The wait was over. Finally Avi and Rayne could be together, hang out and get to know each other. They can share their time with the band, sneak away to find quiet time alone together and enjoy the music and life on the road, or so they thought. As t...
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The morning only brought him more pain, anger, and confusion as the grisly mess that had been his face had continued to swell and blacken throughout the night. His entire head pounded and pulsed viciously with each dreadful beat of his blackened heart driving him further and further from reality. He dared not move a muscle as each of those had betrayed him as Angel had, filling him with an anguish the likes of which only the defeated ever know.
He had been thwarted vanquished and crushed by Angel herself. The foul taste of defeat was like iron and copper on his tongue, sour, and debilitating within his stomach. He thought to spit to clear the taste, but he knew the gesture would not be worth the cost or the pain he would endure upon moving. It would do little to nothing to assuage the situation or clear the taste of his own blood running down the back of his throat and into his already fouled stomach.
He struggled for each breath he took in through his otherwise dry and parched mouth. He struggled to wrap his battered and fragile mind around exactly what had happened to him or how he ended up sitting in a tiny dirty bed in an impossibly small and even more impossibly filthy little flat in the middle of God knew where with a face full of hurt and a throat just as coated in his own blood as his clothes.
He looked around the tiny room as best he could with both eyes nearly swollen shut and tried in vain to gain his bearings. He had no recollection of where he'd been or how he ended up the messy ball of hurt He had become.
***
After registering their complaints with the local police, a thorough and embarrassing forensic exam for Rayne and a short visit from the on-call ENT doctor for Avi at the hospital, Rayne and Avi arrived at the hotel room that they would share with Kevin in the early morning hours to find Kevin not sleeping, but trying his hardest to pretend to be. Neither had the desire to talk and Avi actually couldn't right then if he wanted to. They were both shaken and a bit more frightened and wounded than they cared to admit to each other. While holding hands, they went straight to the bathroom to prepare for bed.
Strange thoughts and some not so strange tumbled through their minds as they showered and washed each other. Avi gently toweled her dry and tenderly bandaged the bruised scratches on her sides for her before he dried himself. They slipped on their night clothes, slid into bed together and fell into deep and troubled slumber.
***
"Where is Ester going? Should I go with her?" Kate finally asked breaking the silence that had fallen over the group as she joined them at the table. She was tired too, her voice held her fatigue just as well as the puffiness around her bloodshot eyes did. She sat just to the left of Kirstin and let her eyes rove over the boys. They all looked beyond tired and very out of sorts. She began to worry about their performance that night and questioned if they'd be able to deliver the quality that they always did and if they'd even have the energy or desire to do so. They looked defeated, beaten down and worn. They weren't even half way through their tour. How could they all look so tired already? And where was Avi? He slipped off more and more often as time drove on and the touring took its toll on him. It seemed to affect him the most. Usually, it didn't bother the others and it rarely touched Kevin at all. But, even he appeared well out of sorts that morning.
