Chapter VIII

Rose and Rafe slowly start to realize that maybe this wasn't a good idea- but maybe with more time, it'll work?

Chapter VIII

Against Better Judgment

 

“Life is like an open highway, and I wanna do it my way.

I just wanna live while I’m alive. It’s my life.”

-      My Life by Bon Jovi

 

John came back to the hut with me when I decided to go get cleaned up. His leg made him a tad slower, but being a determined man, he managed to keep pace with me. I just pretended that I always walked at such a relaxed pace.

     I’d gotten my white dress mended by one of the girls in the infirmary, as I had never learned to sew as a girl. I was too busy being taught to control my Chakra. As a child, I’d randomly set it off.

     Stepping out of the room and into the small living room, I twirled for John, who was sitting patiently on the couch. We’d stopped by his hut and I had helped him get cleaned up. He was a very handsome man, when he wanted to be. He beamed at me and I felt like a daughter showing off for her father. “You look so pretty, Rosie.”

     He liked calling me that, for whatever reason. I just rolled my eyes, smiled, and said, “That’s very flattering. Shall we get going?”

     Glancing about, he asked, “Isn’t that assassin fellow coming along?”

     I’d almost forgotten that I’d snaked Rafe into coming. “I hope he is; he said he would be. I guess we’ll find out when we get there, won’t we?”

     John gave me a critical eye. “I hear young Erin asked you to this little party. Is that true or have the grapes on the vine gone bad?”

     His turn of phrase was always… interesting. “He did, but he failed to be a man and specify it as a date.” John started to comment on that when I said, “If you call me a tease, I’ll slap you.”

     “I wasn’t going to, but maybe I should. I imagine it was implied that he wanted to get you all alone, girl,” he told me.

     “That’s too damn bad,” I replied. “Rafe called me tease, but I’m not. I never said I’d come alone and he never told me to.”

     Making a guttural male noise, he let the subject drop as we walked to the square. I was thankful for it until he said, “Rafe is still right.”

 

     Erin was pretty mad, I could tell, but he hid it like any diplomat. John tipped his imaginary hat, smiled, and they had small talk while my eyes scanned for Rafe. He’d said he’d be here. It was making me angry that he might skip out on it.

     “Looking for someone?” The question came from behind me, and I whirled to see who had spoken, smiling when I saw the owner of the voice.

     “I thought you were going to bail out on me,” I told Rafe.

     He shrugged and I saw that he was dressed oddly. I couldn’t tell how many layers he was wearing or how much armor, but I could see armor. The robes were black, and seemed to fit him snugly while also being able to mar his form. I saw that there was a hood and a cape that hung off the left shoulder. I reached for his right wrist, lifting his arm up to gesture to the getup. I gasped in surprise when a blade shot out of a secret holder in his wrist, releasing him. Casually, he tucked it back in and said, “My robes.”

     “What made you wear them?”

     “I just felt like it,” he countered. That answer didn’t satisfy me at all, but he didn’t give me a chance to argue. “Are you enjoying yourself?”

     I grinned, saying, “I only just got here, Sir Obviously Avoiding the Subject.” He grinned back but didn’t reply. Rafe saw Erin, shook his hand, greeted him cordially, and as Erin walked away under the pretense of drinks, Rafe laughed. John did too. I was the only one who missed the joke. “What,” I began, “is so funny?”

     John looked at Rafe, cueing him to tell me. Taking this cue, Rafe turned to me and said, “Erin is so mad right now.”

     Confusedly, I asked, “Why is he angry? Why is it funny that he’s mad?”

     John piped up, “Erin’s got that attitude about him. I believe he’s under the impression that I was invited as a fourth, merely to make sure that he had someone to talk to while you dance the night away with young Raphael here.”

     Blushing furiously, I snapped, “That wasn’t the plan at all!” Actually, I realized, it kind of was. I had hoped to see if Rafe had two left feet or not. However, I’d invited John so he could get out and be off that damn infirmary bed for a couple hours. Though, I came to the ending thought that John did serve the handy duty of keeping Erin out of my hair while I tried to get Rafe to dance with me.

Rafe shook his head, grinning at me. “I told you. You’re a tease.”

     Glaring, I shot back, “I am not a tease!” Pausing, I said a tad meekly, “I just didn’t think this through very well.” They were both still grinning at me, so I shot again, “It honestly didn’t occur to me that he might really like me. I thought you two were just pushing my buttons.”

     Rafe didn’t seem to believe me, but after a moment of looking me in the eye, John stopped grinning. “I’ll be damned. You really didn’t know, did you?”

     Now confused, Rafe looked at John, cocked an eyebrow, and then stared at me for a long moment. Then he stopped grinning. “Well s**t; you didn’t know.”

     “That’s what I’ve been saying!” Then I realized something. “Hey, wait! How was I supposed to know?”

     John started laughing again. “Sweetheart, you’re not stupid, slow, or particularly air-headed. That means one of two things. The first of those is that you’re just oblivious, but I somehow doubt that too.”

     “The second,” Rafe continued, “is that you really don’t know what you do to the men around you " out of sheer innocence or not knowing how beautiful you are, I don’t know.”

     “B-Beautiful- what are you two talking about?”

     Together, they laughed, “It’s the second one.”

     Genuinely confused and getting mad, I demanded, “One of you tell me what the hell is going on!”

     It was too late. Erin came back but didn’t seem to notice that I was glaring at Rafe and John over something. The music changed from a happy ballad to something a bit more upbeat. Erin turned to me and asked, “Would you like to dance, Rose?”

     My glare lingered on the other two men before I slowly looked at Erin, declining politely, “No, Erin, but thank you. I think I need to go freshen up.” I shoved my drink into Rafe’s free hand, and he just laughed.

    

     I returned fifteen minutes later, having fixed my hair a bit and gotten my head straight. I decided to pretend like the conversation hadn’t happened. What was all that nonsense with them talking about beautiful? I didn’t know, but I didn’t want to try finding out.

     When I returned, John was nowhere in sight. Sadly, I asked Erin, “Where did John go?”

     “He felt tired,” Rafe answered for Erin, who hadn’t been paying attention at the moment. “He told me his leg was bothering him.”

     Worried, I tried, “Did you see which way he went? Maybe I can help him with the pain.”

     Rafe grabbed my hand, saying soothingly, “He told me it was just sore, not in real pain. He said to tell you that he’s fine and he’ll see you tomorrow, but he’d prefer to skip his walk.” Still worried, I just nodded. He saw that I wasn’t relaxed and seemed to want to say something. I raised an eyebrow and he came out with it, finally. “Would you feel better if I temporarily put aside my disdain for dancing?”

     That surprised me. “I thought I’d have to rip your legs off to get you to dance with me. Are you sure?”

     He started to speak but then hesitated. Then he said, “Let me drink a bit first. I’m not feeling quite so friendly just yet.”

     “You’re on a two-pint limit,” I ordered.

     Instead of getting angry, he paused as if considering. “Make it three and I’ll agree to that.”

     “Two and a half,” I bartered, grinning broadly.

     Erin was watching this, and I could finally see the jealousy in his eyes. It honestly surprised me. Rafe ignored him, saying, “Two and three quarters.”

     “I might as well just give you the third, at that rate!”

     “Great, it’s settled. I’ll be right back,” he said. Before I could argue, he was off. I just laughed, watching him head for the rum table.

     Erin took this chance to say, “Did you accept my invitation out of pity or did you actually want to come with me tonight?”

     Offended by his tone, I narrowed my eyes and replied coolly, “For your information, sir, I was under the impression that this was just a friendly invitation. John and Raphael had to tell me it was meant to be a date.”

     “Are you telling me you didn’t know that before?” This seemed to irritate him somehow, which only offended me further.

     “Yes, I am,” I snapped. “Most men have the balls to make dates less vague. What am I supposed to think when a man says, ‘if you’d feel better, you and I can go to the meeting on Friday together’? To me, that’s a friendly offer to take me so I’m not by myself. A date would have been a much different approach.”

     Erin took a step closer to me, putting us within a foot of each other. I didn’t like the feeling it gave me. “Well, this is a date, madam.”

     Dawning hit me and I realized what I was seeing. I’d seen it before. The body language, tone, and inflections made it all clear; he was a chauvinist and intended to attempt bullying me. Squaring my shoulders, I came back with nothing but ice. “Is that right? Well, I’m afraid I’m breaking it. That’s effective immediately, dick-bag.”

     The phrase ‘dick-bag’ caught him severely off-guard, as he didn’t reply for a full thirty seconds. “How dare you speak to me like that?”

     Mockingly laughing, I smiled viciously. “I dare just like this, Erin: you’re a pretentious, narcissistic, boorish, brainless, vapid piece of roasted defecation and I hope you drown in your own waste.”

      I saw the rage spark in his eyes as he snapped, “Mouthy b***h.” My eyes barely registered his hand winding back to swing and my cheek didn’t start to burn with the pain for a full second, but I didn’t see Rafe at all. He came out of seemingly nowhere, grabbed Erin’s wrist, and started bending it brutally backwards. Yelping in pain, Erin tried to get free but Rafe held him in an iron grip " a grip I knew well. I couldn’t tell exactly how Rafe was holding Erin’s wrist, but apparently, the more Erin tried to pull free, the more he ended up causing Rafe to bend the wrist back. “Release me,” Erin demanded.

     “I don’t think I will,” Rafe replied. Something about his voice was… terrifying, all of a sudden. It sent chills down my spine, and I wasn’t the one in trouble. It was icy much as it had been the day I’d woken up. Now, though, there was something even more threatening about his tone. It scared me a bit.

     Erin struggled some more, glaring at me. “Make your friend release me, or I will have you both evicted from Bird’s Hollow!”

     I jumped at the sound of Spike’s voice behind me. He put a surprisingly gentle hand on my shoulder as he stepped past me, saying dangerously, “I’m not the only one who saw you raise a hand against the lady here. You know striking a woman is a capital offense in the Hollow.” Grabbing Erin viciously by the collar of shirt, he growled, “You do not hit a woman.”

     Rafe stood, glaring very darkly. He’d released Erin, but had moved in such a way that any move toward me would be instantly thwarted. For whatever reason, I cut in, “Sp-Sir, it doesn’t matter.”

     Spike, keeping a firm grip on Erin’s shirt, glanced at me as he said, “Madam, I’ll kindly remind you that you are new here. We do not tolerate abusers. The few women and children we have here are a part of this society and we rely on them as much as we do the men. That being the case, I will not tolerate anyone smacking them around.”He paused, adding, “Especially not the woman that’s been kind enough to tend closely to John Xander.”

     Erin chose that moment to lunge at me. Rafe moved so fast that I couldn’t even get out a gasp of surprise before he’d finished. In the moment Erin jumped at me, Rafe got in front of him and managed to send a sharp punch to the stomach, a knee to the groin, elbow to the side of the face, and then whirl to slug Erin in the jaw. Hands clapped over my mouth and heart racing, I watched as Rafe, who’d knocked Erin to the ground put his boot firmly over the man’s throat. “I’m warning you,” he said to Erin. “If you make one more move toward Miss Rose, I will snap your kneecaps so far past the point of breaking that not even her healing will save your legs. Do I make myself perfectly clear?”

          “You-”

          Rafe’s heel visibly crunched down farther; making whatever response Erin had a gargle. “I said,” he began, “am I making myself clear?” I saw the boot grind slightly as he put heavy emphasis on the word ‘clear’.

          I was expecting Spike to stop Rafe, but he didn’t. Instead, he made a gesture and four men moved forward through the crowd (which was watching this scene intently) to apprehend Erin. When they hauled him to his feet, Erin glared viciously at me, but then he saw Rafe flick his wrist and free the blade hidden there. He scoffed and half-allowed the men to shove and pull him through the crowd.

          Rafe came over to me, asking with gentleness that surprised me after all that coldness, “Are you alright?”

          Was I? I felt a tad numb. I’d never had a man openly assault me before in my life. I’d had men try to bully me. I’d never had a man try to hit me before, though, and I’d certainly never had another man step in to protect me so fiercely. Nodding slowly, I murmured, “I think I am.”

          He touched my arm, confirming, “You’ve never been assaulted by a man before.” Damn, how did he see that so easily? The mind reader then said, “It’s in your face; you’re pale and look lost.”

          “Can we…get out of here? I suddenly don’t feel much like partying,” I admitted weakly.

          Rafe merely nodded, gently taking me by the elbow as he guided me out of the crowd. Once free of people or spectators, he steered me toward the little hut. I couldn’t find words to speak for some amount of time, but I felt tears threatening me. My plan to resist them was simple if not preferable. I decided now would be a good time to talk about the cloud hanging between us.

          “I’m sorry I lied to you, but you must understand why,” I blurted randomly, my voice shaking with the sobs I was choking on.

          Surprised, we stopped as he faced me. “Why are you trying to talk about this right now?”

          “I need to,” I told him, putting heavy meaning into the sentence. He kept eye contact for a moment before simply nodding. Putting off further protest to the subject, I continued. “I was told upon getting on the boat that magic was not welcome in Ethein though the sailor who informed me did not say why.” Swallowing, the words started to come a bit easier, “I was scared. There were plenty of moments where I wanted to say something " like in the cavern, when you were so hurt.”

          I saw his arm roll slightly in memory as his hand brushed over the leg that was just now starting to return to normal status. Rafe frowned at me as he said, “We don’t trust each other very much.”

          At first, I wanted to argue. I knew he was right though. Neither of us put much stock in a single word the other said. We stood there for several minutes, merely staring at the other as if the matter would resolve itself that way. Sighing, I said, “Do you think this was a mistake?”

          “Was what a mistake?”

          “Do you think I should just… go? Would that be easier?” I could see him want to argue but I didn’t leave a chance. “Think of it this way, Rafe. You and I don’t trust each other. You think I’m hiding the world and their brothers. In the meantime, I don’t know what to think about you. How are we supposed to live like that?”

          “You realize that I pointed this out before we ever left,” he noted with a teensy bit of smug ‘I told you so’.

          I punched his arm weakly, feeling fatigued and drained. “I’m being serious, Rafe.”

          He shrugged, hands in his pockets. “It was a mistake,” he replied bluntly. The no-hesitation-response kind of hurt me. Somehow, I’d wanted him to say that it wasn’t, that our friendship wasn’t a mistake, and that we could figure out a way to trust each other around the secrets. Looking me in the eye, he added, “It was a mistake, but I don’t see any way of correcting it. If you leave, I’m going to feel obligated to go find you and bring you back.”

          “Why?”

          “Easy; you’ll die out there,” he said with a light chuckle. I glared but he insisted. “Rose, you’d get killed. You don’t know what you’re doing.”

          We were silent again. Finally, I asked the question on both our minds. “What do we do, then?”

          He answered so easily, as if it were just that simple. “I guess I’ll have to teach you basic defense.”

          “That would require me to stay and us to stop being paranoid of each other,” I retorted, not seeing how that plan was supposed to work.

          “Basic defense isn’t learned in a day. I imagine you’ll have to stick with me for some time, but in that time, maybe we’ll stop being so paranoid. Then, when you’re all trained up, you can go at will,” he told me easily.

          Stupidly, I blurted again, “That means I’d have to stay here.”

          Grinning a bit, he chided, “Think it through, Rose.”

          I thought about it for a long moment, and then realized what he was doing. The training was an excuse for me to stay here, or rather, a reason for me to need to stay here further. A part of my brain protested, reminding me that I needed to leave more than I needed a friend. I was endangering every life here by not going now. However, Rafe was right… I did need that training. I was a bit helpless on my own.

          Staying a bit longer wouldn’t hurt anything. Would it? 

Author's Note

DON'T TELL ME THAT THERE ARE RANDOM " BECAUSE I ALREADY KNOW. WRITERSCAFE REPLACES - WITH "