Darren
He rushed into the building, looking for her. The boys had agreed to go hunt her out, and eventually they’d gotten word that she was probably in the headquarters the Broken Skulls used: a small factory that had been re-purposed, for means of torture and kidnapping. And by “gotten word,” that meant that he’d hunted down some guy and punched it out of him, but that was basically the same as a little bird telling him where she was.
The other guys still didn’t want him involved. It was too risky, and it was probably a trap. Grabbing the girl to make the guy come along was a classic move, and this was probably exactly what that was. That didn’t matter. If something could maybe happen to Victoria, that meant he had to stop it.
The gunfire he heard was coming from the next room over. They’d agreed that the guys would break in from the front, and a few more would break in from the back; a little while later, while everyone was distracted and freaking out, he decided would bust his way in from the side. The door was a little hard to find and he had to kick it down, but he didn’t give a fuck. Getting charged with breaking and entering wasn’t his biggest concern right now.
Victoria was.
These halls seemed like they went on forever. It was way too hard to make his way through here. He turned down another hall, searching for somewhere Victoria could possibly be, and came to another dead end.
He held his hand at his pistol, which he kept by his side. If anyone came at him, he could raise it in an instant and shoot them; if someone came towards him and it was one of his friends, well, at least he wouldn’t have a gun pointed at their head.
He tightened his grip on the pistol, reminding himself that it was still there. Then he made his way down another hall. This would be easier if he could shout for Victoria, but that wasn’t a good idea. If he called for her, someone would know he was here looking for her. And if someone knew he was here looking for her, they…
He couldn’t think about it. All he could do was find her.
The second hallway led to another dead end. He made his way to another, sliding so that his back was against a wall as the thump of hard footsteps came pounding past him. His heart was beating fast in his chest – was he scared? No. He was excited, thrilled at the chance to pull off a rescue. If he could pull off a rescue.
Another part of him, though, was afraid, and he tried to push that side away from him as best he could. He didn’t get afraid, but Victoria just had a way of screwing with all of his emotions in the best way she knew how, without even knowing that she was doing it. The footsteps passed. He moved on without even having to turn around and get into a confrontation. That was for the best. The sooner he found Victoria, the better.
That didn’t mean it was getting any fucking easier to make his way through this place, though. Instantly he was hit with pangs of regret, trying to figure out what he could’ve done to make this any easier for himself. He should’ve punched that guy a few more times and gotten some information about where they were holding her. He only hadn’t because he was concerned someone would find out somehow. That emotion – worry – was proving to be a massive pain in the ass, and he hated how much it managed to control him.
Eventually he made his way through a hall, passing one door. He kicked it open, bringing his gun up in his hands and lifting it to check around the room. Bringing his hand up, he flicked on a light switch. The room lit up immediately, revealing that it was a men’s bathroom.
Cursing under his breath, he moved on for the hundred time.
Finally, he got to the back of the warehouse. There were no other hallways that he could venture to from here; he was at the very back, and every move he could take would just bring him back to where he’d already started out. Or just bring him to the front of the warehouse, and he already knew that Victoria wasn’t there. She couldn’t be there.
But if she wasn’t here, that could only mean one thing. Maybe they had already killed her. If they had killed her, everyone who had ever done anything to hurt her was going to die. There was nothing they could do about it, he was going to kill them. He could already feel the hot heat of tears gathering behind his eyes, and he shoved them away as best he could. The wetness was still there, and he hated it. It reminded him of his weakness.
She couldn’t be dead. She wasn’t allowed to be, and he had to keep looking for her.
The back of the warehouse wasn’t as big as the rest of it, and it was overwhelmingly gray. There was one long wall that spanned the entirety of the structure here, and there were a few doors that looked like they were almost engraved in the stone there. He counted three, and then four. Three were closed, but one was open. He went to that one last, not wanting to see what might be in any of them.
There was nothing in the first three closed doors. In the last, somewhat-open door, there were zip-ties left on the floor. Nothing that showed that Victoria was even ever here. Holding onto the last shreds of hope he had in his body, he turned to go search the front of the warehouse. She wasn’t allowed to be dead – he didn’t know how he was going to manage to live without her. It wasn’t like they'd been together that long, or like they were even actually in a relationship, by some people’s standards, but already she meant the world to him.
That’s when he saw her, standing in the door off the hallway he’d just burst through.
Victoria.
# # #
Victoria
She wasn’t thinking about where she was going. Making her way back to the warehouse probably wasn’t the best idea and might not work out for her, but she wasn’t exactly running with logic right now. She was simply running and the only place she could go to get away from what lay ahead (Darren) was to go back. And what lay behind her was the warehouse she’d been kept in. So she did the only thing she thought to do, and went back there.
She just didn’t expect to see him the moment she actually got there. She was still in the doorway, and the way he was looking at her was making her freeze up. He had this look of surprise and of something else on his face, and she couldn’t recognize the emotion. She didn’t need to stop and think about it.
He went to her immediately.
For a second, he was frozen too, but then he spurred himself into action. She saw that he held a pistol in his hands, but he tucked it into the holster he’d hidden in the waist of his jeans. Then he went to her, walking so fast it seemed like he was trying to keep himself from running.
She wasn’t sure what she could possibly say to him. He’d abandoned her, and that had put her in a situation where she had almost died. And it was all his fault. The part of her that wanted to go to him was just about outweighed by everything else that wanted to run away from him, but only because he had run away from her first.
She didn’t have the energy or brain power to deal with anything. But she didn’t even have time to try to come up with something to say. Before she could open her mouth to get a word out, he was grabbing her.
His arms went under her legs, gripping her by the thighs as he scooped her up so he was holding her like a princess. He couldn’t grab his gun by the way he was holding her, but it was okay. They were going to get out of here quickly, and if someone tried to stop them, he was just going to bash their head in.
The rest of the guys could deal with this themselves. All that mattered was getting her out of here.
Now.
She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to do, but she threw her arms around him the minute he took her in his arms. It seemed like it was the right thing to do, and everything in her was used to this. It felt so right being held by him, not only because he was trying to grab onto her and take her away from a place where people wanted to murder her. She was happy to see him, even though she didn’t want to admit it. She just had to get past the fact that people were killing each other a few rooms away right now.
Outside on the street, things looked way calmer than they surely were in the warehouse they’d just left. She couldn’t really dwell on it, though. She was still in his arms, and he was heading towards the motorcycle that was set right up against the wall of some other building.
He put her on the motorcycle before he climbed on. The feelings of anxiety and relief racking through him right now weren’t letting him think straight, and this, among other things, told him that he needed to get away from here as soon as possible.
The feelings Victoria was experiencing were even worse. She was happy to see him, but she held more anger than she did happiness. He was holding her, though, and then she was on the bike, and they were driving away before she could say anything about it.
# # #
The buildings on that street passed by them quickly. Darren wasn’t going as fast on the motorcycle as Victoria was expecting, and she wondered if that was because she was on it with him. The heat of him in front of her was distracting her, and the way her arms held around his waist as he gripped the handles made her think of other ways they had embraced each other.
More buildings passed them, turning from shades of gray making up various, decrepit buildings to nicer ones. These new buildings weren’t all that great, but the stone and brick making these up were at least decent. Victoria couldn’t really fathom a murder happening here, so that meant that they were getting out of that part of town. There were nicer portions that scaled their way out of bad districts, and then quickly fell into them again, though, so that didn’t necessarily mean anything.
She realized that she wasn’t even wearing a helmet, because Darren just been focused on getting her on the bike and then on getting her out of there. They weren’t going slow, although they weren’t going that fast; still, though, she wasn’t about to trust her life in the hands of Darren Saylor. Not again. She wanted and needed him – she could at least admit that to herself now – but that didn’t mean she could make herself vulnerable. Not to this man.
She had to get away from him.
Breaking the silence, she tried to make her voice heard as the wind went past them. It was a little hard for him to hear her at first, and she had to repeat herself.
“Pull over.”
She couldn’t see his face, but she was sure that the look he had on was blazing. It didn’t take that long for him to retort something back at her, saying, “No.”
The answer was simple, and it just pissed her off all the more. That one word made her remember exactly what kind of problems she had with Darren Saylor, and she wasn’t just going to sit around and put up with this. Especially not now, even if – and it was a big if – a small part of her liked it.
“If you don’t pull over and let me off, I’m going to jump,” she countered.
He didn’t seem like he believed her, so she started to wiggle. She positioned herself like she was about to jump, and waited just seconds for the motorcycle to come to a halt. He began to turn to her even as he slowed down, though, and she knew it was coming:
The talk.
She didn’t let it happen.
He could try to come up with any excuses he wanted. None of them would work on her. She really wanted to be with him; she could feel her body almost singing when it was near him, like her skin was desperate to be in contact with his. She couldn’t forgive him so easily for everything that had just happened to her, though – could she?
There was no way. As soon as the motorcycle slowed down beside a curb she hopped off. She wasn’t sure what part of the city she was in right now, but she didn’t really care. She felt his arm move like he was trying to hold onto her, to keep her from leaving him, but he was too slow. Her feet hit the sidewalk, and she turned to start walking.
His hand grabbed at her wrist, though, and he pulled her to him. She couldn’t walk away, but it wasn’t like she was putting that much effort into it. Still, though, she didn’t turn around to face him. She knew it would drive him crazy.
“Look at me.”
She tried to drag it out for as long as she could. She heard him rise up from the bike, like he was making as if to go to her. Turning around before he could grab her chin and make her look at him, so she still retained some semblance of power, she glared at him. She had no idea what was going through his head right now.
Still, she looked at him. It felt like her eyes were starting to water and she couldn’t understand why. Why was he having such a profound impact on her? She couldn’t even put together the words to properly ask herself that question, but she knew the answer. She was in love with him.
The sunlight was dim and dwindling, as the day fell closer to night than to the afternoon. Her eyes felt like they were starting to water at the edges, and no thin veil of sass was going to be able to keep that from Darren if he went looking.
She looked at his chest, instead of his eyes. It made things easier for her somehow.
But now that she was looking at him, it seemed like he was doing just about everything in his power to keep from actually saying anything to her.
“Well?” She pulled her hand away from him, and she was only a little bit sad to see that he didn’t hold onto her like she’d wished he might have. She crossed both of her arms over her chest. She was aware that doing this made her cleavage a little more noticeable – in their escape from that warehouse, her shirt had fallen just a little bit loose – but that was for the better. Just because she was mad at him didn’t mean she couldn’t be attracted to him, and he was surely still attracted to her.
Still, he didn’t say anything. Until finally: “Are you trying to tell me you’re leaving?” The tone in his voice was the uplifted smile she was looking for, but it still hurt her not to see it.
That was exactly what she was trying to say; she just wasn’t sure how to put the words together, and he’d gone ahead and put them in that way that made everything seem so much worse than it actually was.
“You left me.”
“I did it because I thought it was in your best interest.” His words were sweet, but the way he said it was arrogant – like he knew what was best for her, and like he knew that she would love him taking control like that. She did.
He turned back to his motorcycle. The bike was still in place like it was getting ready to take flight again, and he set the pedal down so it couldn’t escape. He didn’t look at Victoria the entire time, and being ignored was what made her want his attention even more. They both knew this – and he knew that she wouldn’t run away just because his back was turned.
The cursing started just as he knelt, and he turned his head over his shoulder to look at Victoria.
“Fuck’s sake, V.” He shook his head. He smiled a little, but it hurt him to see her so upset. She clearly hated him. So now he couldn’t even begin to tell her how he felt. If he didn’t, though, things were just going to get worse for the two of them, and he might even end up losing her for good.
“What?”
The same was true for her. She didn’t know where this was going; she didn’t even know if he cared, even though she really wanted him to.
“You act like I just left you because I wanted to.”
“Didn’t you?” She raised her eyes to his, having noticed for a while now that he was looking at her. That didn’t mean she needed to return his gaze until she wanted to do it, though, and she wasn’t going to play his game. He could play hers, or they would play nothing at all.
He knew this. They both knew this. His eyes gleamed in the dim light of the sun, and she saw them in a way she never had before. Darren was used to hiding away all traces of the fact that he had feelings. Letting someone in to see them was an entirely new thing completely, and it was intense for both of them. His eyes almost didn’t look human; the feelings he had were damn near visible in his irises, and for a second Victoria had her breath stolen away.
Then her sense came back to her, but the stone wall she'd built around this herself was quickly crumbling away, and she couldn’t keep it up for long. She had to have her answers no matter what – she wasn’t just going to accept this. She was still hurt that he had left her. And while it was great that he had saved her, she was pretty sure she could’ve done that by herself. It would’ve at least saved her some of the mental anguish.
He reached a hand out to her, dragging his palm lightly across her arm. It was barely a touch at all, and he was worried she would pull away from him as he touched her. She didn’t.
“No.” He shook his head.
Seeing him vulnerable was making her believe everything he said to her, which was good. She needed to. As much as she hated having to cope with this, she knew that the alternative wouldn’t be any better. She couldn’t live without Darren. Whatever had happened between the two of them had bonded them together, and she couldn’t imagine just being without him.
She tried to hide her smirk.
She was enjoying letting him make a fool out of himself, and this probably wasn’t something he was likely to do again any time soon. As soon as he noticed that they were both okay, he was going to go back to his usual tough guy veneer.
“V,” he continued. His eyes were getting a little watery, too, and Victoria’s heart pounded at the idea that he might actually…cry? “Look –”
This was too much.
She’d liked it at first, but now the parts of her that felt vindicated just felt sad and maybe even a little guilty. At the same time, she just felt like this entire thing was becoming some kind of train wreck.
“Don’t make an ass of yourself, Darren,” she said. The roles were switching now, but she liked it. If he was going to go sob and cry to her, then she was going to have to play a tougher hand. It might just make him go back to his usual self. The usual Darren was insufferable, but it was still infinitely better than the Darren that was a sobbing, shaking mess. She didn’t want to see that Darren, not right now. Not out here on the street where anyone could see them – that was supposed to happen in privacy.
She struggled to keep her mind from wandering back to the bedroom. There was a time for that, and this wasn’t it. That wasn’t an issue, though – as soon as she spoke, Darren looked like he forced himself to pull things together. And then his expression changed. It wasn’t like he was hurt, no, he looked…
Like he was enjoying it.
“You act like you didn’t love it.”
Her eyes instantly went to his eyebrows, checking to see if he had one raised. He did.
“And if I claimed not to?” His hand wasn’t anywhere near her now, and she longed for him to at least be touching her in some way.
“Then I’d ask you how you plan on dealing with this mess by yourself.” His hands still weren’t making a move as if to get near her. “Because you can't deny that it is a mess.”
She also couldn’t deny that she was considering just making do with everything that had been thrown at her, and leaving on her own. Maybe she would stay in the city, maybe she wouldn’t. Either way, it seemed like things weren’t working out for her the way she wanted them to, and Darren couldn’t help. The way he was looking at her – and talking to her – made it seem like he thought he could, though.
“You’re thinking about it, aren’t you?”
His words brought her back down to earth.
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, but – “
She didn’t hear the rest of what he was saying. She was focused on staring at a building just ahead of her. Her shoulders started to shake; she was afraid that she would start to cry. This wasn’t a good time to cry – and it probably wasn’t the best move to cry around Darren – but he was making her emotional, and she had to find a way to express it. And tears might do that.
She stared at the lines painted up and down the wall, waiting for him to reach out and touch her. He had to. She wasn’t sure how she would feel if he didn’t.
She didn’t have to worry about it. He moved closer to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder and bringing her to him. It was almost like a hug; it would have been one if he’d just pulled her to him a little more, letting their bodies join. Instead, he just held onto her. The act was vulnerable without being too vulnerable, and it was comforting.
This was too weird.
She pulled away from him, and he immediately had a question for her, but she couldn’t even process it. She wasn’t in the mood to hear it. They were dragging this out too much. They needed to find a way to just get out what they needed to say, but there was no conceivable way they’d be able to pull that off with just words. There was only one thing she could do.
“Shut up and kiss me.”
His lips found hers as soon as the words left her mouth, the heat of his kiss rocking through her and making its way down her body. She curled her toes and reached for him, needing more of him. This kiss was everything that needed to be said between them, and everything that tried to bridge the issues they were having.
Victoria felt part of her heart lift up with him as they kissed. She put both of her arms around him, and he put one of his hands behind her head. Inching his fingers into her hair, he pushed her closer to him. His lips found hers again after a small slip, falling away from the crush of the kiss to say, “Let’s go for a drink.”