Chapter Eighteen
Reed
I hate that she has been through things that have hurt her and that have affected her enough to give her trauma responses, but there is no denying it. The way that she reacted to the news of the Choosing wasn’t because of the Choosing itself, but rather being forced into a situation that she didn’t have any control over. We are all aware of that, we all have been through shit which means that we can easily recognize the trauma responses in others.
“At least we know how to help her,” River says quietly.
I nod, along with the others, although there is still a tension in the air.
“She’s with us now, and she’s safe,” Griff says firmly, looking around at us all he adds, “We will make fucking sure of it.”
“Agreed,” we all reply.
His words soothe that swirling pit of unease that was growing in my stomach. She has us now, and there isn’t much that we can handle.
I have no doubt that we would all put her before ourselves, I have no idea how she has gotten us all wrapped around her little finger, but there is no fucking denying it. We would fight for her, and beside her.
“Let’s get the reports done,” Griff says in his gruff manner that leaves no room for arguments.
We all put our heads down and actually start writing again without any more interruptions.
Neith
“T here aren’t any more turn offs for a while, we’re staying on this road for a good few miles,” Raiden says through the helmet speaker.
“Okay,” I reply.
He has been taking it really easy, I can understand why. He has no idea how confident I am on a bike or how experienced I am, and even then, some of the most experienced bikers I have known have always been nervous on twisty roads like the ones that we have just driven on. I get it. I’m just over it. It has been far too long since I have been on a bike this fucking nice, and the last thing that I want to do is to take it easy.
“Are you okay?” he asks, sounding slightly concerned, “I’m not going too fast, am I?”
He really is sweet. Bless him.
I have been riding behind him, since I needed to follow him to know where we are going, but he said that we would be on this road for a good few miles. I want to play.
I pull up beside him and wait until he glances over at me before I say, “Catch me if you can.”
I wait just long enough to see his eyes widen in shock before I laugh like the maniac I am and take off at high speed. Raiden’s laughter sounds in my ear as he easily catches up with me. As we take the corners at speeds we probably shouldn’t and start to overtake each other and really race, I realize that he was holding back a lot, too.
He has managed to overtake me again, and using a move that is particularly risky, and usually used in racing, I undertake him on the corner, my knee coming close to the asphalt.
“Fucking hell,” Raiden curses, although I can hear the smile in his voice.
I pop back up having successfully overtaken him and lift up my middle finger, looking in my mirror to see him throw his head back and start laughing. My smile is huge, but he only lets me enjoy the win for a moment before he speeds past me and sticks his finger up making me laugh.
We play like that for a while, but unfortunately, because we are driving so fast, the turning to the town appears before I am ready to stop playing.
I let him take the lead again as we slow back down since these roads are a lot busier than the one that we have just left.
“Do you want to grab a coffee or head straight to the big mall and get some stuff done?” Raiden asks.
“Erm, mall first and then coffee after? I am really not looking forward to this, so I would rather get it out of the way so I can enjoy the rest of the day with you,” I reply.
“Sounds good,” Raiden replies.
As we drive through the town, I realize that this area is one of the supernatural towns because they clearly outnumber the humans. It isn’t a very big town, although it does seem to be equipped with everything that you could possibly want, including some supernatural stores that I desperately want to look in. There’s a coffee shop called Coffee and a Spell, a herbalist store that sells all sorts of interesting bottles of things I have no name for and that are most likely deadly, and a freaking sword shop that looks awesome, although I get the feeling that I probably shouldn’t take another sword home with me because my enchanted one seems to be stabby enough as it is, and I have no idea if it is capable of getting jealous.
I have a feeling that it most likely is, so I’m not going to risk it by taking another sword home. The last thing that we need right now is a vengeful enchanted object that can’t be good.
I have to admit that I am disappointed when we leave the town with the enchantingly named stores, and turn into a mall that looks like the thousands of others that are spread throughout this country.
As we pull into parking spots and I take my helmet off, Raiden asks, “Why do you look so disappointed?”
“Honestly?” I ask, and he nods, looking curious. “I want to explore the stores that are clearly aimed at supes in the town, and I’m disappointed that we are at the mall that appears to have none of those. It’s been ages since I have been able to have a look around a supe owned hypothecary. I could do with picking up a couple of bits since I can’t get anything from my house.”
Raiden chuckles and gets off his bike, prompting me to do the same.
“You have made it incredibly clear how much you hate shopping, so I thought that we would get it out of the way as quickly as possible. This is the best place to do that,” he explains. “We can head into town after, grab a coffee and have a look around if you would like? You can pick up the bits then. Hopefully, you will be able to go back to your house at some point and grab the stuff that you want to move into our place.”
Well, I guess that answers the vague question I had about whether I am staying with the guys or getting my own place. I like it. I have been lonely in my little house, as much as I love it.
I nod, “Yeah, that sounds great, actually. I hope so. I don’t have much, but what I do have, I fought fucking hard to get, so I would hate to lose it all. I won’t be selling my house, for a similar reason. I love that little place, even if I never live there again, I can’t part with it.”
“I get that,” Raiden replies, “there is no reason that you would need to sell it. If everything goes to plan, then we could use it as a holiday home or something.”
I chuckle, “That’s sweet, but there is no way that it would fit all of you in it, and the town isn’t exactly supe friendly.”
Raiden frowns, “Yeah, the guys told us. Why were you living there? You obviously don’t have a problem with supernaturals, but you were staying in a predominantly human town.”
“A couple of reasons actually,” I start, wondering just how much to explain, “after Dimitri and everything that went down, I needed a break from supes, and I also didn’t trust that he wouldn’t come after me despite the fact that I was under HID protection. A human town talks when a supe comes to town, I would get a small forewarning. It was a safety precaution. It also kind of called to me? This is going to sound crazy, but you should be getting used to that when it comes to me now.”
He grins, “Now I’m intrigued, go on?”
“Well, I had been desperately looking for somewhere safe to live, I was twenty, been through things that,” I pause, and change the sentence, “been through too much. I just wanted somewhere to rest, to recharge, somewhere that was mine. I was working for HID but lived on the road, they would call me, and I’d tell them when I could get to the job based on where I was. I stopped in that little town, at Bobby’s, actually, and was looking through the paper, and my little house practically jumped off the page and screamed ‘mine’ at me. One of Bobby’s regulars and now a favorite of mine, Pete, saw what I was looking at and asked if I liked it. Being me, I blurted out that it felt like mine; he said he was selling it as he had moved closer to town. I told him I had some money saved but not nearly enough and he ended up getting me a job at Bobby’s, and said I could pay him off in instalments. It was a damn miracle. I finished paying him off a few years ago, but I will never forget what he did for me.”
“Wow,” Raiden says, “that’s pretty cool. I would like to meet Pete. It sounds like he was there when you needed him.”
“Yeah, he was my favorite regular,” I chuckle, feeling a pang of sadness. I won't be working at Bobby’s any time soon, or ever. I have no need to now that I am working for SID.
“You will be able to go to see your house. I’ll make sure of it, and like I said, there is no need to sell it,” Raiden says.
I smile, “Thanks.” I change the subject, “Let’s get the boring shit over and done with.”
Raiden grins and puts his helmet on his bike, making me frown. That doesn’t seem safe.
“Don’t worry, Ransom has put a charm on them. If anyone tries to take them, they will get a nasty shock,” Raiden explains, clearly realizing where my hesitation has come from.
“Oh, awesome,” I reply as I put my helmet on my bike. I can’t help but pat the tank of the bike affectionately, “This bike is absolutely amazing.”
“I think so too,” Raiden smiles.
We start to head toward the doors of the mall, and I notice that the closer we get to them the more tense Raiden get’s, his smile leaving his face and his shoulders tensing. The man who was just laughing with me as we raced here has completely gone, and I don’t fucking like it. I can’t fix it unless I know what caused the change, though. Something tells me that it isn’t because he hates shopping as much as I do.
I want to get us out of the place that is clearly uncomfortable for Raiden as quickly as possible. I only need a few things to tide me over until I can get some stuff delivered. I spot a store that sells pretty much everything that I need, but it’s further in the mall.
“Come on, I think we need to go this way,” I say, since Raiden has fallen silent and has a scowl on his face.
His eyes dart in my direction, his expression softening slightly and then closing off and becoming hard again as he just nods.
We have been walking for about ten minutes when I realize that everyone is giving Raiden a wide berth and looking at him with fear and judgement. Raiden’s jaw is clenched tight, and that light that was in his eyes has faded completely.
Oh, fuck no, I’m not letting these stupid fucks have that effect on him.
I grab his hand, earning a gasp from a passing woman, and I stick my middle finger up at her because fuck her. The snicker I get from Raiden for my actions is well worth the glare the stupid bitch gives me.
Raiden looks down at me curiously, that amusement still dancing in his eyes.
I squeeze his hand, “Ignore the judgmental fucks. They aren’t worth your time.”
His expression falls, and he says barely above a whisper, “They’re scared of me.”
I shrug, “Let them be scared of you. The people that matter know who you really are; they know what you are really capable of.” I wave my hand around at the idiots, still giving us a wide berth, “These fuckers don’t matter.”
He smiles, although it’s not quite as wide as it was before it’s better than the shut down look that he had moments ago so I’ll take it.
“Thanks, Neith,” he says, squeezing my hand. I love how tiny my hand feels in his.
“Let’s get this boring shit out of the way so we can get back to the fun stuff,” I say as I start dragging him forward, studiously ignoring the shocked looks that are being thrown our way. I knew that reapers had a bad reputation, and that people were wary of them, everyone knows that, but I had no idea that it was this bad. It seems extreme, and I want to do a bit more research into the reason why so that I can understand better, not because I think that they are in any way right. It seems ridiculous to me to judge anyone based on anything other than their individual actions.
“You know people are going to stare just as much, if not more when we’re in town.” Raiden says as we move through the mall and finally get to the doors of the store. “I didn’t think. I just wanted to spend some time with you. I should have just let one of the others take you.”
I smile, “One, that is fucking adorable, people rarely want to spend time with me,” he looks down at me incredulously like he doesn’t believe me and I shrug, “I’m weird, in lots of ways that have made it difficult to have people in my life.”
Understanding fills his expression, but he can clearly tell that I don’t want to go any further into it, so he asks, “And number two?”
“Number two is that I’m enjoying spending time with you, and I don’t give a shit if loads of people are staring. It doesn’t bother me,” I add. What I don’t tell him is that I’m fine with it unless one of them decides to say something; I get protective over the people I care about. I grab a cart that’s by the door; I don’t plan to get too much, but I hate carrying baskets, so a cart it is.
“If you are sure?” he asks.
“Yep,” I reply with surety, and then, because I want to get him out of his own head, I add with a smirk, “I need to get underwear. I had to go commando.”
“Fuck,” he groans as he drops back slightly, still holding my hand, and his eyes go to my ass.
I burst out laughing, and he smiles, this time it reaches his eyes. Mission accomplished.
He moves so he is walking next to me again, and we make our way through the store until we get to the underwear, I grab a lot. I don’t want to run out again, and I love pretty underwear. I pretty much get every style that you can think of, apart from the thongs that are just string. I find them uncomfortable and would rather go without any underwear, and I don’t get any of the full women’s boxers. I don’t like the feel of them on my legs under clothing; it pretty much becomes the only thing I can think about until I can take them off, so they are a no-go.
I also get some great big comfy underwear because sometimes that’s all I want to wear, and for when Aunt Flo visits.
At one point, I decide to leave the cart and just throw stuff into it instead of trying to get it through the tiny aisles and risk knocking shit over. Raiden is looking highly amused.
“I’m going to stay with the cart. You have at it,” he says, and I nod, already on a mission.
I meant what I said about wanting to get this done quickly, so it's only a few minutes before we are heading to the main clothing part.
“I only need to grab a few day's outfits, and then we can get out of here,” I say.
“Don’t forget we have the poker game and the trip to the training academy on Monday. I don’t know if you need to get some stuff for those,” Raiden reminds me.
I pause in trying to find my size, “What day is it?”
“Friday,” Raiden replies, with a slight frown as he pulls out his phone and then nods, “yeah, it's Friday, so much has happened, and our sleep schedule has been all over the place, so I wasn’t sure if it was.”
“Me neither, that’s why I asked,” I reply. “That means the poker game is tomorrow.”
I don’t wear anything special to the games, but I do try not to look like I’m going on a job when I go to the bar, so instead of black everything, I tend to mix it up with a blue pair jeans and some nicer boots, although I always make sure I can still kick ass in them because I need to do that more often than not when I’m at Sully’s.
I grab a few pairs of jeans in varying colors. A variety of t-shirts that I like, and a couple of plaids, some nice boots, and a cute jacket. Throwing in a couple of hoodies and some PJs, I look over the very full cart and have a momentary panic about how the fuck I’m going to afford it before I remember the little black card I have that has more money on it than I have ever seen in one place, well, one legal place.