Flower of Scotland

Freya Part 28 (2 Years Later)

I swiped a hand across the bathroom mirror and assessed my reflection as the light in the cheap motel flickered. I had a towel wrapped around me, my body damp and pink from the high temperature of the water.

I stood staring at myself. A lot had changed in two years. I had always had a relatively good body but now it was lean, I was toned in places I didn't know it was possible to tone. My long brown hair was now shorter, balayaged in silver grey tones and worn in waves. My style had taken a hit too, I couldn't wear the latest fashions in my line of work and tended to look more like a member of a tactical assault team most of the time. Black everything, as it hid blood stains better than any other colour, an array of different style boots, black tops in a variety of styles, hoodies and black jackets. I also sported a number of new scars, not all my jobs went as smoothly as I planned.  A thin diagonal silver line from the right corner of my mouth across my lip to my chin reminded me daily that my job was precarious.

My eyes had become harder and I glared at the girl in the mirror. I was in there, but so was she. My protector, my guardian. Bringing her forward had gotten easier and easier over time. It wasn't that she didn't feel the emotions that I did, she just didn't let them get in the way of what needed to be done. She was cold, hard, calculating and completely void when she needed to be. I on the other hand wasn't. Some nights I lay awake wondering if I was more afraid of not having her protect me or losing myself to her completely.

On those nights I always seemed to dream of Happy, and I would wake up in a cold sweat. How was he still such a prominent figure in my life even after all this time.
Whenever I dreamt of him the knot in my stomach would stay with me all day. I would wonder where he was, who he was with, torturing myself with images in my mind.

I tentatively touched the darkening bruise on my cheekbone and tilted my head to inspect the graze that graced my jaw.
Tonight's job hasn't gone as expected and I had had to abandon the planned hit. My night went from bad to worse when I had gone to waste some time in a bar hoping that I could go back and complete the task a while later.

Sitting at the bar, subtly scanning the room, I nursed a Whiskey. No use getting drunk I was on the clock.
I noticed a good looking man in a circle of others looking my way, averting my eyes I focused instead on watching a game of pool, checking the time every so often. I could still fell his eyes on me and I felt flutters of excitement but for some reason I also felt flicker of apprehension.
The barman tapped my arm lightly and I turned to him. Leaning close to be heard over the noise he said.

"The man standing over there." He gestured towards the good looking man. "He bought you another drink."

I thanked the barman and turned to smile my appreciation to the buyer.
Looking at him caught me off guard, yes he was extremely good looking but there was something else, something deeper that sent a shiver down my spine and made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. One could never say that Happy radiated calm, loving energy. His stare was ice cold, his body language threatening and he wasn't called the Tacoma Killer for nothing. But this man, this man was something else and I couldn't quite put my finger on why he gave me such an uneasy feeling.

I left the drink untouched and got up, tonight was a bust and I would have to let Alvarez no, so I made my way out of the bar and towards the car park. As I rounded the corner I felt a hand on my elbow and I whirled around, body tense ready to fight.
It was the man from the bar.

"Going so soon?" He queried with a smile that only lifted one side of his mouth.

"Unfortunately. Yes." I replied "I have an early start tomorrow."

"Oh yeah, what is it you do? He asked.

"I work in construction." I replied.

He nodded, looking amused.

"Ok then, have a nice evening." I said as I turned and carried on with my journey to the car.

"Wait,wait, wait." he called. "You don't even have time for one last drink?"

He jogged a bit to catch up with me. And I rolled my eyes skyward.

"Sorry, I really don't." I threw back over my shoulder.

He caught up with me as I reached my car. Coming in close, and putting a hand either side of me on the car.

"Come on baby." He whispered in my ear. "Let's get to know each other."

I had tried to be nice about it but he was pissing me off now.

"Look mate, I said no, now I just want to get in my car and leave. If you don't let me do that, we're going to have problems."

He chuckled darkly.

"I like that your feisty, I reckon we could have a real good time together."

I shoved him backwards away from me. And in an instant the smooth talker was gone. He sneered at me and suddenly my face stung from a swift backhand. The shock of it had me reeling but I drew my head back and landed it square on his nose. I realised then that I had dropped my keys and as I bent to pick them up he dealt me a glancing blow to the jaw with his foot. I stayed crouched down but shot my own leg out to his shin and stood up.

He was chuckling again and wiping the blood from his nose on his T-shirt. Pouncing toward me his hands roaming my body as I tried to fight off his advances.

"No way!" I thought. "This will not happen to me again."

I positioned myself as best I could and swung my knee up to hit him directly in the balls. He went down like a sack of shit and I wasted no time in jumping in my car and speeding off.

My phone ringing pulled me from my thoughts and I looked down to see Alvarez's name flash on the screen.

"Yeah." I said as way of answering.

"Conejita." Alvarez spoke. "Don't worry about going back, the hit has been called off. I need you back here though, something else has come up."

"Ok, I'm on my way" I told him.