A Raven Among Crows ll: Tainted With Blood and Smoke

Chapter 7: Caged In

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General trigger warnings for this story: Language, smut, mentions of rape, abuse, drug use/overdose, violence/death.

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"Alright man, enough of the shit." Donut rumbled in that low, throaty voice as his hand swallowed Happy's bony shoulder - yanking him around to face him. "What the fuck is going on?"

"Get the fuck off me." Happy scowled, easily flinging the bigger man off of him as his eyes darkened and his lip turned up as the 'fight' portion of his 'fight or flight' mode kicked in - the mode that he had become unfamiliar with.

"Nah." Donut shook his head, his waved locks falling against his broad shoulders as he walked the bald man backwards so that he couldn't dodge his questions any longer. "I let this shit slide when she was in the hospital - let you ignore it while you hid in Tacoma, I aint doin it anymore. Not when our girl is out there looking like that." He angrily thrusted his finger towards the door.

"Like what?" Happy tried weakly, but he knew exactly what the brawny man meant.

"Sad. Pining for some fucking loser's attention." Donut sneered in frustration. "We taught her better than that. What the hell are you doing letting this happen?"

"I aint letting shit happen!" Happy yelled, his usually low voice raising loud enough to draw some attention from onlookers - but his threatening glare quickly scared them off.

"You're the only one she listens to." Donut countered, holding his pitch black gaze as he waited for a reaction that he knew wouldn't come from the infamously stoic man. "Well then you better start talkin', or I'm gonna have to find out from her." He challenged.

Happy stood still for a moment, contemplating the beating that he would be subjected to if Donut found out why they were no longer on speaking terms. "Go ahead." He decided with a curt nod. If there was one thing that he still knew about Sydney, it was that she had pride; she would never be able to look one of her oldest friends in the face and tell him the truth about what had happened - even if it was just her skewed perception that she refused to let him correct - especially if she was having more problems with Tig. And more problems with Tig might've just been exactly what he'd needed to be able to work his way back into the void in her heart that the Sergeant couldn't seem to fill...

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Sydney stayed close to Half-Sack's side as the evening progressed, grateful that their matching costumes provided her an excuse to linger around the only man who seemed to value her presence these days. She sat atop a picnic table with a few croweaters who had thrown together some last minute costumes once they saw that dressing up wasn't completely out of the question now that the young girl was around to set the tone, feeling herself getting tipsier and tipsier as she sipped on her third beer of the night - the sounds of the blaring music and babbling girls beginning to fade as the familiarly toxic boldness set in and brought her eyes wandering to Tig who lingered behind Clay and Gemma.

Tig felt his heart stop and his body shudder when he caught her staring him down from across the lot, looking so fuckinggood where she sat so angry because of him. Surprisingly, after months of hating himself for all of the horrible feelings that he had plagued her with, the thought of being able to anger her this intensely made his dick twitch - another feeling that he'd begrudgingly grown unaccustomed to.

It wasn't like he was a foreigner to her wrath - the two had become closely acquainted - but something about seeing her with Donut had uncrossed whatever wires had unintentionally gotten tangled in his brain since Donna's death; and for that, he was eternally grateful.