Collateral Damage (bxb)

17. Respite

A.N. Hey, a bit of a longer chapter. Hehe... There are a lot of little character moments here before the action picks right back up. The ending of this chapter was a spontaneous one that I came up with last night. It seemed to fit.

A.N. This chapter begins from the perspective of Ian.

It was an old diner near a truck stop on the outskirts of a small town. Somewhere? Wolf plopped down next to the large open window and put his hood up to hide his face for obvious reasons. He isn't the least known of us three since the issued countrywide manhunt because of him crossing the Canadian border and stepping onto US soil. Aidan took a seat next to him, and I sat right from across him seeing that he was still rubbing at his eyes. I can guess that he was emotional from what I said earlier. Why did Wolf have to interrupt us in the parking lot?

I tried not to pay too much attention to him, so I looked at Wolf, who was splayed right across the old, all-encompassing red leather chair, taking up most of their seat. He had an air of annoyance around him in his aura.

My eyes must have lingered onto him for a second too long. "Don't use your thing on me." He rolled his eyes after finishing.

"Then tell me why are you so annoyed." In a way, I was done with his bullshit.

"I hate waiting." He snapped back at me.

I took a breath to say something and readied my hands to start doing some gestures, but a voice came from behind me, and I flinched. "Excuse me, what can I get for y'all this evening?"

Aidan smirked when I turned my head and my eyes fell on his face for a moment. A young, red-haired woman stood there, with multiple pieces of laminated sheets of paper in a retro-looking waitress outfit that brought out the youth in her eyes. If I were straight, I would be drooling all over her. She put the menus in front of the three of us, paying close attention to the placement of each one of them.

Wolf breathed out, "Finally." He sounded like a spoiled brat.

I saw that the Woman's smile cracked, but her composure was hard to break, as her Aura indicated that she wasn't too pleased about something, and what came out of Wolf wasn't adding too much to her displeasure.

Aidan picked up the simple plastic encapsulated menu and started to read through it just as I did. Wolf tried to do the same, but before he could scoop it up with his fingers a single stern glance from Aidan stopped it. The moment when their eyes met was intense, seemingly, saying more than a thousand words could. Wolf decided to leave the comfortable position and lean over the table with his elbows flanking the menu. He was filled with rage for a second, but a single deep breath calmed his emotions.

I looked at the woman to study her reaction to what Aidan and Wolf just shared, but she didn't even seem to notice it. Wasn't it noticeable, wasn't our cover blown? To be fair, it is no less unusual than any other trio of new faces walking and having a strange dynamic. Almost like our own individual, unique interactions blend into the white noise of all other people she has to serve day to day. The only difference was that the reason for this is a darker one, we are holders who must blend in, and if she would know that there is a chance Wolf can melt the plastic of this laminated menu by accident, then she would understand and notice what Aidan just did. I might have been overthinking this a tad bit.

After my gaze lingered on her face a bit too long, she gave me an audible hmm and a questioning brow. I answered her implied question, "It's nothing." I tried to save myself some embarrassment.

Wolf, on the other hand, while I had my face buried in the prices and items available, said out loud, "So, I'll have the pancakes and bacon, toots." It took me by surprise, having to hear him address someone else by that term other than me.