belladonna | alejandro vargas ✓

【Chapter 14】

Beadie leaned back against her seat and tried not to wince again. She was still a little sore from the previous night and the fact that they almost got blown up with a missile in the middle of the ocean didn't really help.

"Are you alright?" Graves glanced her way from the driver's seat, his eyebrows furrowing in concern.

"Yeah," Beadie gave the short answer and turned to look out the window on her side, watching the rainfall. It was warm and welcoming for all their stay, but the rain drumming against the top of their car was anything but.

Like they didn't get soaked enough in the ocean before.

He tried to make small talk with her about the mission but the tiredness suppressed the words from her. She couldn't wait to get back to the base and sleep this off, all of her muscles crying in protest whenever she moved. Even the ones she didn't know could hurt.

Alejandro made sure she would remember their night together. Besides the marks on her thighs and the ones she left on his collarbone.

Beadie's eyes started to close, the mixture of pouring rain and the rhythmic purring of the car lulling her to sleep. But it lasted for only a few minutes when a faint touch on her left knee shook her awake.

She looked at Graves with one of her eyebrow raised, not really understanding the situation. The base was already in view, the soft lights of the gate shining brightly, giving her Commander's face a glow. The shadows reached high, giving him a menacing aura.

"You have to promise me something," his soft voice broke the silence, the undertones of his words making her uneasy.

"What do you mean?" Beadie sat up straighter in her seat, his hand slipping away from her knee. "What-"

"Just promise me you'll do as I say," Graves cut her off with more force this time, his blue eyes meeting hers for a few seconds. His face was set hard, his jaw clenching under the weight of her gaze.

Her mouth opened to question his weird behavior, but the car in front of them came to a stop, meaning they arrived. Graves slowed their car down and stopped eventually, not far from the other car and the Shadows already slipping out of it. Graves sent another look to her before he pushed the door open and hopped out of the car.

There was something off about him and how the two Shadows behind her didn't say anything else as they left, too. In the rearview mirror, she caught sight of Alejandro talking to Graves, his face contorting with anger as he looked down at the blond man.

There stood Soap behind him, utter shock and confusion written over his face.

That was enough for Beadie to leap out of the car and follow after them, a few Shadows standing behind their Commander in a line of walls. They blocked out most of the view in front of Beadie, and she let out a few silent curses under her breath for being so short. It looked like she could only rely on her ears.

"No, no, no. I don't take orders from you," Alejandro's low voice reached her, clearly upset.

"Didn't Valeria say that?" Graves asked as he took a step forward, the tension around them rising. "Now that makes me wonder what else I don't know about your affiliation with a drug-lord?"

"What the hell, Graves?" Beadie whispered to herself as her eyebrows furrowed. She leaned from side to side to try and get a better look at the scene in front of her, but she only caught a glimpse of Graves' blond head.

"What the fuck did you just say to me, pendejo..." Alejandro's tone darkened, the undertones making her shiver.

She had a very bad feeling about this. Beadie had no idea what Graves was doing, but pissing off Alejandro was clearly not a good decision. She wanted to get between them and defuse the situation before it could get any worse, but the burly Shadows standing in front of her didn't budge.