out, we are talking about real shit here, Maya. One mistake and we are all going to jail.’

‘So we need to make sure we don’t make any mistakes.’ I said confidently ‘ Skylar. I nearly died there. I have to take that chance; Bennie doesn't deserve to breathe the same air as we are. So, are you in or not?’

‘Yes, I’m in.’ he said ‘ I will sort everything out with Seth and come back to you as soon as I have the full confirmation, let’s just hope Bennie will stay in place for two days’ Skylar said looking at his phone.

We went back to the room; Skylar stayed for a bit longer, talking to Austin.

I knew that deep inside; he was excited about our little plan. He was a man of adrenaline and risk after all.

Two days later, I was released home in the morning. Skylar already confirmed that his friend Seth is waiting for our signal.

‘Is Shaun coming to pick you up?’ Austin asked, sitting on the bed, watching me gather all my stuff.

‘Yes, he is already waiting in the car.’ I said, sitting next to him. ‘I will come tomorrow, pop into Cinnaholic and grab you something, huh? What do you fancy?.’ I asked.

‘Oh you know how much I love the Caramel Apple Pie, you can get the Cookie Monster as well… shit you give me a taste now, baby. I might need to pop into the cafe to satisfy my needs.’ He laughed ‘But remember, don’t forget the fork this time.’

I rolled my eyes ‘ You mean the fork you never use?.’ I said

‘Ha. Ha… it’s for you silly, I am a trained professional I don’t need a fork. ‘He said, smiling.

‘Right, trained professional, maybe you should make videos and post it online, maybe you will get them for free if you get enough followers, and you will have some hot chicks thirsting and watching your face getting covered in icing.’ I laughed.

‘Maybe I should, you convince me with the hot chicks.’ He smiled, I pushed him when he started to laugh ‘You should see your face.’ he cracked laughing

‘Not funny Austin Russo, not funny at all.’ I said

‘Baby, you know that the only hot chick I care about is you.’ He said, pulled me to him, wrapping his arms around me. ‘What’s wrong? You seem concerned about something … talk to me.’ Shit, did he noticed? Poker face Maya, focus, he can’t suspect anything.

‘No, I’m fine, just the thought of sleeping alone tonight makes me sad.’ I said the first thing that came to my mind, hoping he will believe it.

‘Alex said they are waiting for some results and I will be good to go. Hopefully, not too long.’ He smiled and kissed me; my phone kept ringing when we kissed.

‘I should go, Shaun is getting impatient. I love you, boo.’ I said talking my bag and placed a small kiss on his lips.

‘I love you too … don’t forget the fork.’ He laughed when I walked out.

I sat in Shaun’s car; my mind was already focused on one task.

‘Do you have everything?’ I asked

‘Yes, I can’t believe you kept all this Luke’s stuff…We don’t have much time to get ready. I will ask you one last time Maya… are you hundred per cent sure you want to do this? There as so many ways this could go wrong.’ Shaun said, squeezing the steering wheel.

‘Shaun, we have everything planned, we just need to focus and stick to the plan.’ I said, trying to sound confident, but the more I thought about this, the less optimistic I was.

‘Are you sure those drugs are still good? It’s been a while.’

‘Yes, I checked. This shit never expires.’

‘Ok, I trust you sister. If this is what you want, I will support you, but I think you should warn Austin, just if anything gets tits up.’

‘Everything will be fine, I don’t want to worry him, plus he would never agree to this.’

We arrived home; I took a shower to clear my mind. I’ve put the most suitable clothes: skinny black jeans, a black shirt and camp boots. I’ve put my hair in the high ponytail. I zipped my leather jacket and looked in the mirror, taking a deep breath and correcting my leather gloves. I checked my pockets and boots for the hidden knives and opened walked to my spare room.

In the corner of the room right behind some of my paintings was a small chest of drawers, my hands were shaking, I didn’t open this drawer since Luke died, all his stuff was there, but I was after only one thing. I moved aside neatly folded shirts and grabbed the gun; we had only three bullets, enough to finish the job.

My heart pounded in my chest. I looked at the gun, remembering when Luke brought it home, together with the drugs, that he never managed to use and I never dared to get rid of, the gun was stolen, Luke stole it from some drug dealer long time ago. Police won’t link it to us, that was the plan, use it for a good cause. I stuck it in my belt behind my jacket and walked downstairs where Shaun was waiting for me.

‘Should I go now?’ he asked

‘Yes, I will call Skylar and go to get him. I will meet you there.’ I said, hugging him.

‘Good luck to all of us … I hope we will come out from this in one piece.’ He hugged my tight.

‘We will.’ I said and kissed his cheek.

I called Skylar; the stress started to kick off. I was restless walking from one side of the room to another.

‘You ready?’ I asked when he picked up.

‘Yes, waiting for you. I will let Seth know to go ahead; he is waiting for my call.’ He said

‘Great, I will be at your house in fifteen minutes… Skylar … thank you.’ I said

‘You will thank me once is over, now get your ass in here, we have a job to do.’ He said, and hang up. I looked out the window it was already dark.  Its time.

I picked up the bike keys from the counter, checked my phone one last time and wrote a message to Austin, before leaving my phone on the table. I knew he would call me later at night, better for him to think I’m sleeping.

‘’I love you, see you tomorrow boo.’’

I didn’t know if using Austin’s bike is a wise idea, but that was a better way to escape quickly, than using my mini Cooper, that takes ages to build up the speed.

Fifteen minutes later, I was in front of Skylar’s door; he walked out as soon as he saw me, put on his helmet and wrapped his arms around my waist.

‘Ready?’ I asked

‘Yes, go.’ He said

The place was around forty minutes outside town, all the way there I had only one thing in my head, everything that Austin told me about Bennie, how hateful and horrible person he is, how much pain he caused him and others. Everything he told me the night before only gave me straight and motivation.

We arrived at the place; it was a field with nothing else than farm buildings. We stopped around a hundred meters from the place Bennie was staying, in the middle of a little forest. Seth made sure that all the street cameras are disabled around the area for the next hour.

Shaun was already there waiting, making sure everything is in place, Skylar went first to explore the area and check the situation inside the house, he knew what he was doing.

Five minutes later he came back ‘ Is looking good, only two guys and Bennie, they are all in the middle room… Shaun and I can go there from the back, and you go by the front door. Bennie is sitting in the middle, and the others are walking around the room, we will need to get them from two sides. Maya, you stand by the front door and wait until we get the other two, the front door seems unlocked. Also, they are full of buzz, which makes it easier.’ He said, checking his pocket for the syringe. ‘Got it.’ He smiled.

‘Ok, let’s go then…remember in the neck, and all of it.’ I said

They both nodded. I walked quietly to the front of what looked like an old farmhouse; I could hear Bennie talking. I looked through the gap in the window for a sign of Skylar or Shaun.

Bennie was sitting on the chair, with his legs on the table and bottle in his hand. His face was in the rag order, black eyes, cut lip, bruises all over, seeing him like this gave me joy, I knew that after today more would join to add some more bruises to his collection. Two other guys were walking around the back of the room, one of them was pretty big and packed; with a stupid look on his face, he didn’t look very smart. The other was average, skinny but tall, and both seemed pretty buzzed, I hoped that Skylar would go after the smaller guy, my heart dropped when I saw his face behind the gorilla-like looking guy.  Fuck sake, Skylar!

On the other side, Shaun was getting ready to go after the other guy; they give me a sign and both of them at the same time walked behind them striking them on the back of the head.

‘What the fuck!’ Bennie jumped from the chair and reached for his gun.

It was time for me, I opened the door, pointing the gun towards Bennie.

‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you.’ I said, walking inside; my heart was pounding in my chest, I barely managed to keep my hands from shaking.

‘You bitch! I should’ve fucking finish you when I had a chance!’ He shouted, turning towards me a bit shaky.

‘You should've.’ I said, still pointing the gun at him; I saw Skylar injecting the drugs to the other two. Shaun grabbed Bennie from behind and pressed a knife to his throat. ‘You will pay for everything; this is my promise to you… you took everything from Austin, everything he loved the most, now I will take everything from you. You will remember my face until you kiss the ground.’ I said, approaching him. I pressed the gun to his head, looking him right in the eyes, I could feel Shaun and Skylar staring at me. I felt like pulling the trigger right at that moment, the desire to blow his head off was so strong that I didn’t know if it was the adrenaline or hate that made me feel like this, but I knew I had to control it. Stick to the fucking plan, Maya!

‘Come on, do it.’ Bennie laughed ‘ That will make you one of us. Just what Austin needs, a chick who can kill.’

I took a step back, still pointing the gun at him, my eyes not leaving his. I couldn’t read him; he showed zero remorse or fear; I could only see evil.

‘I didn’t say I’m going to kill you; I’m not a murderer like you. I only said I would make you pay for everything you’ve done. Someone else will do the dirty work for me.’ I said and pointed the gun at one of his thugs, lying on the ground unconscious, pulled the trigger, and shot him on the shoulder, I moved to the other and did the same.

‘What the fuck are you doing you stupid whore!’ Bennie shouted and tried to move, but Shaun held him tight.

‘I am sure that your gang members will be pleased to find out that their boss shot two of his mates. Mostly the ones in prison, where you will wake up tomorrow morning. I’m sure they will welcome you with open arms.’  I finally saw a flinch of fear in his eyes; he didn’t saw it coming. ‘You messed with the wrong girl, Bennie. I love your brother more than anything in this world, and I would do anything for him, you tried to destroy his life for years, but I will destroy yours with a blink of an eye.’ I looked at Skylar and nodded, he stuck the syringe into his neck, I saw Bennie’s eyes getting heavy, he mumbled something before landing on the ground.

‘Come on we have to hurry up, we don’t have much time.’  Shaun said and starter to move things around.

I placed the gun in Bennie’s hand, making sure his fingerprints are on it.

‘Are you sure they won’t remember anything?’ Skylar asked

‘I am sure they will wake up like after the heavy partying, they won’t remember a damn thing.’ I said, looking at Bennie. Skylar and Shaun were on their way out.

I stared at Bennie, the whole feeling from before still dominating my mind. I  picked up a chair and smashed it on Bennie’s head with all the force I had, pieces of the broken chair flew around the room  ‘Maya for god sake, what the fuck are you doing, we are done here, we need to go!’ Shaun grabbed my arm, pulling me out.

‘Motherfucker! I hope you die in pain!’ I shouted.

The whole adrenaline in me started to sink when I walked out the door.

‘Let’s get the fuck out of here; I messaged Seth to call the cops.’ Skylar said, sitting on the bike behind me.‘ I hope you have something strong to drink at home because I fucking need it.’ He said.

We drove back to my house, and spend the rest of the night in silence, drinking.

It was done, the whole plan worked. Now the most challenging part was ahead … tell Austin.

[kanekis-centipede]

The Sweetest Sin

AO3 Pairing: Jean Havoc / Rebecca Catalina Words: 4141 Genre: Romance, Comfort Warnings: Smut

Candlelit table, sweet wine, steak sizzling on each of their plates, and a large bouquet in an elegant vase in between them - it was the perfect definition of a dinner date according to Havoc. After what happened with Solaris, or Lust , he swore to himself that he’d never go out on a date with someone who’d ask him first; it was a defense mechanism. However, he truly felt that that was never going to happen anyways, not with his legs laying useless like this. It was a day well-spent at the family store; he was just about to close up until a familiar face arrived at the door. 

Rebecca Catalina.

Candlelit table, sweet wine, steak sizzling on each of their plates, and a large bouquet in an elegant vase in between them - it was the perfect definition of a dinner date according to Havoc. After what happened with Solaris, or Lust, he swore to himself that he’d never go out on a date with someone who’d ask him first; it was a defense mechanism. However, he truly felt that that was never going to happen anyways, not with his legs laying useless like this. It was a day well-spent at the family store; he was just about to close up until a familiar face arrived at the door. Rebecca Catalina. He met her during his time at Eastern Headquarters; they became acquainted enough for him to be able to rely on her bringing the reinforcements he prepared to Mustang during the Promised Day. He smirked as she walked up to the counter.

“Nice to see a pretty face around here; all I see are these rugged men who come and go, haha. I was just about to close up, what brings you here, Catalina?” Havoc turned his wheelchair so that he could face her. Her face carried a friendly grin. “Looks like I caught you at the right time, eh? I was in the area for a while and thought I’d drop by. How’re you holding up?” He handed her a cup of coffee left over from the pot, which she gladly took. “I’m still young and strong, I’ll be alright.” Rebecca took a sip of her coffee and looked up to see the merchandise in the showcases around the counter. He wasn’t lying when he said that his family general store literally carried everything, from groceries to stationery items to toys to alcohol and cigarettes and other various jarred goods. It wasn’t hard to believe that he’d been able to carry a black market for weapons in here. With her gaze still focused on the showcases of alcohol behind him, she asked him, “Hey, do you want to get dinner with me later today?”

Ash fell from his cigarette. “Y-you mean like a date?” His shoulders tensed up a bit. “Yeah. I mean, only if you want to. It’s not like we, single people, got plans or shit for dinner. So, I figured…” Havoc burst out laughing at that line. Maybe it was ok. Besides, he trusted her. “Ok, you got me there, hehe. Alright, I’ll bite, the Serenade at 7 do ok for you?” She nodded and headed to the door.

“Oh yeah, one more thing…” Her hair swished to the side of her shoulder as she turned around to face him. “That beard does not suit you at all.” His cigarette fell from his mouth.

:::

The restaurant definitely wasn’t a five-star, but it was elegant enough for Rebecca’s luxurious tastes. Havoc arrived around ten minutes before 7 o'clock. He had already booked their reservations and had taken a seat at their table with his wheelchair beside him. His chin still prickled from his recent mandatory clean shave. He wore a well-fit grey waistcoat with a tucked white button up and a red tie underneath, and his black slacks made him look well put-together. His dark overcoat hung over his chair sloppily. The table was, well, his definition of a perfect, elegant dinner date setting, with the added touch of the bouquet of roses he’d bought. He had just begun to light his cigarette when Rebecca interrupted him by placing an envelope on his head.

“Here. For you.”

As soon as he caught a glimpse of her, his mouth involuntarily went agape. The attraction had been there for a pretty long time, tracing back to his days in the East, but it had never been so in-his-face enough for Havoc to even realize his infatuation with her. Well, not until now. Rebecca’s hair was kept down and stopped short just below the small of her back. It was the first time he had ever seen her like this. Her curls framed her face which she lightly adorned with a bit of mascara and red lipstick. Her dark green slip dress was snug against her curves and looked absolutely stunning on her. She chuckled a bit after seeing Havoc staring at her with his mouth open. “Aren’t you going to check what’s in it?” Her question pulled him out of his daze. He stumbled to pick up the envelope that had fallen during his reverie.

“What is this?”

“As much as I hate playing the messenger, Riza told me Colonel Mustang wanted to give this to you.”

He opened it and found nothing but a photo of Team Mustang in it, no letter. Typical Colonel. Jean stared at it with a longing gaze.

“You know, Jean... There aren’t many brave men like you, and Lord knows how many cowards I’ve seen in Amestris.” Rebecca shrugged off jokingly.

Havoc smiled at her and rolled up his sleeves. “I don’t think I’m done just yet. I’m going to re-enlist once I’m done with rehab.”

“Oh? Well, I hope for a speedy recovery!”

They settled down and ordered classic steak for the both of them along with a bottle of wine. “Here, I bought you roses,” he grinned and handed her the bouquet. She thanked him and went on to smell them. The sight of her holding roses up to her nose with small strands of hair falling off her face almost made Havoc whisper ‘Goddess’ out loud. “You look very beautiful, you know? I must be hella special and blessed to be able to see you like this, haha,” Havoc joked. “Are you flirting with me, 2nd Lieutenant Havoc?” Her words strung out of her mouth deliciously slow. “Well, this is a date, isn’t it? And haven’t you heard? I’m not in the military anymore. You can call me Jean.” Havoc looked at her mockingly with hooded eyes and a stupid grin. Rebecca tinged a deep red. “Well, you clean up pretty well, Jean. I see you shaved, too. That’s a relief,” Rebecca took a sip out of her wine while Havoc rolled his eyes at her. “The beard wasn’t that bad--” “It was,” she retorted before he could finish. The waiter came with their steaks and filled their glasses halfway through with wine. In between the waiter’s arms arranging the food, Rebecca caught Havoc’s steaming face and giggled to herself.

They ate in comfortable silence. Havoc looked up startled when Rebecca clanged her fork and knife against her plate. “Havoc, can I stay at your place tonight?” He almost choked on his steak. “Y’see, it’s late and my hotel’s way too far... Not to mention, I checked out of it already since it’s way too expensive, ahahaha…” She murmured out the last part but Havoc still heard it. “Is that the real reason why you went on this date with me?” he glared at her. Rebecca scratched the back of her head and laughed nervously. “Well, not entirely. I wanted to catch up with you and stuff, and I was worried about your recovery…” she mumbled while swirling her cup of wine and looking down at her lap with a light blush on her face. “Can’t you do this for an old friend, hm?” Jean sighed loudly and conceded. “Okay, you can stay for however long you want.” Rebecca practically beamed at Jean. His face reddened.

:::

The two had drunk quite a bit before taking a taxi to Havoc’s place. Cheerful laughter emerged from the hallway to Havoc’s apartment. His mother insisted on him staying at the family house when he was transferred to the Eastern hospital but he politely refused. He decided to rent out the apartment he had lived in before while he was in Grumman’s command. With the click of his key, the both of them entered his place. Rebecca was shocked by how homely he managed to make it despite only living here for a little less than a year. She placed her bag on one of the couches before looking around. Beige walls surrounded her in which he had hung various pictures of his family and generic pieces of painting. He had a single bedroom, a tiny kitchen by the entrance, and a living room which they were standing in at the moment.

“You can sleep in the bedroom, I’ll just stay on the couch.”

“But, Jean, your legs…”

He grins. “Are you worried about me?” Rebecca scowled at him.

“I’m sleeping on the couch and that’s that, good night,” she declared before laying down on the couch and closing her eyes with her eyebrows knit together. He chuckled before rolling his wheelchair away only to return with a blanket to tuck her in with.

:::

Several hours passed. Rebecca couldn’t get a single wink of sleep. You’d think after the amount of wine she drank with Havoc, she’d have been very drowsy but that didn’t seem to be the case. She frowned at the lumpy couch she was on before getting up to get a glass of water. She downed the cup in one go, and before she could go back to the living room, she heard a strange clicking noise from Havoc’s room. She peeked inside and saw him having a smoke by the window with a glass and a bottle of bourbon beside him on the table and his hands fiddling with the lid of his lighter. He turned around from his chair to find Rebecca at his doorway. Her hair had seen tamer days and one of the straps on her dress was falling off her shoulder. He took his cigarette out of his mouth and looked at her with a grin. “Couldn’t sleep?” She shook her head.

She approached him and sat on top of the table. Havoc stared at the gleaming stars in the sky and the silent city in front of him. “Beautiful, isn’t it?” he took a drag from his cigarette and glanced at Rebecca. She grinned at him and nodded. “Here, check this out.” He caught her attention and made her watch as he proceeded to use his lighter to crack open the cap off the bourbon bottle. He poured her a glass but she shot him a cheeky smile and took a swig straight from the bottle. She grimaced from the sickly sweet taste yet still gulped down another draft. Havoc could only blink at her with the glass he was going to hand her still in his hand as she deftly drank.

He sighed in relief after seeing that she set down the bottle with it being more full than he thought it would be. “You do know that that has a lesser percentage of alcohol in it than ordinary whiskey, right?” he remarked at her. She squinted at him and cursed under her breath. She pressed two fingers on her forehead in exasperation. “You’re telling me I drank some shit that tasted like straight up sugar, and it didn’t even have enough alcohol to help me get a buzz?” He held his hands up in mercy. “You need better alcohol, ya damn lightweight.” she shook her head at him and pulled up the strap on her dress. He chuckled at her comment and took another drag from his cigarette. “Doctor’s orders, sweetheart. I’m sorry.” She scoffed and knit her eyebrows together. “I hope that bitch who did this to you is rotting somewhere in hell.” Jean smirked at her in agreement.

“Well, I don’t think I’d ever get this special treatment from the one and the only Rebecca Catalina if this didn’t happen to me.” She shot him a glare and folded her arms. “I’m not handing you any of my pity. I don’t have time for that,” she huffed.

“...Well, shit. If I have to lose both of my legs just for that one pretty lady who I have my eyes on to give me attention, then, so be it.”

“Let’s not forget that a “pretty lady who you had your eyes on” was the one who fucking made you lose them in the first place.”

He chuckled lightly at her retorts and said, “You’re different, Becky. I trust you.” He thought she’d join in on his laughter, but he looked up only to find her examining him intently. It felt as if she could see right through his blue eyes. He was definitely a sight to see. It was one thing to see him all dressed up for a date, but looking at him when he’s by the moonlight with his hair tousled up and his blue eyes drowsy but still managing to look so bright was really...something else. Not only that but one or two of his buttons were open and his red tie was wrapped loosely around his collar. He cocked his head to the side and looked at her with a puzzled look on his face. She leaned down, supporting herself on his armrests, and whispered in his ear, “You know, Jean? I really like you...and I don’t think I’ll ever meet another man like you, so I’m not taking any more chances of losing you.” She grabbed him by the tie and pressed her lips against his. Havoc widened his eyes with shock before closing them and kissing her back. He tasted bitter with the overwhelming smell of ash, but it felt so intoxicating for her and the sweet tinge of the whiskey from before made the experience even more indulging.  

She peered into his face searching for signs of whether she did something he wasn’t comfortable with, but Havoc was already placing his hands around Catalina’s hips and pulling her in closer for more. She breathed flush against his face, the tip of her upper lip touching his. “Can I sit on your lap?” Havoc chuckled and shook his head at her genuine concern before grabbing her thighs and pulling her onto his lap. Her dress rode up all the way to the point where the hem was flush against her belly. She flinched from the touch of his cold hands against her thighs. “I can take it, babe,” he said with hooded eyes and proceeded to kiss the side of her jaw. She fumbled with his tie and buttons as she pressed light kisses around the side of his neck. His hands dug deeper into her thighs as she bit harder. By the time she managed to pull off his button-up, his neck was blooming with red bruises.

Her gaze fell to his well-defined abs, sculpted from years of military training. Her fingers slowly found their way to his skin and felt the slow rise of his chest with every breath. She noticed his blue eyes staring daggers at her face; his usual bright blue irises twisted from lust into a dark blue. She bit her lip with impatience. She needed to have him.

He groaned in pain as he carried his body to the bed with Rebecca holding onto both of his arms tightly. She laid him down and kneeled over the dirty blond man with his tie between her fists. Havoc smirked at her, seemingly recovered from before and interested in where she was taking things. “My body is yours, Becky.” He held out his arms giving her full access. Rebecca giggled at his easy submission. She wrapped the tie around his eyes and bit his cheek. He could see absolutely nothing and the darkness was daunting. He heard her movement to the side of him and wondered what she had in store for him. It was a few seconds until he heard the sound of her clothing hitting the corner of his room. He suddenly jerked up as he felt her pulling down his slacks and boxers. “What are you doing? You already know I can’t feel anything down there!” he growled, eyebrows bearing deep furrows. He hissed as her palm pushed him back down. “Relax, Jean.” She kissed his lips and drew circles on the back of his hand. “Do you trust me?” His mouth opened slightly in uncertainty before he finally nodded and laid back down with an unsure frown on his face.

Rebecca started slow; she wrapped her fingers around the head of his cock and jerked it up and down, making it rise. She leaned down from beside him and Jean winced as he felt her bare breasts against his upper body while she licked the side of his neck. Her playfulness made him cross his arms over his face in an attempt to cover the deep shade of red growing on his cheeks; the sight simply made her snicker. She maneuvered her tongue down his chest and sharply bit his nipple making him let out a moan before he could stop himself. He gasped as he felt her sucking on it lightly, and his mouth oped with heavy breaths as she escalated her movements. Still continuing her steady strokes on his member, she used her free hand to remove one of his arms from his face and guided it down between the brunette’s thighs. He flinched at how wet she was but eagerly started rubbing her clit.

She moaned his name in his ear and squeezed her thighs together with his hand still pressed between them. Rebecca was caught off guard when he pushed two thick fingers into her with no warning. Her body squirmed under his touch and her limbs felt like jelly from pleasure, and that made her jerking irregular and erratic. It took a while before his shaft was fully erect, but she managed. Jean felt a blow against his ear and quivered. “Jean, I don’t know how many times I’ve imagined this…” She took in a harsh breath before continuing, ”...exact situation before with you. You always did stand out as the most attractive guy in the academy.” Even without seeing his face, she knew he had a shit-eating grin on it. “Even if you were probably the biggest dumbass, too.” He curled his fingers inside her and rubbed her g-spot, practically forcing her to heave out a breath from the sensitivity.

“Oh yeah? A dumbass got you feelin’ some type of way, hm? Tell me more.” he smirked as he roughly thrusted his fingers into her. Catalina bit on his ear to force her moan back down, but when he hit her sweet spot again, she couldn’t hold back and groaned as she rocked her hips on his fingers. She streaked her tongue from his belly all the way back to his neck and bit. “I’d always wanted to take control and fuck you-” she kissed his neck before continuing, “Fuck you till you moan shamelessly, but looks like I’m doing more of the moaning tonight.” He let out a sigh as she nibbled lightly along the apple of his neck. She grinded against his fingers and continued her playful ministrations on his jawline before biting his lower lip and kissing him viciously. He groaned into their kiss and inserted a third finger into her. She pressed a finger against his nipple as she entwined her tongue with his. Her hand found itself palming his erection before lightly squeezing his balls.

:::

Havoc grunted as his body tensed from the new pulsing sensations he was experiencing. A tingling sensation? An orgasm? It felt similar. Yet dulled out. He never thought he’d be able to feel one again ever since he lost feeling. It felt...amazing. It was like what would be the opposite of the frequent phantom pains he felt. As if his muscles were tensed for so long and they’d finally eased up. His head finally came to rest back on the pillow as he started to recover.

Rebecca’s gentle jerking motion came to a stop as his release spilled over her fingers. She slipped off the blindfold, and Havoc looked at her with dilated eyes as she licked the cum off her fingers. “That was...incredible. Holy shit. I could never do it while jerking off.” he gasped in astonishment. She frowned at him. “Ok, too much information? Besides, all it takes is an experience with the mind.” “And a sexy woman.” She smirked as she felt his hand grip her thigh. He let his eyes wander over her slender but compact body. He was definitely awestruck. It was either by the way her thick hair enshrouded her body, or by how perfect her full breasts were - even if she thought they were uneven, or by the way her muscles and scars proved how strong and rugged she was - as if Jean needed proof of whether Rebecca was strong or not. Either way, her body left him feeling dumbfounded.  

“You’re so fucking beautiful.” He couldn’t help but let those words slip out of his mouth after seeing her. As if on instinct, he pulled her on top of him so that she was straddling his stomach. She looked at him with a perplexed expression. He cupped her ass and moved her in closer. “You think I’m just going to let you finish without tasting you?” She threw back her head and comically laughed at him. “Okay, ashtray. Let’s see what you got.”

She inched her body forward till she was above his face. Her body shuddered as she felt his nose poking into her, his hot breath against her skin, and his five o’clock shadow prickling her thighs. He dragged one long swipe of his tongue against her and she was already clenching. His fingers dug into her hips to support her weight. And as soon as she got comfortable, he started swirling his tongue against her.

:::

Jean Havoc is a sexy, sexy man. He’s definitely the type of playboy who has dated several women, and by “dated” he probably means he’s had a one-night stand with them. Nevertheless, he was experienced - definitely explored all his tricks and techniques to near perfection. And it absolutely showed, from how he only had to use his tongue to make Rebecca a moaning, hot mess who was currently violently riding his face and desperately trying to keep her grip on the headboard.

The dim moonlight illuminated the room and made the sweat glisten on their bodies. Jean alternated between taking it slow to leaving her squirming. Every time she was getting close he’d suck her clit painstakingly slow. Of course, Rebecca didn’t hesitate to call him an ass while he was at it, but then he had to do that knowing chuckle. His voice vibrated against her and the mere feeling made her jolt.

“Oh?” he grinned under her. He pulled her in closer and nipped at her clit before humming against it.  She nearly yelped at the sensation and at that, she lifted her thighs. “Don’t tease me, ashtray.” “Okay, okay, princess,” he relented as he pulled her back down and kissed her clit. “I’ll let you get what you want.”

His tongue dipped into her and she tasted of pure ambrosia. He rolled it around switching it up between tracing letters of love on her bud and plunging it into her and licking all her juices. She wanted to thank whoever taught him how to twist the muscle of his tongue the way he did, God probably. Every time she pulled on his hair, he’d groan, and every time he groaned under her she was that much closer to losing her mind. But, she couldn’t help herself.

She was close. He knew she was getting close. She rocked her hips in a rhythm much faster, and he tried his best to match her speed. Her eyes were tearing up and she had to bite her lower lip to silence her gasps that were getting a little too loud. She couldn’t hold back the moan that came out when he stuck his middle finger in her, pumping into her with reckless abandon. All it took was his middle finger to curl itself inside her and a harsh suck on her clit before she came, pulsating, muscles clenching with every lick he took after to savor her taste.

The room went silent except for her small pants. Jean kissed a path from her folds down her thighs; love bites followed where his lips tread. Rebecca sat back on his chest with sweaty curls and a lazy smile plastered on her face. “I might just have to excuse the fact that you’re not rich to see you as the perfect man for me.” She grinned, entwining her fingers with his. “You might as well have me wrapped around your little finger because I’d be willing to get you anything you want. No matter the cost.” He held her chin to kiss her parted lips.

“Well you’re lucky, coz all I want is you.”

[fullspectrum-cbd-oil]

Between Gun Massacres, a Routine, Deadly Seven Days of U.S. Shootings

A boy accidentally killed by his father during a fishing trip in Montana. A woman dead and her husband behind bars after a single gunshot in a Dallas hotel room. A teenager cut down on his porch on a warm day in Washington state.

During the week bookended by mass shootings in Gilroy, California; El Paso, Texas; and Dayton, Ohio, in which gunmen killed 34 people, hundreds of others were shot to death across 47 U.S. states, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit group that uses local news and police reports to track gun incidents.

The deaths were the sort of everyday murders, suicides and accidents that may not grab the headlines of mass shootings, but in many ways show the true toll of the gun violence endemic to the United States.

More than 36,000 people are shot to death every year on average in America, according to U.S. government data compiled by the gun-control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety. That works out to about 100 a day, or one every 14-1/2 minutes. Suicides account for more than 60 percent of those deaths. Slightly more than a third are homicides.

Here are some of the victims of deadly shootings during the week between the attack in Gilroy and the attack in Dayton:

SUNDAY, JULY 28

Soon after a gunman opened fire at the Gilroy Garlic Festival, Steven Parsons was sitting in a parked car with two other people 1,500 miles away in an alley in Kansas City, Missouri.

The 27-year-old died there along with another man, Montae Robinson, shot by a gunman who is still at large, police said. The third person in the car is being sought by police for questioning but is not a suspect.

“I have a wedding dress in my closet that I will never wear,” Marissa Tantillo said during Parsons’ funeral service on Wednesday evening at a chapel in Blue Springs, near Kansas City.

They had two daughters together and planned to marry in a few months. She urged mourners never to take their loved ones for granted. “All I want you to do is hold your husband a little closer, hold your wife a little tighter,” she said.

Tantillo recalled a romance that began when she and Parsons were barely teenagers.

“So many of us don’t believe in love anymore,” Tantillo told the gathering. “In Steven I knew I found my soul mate.”

Parsons had a sense of adventure as a boy, his father, Steve Parsons, said at the service. “We’d be cruising along in the old white van and he’d say, ‘What’s that way?’ and so we’d turn and go that way,” Parsons said.

People should remember the years his son lived, not the day he died, he said. “Do not let the last day destroy all the good days you had with him.”

MONDAY, JULY 29

Guests at the Hotel ZaZa in Dallas heard a commotion and screams from the room where Jacqueline Rose Parguian and her husband, Peter Nicholas, were staying on Monday night.

When hotel security staff knocked on the door, no one answered. Paramedics, responding to a 911 call about a woman loudly in distress and a report of a possible drug overdose, listened to the commotion outside as they waited for police to arrive, per department rules. A noisy hour passed. A gunshot rang out. The arguing stopped. Parguian was dead.

“Jackie had a passion for beauty,” an obituary published by Parguian’s family said. She pursued a degree in cosmetology and graduated from a Dallas beauty school in 2016.

She loved ’90s pop music, especially the boy band NSYNC, and collected concert tickets in a box of memories. One of six children, she was known for checking in frequently with her younger siblings.

She was 32. Her sons are 2 and 8.

“How do we explain to those little angels that their parents are both not going to be there anymore, ya know?” Parguian’s mother said in an interview. Friends and relatives had soon pledged more than $25,000 in donations to a GoFundMe fundraiser in support of the boys’ uncertain future.

When their father, known to some Dallas music fans as DJ Pete Mash, opened the hotel room door on Monday night to police, he had blood on him and an extension cord wrapped around his neck, according to the Dallas Police Department.

Police said he seemed high on drugs and that they had to subdue him with a stun gun after he began screaming and fighting. They found a handgun in a backpack in the room near Parguian’s body.

Explaining the delayed response, police later said officers were responding to higher-priority calls that night before reports of a gunshot came through.

Nicholas, 30, was arrested and charged with his wife’s murder. He was later released on a $250,000 bond. An attorney for Nicholas did not respond to a request for comment.

“Peter is a nice young man,” Parguian’s mother, Tess Parguian, told a local ABC television affiliate. “He’s very polite, and that’s why I cannot believe he could do such a thing.”

TUESDAY, JULY 30

It was a warm day in Tacoma, Washington, and Jamone Pratt was out on a friend’s front porch when he was shot in the head. Witnesses told police they saw at least two cars speeding away. Pratt was 16 years old.

Police have made no arrests. Jamone’s mother, Kyndal Pierce, has filled her Facebook page with anguished posts, saying she’s finding it hard to go on without her eldest son, a “tall and skinny” kid the family called Junior and who was inseparable from his sister.

“He made some bad choices, you know, got involved with the wrong people,” Pierce said in an interview with a local news channel. “I don’t know what happened, but I know my baby didn’t deserve this.”

A schoolmate of Jamone’s who makes music under the name KiingCalebb recorded a rap tribute to his friend called “MonesWrld.” The lyrics include oblique references to gang rivalries.

“Thought you were going to make it to 18,” the lyrics went. “All you wanted were your dreams / but now you fly high.”

WEDNESDAY, JULY 31

Growing up in the Miami area as a black transgender woman, Kiki Fantroy faced a lot of bullying – but that never altered her natural inclination to trust and forgive other people, her mother said.

Fantroy, 21, was shot several times early in the morning after leaving a house party, becoming the 13th black transgender woman killed in the United States this year, activists say.

The killing prompted several events in her memory, including a “Take Back the Night” event held by a local transgender women’s group and a candlelight vigil.

In an interview, Fantroy’s mother, Rhonda Comer, switched back and forth between using her daughter’s preferred name, Kiki, and her birth name, Marquis, and between masculine and feminine pronouns.

Comer said she supported Fantroy’s decision to begin transitioning as a teenager.

Fantroy always had a flair for fashion, Comer said.

“He would make clothes, he would tell me what to wear, what he wanted to wear, and he would always put his twist on things,” said Comer, 44. “Kiki could take a shirt and a skirt and make it a whole different outfit; you can’t ask me her favorite color because, honey, she wore it all.”

Fantroy loved and trusted people implicitly, Comer said, a trait that sometimes worried her – especially after Fantroy was sexually assaulted and “dumped in a tomato field” at age 16 by someone she had met online.

Fantroy had just left a house party with a friend, another transgender woman, and Comer said she was convinced they were deliberately targeted. Police in Miami-Dade County have declined to call the shooting a hate crime.

Police later arrested a 17-year-old boy and charged him with murder after a witness picked him out of a lineup.

THURSDAY, AUGUST 1

Caden Lacunza, 11, had finished cleaning one fish and was just starting on the second one he had caught near Crow Creek Falls in rural Montana when he was shot in the head.

His father, Cadet, dropped the .357 revolver he had just fired, sprinted toward his fallen son and began yelling for his wife.

Hours later, he was under arrest for negligent homicide.

The details of the incident, laid out in a Broadwater County Sheriff’s Office report, indicate Cadet Lacunza didn’t intend any harm when he shot off a round in the direction of the river.

He had seen his family, including his wife, his son and his daughter, near the campfire, and decided to shoot his pistol, according to the report. While he was retrieving the gun from his pickup truck, however, Caden made his way to the river to clean the fish he had snared.

Lacunza’s lawyer, Greg Beebe, said his client was innocent of any criminal wrongdoing.

“This was just a tragic accident, and not a negligent homicide,” Beebe said. “At the center of this, we have a family who’s been devastated.”

Lacunza’s wife, Victoria, told Reuters in a Facebook message that the shooting was an accident but declined to comment further.

At the scene, officers retrieved Lacunza’s revolver, the cylinder still loaded except for a single spent round. In the river, about 10 feet from where Caden collapsed, they found a cleaned fish; the other fish was on the ground where the boy had dropped it, a small cut in its belly and a knife lying nearby.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 2

Deante Strickland came running out of his grandparents’ house in Portland, Oregon, in mid-afternoon, bleeding from the chest.

“I don’t want to die,” he said, according to a construction worker who was at a site nearby. “My sister shot me.”

Strickland, 22, died near his home despite efforts to save his life. His sister, Tamena Strickland, has been charged with his murder, as well as with wounding her grandmother and aunt.

Authorities have not offered a motive for the shooting. Tamena Strickland’s defense lawyer, Robert Crow, said it was still too early to know exactly what had happened.

“Everybody is of the belief that this isn’t who Tamena is,” he said, adding that many family members attended her initial court appearance on Monday in support of both her and her brother. Tamena Strickland has not entered a plea and remains in custody in the Multnomah County Detention Center.

Crow said neither sibling had a criminal record, and there was no outward sign of any dispute between them.

“That’s part of what makes it such a mystery to people,” he said.

Strickland was a standout basketball and football player in high school. He spent two years at a junior college in Wyoming before transferring to his hometown school Portland State University, where he played on the basketball team.

He was entering graduate school at PSU in the fall and planned to play for the football team.

Friends and teammates flooded social media with remembrances of “Strick,” praising his devotion to Portland, his near-permanent smile and his love for basketball.

In a video he filmed shortly before graduation this year, Strickland said, “My advice to you: Don’t take the time for granted. It goes by fast, so try to enjoy every moment.”

SATURDAY, AUGUST 3

It was a cheerful summer Saturday afternoon in Denise Wimberly’s house in Chicago’s Englewood neighborhood.

As music filled her home, the 61-year-old mother of four relaxed on her couch with her niece as her son Calvin Seay got ready for an afternoon basketball game.

“He came back in the house to lay his clothes out because he was a neat freak,” she said. “Then he left to go down the street to show the neighbors the phone he just got.”

Moments after the 23-year-old left, police officers responded to an alert from the department’s gunshot-detection system.

They found Seay, a father of one, lying on the sidewalk steps from his home. He had been shot once in the head and once in the chest.

“My other son ran down the street, saying Calvin got shot,” Wimberly said. She jumped up and threw down her cigarette. “I almost set my couch on fire.”

“He was my baby,” she said. “They need to stop the shooting, because they are shooting people that they don’t need to be.” No suspects have been arrested.

Seay’s slaying was part of a bloody weekend in Chicago in which seven people were killed and at least 45 others were wounded, including a 5-year-old boy.

“What will it take for people to become sick and tired at the level of gun violence in this country?” Chicago Superintendent of Police Eddie Johnson asked at a news conference.

Seay, whose daughter turned 6 last week, loved to draw and play basketball and had just gotten a job with the Chicago Park District, where he was working with children at a summer camp.

“He was no person to go hang out on the street. He wasn’t like that at all,” Wimberly said. “He said that since he got the job, he was going to send me on vacation. That’s how he was.”

Less than 12 hours after Seay’s death, a gunman opened fire on the street in downtown Dayton, killing nine people.

Another week of gun violence in America was drawing to an end.

(Additional reporting and writing by Kevin Murphy in Kansas City, Zachary Fagenson in Miami and Brendan O’Brien in Chicago; Editing by Paul Thomasch and Kari Howard)

from IJR https://ift.tt/2MTWl72 via IFTTT

[higuchimon]

[fanfic] Fire and Water:  Chapter 2

She carried gloves on her, of course. There were more reasons to have them than just not wanting to touch her soulmate with her bare hands. That was a reason she hadn’t even thought of when she started carrying them.

But now she slid them on and started to go through her pack for other supplies. She wasn’t a professional healer, not like a Holy Elf or some of the other healers she’d heard of, but she knew enough to take care of this.

I hope I do. Those claws had sunk in deep and been sharper than most she’d ever seen before. A few quick glances told her that there would be scars and the wounds would take time to heal.

Would it be time that he would have? That she couldn’t say. She hoped that he would. She still hoped that he would take up the fight against Haou. But for now, she busied herself with settling him into a small cave, one with a tiny streamlet of water cascading out of it.

She gathered up enough wood to get a fire going and set a pan of water near it to heat up. She could see him watching her, staying quiet, but watching with fascination in his eyes.

“How long have you been here?” She asked, wanting to hear something aside from their mutual breathing. He shrugged, wincing at that. She would have to wash those wounds before she did anything else to them.

“Weeks. We came to search for a friend.” He didn’t seem to look up often, really. “But we found out that he died before we could find him.”

She winced; she’d lost many friends of her own over the years. To think there had been a chance to save one and to be too late…

He hesitated as she set another pan of water down to heat. Something else was on his mind.

“Most of the rest of us died just before we found that out.” He stared down again. She picked up a clean cloth, dampened it, and then began to carefully wipe his wounds. More blood came out when she did, but not as much as had been before.

“You were lucky,” she said, but couldn’t have said if she meant for not having died or because his wounds weren’t fatal now.

He said nothing. Perhaps he wasn’t sure of which she meant either. Instead, he grit his teeth and let her get along with cleaning.

There had to be something else that they could speak of that wasn’t the war or the lost or anything like that. Or their bond. That would have been a reasonable topic, if he weren’t so clearly dead set on going away once she took care of him.

“What world are you from?” She’d met people from other worlds since visitors began to drop in. He had to be from another such world.

Again he took his time before he answered but when he did, she was a bit surprised.

“We call it Earth. Dueling there… it’s not like it is here.” He laid a hand on his duel disk for a few seconds. “If you lose, you don’t die.”

She held her own silence as she made certain that the wounds wouldn’t bleed anymore. She didn’t s tart to talk again until she picked up the second pan of water and began to add herbs to it.

“That’s not how it is where I come from as well.” She let out a long sigh, remembering. “I come from a world of islands and oceans. This isn’t at all like what I’m used to.” A tiny twitch of a smile brushed across her lips. “My power – my effect – it’s considered useless at home. Because almost everything is the ocean there.”

He turned towards her, eyes tinted with confusion now. “It might be so there but you helped me here.”

She ducked her head, cheeks tinging the faintest bits of red, and focused her attention on what she was doing. “That reminds me. I can see you are a duelist of fire. But you have a card like Anchor Bind. Why is that?”

She wasn’t sure what she expected for an answer. She wasn’t even certain if she expected an answer at all.

A long stretch of silence was all she heard at first. Then he spoke.

“My mother gave it to me when I was ready to leave for school. She told me that it might be useful. I wasn’t certain if I believed her or not, but...” He offered a shrug. “It did come in handy this time.”

She nodded. There was no way to argue about that, after all. Another question flicked across her thoughts.

“Is it allowed to tell your name in your world? It isn’t quite in mine.” She began to wind a strip of bandage around one of his arms. “I can tell you the name of the card based off of me, but my true name? I can only tell you that in rare cases.”

That got a small tilt of his head and she offered a smile back.

“O’Brien,” he said at last. “Austin O’Brien.”

She nodded, tasting it softly on her tongue. A beautiful name, one that hummed with strength and commitment. Perhaps a taste of fear at the moment, but if he’d seen Haou kill his partner, that was only to be expected. What sort of fool wouldn’t fear Haou?

“I can tell you mine,” she said quietly. “But only if we touch. Names are sacred. Special. For my people, only the closest of friends or bonded soulmates may know them.”

Again his head turned down. He shook it in denial and she didn’t argue, just worked harder on getting him taken care of. Finally she had the last of the injuries all wrapped and tended.

“They’ll need to be cleaned at least once a day,” she told him. “And the dressing changed, of course.”

When he started to get up, she pressed one gloved hand onto his shoulder. “You should eat first. It’ll help you feel better.”

She didn’t have much food with her; she’d mostly gathered it while searching for a hero to fight Haou. But what she had would be enough for the two of them.

O’Brien gave her another look and she returned it with all of the calm she could manage. She didn’t give him that much time to think about matters and perhaps turn her down. Instead, she started to pull her provisions out of her pack. Fruits and nuts and a few edible mushrooms; she settled those by the fire to get warm, since they tasted best like that. Then she dug deeper in and pulled out two large fish and a knife.

“Where did you find those?” O’Brien asked, a touch more curiosity in his tone than for anything else he’d asked of her so far.

She grinned as she picked one of the fish and began to carefully prepare it for cooking. “The village I came from had more than a temple to the sea god. Most of the people there fish and gather gemstones from the sea. I learned how to do this before I joined the temple.”

He started to get up and she delivered a stare she’d seen her mother give her father several times. “Stay where you are. You don’t need to do anything. You’re healing.”

O’Brien looked as if he were going to say something, probably in protest. She pressed her lips together for a moment before she gestured to the warming mushrooms.

“You can watch those. Turn them over and make sure they don’t burn.”

She set out two of the fruits as well. She wasn’t sure of what they were called – she hadn’t seen them before arriving in this area and no one had been able to tell her – but they were tasty and filling. “Peel these.”

While he did that, she took care of the fish, settling them over the fire once they were ready. These fish cooked relatively fast and by the time the mushrooms were heated and the fruit peeled and sliced, everything was ready.

Together the two of them sat and ate, keeping a careful eye outside in case of any approaching soldiers of Haou. It wasn’t something they could afford to let their guard down about.

But the whole meal passed, all of them filling their stomachs, without a single hint that anything at all dangerous lurked out there. When she finished, she rose up and started for the door. She hated to leave him like this, but the few words they’d exchanged told her that he had no intentions of being the hero who would help them.

“Be careful,” she said at last, removing her gloves and putting them in her bag. “And I hope that you find your way home.”

O’Brien bent his head briefly. “The same for you.” He glanced at his wrist then at hers. She wondered for a few moments if he would relent, but if the thought occurred to him, he said nothing about it, and remained where he was.

She wanted to move slowly, to ensure that she remained in sight of him as long as she could. But another point occurred: if she wasted too much time, then she might miss someone who could indeed be their savior.

As much as she wanted not to, she began to hurry her steps, aiming for the village she’d heard of where the remainders of the refugees gathered.

The comet’s light dimmed and brightened twice more before she reached there, passing through the stockade gates with many others. Less than an hour after that, she wished that she’d remained with O’Brien. Afraid as he might be, he at least did not take food from the mouths of wounded, elderly, or children, nor did he order anyone to dig useless trenches.

But those were things that Watchman of the Underworld and Demonic Sky Elder were doing. She didn’t trust either of them for those reasons alone.

“Look! Look!” Her fairy companions squeaked in sudden surprised. They’d been very quiet when she’d eaten with O’Brien, accepting their share, but letting the two of them attempt to know one another better. But now they waved towards someone coming closer.

It was O’Brien. He glanced over to them, then looked away, shoulders hunching. She wanted to ask if he’d changed his mind, but from the way he moved, she didn’t think that he had.

Her heart beat faster as he exchanged a few heated words with Watchman of the Underworld, then backed down, stepping to one side. She gathered her courage and moved over towards him.

“No one here will fight,” she murmured. “They will defend if they must but there’s no true courage in them.” She’d not been here long, but she’d seen that already. It was quite hard to miss. “And I don’t trust them.” She cast her gaze up to where the village leader stepped out of sight.

O’Brien’s gaze followed hers. “Who are they?”

“Watchman of the Underworld. I gather he’s been the leader here for several days. Demonic Sky Elder has been his assistant only for a little while, though.” She’d learned several things wandering around the village, and her friends learned even more.

But O’Brien frowned. “Demonic Sky Elder. Isn’t he a Fusion Material monster? For...”

Both of them froze in the same moment. She didn’t duel often or well, but she knew what Fusion Material monsters were and what could be done with them.

O’Brien knew more. He stared up at where they were, torn visibly. She passed one hand near his eyes, knowing better than to touch him.

“Whatever they’re planning, these people are in danger. Can you just walk away from that?”

Part of him wanted to. She saw that in the way he looked toward the gate. But another part wanted to do something else, and without a single word, he started indoors.

She watched him go and refused to follow along, despite her desire to. He would need help if he won, and she would have to be down here to give that help.

Especially since if he won, there would have to be a new leader for the village and if he didn’t nominate himself, then by the tidal waves, she would!

To Be Continued

Notes: Next chapter, O’Brien has to say good-bye and go fight Haou. What does Sea God’s Priestess do when he never comes back?

[klaumiel]

You are all I’ve got, Damien// Chapter 10: Mother Karma

I felt a sharp pain before landing on the ground. My neck was bleeding, Bennie’s knife was so close to my skin that even though I managed to release myself from him, he still cut me.

At first, I thought it was just a small scratch, so my eyes landed on Damien who’s fists continuously crushed Bennie’s face. Damien’s face was terrifying full of hate and fury; he completely lost control of himself. A small part of me was scared of him in this form, was this Damien from the past? Is that who he was? He talked about this so many times, how he had to fight with himself, how horrible he felt every time he hurt someone.

I called his name a few times, but he didn’t listen just kept throwing punches one after another, like in the trans. For a moment I thought he would kill Bennie, there was no way he could survive this. Everything was happening so fast, but at the same time felt like forever.

Suddenly I saw Bennie reaching for his knife, that was not far from his arm when I was about to get up, I felt a metallic taste in my mouth, and in a split of a second I started to choke, I couldn’t catch my breath. I pressed my hand on my neck, desperately trying to stop the bleeding.

Damien looked at me; his eyes were filled with tears; I tried to warn him, but I couldn’t make a sound until it was too late. Bennie thrust his knife right into Damien’s chest; I was too weak to get up, too weak to scream or even cry. I felt hopeless, watching him collapsing on the ground hurt more than anything. I heard him yelling my name, but I couldn’t do anything. I watched my boyfriend bleed, and there was nothing I could do.

I saw two guys taking Bennie, dragging him away, he yelled to finish us off, but police sirens stopped them from it, I saw them running away before everything went dark.

----

I woke up hearing familiar voices. I opened my eyes and saw my Dad’s face, smiling. Everything felt like a dream, faded.

‘Maya, sweetie’ I heard him say.

I looked around I was laying on the hospital bed, surrounded by familiar faces, Shaun, and Dad. I tried to move my head, but sharp pain followed, and then everything came back to me.

‘Where am I?’ I asked, barely making a sound, I cleared my throat and tried again, this time more successfully ‘Where am I?’ I knew exactly where I was, but I needed that confirmation. I needed to know if I’m awake or this is just a dream.

‘Sweetie, you are in the hospital. Thank god you are awake, we were losing our minds… Don’t force yourself … Shaun, go to get the doctor.’ My Dad said, holding my hand.

‘Where is Damien?’ I shifted nervously looking around. I had no idea if he was even alive. I passed away right after Bennie’s escape, and he was badly wounded’ Please tell me he is OK… Dad, where is he ?’ I panicked, my eyes filled with tears by the thought that he didn’t make it. Please don’t tell me he is dead!

‘Shh... Hey!... calm down. He is here, few rooms away.’ He said, trying to calm me down, but his face was serious, I knew that look. That wasn’t very reassuring.

‘How is he? Is he awake?’

‘I don’t know the details; your Mum spends a lot of time with him. She told me he is fine, but doctors can’t say much until he is awake. You were a bit luckier than him’ He said, stroking my cheek. I knew he isn’t telling me the whole truth.

‘How long we’ve been here?’

‘Six days’ He said ‘ but that doesn't matter, you are OK, and that’s all it matters.’

‘What about Bennie? Please tell me they found him, he couldn’t go far.’

‘No sweetie, they didn’t fund him. Police are looking for him; he seemed to vanish.’

‘What you mean, vanish!? In a puff of smoke!? He is a person, not a wizard! I saw the police arriving when he was escaping Dad!... he couldn't go far. He needed medical assistance, did they checked hospitals? What about his old house?’ I felt anger build inside me. ‘ How did he even managed to escape the prison!?’

‘One of the guards helped him for a reasonable sum of money, and few others were covering his ass…they will find him, Maya. Stop worrying now; they know what they are doing.’

I doubt that very much.

At that moment, I saw a doctor coming into the room with a nurse. Alex was a young and handsome doctor; he looked after me after my accident. Also, we had a history of short but very steamy romance back from the Uni times. After my accident, we met a few times for how they called it – Netflix and chill, but after a few dates, we called it a day as our relations were strictly physical. We decided to be friends, and while we were single friends with benefits. Last time we saw each other was a few months ago just before I met Damien.

‘And who we have here? Maya Clark decided to wake up finally. You do like to keep us waiting, huh?’  He smiled coming closer; the nurse started to remove the bandages from my neck. ‘ We did our best to stitch you up nicely, wasn’t a deep cut, but very messy. It was mostly superficial, but there was small damage to the carotid artery and jugular vein, where the substantial bleeding came from. You will be fine. You will be able to go back home in a few days.’ He said, looking at the cut, he brushed his fingers on my neck shooting me a glance, I knew he still had hots for me, unfortunately for him, from my side, there was none left ‘Is starting to heal nicely.’ He smiled, touching my neck for a little bit too long.

‘And what is Damien’s situation? Will he be alright? … but Alex, be honest, please’ I looked him in the eyes.

‘Well, that’s a bit more complicated. Damien’s wound was deep, causing severe internal damage. The knife missed the heart but didn’t spare the lungs; we managed to patch him up, but the internal bleeding did more damage than we thought. So far he is functioning well, but we need to wait for him to wake up to have a full diagnose… I am optimistic; he is very strong.’ He said, rubbing my arm reassuringly.

‘What you mean by more damage?’

‘So far, all his organs are functioning correctly, and we are monitoring it, but I will be honest with you Maya, the possibility of coma is strong. The fact that he didn’t wake up yet points to it, but we are giving him another few days to be sure’ Alex said

‘Coma!?... No, no… I need to see him now!’ I said starting to get up but suddenly felt dizzy and fell back on the bed.

‘Easy there … Not yet, you should be resting. We will have you checked today, and we will see tomorrow, I will keep you updated on him, I promise’  He said with a smile, helping me lay down.

‘Alex please, I need to see him now... do you want me to beg?’ I said. He knew that if he didn’t help me, I would go one way or another.

‘Ok…I will have a nurse to take you there in few. I need to check on him anyway so I can keep an eye on you as well’ He smiled

‘Thank you Alex’ I said

‘It will sound bad, but I didn’t want to see you here again so soon. You two were very lucky; few more minutes could’ve been too late.’  he said and walked off the room.

My mum stormed into the room, wearing sweat pants and hoody, she looked so tired, her hair was messy, no make-up. She smiled when she saw me.

‘Maya, sweetie’ she cried and wrapped her arms around me ‘ you give us a proper scare’ she said, kissing my forehead ’how are you feeling, love?’

‘I’m good Mum, my neck is a little bit sore, but Alex said it would heal well’ I smiled

‘You have no idea how we were all worried about you two. Shaun called us when we were at the airport, waiting for our flight to Paris. He said you would be fine, but Damien … ‘ she stopped and looked at me, her face was full of worry.

‘Mum?’

‘You should go to him, Alex said that he could hear everything, maybe if he will hear you he will get better.’ she said ‘I’m sure he is sick of hearing my voice’ she laughed.

‘Maya...’ Alex’s head pop through the door ‘ Ready?’ he asked.

I nodded, the nurse brought the wheelchair and helped me sit, a few moments later, we entered the room.

‘I will leave you here for a moment; I just need to check on him.’ He said. Damien’s chest was wrapped in bandages; I was so glad to see him in one piece.

‘He’s heartbeat is slow, that’s not a good sign.’  I heard Alex whispering to the nurse; he saw me staring and turned away and said something to her; she walked off the room.

‘Alex… should I be worried?’ I asked.

‘No Maya, everything is ok’ he give me a reassuring smile.

I turned to Damien, grabbed his hand gently in both of my hands ‘My mum told me that he could hear us? Is that correct?’ I asked.

He nodded, I pushed myself up from the chair and brought my face close to his, I kissed his temple still holding his hand ‘Damien… honey… I’m here’ I whispered to his ear ‘ don’t you dare to leave me, you hear me? I need you to wake up.’ I heard the cardiac monitor beeping faster. I turned my head to Alex and smiled; he smiled back.

I’ve put my hand on Damien’s chest gently rubbing his skin ‘Come back to me.’ I whispered.

‘Whatever you are doing is working’ Alex said, stopping the nurse from injecting some medication to Damien ‘ Rose, I don’t think we will need that, for now.’ he smiled.

‘Can you move me to this room?’ I asked, looking at Alex.

‘If that will make you rest, I will have that arranged … you are still weak, and I know how annoyingly stubborn you are, if I don’t agree to that I will never see you in your bed resting, but I trust you know what you are doing’ he said.

‘Thank you, Alex.’

‘Before I leave, there was a guy, he came here a few times asking to visit, but we didn’t let him in. I asked your parents, but they didn’t know him, Skylar Quinn? Sounds familiar? black hair, blue eyes, looks pretty young.’

‘Yes, he is a friend’ I smiled ‘ I will text him and tell him to come over.’

‘Great, I will pass that to the reception.’

The same night my bed has been moved to Damien’s room next to him. I knew that me being close to him will help in his recovery. My parents finally went home to get some rest

I texted Skylar letting him know we are okay and that I need to talk to him urgently.

I needed Skylar’s help; I knew that police wouldn’t find Bennie and I had to do it myself, for our own sake, so we could finally have some peace.

This had to end, Bennie being around had to end. After that event something in me broke, I felt pure hate and rage every time I thought of Bennie. It wasn’t just about what happened that night; it had more to do with Damien’s mother, his face when Bennie mentioned her was so full of pain and sadness, I knew deep down that this bastard had something to do with it, and I had to know what exactly happened.

I decided to relax and buried my mind into the Outlander, checking every now and then on Damien. The room was utterly silent; I could hear only beeping of the machines. I was deep into my book when I heard a quiet gasp, I turned my head and put my book down, Damien’s eyes were openly looking right at me.

‘Baby’ he said quietly. I jumped off my bed and sat next to him, grabbing his hand. I smiled wildly; I was so happy to see him awake.

‘Careful, love.’ I said when he started to move around, trying to get up. ‘Don’t move; I will call the doctor.’ I said, pressing the button on the side of the bed and smiled, I turned my head back to him and rubbed his face with my hand.

‘I’m so happy to see you alive Maya’ he said quietly ‘I thought I’d lost you.’ His voice was soft and warm.

‘I’m stronger than you think’ I smiled, happy tears falling down my face ‘But we are both fine, and that’s what matters now.’ He moved my hand from his cheek to his lips and kissed.

‘I love you so much baby, I felt like the world shattered in a million pieces when I saw you there.’ I saw a single tear falling on his cheek.

‘I love you too. And I’m fine.’ I smiled

‘Did they catch Bennie?’ he asked.

I tried to keep my face straight, but he knew, he could read me right through.

‘Damien…let’s see what the doctor says first and then I will tell you ok? You are too weak yet; you should rest.’ I said, knowing that wasn’t convincing at all.

‘Maya… please, tell me. I need to know.’

I took a deep breath ‘He escaped…but police are looking for him, they are close’ I said trying to calm him down.

He didn’t say anything, but I saw the anger in his eyes, the same anger I saw that night.

‘Welcome back’ Alex smiled ‘Is good to see you finally with us…Maya could you give us a minute, Alex asked smiling touching my hand, the way he definitely shouldn’t  I pulled it away quickly. What the hell was that about?!

I kissed Damien gently on the lips, grabbed my phone and walked out the room.

I called my parents to tell them that he woke up. Mum wanted to come over right away, but I told her that he needs to rest, after all, it was the middle of the night.

I sat in the corridor deep in my thoughts, completely lost the feeling of time. Something was bothering me; something I had in my head ever since I woke up. Damien’s face, when Bennie mentioned his mother, did he really watched her die? Is this his last memory of her? And what Bennie had to do with it? I knew she died when he was only a kid and that he didn’t remember her for a long time, but what exactly happened? All those questions in my head, I needed to know the whole story, soon. I needed to decide on what to do. Next, I couldn’t just let it go. I found Bennie before, I could find him again.

I felt tapping on my shoulder; I looked up, it was Alex. He sat next to me and smiled.

‘Everything is on order; he is like newborn, we will need to keep an eye on him for at least one more week to make sure everything is healing nicely, but I don’t see any complications. Everything is absolutely fine Maya.’

‘You have no idea how glad I am to hear that, thank you.’ I smiled and hugged him.

‘Couple of days.’ he said, getting up.

I went back to the room, Damien was sitting on the bed, smiling.

‘They unplugged me.’ he laughed and extended his arm to me ‘Come here you.’

He wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me close; he pressed his head on my chest. I kissed the top his head burring my fingers in his hair. He held me tight, rubbing my back. He looked up and pulled my chin gently to him, I cupped his face and kissed him deeply; everything around stopped to exist; it was just us. The kiss was different from any others, stronger, more intimate, but not in a sexual way. There was something different, like a magical dose of happiness spreading through my whole body. Damien pulled away looked in my eyes.

‘I’m sorry baby’ he said.

‘What for?’ I was a bit confused.

‘I failed you … I promised I wouldn’t let anything bad happen to you, I should’ve reacted sooner… but the feeling of him having full control… the fear of losing you completely took control over me.’

‘Damien, stop it! Don’t even go there … there was nothing you could do, we are alive. That’s the most important; you didn’t fail me, you are still here, you didn’t give up.’ I said, rubbing his face.

‘I should've protected you better.’ he looked down.

I pulled his face up ‘You protected me the best you could… for god sake, you nearly died, Damien, how can you talk about failure? You would’ve failed me if you died… leaving me alone … that would’ve been a failure. Because guess what smart ass, I would die without you, do you understand?!’  I said with a serious face.  How can he even think like this?

‘Bennie is going to pay for this, for everything he did. I will make him pay for this.’ He said with anger. I felt like it was time for him to tell me what I needed to know before he does anything stupid and irrational.  Like what I planned to do? Such a hypocrite Maya!

We laid together on his bed wrapped in each other, enjoying the silence. I decided it is time to start “that” conversation.

‘I had so many dreams in the last few days. I didn’t know if I am alive or dead, but the dreams were so real, none of them made any sense. Did you dream about anything?’ I asked, tracing his chest gently with my finger.

‘I did, about many things. Mostly about you, all of our happy moments, about prison and my childhood, but there was one thing that kept repeating.’ He said but didn’t continue; he looked into the distance, his face was sad and full of pain.

‘What was it? I asked, looking at him.

‘My mother, she was wearing the same clothes when I last saw her, she stood in the middle of our old garden, smiling, she kept repeating my name and my pop’s name like she was calling us, then I heard a gunshot, and she was gone. It was a brief moment, but for some reason, I felt weird like happy to see her but also scared, the same way when she died the same type of fear. ’ He said, still looking at the distance. I grabbed his hand; he turned his head towards me and looked at me. ‘ What is wrong? Tell me, I can feel you want to tell me something, but you are holding back.’

‘Well, I dreamt about many things as well, but mostly Bennie, his voice that night, when he spoke about your mother. Just the pieces of the whole situation with his voice, what he said and how he said it. Also your face at that moment, honey, what happened to her? You never told me…, and I have this horrible feeling that Bennie had something to do with this.’

He once again looked away, for a moment didn’t say anything. I let him take his time; I knew he wanted to tell me. After a couple of minutes, he took a deep breath and held my hand tighter, still looking away.

‘I was eight years old when that happened. Bennie was already a teenager; he was old enough to be involved in the business with pop. He was always jealous of me because pop treated me better; after all, I was younger and less problematic. His mother was a drug addict; she died when he was no more than two. Pop decided to move on and met my mother; she was an average person, a nurse, with a golden heart and face like an angel. Pop told me that it was difficult for her to get into his lifestyle, but everything changed when I was born. She raised Bennie like his own son, at least she tried. She treated us equally no matter which one of us was at fault she punished us equally, but he hated her for some reason, and he hated me more than anything. He made my life difficult every chance he got; Pop didn’t have time to discipline him he wasn’t home very often, so we were left with mum, I know she loved him, she was a good person, she never hated anyone… She always said that nobody is perfect, but everyone can be fixed …One day she went to chop shop to talk to pop, but she saw something that she shouldn’t, few guys from the other gang tried to rob my Pop’s shop, she saw their faces but managed to escape home, not for long. A few days later we were home, waiting for Pop to come back when they showed up, I don’t remember in detail what happened but… they questioned her first and even though she said she wouldn’t say a word to anyone about what she saw, they slit her throat in front of my eyes, only because she saw them, she had no idea who they were and what they were doing there. Only years later, I’ve learned that Bennie was the one who told them who she was, he also told them that she worked with pop, which was a lie…they killed her because of him, Maya, he hated her and found the way to get rid of her, and hurt me in one go, after everything, she’s done for him …’ Damien’s eyes filled with tears, which he quickly tried to wipe. He turned his had to me and looked at me ‘ He took everything from me, exactly the way he always said he would. Mum, Pop, my freedom, and he tried to take you.’ He rubbed my cheek with his thumb wiping my tears.

My heart dropped, the pain I saw in his eyes was heartbreaking.

‘I’m so sorry, baby; I can’t even begin to imagine how you felt, and how you feel right now. But know this… You have me, and I love you. That will never change.’ I said, pulling myself up and wrapping my arms around his neck.

‘You are all I’ve got, Maya. All I care about.’ He said, burying his face in my neck, I felt him crying, he tried to hide it, but I squeezed him tight and rubbed his back; he relaxed and finally let it go, the hate, the rage, the pain everything built through the years. Hear him cry broke my heart; I knew that I was the first and the last person to hear this story from him.

I realised that I never hated anyone as much I hated Bennie, I never wished anyone death before, but at this moment I wanted him to die in pain, with whole this pain that Damien felt.

We talked for hours, he told me about his mother's good memories, all the happy things he remembered.

I didn’t sleep for the rest of the night; I was busy planning my next move.

‘There you are lovebirds… I walked past this room at least three times’ I heard a familiar voice in the room, I was so deep into my thoughts that I didn’t hear anyone entering, I’ve put my book down and saw Skylar hanging his jacket on the chair.

‘Skylar!’ I got out of bed and hugged him. ’So good to see you’ I smiled.

‘How are you doing you, bastard? You gave me a proper scare; I thought for a moment that you were gone, but ambulance came just in time.’ he said, looking at Damien.

‘I’m tougher than I look.’ Damien smiled.

‘How come you were there?’ I asked.

‘I followed Bennie’s thugs; I arrived seconds after they escaped with him.’ I saw Damien’s jaw clench.

‘Let’s go to get coffee; Alex said you couldn’t stress.’ I said, rubbed Damien’s arm and whispered in his ear ‘I will be back to you in just a moment, I love you.’ I kissed him, stroking his hair gently.

‘Bring me coffee, ok?’ He smiled.

‘I will be back soon, mate, ladies first.’ Skylar laughed

I took Skylar to the cafeteria; we sat far from others. I didn’t want anyone to overhear what had to tell him. We ordered coffee, and I cut to the point.

‘I have a plan… but not a word about this to Damien ok?’  Skylar raised his brow and leaned closer. I knew he would be interested. ’Will you help me?’ I asked

‘I will’ he smiled

‘I need to find Bennie; the police is useless’ I said, he rolled his eyes laughing.

‘Yeah, no shit Sherlock … you are lucky because I know exactly where he is’ he smiled and sat back in his chair sipping his coffee.

‘How come?’ I asked, surprised.

‘I told you before; I followed one of his thugs. Right after the ambulance took you two, I went after them. My friend Seth hacked this idiot’s phone and installed a tracker; he never leaves Bennie’s side so wherever he is, Bennie is close’ He said showing me the app on his phone with Bennie’s location.

‘Can this information be wiped? Can anyone find out that this guy’s phone is tracked?’ I asked he looked at me trying to figure out what am I talking about.

‘Well yes, once Seth disables the tracker, there will be no sign of it… Maya, why do you need to know this? What the fuck are you planning?’

‘Do you trust him?’

‘Yes, we helped each other a few times; he is a great hacker. He hacks everything and does what he wants with it.’ He had no idea how valuable that information was for me.

‘Great, we will need him… I need you to keep tracking Bennie. I will be out of the hospital in two days. I need you to be ready the same evening.’ I said

‘Maya, what the fuck are you planning? And why I have a feeling this is something crazy?’

‘We are going to pay Bennie a visit … and finish it once and for all.’ I said, making sure nobody is listening.

‘Elaborate … I don’t think I understand this correctly, what you mean by the ‘’finish it’’?’ Skylar looked a bit worried.

‘Bennie won’t stop hunting us, even if he goes back to prison, he won’t stop. He has people working for him, but they are loyal because he pays them. Damien told me all about the whole gang business; everything will stop once Bennie is gone, and I want to make this happen. Also, there is something else, but I don’t want to talk about this right now.’

‘You are going to turn him in?’ He knew exactly what I mean, but he tried to make sure we are talking about the same thing.

‘No’ I said looking Skylar in the eyes, he understood ‘ How many thugs are with him?’

‘Two, he keeps a low profile …Maya this is crazy you know that right?’

‘I know, but that’s the only way. I need Damien to have some peace… Skylar I nearly lost him, and that’s not the first time. Bennie is responsible for so much pain in his life; he killed his father, was the main reason for this mother’s death, and tried to kill me. If this is not a good reason to finish him, I don’t know what is. If I don’t do it, Damien will, and I can’t allow it, that’s why I need to you stay quiet, don’t tell him anything until it is done.’ I said in a quiet voice.

‘Are you sure about this? I am not the best bodyguard, you know?’ He laughed

‘Darling, my father is a first rank Capitan, me and Shaun had self-defence classes since we were toddlers, with a good plan this will be easy. Plus Shaun will be there as well you just need to make sure that your friend Seth takes care of all the cameras around the area for at least two hours.’

‘You have it all planned out … you cheeky...’ he laughed

‘You underestimated me, Skylar Quinn.’ I laughed back

‘You know that Damien will be furious when he finds out, we are talking about real shit here, Maya. One mistake and we are all going to jail.’

‘So we need to make sure we don’t make any mistakes.’ I said confidently ‘ Skylar. I nearly died there. I have to take that chance; Bennie doesn't deserve to breathe the same air as we are. So, are you in or not?’

‘Yes, I’m in.’ he said ‘ I will sort everything out with Seth and come back to you as soon as I have the full confirmation, let’s just hope Bennie will stay in place for two days’ Skylar said looking at his phone.

We went back to the room; Skylar stayed for a bit longer, talking to Damien.

I knew that deep inside; he was excited about our little plan. He was a man of adrenaline and risk after all.

Two days later, I was released home in the morning. Skylar already confirmed that his friend Seth is waiting for our signal.

‘Is Shaun coming to pick you up?’ Damien asked, sitting on the bed, watching me gather all my stuff.

‘Yes, he is already waiting in the car.’ I said, sitting next to him. ‘I will come tomorrow, pop into Cinnaholic and grab you something, huh? What do you fancy?.’ I asked.

‘Oh you know how much I love the Caramel Apple Pie, you can get the Cookie Monster as well… shit you give me a taste now, baby. I might need to pop into the cafe to satisfy my needs.’ He laughed ‘But remember, don’t forget the fork this time.’

I rolled my eyes ‘ You mean the fork you never use?.’ I said

‘Ha. Ha… it’s for you silly, I am a trained professional I don’t need a fork. ‘He said, smiling.

‘Right, trained professional, maybe you should make videos and post it online, maybe you will get them for free if you get enough followers, and you will have some hot chicks thirsting and watching your face getting covered in icing.’ I laughed.

‘Maybe I should, you convince me with the hot chicks.’ He smiled, I pushed him when he started to laugh ‘You should see your face.’ he cracked laughing

‘Not funny Damien Jones, not funny at all.’ I said

‘Baby, you know that the only hot chick I care about is you.’ He said, pulled me to him, wrapping his arms around me. ‘What’s wrong? You seem concerned about something … talk to me.’ Shit, did he noticed? Poker face Maya, focus, he can’t suspect anything.

‘No, I’m fine, just the thought of sleeping alone tonight makes me sad.’ I said the first thing that came to my mind, hoping he will believe it.

‘Alex said they are waiting for some results and I will be good to go. Hopefully, not too long.’ He smiled and kissed me; my phone kept ringing when we kissed.

‘I should go, Shaun is getting impatient. I love you, boo.’ I said talking my bag and placed a small kiss on his lips.

‘I love you too … don’t forget the fork.’ He laughed when I walked out.

I sat in Shaun’s car; my mind was already focused on one task.

‘Do you have everything?’ I asked

‘Yes, I can’t believe you kept all this Luke’s stuff…We don’t have much time to get ready. I will ask you one last time Maya… are you hundred per cent sure you want to do this? There as so many ways this could go wrong.’ Shaun said, squeezing the steering wheel.

‘Shaun, we have everything planned, we just need to focus and stick to the plan.’ I said, trying to sound confident, but the more I thought about this, the less optimistic I was.

‘Are you sure those drugs are still good? It’s been a while.’

‘Yes, I checked. This shit never expires.’

‘Ok, I trust you sister. If this is what you want, I will support you, but I think you should warn Damien, just if anything gets tits up.’

‘Everything will be fine, I don’t want to worry him, plus he would never agree to this.’

We arrived home; I took a shower to clear my mind. I’ve put the most suitable clothes: skinny black jeans, a black shirt and camp boots. I’ve put my hair in the high ponytail. I zipped my leather jacket and looked in the mirror, taking a deep breath and correcting my leather gloves. I checked my pockets and boots for the hidden knives and opened walked to my spare room.

In the corner of the room right behind some of my paintings was a small chest of drawers, my hands were shaking, I didn’t open this drawer since Luke died, all his stuff was there, but I was after only one thing. I moved aside neatly folded shirts and grabbed the gun; we had only three bullets, enough to finish the job.

My heart pounded in my chest. I looked at the gun, remembering when Luke brought it home, together with the drugs, that he never managed to use and I never dared to get rid of, the gun was stolen, Luke stole it from some drug dealer long time ago. Police won’t link it to us, that was the plan, use it for a good cause. I stuck it in my belt behind my jacket and walked downstairs where Shaun was waiting for me.

‘Should I go now?’ he asked

‘Yes, I will call Skylar and go to get him. I will meet you there.’ I said, hugging him.

‘Good luck to all of us … I hope we will come out from this in one piece.’ He hugged my tight.

‘We will.’ I said and kissed his cheek.

I called Skylar; the stress started to kick off. I was restless walking from one side of the room to another.

‘You ready?’ I asked when he picked up.

‘Yes, waiting for you. I will let Seth know to go ahead; he is waiting for my call.’ He said

‘Great, I will be at your house in fifteen minutes… Skylar … thank you.’ I said

‘You will thank me once is over, now get your ass in here, we have a job to do.’ He said, and hang up. I looked out the window it was already dark.  Its time.

I picked up the bike keys from the counter, checked my phone one last time and wrote a message to Damien, before leaving my phone on the table. I knew he would call me later at night, better for him to think I’m sleeping.

‘’I love you, see you tomorrow boo.’’

I didn’t know if using Damien’s bike is a wise idea, but that was a better way to escape quickly, than using my mini Cooper, that takes ages to build up the speed.

Fifteen minutes later, I was in front of Skylar’s door; he walked out as soon as he saw me, put on his helmet and wrapped his arms around my waist.

‘Ready?’ I asked

‘Yes, go.’ He said

The place was around forty minutes outside town, all the way there I had only one thing in my head, everything that Damien told me about Bennie, how hateful and horrible person he is, how much pain he caused him and others. Everything he told me the night before only gave me straight and motivation.

We arrived at the place; it was a field with nothing else than farm buildings. We stopped around a hundred meters from the place Bennie was staying, in the middle of a little forest. Seth made sure that all the street cameras are disabled around the area for the next hour.

Shaun was already there waiting, making sure everything is in place, Skylar went first to explore the area and check the situation inside the house, he knew what he was doing.

Five minutes later he came back ‘ Is looking good, only two guys and Bennie, they are all in the middle room… Shaun and I can go there from the back, and you go by the front door. Bennie is sitting in the middle, and the others are walking around the room, we will need to get them from two sides. Maya, you stand by the front door and wait until we get the other two, the front door seems unlocked. Also, they are full of buzz, which makes it easier.’ He said, checking his pocket for the syringe. ‘Got it.’ He smiled.

‘Ok, let’s go then…remember in the neck, and all of it.’ I said

They both nodded. I walked quietly to the front of what looked like an old farmhouse; I could hear Bennie talking. I looked through the gap in the window for a sign of Skylar or Shaun.

Bennie was sitting on the chair, with his legs on the table and bottle in his hand. His face was in the rag order, black eyes, cut lip, bruises all over, seeing him like this gave me joy, I knew that after today more would join to add some more bruises to his collection. Two other guys were walking around the back of the room, one of them was pretty big and packed; with a stupid look on his face, he didn’t look very smart. The other was average, skinny but tall, and both seemed pretty buzzed, I hoped that Skylar would go after the smaller guy, my heart dropped when I saw his face behind the gorilla-like looking guy.  Fuck sake, Skylar!

On the other side, Shaun was getting ready to go after the other guy; they give me a sign and both of them at the same time walked behind them striking them on the back of the head.

‘What the fuck!’ Bennie jumped from the chair and reached for his gun.

It was time for me, I opened the door, pointing the gun towards Bennie.

‘I wouldn’t do that if I were you.’ I said, walking inside; my heart was pounding in my chest, I barely managed to keep my hands from shaking.

‘You bitch! I should’ve fucking finish you when I had a chance!’ He shouted, turning towards me a bit shaky.

‘You should've.’ I said, still pointing the gun at him; I saw Skylar injecting the drugs to the other two. Shaun grabbed Bennie from behind and pressed a knife to his throat. ‘You will pay for everything; this is my promise to you… you took everything from Damien, everything he loved the most, now I will take everything from you. You will remember my face until you kiss the ground.’ I said, approaching him. I pressed the gun to his head, looking him right in the eyes, I could feel Shaun and Skylar staring at me. I felt like pulling the trigger right at that moment, the desire to blow his head off was so strong that I didn’t know if it was the adrenaline or hate that made me feel like this, but I knew I had to control it. Stick to the fucking plan, Maya!

‘Come on, do it.’ Bennie laughed ‘ That will make you one of us. Just what Damien needs, a chick who can kill.’

I took a step back, still pointing the gun at him, my eyes not leaving his. I couldn’t read him; he showed zero remorse or fear; I could only see evil.

‘I didn’t say I’m going to kill you; I’m not a murderer like you. I only said I would make you pay for everything you’ve done. Someone else will do the dirty work for me.’ I said and pointed the gun at one of his thugs, lying on the ground unconscious, pulled the trigger, and shot him on the shoulder, I moved to the other and did the same.

‘What the fuck are you doing you stupid whore!’ Bennie shouted and tried to move, but Shaun held him tight.

‘I am sure that your gang members will be pleased to find out that their boss shot two of his mates. Mostly the ones in prison, where you will wake up tomorrow morning. I’m sure they will welcome you with open arms.’  I finally saw a flinch of fear in his eyes; he didn’t saw it coming. ‘You messed with the wrong girl, Bennie. I love your brother more than anything in this world, and I would do anything for him, you tried to destroy his life for years, but I will destroy yours with a blink of an eye.’ I looked at Skylar and nodded, he stuck the syringe into his neck, I saw Bennie’s eyes getting heavy, he mumbled something before landing on the ground.

‘Come on we have to hurry up, we don’t have much time.’  Shaun said and starter to move things around.

I placed the gun in Bennie’s hand, making sure his fingerprints are on it.

‘Are you sure they won’t remember anything?’ Skylar asked

‘I am sure they will wake up like after the heavy partying, they won’t remember a damn thing.’ I said, looking at Bennie. Skylar and Shaun were on their way out.

I stared at Bennie, the whole feeling from before still dominating my mind. I  picked up a chair and smashed it on Bennie’s head with all the force I had, pieces of the broken chair flew around the room  ‘Maya for god sake, what the fuck are you doing, we are done here, we need to go!’ Shaun grabbed my arm, pulling me out.

‘Motherfucker! I hope you die in pain!’ I shouted.

The whole adrenaline in me started to sink when I walked out the door.

‘Let’s get the fuck out of here; I messaged Seth to call the cops.’ Skylar said, sitting on the bike behind me.‘ I hope you have something strong to drink at home because I fucking need it.’ He said.

We drove back to my house, and spend the rest of the night in silence, drinking.

It was done, the whole plan worked. Now the most challenging part was ahead … tell Damien.