Imagining Us

Ch. 68- No Excuse

Porte locked the door behind him. He wouldn't want anyone privy to the conversation that he was about to have. 

Not for his sake, he didn't care what anyone thought, but he figured that Esi wouldn't want to be subject to anymore gossip.

He heard the flush of a urinal and stepped forward. He saw his mark bypass the faucets.

His "mark"?

Who did he think he was? He really needed to stop letting Elizabeth goad him into watching marathons of espionage shows.

Porte stepped out of the shadows.

"There is a reason for the soap," he drawled, gesturing to the hand soap with the flick of a finger.

Unhygienic prick.

The man's head flew towards him, a sneer suddenly overtaking his face.

Porte wanted to study him—to see and understand what about him had caused her to give him her trust.

"Danvers," he spat.

"Sommers," Porte replied neutrally.

"Of course she would've run to you next," Andrew seethed. "What an interesting dynamic you three seem to have...I always knew how easy she was."

Porte stood straighter, and he knew that he was being baited.

"It would do you well to watch your mouth," he told him.

"Or what?" Andrew taunted, but Porte realized that he hadn't moved from his position. Andrew's mouth was going, but Porte could see the fear in his eyes. "You're gonna send someone to deal with me again or will you actually get your hands dirty this time?"

Porte looked down at his hands, and then back up at Andrew.

"These..." he held up his hands. "These han​ds create. They create art. They make it, touch it, inspire people with it."

Even as he said the words, his mind flashed back to when they were bruised from fights—to a time when he thought that he didn't deserve to create.

But not now.

Porte took a step forward. "I would never dream of sullying them with you." He paused. "But now...I'm thinking that bones can grow back." He took another step forward. "Damage can be repaired," Porte laughed harshly. "I have the money to ensure that." Another step forward.

"But you know what's hard to fix, Andrew?" he asked rhetorically. "The damage in here!" Porte touched his chest.

"I warned you not to show your face here again." Porte began to unbutton his cuffs.

"Wha–What are you doing?" Andre stuttered, his eyes wide.

"I understand short-term memory...maybe you forgot my warning," Porte glanced at him with disbelief.

Porte rolled up the sleeve of his right arm despite knowing that he wouldn't harm him. It wouldn't do Esi any good.

He loomed over Andrew.

"Did you forget?" He asked with a raised brow.

He could see the war that Andrew was experiencing within himself. His mouth wanted to spew nonsense, but his brain was finally telling him to keep his mouth shut.

"I'll give you the benefit of the doubt," Porte said mockingly, rolling up the other sleeve. "Actually, I would have given you the benefit of the doubt if your friend Michael's brother didn't work in the IT department."

Porte gauged his reaction carefully.

A twitch of the eye.

There it is.

"I doubt you'll be friends for much longer when he realizes that he's lost his job because of you."

"It wasn't even that seri–

"I dare you to finish that sentence," Porte spat. He was undoubtedly angry, and his control was slipping. "It was a violation of a student's information—of her information."

Porte stepped forward until they were only a foot apart. He looked down at the man—at the boy–because that's what he was. A child. An overgrown bully.

"You could've just come and left under the radar, but you just couldn't leave her alone," Porte said. "What was it you called her again?"

Andrew wasn't ready when Porte lunged for him—twisting him with his arms behind his back and his face pushed down onto the countertop. The boy screamed.

"What was it you called her—a bitch," he growled into his ear. "Let this be a warning, Sommers...that I will get my hands dirty. Especially for her."

Porte increased pressure with his hold. "You know what they say about me...about those accidents."

He could not believe his own words. Porte wanted to get out of there. He had to leave before he broke down and lost the upperhand.

He pulled Andrew up, allowing him to see their reflections in the mirror. Porte tried to ignore the crazed look in his own eyes.

"I dare you to let her see your face again," he said finally.

Porte let go of Andrew and took a step back.

He proceeded to make himself presentable again.

Porte looked at the man—the other human being—that he'd just put the fear of God into.

"I just can't understand why you would do this," Porte murmured. He was still angry at the situation, but he had reigned himself back in. "She is good...and kind." He thought about her–about her spirit and her laugh. "And light and...and hope."

Andrew said nothing.

"She is beauty and art."

Porte glanced at Andrew, a final warning, then turned to leave.

"Some of us are too deep within our own darkness," Andrew said so quietly that Porte almost didn't hear him.

It stopped him in his tracks, disgust on his face.

"That's no excuse to try to dim her light."

Even as he walked away, Porte wondered if his darkness that he tried to keep at bay—that he tried to shield others from would eventually do the same to her.

*

*

*

*

*

*

A/N

baby boi Porte...is this growth I sense? It did end kind of heavy. Just a short chapter after the heaviness of the the last.