Rainy Day | Rhea Ripley

Chapter 17

From the games you play or the lies you make

I won't break 

From the hate displayed, dripping off your face

- I Won't Break by Of Virtue

Demi's POV

Damian stared at the piece of paper in front of him, slightly crumpled from my first reaction to it.

"What does she mean by that?" He sounded as overwhelmed as I felt.

"I don't know"

"Surely she wouldn't just go back to him"

"I DON'T KNOW MATE, unfortunately, she didn't include an Alex-Encyclopedia with this stupid letter that I could use to look it up" I yelled, only to regretting a second later.

"I'm sorry Luis, I don't really know how to act right now" 

He hugged me as a sign that he accepted my apology.

"I know Dems, I get it" he started stroking my hair, knowing that that was what my dad had always done to calm me down when I was upset as a kid. It worked, at least a little bit.

We sat down to strategize.

"She couldn't just have gone back to him, you're right," I admitted.

"He would just go back to doing whatever he has been doing all along and it wouldn't change anything"

Damian shook his head.

"That's only partially true. If it's her goal to protect you, then giving him back what he wants would maybe get him to leave you alone"

"It wouldn't change anything for Dom though. I don't think her goal is just to prevent, she wants to make up for this, I just don't have a clue on how she's planning to do that" I started rubbing my temples, my head was starting to hurt.

"Maybe she's going to the police after all" Damian offered.

"But what would the point be? She didn't have any better chances, there's still not enough evidence" Suddenly my stomach dropped, I could feel my skin getting hot and cold at the same time and my breathing picked up rapidly as I considered the one thing I hadn't thought of so far.

"Damian" I choked out "what if she isn't planning on getting him caught for the murder of Lupe? What if she's trying to create some new evidence, for a new crime that is more open and shut?"

He thought about it for a moment.

"You mean she would get him to commit a crime under different circumstances that are easier to prove to get him caught whether it's for Lupe's murder or not?"

I nodded.

"Do you think she knows the danger that puts her in?" he asked.

I gave him a defeated shrug.

"Honestly I'm not sure she cares" 

We were silent for a minute before I looked back up at him.

"Luis, I understand if you're out, I would never want to put you in danger, but please understand that I need to go find her"I wasn't surprised when he vigorously shook his head.

"I'm not a fan of that idea and I think you know it but if you are going I'm coming with you. Figuring out where Xav could be proved more difficult than expected. He obviously wasn't just linked on any of her social media but there was no trace of him to be found anywhere. After a lot of pointless research, I let my laptop snap shut and looked at Damian.

"Let's go to her apartment, maybe there's something there." 

We got in the car to drive there and I fortunately could remember where it was.

"What the hell happened here?" Damian asked as he saw the smashed lock on her door. I shrugged.

"Xav has gotten into here before, although he had a key. Maybe this time he was too impatient"

When I tried to squeeze past him into the apartment he put out an arm to stop me and shook his head.

"Whether you like it or not, I'm going first." I rolled my eyes but let him pass.

A few moments later he gave me the all-clear and I followed him. Alex's apartment looked like it had become the hangout space for a group of teenage boys. The walls were tagged even more as last time, there were empty beer cans all over the place and it smelled like cigarettes. How the landlord hadn't gotten involved by now was beyond me but it didn't fully surprise me given the state that the rest of the building was in.

Going through her things felt awful, we were clearly invading her privacy, but of course, she didn't just have a note with Xav's address lying around.

As I was sifting through a box labeled 'Memories' in her living room, I came across a wall calendar from last year.I smiled as I noticed the calendar theme, Koalas, and began to flip through it.

This turned out to be at least of some help, since two times every week there was a name written in the calendar and circled in red.

Ares.

"Maybe if we can find out who Ares is he'll lead us to Xav" I theorized.

Damian frowned and went over to one of the piles of paper on the kitchen counter he had been looking through until a moment ago. 

Just as he was starting to get frustrated he let out a triumphant 'ha' and pulled a little brochure out of the middle of the pile.

Returning to me, he held it up proudly.

"Well if we are looking for the god of war I think I know where we should start looking"

Instead of reading the flyer I stared at him with my eyebrows raised.

"What?" He asked confused.

"I wouldn't have pegged you as a greek mythology nerd Mr. Martinez" 

He gave me a light shove in retaliation.

"Shut up and read" He handed the brochure over to me.

The little booklet was advertising some kind of bar in the area, but that wasn't the interesting thing about it. What caught my eye was the name of the establishment at the top of the page.

It said: The Olymp