Falcon
I felt my act slipping a few times during my conversation with Clementine, to the point that I had to physically distance myself from her to be able to keep it up. I still hadn’t completely convinced myself that she was just a job I had pulled for the MC. I hadn’t convinced myself that I didn’t feel something for her, but I had to think and act that way if everything was going to go off without a hitch.
It was really in her best interest if she believed I didn’t want anything to do with her. It was safer for her that way. And more than that, she needed to leave anyway. I couldn’t have her hanging around while we were preparing to go after her brother. She would just get in the way and probably try to stop us.
To make everything a little bit thicker, she still didn’t know why Leo and I were at each other’s throats. I hoped that once she left, she would go to him about it again and try to find out. I was sure she’d asked about it already. If she hadn’t been so damn naïve, she might have figured it out on her own.
I walked behind her as she reluctantly took the stairs back down to the first floor. Her brother’s words still echoed in my head. He’d told me revenge was on the way, but Clementine had been a distraction at best.
“Hold up,” I told her, grabbing her shoulder before we reached the bottom of the stairs.
“What?” she asked, turning around with worry in her deep blue eyes.
“Something your brother said before he hung up the phone earlier. Just trust me. Let me go down first,” I cautioned her.
“I’ve been wanting to hear you say that for quite some time now,” she joked.
“You wish.” I smirked as I walked past her in the stairwell. Our bodies rubbed against each other and I could feel the heat of desire all over her body.
“I do, actually,” she admitted.
I wanted it to happen, too, to be completely honest, but that wasn’t in keeping with what I was trying to get her to believe about our situation. I couldn’t admit to her how badly I wanted to taste her. I wanted to bury my face between her legs and show her there were more ways to make her come than just by my fingers or shaft.
I turned away to walk down in front of her, and I was secretly thankful that she just wouldn’t let me burn that bridge entirely, no matter how hard I tried. I stepped through the doorway leading from the stairs to the first floor and looked around. Everything was fine. But something still wasn’t right.
“Come on, it’s okay,” I told her as she walked out behind me.
“Okay. What exactly did my brother tell you?” she asked as we started across the floor to the door.
“It was nothing,” I lied. “I’m just being paranoid.” But I kept walking with her anyway.
She started laughing as we reached the open bay door.
“What’s so funny?” I asked.
“You. A minute ago you were trying your damnedest to convince me that you feel nothing for me, it was all a lie, you were just trying to get in my pants, and now you’re walking me out because something my big brother said made you nervous,” she said while she continued laughing.
“Clementine, listen,” I said, taking her arms in my hands and turning her to face me. “You need to watch out with your brother. I know I’m the last person you feel like you should believe right now, but trust me, he is not who you think he is.”
“Really, Falcon? You’re going to try to turn me against my brother now?” she asked.
“I’m not trying to turn you against anybody. I just want you to know he can’t be trusted. Neither one of us can be,” I said, realizing it was as close to an apology as I was willing to give her for everything.
“Thanks for your concern, Falcon, really,” she said as she pulled away from me.
This time, I started laughing.
“What?”
“You’re calling me Falcon again,” I said.
“Yeah, I noticed that, too.” Her eyes gleamed as she smiled at me.
I knew at that moment that no matter how hard I tried, I would never be able to completely shake her. She had worked her way into a special place in my life, and frankly, I didn’t want her to go. By not allowing me to burn the bridge between us completely, she ensured I would try to reconnect with her once everything was done, once we eliminated Leo.
“Well, get the hell out of here,” I told her, laughing. “And take care, Clementine.” I went to wave her off dismissively, but I heard something behind me.
We both looked inside as we heard something that sounded like a gunshot. I put an arm out to push her back, and at about that time, another loud bang issued from inside the firehouse.
Before I could push her back or down, the world was filled with a bright white light, a loud booming sound, and intense heat. The force of the explosion hit my chest like bass from a loud car stereo, and I was hurled back onto the ground.
Through the ringing in my ears, I heard—or imagined I could hear—yelling and shouting. I heard things falling as glass was shattered and things fell from the building. There was smoke everywhere, pouring out of the doorway in front of me. I tried to move, but my body was stuck.
I couldn’t see if I was pinned down by anything for the smoke around me. I coughed as I tried to breathe. I tried to roll over to hide my face, but I couldn’t move. I looked to see if Clementine got away, but there was too much smoke. I couldn’t see anything.
Gunshots broke out in the smoke as someone opened fire. I couldn’t tell which direction they were coming from. They sounded distant, far off, like everything else did. I could barely hear them through the ringing in my ears, along with the rest of the noises around me.
“Clementine,” I croaked in the smoke, trying to call for her to make sure she was all right.
Once I finally rolled over onto my stomach, I noticed that the smoke was starting to clear. I could move suddenly, and I started to crawl away from the building, still breathing in the heavy smoke pouring out all around me.
I looked around but didn’t see Clementine anywhere. I couldn’t see anyone else either, though I could hear them shouting at each other. I could hear the gunshots, too, even though I couldn’t see anyone with a gun. And I wasn’t sure if any of them with guns could see who they were shooting.
It was a mess. This was Leo’s revenge. It also had to be why the four recruits looked like made men and professionals. They must have been working for Leo to plant the explosives, I thought as I tried to crawl away.
“Falcon,” I heard Clementine call out.
I looked up in the direction of her voice, and the smoke cleared long enough for me to see two of the new recruits Zeke and Collin had brought in, carrying her off with them.
“Clementine,” I tried to call out, but the smoke was too much. My voice came out as a choked whisper. I felt worthless, helpless, and fucking stupid for letting those guys get the best of me.
I had been too eager to start growing the numbers among our ranks again. I knew I should have waited until we took care of Leo, but I just couldn’t bring myself to actually hold off. I had hoped that we could have pulled someone in to help us when the time came to take him down. Instead, the men my guys found had just set us up. We walked right into his plan.
I coughed as I tried to crawl away, and I just couldn’t go any farther. My energy was gone. I felt my body relax against the concrete in front of the old firehouse. I could feel my consciousness trying to fade, but I knew better than to let that happen.
“Come on,” I urged myself, holding my breath while I tried to move again, but it was no good. After just a moment, I was reeling from the lack of oxygen.
My head was spinning but I wasn’t going to give up so easily. I looked around as the smoke continued trying to clear around me. I couldn’t tell if I had moved any other than simply rolling over.
I heard more people yelling and shouting in the smoke. The gunfire had stopped, and I didn’t feel the need to get out of the way any longer. Darkness danced around the edge of my vision, and I could feel myself drifting in and out of consciousness.
I couldn’t feel anything as I lay my head down on the ground. Darkness crept in and forced back all the sound again. And my ears had just come back around to where I could hear everything more clearly again.
This time, though, it wasn’t a ringing that pushed everything back. I was a low-pitched, throbbing sound, like a pulse turned way up with lots of bass pressing in against my ears. I closed my eyes and coughed as fresh air started to finally make its way to me, but it was a day late and a dollar short. I had breathed enough of whatever was in the dust and smoke from the explosion, or explosions, that rocked HQ.
From all of the yelling, I figured someone was okay. They had to be okay if they were able to yell like that, I thought. I tried to cling to consciousness even though I couldn’t open my eyes and couldn’t really breathe all that well. My chest felt constricted because of all the smoke filling my lungs.
I tried to listen. I figured that my hearing was probably the best way for me to cling to consciousness even as the darkness behind my eyelids begged me to drift off to sleep. But my hearing was going, being overrun by the throbbing noise in my head. I listened as long as I could while the noises around me faded into the background.
Soon, the yelling around me faded into the distance as the darkness overtook everything. I heard footsteps and more things breaking around me. I heard shuffling in the debris of whatever it was that had happened. That, too, soon faded away.
My body started to finally relax as I stopped fighting to stay awake. I could vaguely perceive that I was coughing, but even that had taken on a surreal, distant quality. It was as if part of me just wouldn’t let go of my consciousness, even though I had finally stopped fighting.
I heard someone call my name, but they were miles away. They were talking to someone else, but I couldn’t tell what they were saying. Even that faded away with the noises around them. Soon, it would all just be a bad dream, and I would be asleep. Sleep promised comfort as it approached me in the darkness behind my eyelids.
I couldn’t deny it any longer. The tightness in my chest was becoming pain, and I vaguely knew I was probably in trouble, but first, I had to relax.
Finally, I did relax, and I sighed heavily at that point.