Cure For Corruptness

Chapter 2

After picking up the rest of our few belongings, and introducing George to Maverick, Maverick led us to the nearby village where he treated us to meals and warm beds for the night. "I'll be in the room next door, just let me know if you two need anything." he tells us as he walks us to our room.

"Thank you so much for everything. The rescue, the meal, and I can't remember the last time we slept in an actual bed." I laugh nervously. He gives me a sympathetic smile,

"It's the least I could do, I know what it's like to come from a broken home." He pats my shoulder and ruffles George's hair, "Sleep well, you two." I smile and give him a thankful nod as he disappears into his room.

I open the door to our room and look around in awe at all of the amenities provided for us. George gleefully sprints into the room and flops on one of the beds. I laugh at him as he nuzzles his face into one of the pillows. This is probably the first time I've seen him happy in months. Across from the beds, there's a fireplace with flames dancing brightly within it, a small table with four chairs placed around it, candles illuminating every corner of the room, and a tub filled with warm, soapy water.

"Come over here, George. Let's get you cleaned up." George grumbles with his head already buried under the sheets. "Don't make me drag you over here," He peeks his head out from the cocoon of fabric he's made and gives me a 'try me' look. I march over to the bed and begin the same tug-of-war game we do whenever he gets too comfortable. I, as usual, win and we both topple over onto the floor in a mess of limbs and pillows. George quickly tries to scramble back onto the bed, but I grab him around the waist, and he slumps over in defeat. "Alright you little gremlin, time for a bath." he sticks his bottom lip out so far, I can almost hear him pouting.

After I finish bathing George and myself, we both decide to turn in for the night. I tuck George in, and crawl under the sheets of the bed next to him. He's already softly snoring when I blow out the last candle sitting on the nightstand.

I'm woken up by clattering next door, 'Maverick must be a night owl' I think and try to go back to sleep. The noise gets louder and I worry it might wake George up. I sneak my way out of the room and gently knock on Maverick's door. The noise suddenly stops and a very disheveled Maverick opens the door. I clear my throat, "I, um, I heard some noises coming from over here and wanted to check up on you." I whisper. He stares at me with tired eyes and mumbles something before grabbing me by the wrist, and pulling me into his room. I let out a startled squeak as he shut the door behind him, his arm now wrapped around my waist.

"You should have just gone back to sleep." he grumbles into my ear. The scent of alcohol wafts from his lips, making my nose tingle. I sigh,

"Maverick, you're drunk, aren't you?" he grunts and wraps his arms around my torso in a tight embrace. "You're the one who should be in bed, mister." I scold him as I peel his hands off my back. He glowers at me,

"What do you know, you're just a kid." I sigh again, painful memories of me shoving away drunk customers trying to grope and touch me plague my mind.

"I'm probably like, two years younger than you, and this isn't the first time some drunken bastard has tried to make a pass at me." I say as I drag him by his wrists towards the bed. He reluctantly flops on the bed sheets and mutters curses under his breath. I look over to the table cluttered with empty bottles and manage to spot a pitcher of water and two empty glasses. "I may not be old enough to drink myself, but I do know that you need to drink water or you'll end up with a nasty hangover tomorrow." I continue to chastise him as I pour a glass of water. "Besides, I like sober you much better." He chuckles as he takes the glass from my hand.

"You and me both, lovely. But I gotta have some way to cope with all the stress work puts me through," He gulps down the water and runs a hand over his face. 'When we talked earlier, he didn't tell us much about himself besides his father had also passed,' I think, curious to learn more about him.

"What do you do for work?" I ask, pouring him another glass of water.

"I'm a soldier." he replies blankly. I don't realize the glass slipping from my grip until it falls and shatters on the floor, making Maverick flinch. "Are you alright, lovely? You've gone really pale." He reaches out to cup my cheek, but I jerk away from him and begin to head for the door. "Hey, where're you going? What'd I do?!" he yells from behind me. He grabs my shoulder gently and I almost pull away again, 'maybe it's not his fault. Maybe he was forced to join Damien' I think to myself, a wave of guilt rolling over in my mind for reacting like that. Maverick realizes why I'm scared and sighs, exasperated, "Oh, no lovely, you misunderstand. I'm not a soldier for that jackass we're supposed to pledge loyalty to, I fight for the rebellion." He explains, rubbing my soldier.

"Rebellion? I didn't even know there was a rebellion." I make eye contact with him and he smiles devilishly.

"Oh, yeah. We're gonna punch that murderin' pig's snout in." He says, triumphantly. I smile at him and he laughs nervously.

"Sorry I reacted like that, it's just, George and I were forced out of our home, our parents were killed, and we've been on the run ever since, and it was all because of soldiers doing Damien's bidding." I stated. Maverick gives me another sympathetics smile.

"It's alright, lovely. I'm sorry for scaring you like that, and for makin' you put up with my drunk self." He says, scratching the back of his neck.

I help him clean up the broken glass that I dropped, and eventually get him to stop flirting with me and lay down in bed. "George and I are probably going to leave early, so I just wanted to thank you one last time for everything you've done for us." His eyes snap open after I finish and he stares at me with the biggest puppy-dog eyes I've ever seen. 'Goddess above this man is going to be the end of me, I swear.' I think to myself.

"What do you mean you're leaving early? I've barely gotten to know you," He whines, pouting a little. I sigh and run my fingers through his soft, golden brown hair.

"We can't stay in one place for very long, and if Damien takes George from me, I have nothing. No reason to keep going." I say, thinking of a bleak, gray world without my little brother in it. Maverick groans, leaning into my hand, still weaved in between his fluffy locks.

"Ugh, Damien. I hate that name. Just hearing it makes me want to put my head through a wall." He rambles on, mocking every aspect of Damien. I giggle and he suddenly stops talking, staring into my emerald green eyes, as I stare back at his caramel brown ones. "You're really cute when you laugh, Asher." He says, smiling bashfully. I blush, covering my face with my hands. 'Oh, wait. He's drunk. Maybe he didn't mean it like that.' I think to myself. I peek through my fingers at him and he's still staring at me with that dumb smile plastered on his face. "Asher," he starts, breaking me from my thoughts, "Will you please stay here with me tonight?" I think for a moment, 'What about George, what if he has a nightmare?' I flip through the options in my mind for a bit, then slowly nod, and he scoots over to the other side of the bed to make room for me. I crawl in beside him and make myself comfortable. Once I'm situated, Maverick's face is just a couple inches away from my own.

"We're just sharing a bed together, okay? Hands to yourself mister." I say as he reluctantly removes his arm which he had somehow snaked around my waist without me noticing. He chuckles, and turns over, his back now facing me.

"Goodnight, lovely." he mumbles into his pillow.

"Goodnight, Maverick." I reply, closing my eyes hoping to actually get some sleep tonight.