The House in the Woods

I am not a nice guy

Alex POV

It only takes one swift movement before I disarm Sang of whatever the weapon she is that she has in her hand. She looks at me with shock and fear.

"Sit down, Sang. When this is over, you need to have a talk with your boys and make sure that you receive some better training. No offense, but with your height and your build, you need to have some serious martial arts and weapons training. I am not going to hurt you, but I could very easily," I say to her.

"Why are you here? You tried to plant a seed of doubt regarding the Academy, but then you helped me at homecoming," Sang says.

"Just think of me as an extra protector. I know that I will not be able to convince you or the Academy of that, but I have my reasons for keeping an eye on you," I say in a slightly menacing voice. I don't want her to ask any more questions.

I switch my attention to Sara and see that there are some bandages on her cuts. The skin on her hands is not turning red yet, so it means that the poison has not settled in her tissue. I turn back around to Sang closing my eyes as I say, "Who cleaned her wounds?"

Sang looks at me and says, "I used the first aid kit that I found in my backpack. There were some pain killers that dissolve under the tongue, and I gave her two of those as well."

I open my eyes and say, "Please tell me that you at least wore gloves?"

Sang hesitates and says softly, "Well, no, there were not any in the kit."

I grab Sang's hand and take a look to see if there is any discoloration on hers. I sniff her hand. It smells like rosewood. "Sang, please tell me that you did not go into Sara's purse."

Sang looks down at the floor and says, "I did use some lotion from her purse, but I have not touched anything else."

I grab her by the shoulders and say, "How much did you use?"

Sang is getting flustered and says, "I don't know, two squirts. Let go of my arms, you are hurting me."

I let go of her arms, pull out my phone and walk across the room. Eric answers on the first ring "Dammit, now I really know why they call her f%&king trouble. She is so f%&king naïve that she is going to put herself in an early grave. She dressed Sara's wounds with a first aid kit, no gloves and then used two squirts of the lotion. She is maybe 5'1 – 5'2", one hundred pounds. With her size, she is going to need at least a full dose within the next hour and a half."

Sang looks at me and says, "What are you talking about? A dose of what?"

I glare back at her, "Antidote to counteract the poison that you rubbed into your skin. You need to know what the side effects are so you can let someone know when you start feeling them. You skin will start feeling clammy, you will feel nauseous, and your heart rate will accelerate. To anyone that does not know that you were poisoned, it will look like you are having a heart attack. You need to speak up when you start feeling anything. Do you understand?"

She just looks at the floor and does not say anything.

After waiting a few moments, I walk back over to her, lift her chin between my hands and look into her eyes. "F%&king answer me, Sang. Do you understand what I am saying to you?"

With tears in her eyes she says, "Yes, I understand."

"Good, you need to realize that if any of us had our way, you would not be here. You have to listen to what I am saying to you, and you need to act and be ready to react to what is going on. This is not a trip to the mall, it could be the difference between who walks out of here tonight. I will ask you that after I explain each part. If you don't understand something than you better speak up. Do you understand?"

She looks up at me with those emerald eyes and says, "I understand."

I turn away for a moment, those haunting eyes that appear in my dreams. I can see in Sang's eyes that she doesn't understand, but I only have a few minutes to make it sink in. I don't want to tell her too much because she will be a key witness to Joshua's heart attack. I tell her that Sara is not Lindy, this way when it is all said and done, Owen will still have some doubt. Lindy and I talked about the ramifications to Owen years ago, and we agreed that we would lie if we were ever faced with this type of a situation. Lindy Blackbourne died ten years ago and there was no way that she was ever going to be able to step back into that life again. Not even for her son.

When I finish speaking Sang looks shell shocked. I ask her if she understands, and she takes a moment before she says anything. She stands up, squares her shoulders and meets my glare, saying in a clear voice, "I understand."

I am amazed at her transformation and tell her that she needs to get dressed for dinner. Joshua had a closet full of clothes for both Sang and Sara. As she is walking out of the room, I remind her, "Don't touch anything that is not from your backpack. Take a bottle of water with you when they take you down."

Right now there is more at stake than just Owen. Lindy regaining her memory will put others at risk if she puts together the pieces of the puzzle that I never told her. I have spent almost twenty years protecting the house of secrets that we created, and even though I care for her, I will take any and all steps necessary to make sure that Lindy does not bring that house down.

I am not a fairy tale prince. I may have taken on a role as Sang's protector, but I am not a nice guy.