Fighting (32 page)

He
twirled my hair around his fingers and said only loud enough for me to hear,
"Liked your pigtails earlier."

I
smirked and moved just my eyes to his face.  "As much as you liked my lift
that even you missed?"

"I'm
your partner, not a mind reader."

"You're
a little of both."

That
seemed to spark his interest but right then, he glanced over at the table and
then back to me.  "Meet you out back in ten."

I
nodded and said loud enough for them to hear, "I have to go back to
work."

I
brushed past Aaron to collect their empty beer bottles and deposited his wallet
in his pocket without him noticing.  I heard muttering as I retreated, but I
didn't turn back around, letting Ethan handle it.  I went back to the ladies'
locker room and deposited the money and the various wallets I lifted into my
bag and changed back into my clothes.  I snuck back outside and leaned against
the bike, waiting on Ethan.  Less than ten minutes later, he emerged from the
backdoor.

"You
win?"

His
face barely changed but still managed to look mildly offended. 
"Seriously?"

I
smiled at him and said, "Anger management classes?  Nice touch but you
almost made me laugh."

He
smirked at me and motioned for me to get off the bike so he could get on. 

"I
was in the moment," he said.

That
suddenly reminded me of his wandering hands, so I hit his bicep and said,
"Yeah, about that.  Try and keep your hands to yourself, yeah?"

"What
boyfriend doesn't touch his girlfriend?"

"A
fictional one!" I said. 

He
chuckled and we got on the bike and left before someone noticed the correlation
between our absence and the assortment of missing wallets.  I braided my hair
to one side of my head and wrapped my arms around his waist.  I rested my cheek
against his shoulder as he revved the engine.  We drove down the highway for
maybe two hours before he took an exit and pulled into a hotel parking lot. 

I
followed him inside the lobby and listened to him rent a room under a false
name.  I was facing the direction behind Ethan, scanning the surroundings that
he couldn't see.  I heard him thank the attendant and then he put a hand on my
lower back to guide me to the elevator. 

We
walked into the room and I stopped and stared.  "There's only one
bed."

He
brushed past me and set his bag on the bed.  "All they had left.  So how
much do we have now?" he asked.

I
produced all of the wallets and tips I had and he pooled his winnings together.

"Almost
two thousand dollars," he said.

"Aaron
had seven hundred bucks in cash?  Why the hell would he walk around with that
much money on him?  Did he
want
to get mugged?" I asked.

"Want
to go shopping?" he asked.

I
smiled.  "Yes, please."

He
chose the nearest strip mall for us to restock our supplies which was
conveniently located next to a superstore.  We ducked into the mall first,
choosing a store I routinely shopped at, and separated to pick out clothing for
each of us.  I grabbed a hoodie, two pairs of jeans, four shirts, underwear,
socks, and another bra.  And then I realized that we were checking out
together, and how awkward that might be.  I put the bra back. 

He
got roughly the same selection and I nearly laughed when I looked all of our
clothes over.  Every piece of clothing we chose was a dark color, if not
black.  We shared a glance and he shrugged.  The clerk put all of our shit in
one huge bag, and then we trekked over to the super store. 

I
had a check list of supplies that I knew would come in handy, so I led the
superstore campaign.  He snagged a push cart and stowed our clothing bag inside
and trailed after me.  I zigzagged all over the store, trying to be quick but
thorough.  I grabbed a big pack of batteries, a decent set of two-way radios,
electrical tape and fish wire.  If Ethan thought my selection was odd, he
didn't mention it.  I also picked out travel size bottles of soap and shampoo
for us because I hated hotel soap.

Ethan
picked out a second bag for him to carry now that we had more clothes, and we
went back to the hotel.  We got back to the room and I sorted through our
clothes, removing tags, as he settled back on the bed with his hands behind his
head.

"You
were kind of flirty back there," he said, staring at the ceiling.

"With
who?  Aaron?  I was mean to him!"

"That's
a type of foreplay and you know it."

I
grimaced at him.  "I did not like that guy."

He
smirked.  "He liked you."

I
sat down on the edge of the bed and said, "Yeah, well, I had to disarm
them so it would be easier for you to win the pool game."

He
smiled and shook his head.  "No faith."

"In
you?  I have all the faith in the world in you, Boss.  I just wanted a
guarantee, so I ruffled his feathers.  And actually, he was more harassed after
your play than mine.  I always knew you were dangerous, but damn," I said,
awe coloring my voice.

He
looked like he wanted to laugh.  "What do you mean?"

I
crawled closer to him so that I was sitting right beside of him on my shins and
looking down at him.  I held up two fingers.  "Two words and he was
shaking in his boots."  I paused and slightly lowered my face toward his. 
"Literally."

His
smile dropped and he said, "He called you a bitch."

Now
I wanted to laugh.  "I was being bitchy to him."

"He
disrespected my girl to my face.  What was I supposed to do?"

I
sobered and said, "I'm not your girl."

He
looked back to the ceiling and muttered, "You were for an hour."

Yeah
and I was beginning to regret not taking a break sooner and staying with him
longer to take more advantage of the situation. 

This
conversation was starting to depress me so I changed the course. 

"Anyway,
I toyed with him to throw him off balance, and then you came over and even
though it was fun, we let ourselves get carried away.  I could have taken his
whole wallet and he wouldn't have thought of us.  It's not that I think I'm
this super sexy temptress, but you would be surprised what confidence and a
suggestive smile can do."

He
looked up at me.  "You don't think you're sexy?"

I
raised my eyebrows and surged up, off the bed.  "Oh, no!  No, no, no.  We
are not having this conversation."

He
chuckled as I sorted through our bags and retrieved the radios and batteries. 
Ethan handed me a switchblade without me having to ask for it and I cut through
the plastic to free the merchandise.  I outfitted the radios with batteries and
made sure they worked.  Then I rifled through one of the wallets for a business
card and took it, the radio, and wire to the door.  He pushed up to lean back
on his elbows and watch curiously as I cut a long length of fishing wire and tied
one end around the door handle.   I taped the other end securely to the
business card and then fiddled with the radio.  I pressed down the button that
sounds a squealing tone for Morse code and wrapped electrical tape around the
radio a few times to hold it down so it was constantly squealing.  I then
wedged the business card between the connection point of the batteries so that
it severed the connection and it cut power and stopped squealing.

"As
soon as someone opens that door, it will yank the business card out, the
batteries will reconnect and the radio will squeal, alerting us to
intruders," I said.

He
dropped back down to his back and replaced his hands behind his head
comfortably.  "Smart," he muttered.

"There's
a reason I listen to Oliver when he speaks geek," I grinned.

I
rigged the other radio the same way with the sliding door and then left to take
a shower.  Afterward, when I came back out to the bedroom, he was in the exact
same position I left him in and fast asleep.  I knew he probably wanted to
shower, and that if he slept too long before getting up, he would be groggy
instead of well-rested, so I moved to wake him up.

"Ethan,"
I said. 

No
response.  I stood by the bed and looked down at him.  I touched my hand to his
shoulder and shook it gently.  Suddenly, two hands grabbed my shoulders and I
was tossed over Ethan to land on the bed beside of him as he hovered over me
and his hands closed around my throat, choking me.  I full on panicked,
squirming and slapping at his hands and pushing at his chin.

He
shook his head and instantly released his hold on me.  He jumped up from the
bed and I knifed up and scuttled backward until my back hit the headboard.  The
sheets were tangled with my feet and every muscle in my body was tensed to get
the hell out of there.

"What
the fuck was that!" I squeak-yelled at him. 

My
eyes were wild and my hands were frantically massaging my throat.  He looked
absolutely appalled as he frantically paced back and forth. 

"You
startled me."

"I
didn't shout your name!  I touched your shoulder!"

"But
I was asleep!  That's not how you wake me up," he said distractedly,
running a hand over the back of his neck anxiously.  "I thought you were
someone else, and in this scenario, anyone other than you is a threat."

My
eyes bugged out and I said, "What?  What do you mean, that's not how I
wake you up?"

He
stopped pacing and focused on me.  "You slide your hand over my
chest."  He swallowed thickly and said, "Every single time, that's
how you wake me up.  I associate that with you, so I don't panic when I feel
that.  Anything else, and it's not who's you waking me up."

I
just stared at him mutely as I still felt Ethan-induced fear for the first
time, ever.  He was a really strong dude, and he knew exactly how to take
someone down without even thinking about it.  I'd fought guys before,
obviously, but I'd never had Ethan's full power unleashed on me.  It was
terrifying having the one person I relied on turn on me, even for a nanosecond.

That
fear was plastered all over my face and I did absolutely nothing to hide it. 
He held my eyes as he visibly calmed his movements and covered the remaining
distance between us slowly and sat down on the bed near me.  He reached out to touch
me like one would a cornered animal.

"Sorry
baby, but I didn't know it was you," he said.

I
knew that and it was calming to hear him say it, but I still felt a little
threatened. 

"I
didn't mean to hurt you.  Not you, never you.  I'm sorry," he said
softly. 

His
eyes were pleading for forgiveness as his fingertips slowly, cautiously swept
over the skin of my leg so lightly that I barely felt them.  I stared at his
hand with my heart in my throat.  I knew he was telling the truth, and it's not
like he lost control of his anger and hit me.  He thought we were in trouble
and was poised to attack at a moment's notice.  For us, for our survival.

I
removed one of my hands from my throat and squeezed his hand, pressing it
firmly against my skin.  He sighed with heavy relief and murmured, "Come
here."

I
tipped over onto my knees and he grasped my waist and dragged me the rest of
the way to him.  He sat me in his lap and I wrapped my arms around his neck and
tucked my face where his neck met his shoulder.  Panicked energy still coursing
through me, my fingers clawed at his shirt, desperate for a connection to
ground me.  We spent a few minutes like that, just breathing each other in and
calming after the storm.  He had a strong arm wrapped around my back and ran
the fingers of his other hand through my wet hair, muttering apologies,
relaxing both of us. 

Once
my heart returned to a normal rhythm and my grip on him loosened, I pulled back
and did what I always did to lighten a situation.  "Was that revenge for me
choking you out during training?" I joked.

He
scowled.  "Don't do that."

"What?"

"Make
a joke of it.  You can be real with me.  I know I scared you.  You don't have
to cover that up."

"I
know that but I'm over it now."  He looked at me like he didn't believe me
and I said, "Really.  If I wanted to cover it up, I wouldn't be sitting
here with you.  I'd be sitting in the bathroom, probably huddled in the bathtub
and freaking out."

He
let that marinate for a second, then said quietly, "I fucked up."

I
looked at my hands that were resting near his neck and thought about it a
moment.

"Yeah,
but you didn't mean to," I said.  I chanced looking at his eyes and found
them dark on mine with anguish.  I knew he needed more reassurance than that,
so I spoke in a stronger voice and let him have another shred of me.  "I
trust you.  I haven't truly trusted anyone in a long time, and when Brooks
brought me home, I grew to have a certain trust in the others.  But you,"
I shook my head and brushed my fingers through the hair right above his neck
and looked him straight in the eye and spoke clearly.  "You are the only
one I don't ever second guess.  You, I trust completely. 
Only you
.  So
forget about it, okay?  You didn't fuck up that bad."