Queen's Princess

PART II: Chapter 11

The door swung open and Odessa walked out to see I was working on her axe. She came over and looked at the progress I had made.

"When did ya get up?" she asked.

"About a few hours ago. I didn't want to wake ya."

"Thanks, but this work here, it's ours to complete together, Y/N."

"I guess, but I wanted to get working on that prototype, which my dad is looking for things that will help."

"Ya really got to working," she said and looked at the knife that was finished.

"Yep. Knife is all finished. I made a few tweaks here and there, but it's all good to try out."

"I'll test everything all at once when we get that magnet working."

"That is if we don't need to do constant work on it," I said. "I can't get this one part in. Can ya help?"

She walked over and saw one of the things was stuck. She grabbed onto it tightly and pulled it out, only to cut her forearm.

"Shit," she swore.

"Here," I grabbed a rag and handed it to her. "Stay right there, I'll get some bandages."

I ran inside and grabbed the bandages that were in our first aid cabinet. I came back out and she was leaning up againtst the motorcycle.

"Let me see how deep it got," I walked over to her.

She removed the rag and I grabbed another one to wipe away the blood that had stained her skin. It wasn't too deep for stitches. I unwrapped the roll of gauze and started to wrap it around her forearm.

"Gotta be more careful, Dez."

"It slipped."

I nodded my head and tightly knotted the gauze in place.

"There. That should stop the bleeding for now. Ya don't need stitches, which is good."

"I take it ya have a higher pain tolerence."

"It was something that grew overtime."

"Does emotional pain hurt more?" I looked into her amber eyes, a sense of vulnerability coming from them.

She avoided my gaze and stood up, walking over to the work bench. I stood up and stood beside her. I didn't want to probe if she wasn't ready to talk about what has been troubling her for a while since some of her family has passed away. Even though my grandparents are still around, happy and somewhat healthy, I could only imagine how much longer they have until they meet their demise. I hope it's happily and not from some bastards.

"I haven't really thought much of it, Y/N," Odessa said after a long moment of silence. "But after my father died, I don't know how I'm going to care for my siblings. My mum is doing great at doing that day in and day out, but I just feel a lot of responsibility is now placed on my shoulders since I'm the oldest. I don't know if I can do anything to help ease their pain and suffering they're going through."

"Dez," I reached over and placed a hand on top of hers. "You're doing the best ya can and that's all anyone can ever really ask of people. All I ask for ya is to do your best training me and your best with whatever ya want to do in life. I know ya want to get revenge on Mason, I do as well, but we've got to get out of this shitty place to even get a chance of getting back in there. All we can do is our best and hope our best is enough to get us somewhere."

She turned and met my gaze, looking deeply into my eyes. I could have sworn some blush crawled onto her cheeks, but I think it was mostly due to the heat. She cleared her throat and turned back to look at the axe.

"R-Right," she said. "You're right. All we can do is our best."

"Exactly. Now, lets get this bad boy finished before we test out that magnet."

We finished up for the day and we didn't even start working on the magnet. Odessa and I were too focused on getting the axe finished and I was worrying about the cut on her forearm, since I had to rewrap it because the blood seeped through. Odessa said goodbye to me and my father, since he came out to help, and slid down the sand dune that was right behind her house. I watched as she headed into her home and disappeared inside. 

"I know that look," my father said.

"What look?" I asked, averting my attention back to the task at hand. "The look of having an epiphany because I know what I need to do to get the magnet to work?"

"No, the look of love."

I scoffed, which turned into a laugh, "Me? In love? Never."

"Denial is the first sign," my father said. "That's how I was with your mother. I denied I had feelin's for her, but after our first date, I knew I couldn't deny it anymore."

"How does one tell them they have feelin's?"

"Well, since ya've been around Odessa for a long time, your friendship has gained a lot of traction. So that's working for ya. You'll hear a lot of people say about finding the perfect time to tell someone ya like them and what not. That's not the case. That will never be the case because there will never be a perfect time. However, ya need to create an opening to tell Odessa how you feel. I can see it's hurting you inside."

"How?" I asked, looking at my father.

"I watched how ya took care of her. You two got emotional and I could tell by just your gaze in her eyes, something is there that neither one of ya want to admit to. It's mostly you since ya caught feelings. Ya care for her and truly care for her, Y/N. You're not like others who stick around strong people so they feel safe and secure. Ya felt safe and secure with her before you two started training together. And she doesn't use your speed for her benefit either."

I nodded, "And you have no issue with my liking a girl?"

"Girl or boy, it doesn't matter. As long as they treat ya right. And Odessa, she'll treat you like a princess. Hell, even a queen."